Town of Martin, KY Section 106 Mitigation

12/29/2023

Hi everyone, and Merry Christmas!
I am doing one final push to get photos for our calendar and history booklet! We have gotten some wonderful pictures from a few folks but need a few more to really put together a great collection. If you have digital versions of pictures of Martin that you would like to share, please send me a message or comment below!

As a reminder, this project is being undertaken in order to fulfill the Memorandum of Agreement executed between the USACE, the Kentucky Historical Commission, and consulting parties who participated in the Section 106 process. None of the resulting items will be sold. The agreement stipulates that items including a booklet detailing the history of Martin and a calendar including historical photographs of Martin be printed and provided without cost to local libraries, residents, local historical organizations, etc. The goal here is to commemorate and celebrate the history of Martin, and to have these images of the town on record for future generations.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment or send a message. You can also call me, Chelsey Johnson, at 865-839-0765, or email [email protected], any time!

11/14/2023

We are setting up for community scanning at the Renaissance Learning Center in Martin and will be here from 3 to 6 pm today (Tuesday 11/14). We hope to see you there, come on down if you have old photos to share. Thanks to all who have contributed so far!

11/12/2023

We are looking forward to our community scanning days this Monday (11/13) and Tuesday (11/14)! We will be setting up to scan photos and take pictures of small items of memorabilia related to the history of Martin. The photos we scan will be used to produce a calendar and a history booklet that will be provided to local libraries, schools, historical organizations, and residents free of charge.

If you have photos or items you'd like to share, please stop by! We will be set up and welcoming walk-ins from 12 pm until 3 pm at the Eastern branch of the public library on Monday, and from 3 pm until 6 pm at the Renaissance Learning Center in Martin.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment or send a message. You can also call me, Chelsey Johnson, at 865-839-0765, or email [email protected]. Hope to see you this week!

11/08/2023

Next Monday (11/13) and Tuesday (11/14) we will be setting up to scan photos and take pictures of small items of memorabilia related to the history of Martin. We will not be doing sit-down interviews this time, but will conduct those at a later date. This time, we are focusing on the photos and artifacts. The photos we scan will be used to produce a calendar and a history booklet that will be provided to local libraries, schools, historical organizations, and residents free of charge.

I have reserved space at the Eastern Branch of the KY library Monday afternoon, and we have use of the school in Martin for a few hours on Tuesday afternoon. If you have photos or other items you'd like to share, let me know and we will schedule a time for you! We are doing appointments first to try to minimize folks having to wait around, and to figure out if we need to add additional time. Please share with anyone who might be interested!!

If you have any questions or would like to schedule, feel free to send a message, call (865-839-0765), or email ([email protected]).

10/19/2023

CRA historians will be leading research and publication efforts for the Town of Martin mitigation process, and we need your help! We are interested in seeing your old photographs and memorabilia (such as ticket stubs, tokens or local scrip, Martin High School items, or anything else unique to your town). We will be making return visits with documentary equipment and will not need to borrow any items—we’ll set up a time to meet with you and make scans on site.

We would also like to conduct oral history interviews focused on the history of the town, and memories of what downtown Martin was like in its heyday. We will be visiting Martin several times over the course of the next few months to meet with community members, scan photographs, and conduct interviews. The images and interviews will be put to use in creating a Martin history booklet, a comprehensive history of commercial centers in Eastern Kentucky towns, interpretive signs, a calendar,
and a package of educational materials for elementary school students. Some of these items will be distributed locally, and some will be provided to local libraries to ensure public access for future generations.

If you are interested, please fill out the information form here, to help us figure out what time and place will work best for our next meeting:

We are interested in seeing your old photographs and memorabilia! We will be making several trips to the area to scan and photograph items and will not need to borrow any items--we'll set up a meeting time and place and make scans on site. We will also be recording oral history interviews. Please fi...