TAYLOR, Mich. – A local nonprofit compiled thousands of photos and documents highlighting a downriver community.
The Downriver Genealogical Society has been running out of the Taylor Community Library for a decade, but its lease isn't being renewed, and its future is now in limbo.
"The Downriver Genealogical Society has been within the library for years," said Sherry Huntington. "And the society has artifacts that you can't find anywhere else. That's why its so important."
Huntington is the president of the Downriver Genealogical Society. She's been digging through the ogranization's decades of memorabilia -- maps, photos obituaries and more.
"A lot of historical things are just dumped," Huntington said. "Because no one thinks they're important, but we know better."
The society has been around for 39 years and moved into the Taylor Community Library a decade ago to continue its important work.
"This takes time out of our lives, but we feel so compelled to do this," Huntington said. "I got a phone call and then a registered letter stating that we were losing our lease here at the Taylor Community Library."
The library has new plans for the space, but the Downriver Genealogical Society doesn't have a new venue. Volunteers are searching everywhere for a space big enough to house the archives.
"The alternative to not finding a place is to put it in storage," Huntington said. "What good is a library if it's in storage? It's no good if it's behind closed doors locked up."
It's a compilation of the downriver community's history, and the society doesn't want to see it go away.
The Downriver Genealogical Society has until the end of February to find a new place to store its archives and is hoping a business will come forward to help them.
"To be remembered is not to be forgotten," Huntington said.