Difference Makers: Darlene Weaver

When Darlene Weaver of Circleville, Ohio, became volunteer director of the Pickaway County Historical Genealogy Library in 1996, the library’s few books and two file drawers occupied two rooms of an old house. Twelve years later, neatly filed and indexed county and state records filled all 14 rooms, six closets and a bathroom, necessitating a spring 2008 move to spacious new digs.

“[Weaver] will tell you her fellow volunteers are the reason the library is such a success, which in part is true, but volunteers know it’s Darlene who has the vision,” says nominator Cinda Justice of Williamsport, Ohio.

Weaver and a team of 30 volunteers staff the library and preserve records. She spearheaded the library’s Attic to Archive project, which had staff unfolding, cleaning, numbering and filing some 22,000 probate court files. “We indexed every case file and made a CD,” says Weaver, who relishes the challenge of finding new resources.

“She’s the first to donate time, money and materials to each project,” Justice says. For her efforts to preserve historical records and help genealogists access them, Darlene Weaver is this issue’s Difference Maker.

From the July 2008 Family Tree Magazine