In the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, the individual known as the Giver keeps the memories and history of that community. In a different manner Evelyn Richardson keeps the memories and history of Logan County.
Mrs. Richardson has been associated with the Logan County Library since the library’s planning stages in the late 1960’s. After her 1967 -1992 career as regional librarian, she served the Logan County Library as the acting director for two years. Since then, she has been a volunteer for over two decades primarily enriching the local history area of the library.
To honor her many hours and years of service to the library, the Friends of Logan County Library and an anonymous Friend donated two benches with plaques noting her service to the library. The benches have been installed outside the library for use by the public
When visitors come to the library to use the local history room, they are delighted and amazed at the organization and resources. Mrs. Richardson applied for and secured a grant from the Kentucky Humanities Council to create a photograph collection. She also indexed this herself. In mid-2017, a follow-up grant was received to enhance this collection, which continues to grow and now has over 20,000 items which are cataloged. The newspaper subject index now has over 60 years indexed due to her efforts. One of the most used indexes she has completed is the obituary file, which dates back to the 1800’s. Her most recent volunteer project was the indexing of over 400 pages of the Logan Female College records. Indexing is a slow, tedious work requiring reading the content and assigning consistent subject headings. The result makes research faster and more thorough.
Mrs. Richardson has also been active in the field of journalism with her participation on the WRUS radio program “Feedback.” The library possesses copies of many of episodes of the local program, and Mrs. Richardson has transcribed these. Each Monday morning she appears on WRUS radio spotlighting library services on A Look Into Your Library. For many years she has contributed a local column “Here and There” to the News Democrat & Leader, which many Logan Countians look forward to reading. Through it, she takes us into the past and often contrasts it with the present time.
Mrs. Richardson is also active with the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, her local church United Methodist Temple, Logan County Adult Education, and many other community events and organizations. She has also been recognized by the Kentucky Library Association with a volunteer award named in her honor, which is presented to a volunteer who exhibits a similar dedication.
The Library and the Friends of the Library thank her for her years of dedication and the enrichment of the library’s resources.