With the passing of each individual a story or photo falls silent
HELP SAVE OUR HISTORY
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Petersburg ~ Belleville ~ courtney flats


Preserving our History through Photographs !
    Our goal is preserve the rich history of our local communities through the collection of photographs and stories that are quickly disappearing.    Family photographs taken in our communities are tucked away in boxes and scattered across the country..   With each passing year more  photographs that once sparked a familiar remembrance to a loved one go unidentified.   We hope that you will play a role in sharing your family's photographs and help save our history of Petersburg, Belleville, and Courtney Flats.                  Help Save Our History by donating some of your photographs!.

Picture
    We Need Your Help.  For more than eighty years (1877-1957) our community schools and teachers educated the children.  Sadly, we have only a hand full of photos of the "old" Courtney School.  We have only two photos of Belleville (Rite) school and only one of Petersburg school.
   If your ancestors called our communities home and you or loved ones have old photos tucked away consider making them part of our archives for all to enjoy.   Many previously unknown students have been identified on this site by viewers like you!
    Seeking yearbooks for Courtney Consolidate Schools 1929 - 1957.
    Contributing is easy with today's IPhone cameras. Simply take a picture of your photo and email it to us.   Please make sure "not" to crop your photos.   Every inch of the photo adds to the character of the photograph.  !!


Picture
     This 1899 photograph of the Green Cook family and home captures the typical style of the homes at the turn of the century with rock fireplace, full frontal porch, rock fireplace and picket fences.  Photos of homes, barns, buildings, cars, wagons, horses, animals, crops, and other activities provide a window into our past.  Please do not crop any details our of your photos.  Often times buildings in the far background can be enlarged and provide a panoramic view of the community. 
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     Please share your photographs and HELP SAVE OUR HISTORY!


Picture
    A 1914 Kodak moment captured farming activities such as the Carnahan family picking cotton in the fields
    A little of one hundred years ago, in the 19teens, "Kodaking" became popular especially with teenagers and young adults as they delighted in recording their activities on film.   Kodaking took photography out of the studio and on to the farms and inside our communities.   
    All families have a box full of "small" photos?   Here's a helpful tip in sorting photographs: Turn the photos picture face down.  Stack them like a deck of cards.  Some will be taller, some wider.  Sort and organize those of the same height and those with the same width until they are separated into small groups of photos with the exact same dimensions.   Some groups may have a similar number on the back.  Turn over each group of photos and notice that you have identified a "reel of film" from a Kodaking moment a century ago !         
  


Picture
Panoramic Background Photograph: A great amount of history can be captured from small details in the background of photographs. This "original" photograph was focused on two small children sitting on a blanket in the foreground.  Almost out of view were tiny houses in the background.  By focusing and enlarging the images in the background we were able to capture valuable panoramic images of the community.    Please contribute your photos and we ask that you do "not" crop the photo..   photo ca. 1941

     To navigate this website utilize tabs across the top:
Our Goal ~ Photo Contributions,    Research Resources,    Family History Contributions,     Photo Contributions,
Our Goal ~ Photo Contributions provides helpful instructions on how you can easily contribute your old photographs. 
Research Resources  provides information that may be helpful in researching families that lived in our communities. 
Family History Contributions provides stories and history of our communities and surrounding area. 
Photo Contributions presents photographs in our collection reflective of our communities.  Photos are arranged by chronological decades or by topic. 

  how to contribute old photographs

 IPhone and Androids: 
          -Simply take a picture of an old photograph and email it us.  Make sure your camera is positioned squarely over the photo to ensure the view is not distorted.  Turn camera flash "off" and make sure lighting is not to bright.   
          -Do not "crop" any thing out of the photos as cropping looses much of the detail in the photograph. 
Printer Scanners:
          -Scan your selected photos at 300 bpi.  Please do not "resize" or "enlarge" or "crop" the photos.  Scan as original size.
Walmart copies: 
         -Scan your selected photos at 300 bpi.  Please do not "resize" or "enlarge" or "crop" the photos.  Scan as original size


email:  [email protected]
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or

snail mail: Help Save Our History: Scott Black, 10674 Jefferson Rd, (Courtney Flats) Ringling, OK 73456

Contributors to "help save our history"
Janice Sneed
Max Brown
Roy & Pat Williams
Oscar & Charlsie Carnahan
Minnie Carnahan Black
Ramona Hogue Blankenship
Sandra Wickham
Marie Grant Dewbre
Linda Orr
Myrtle Tucker
Cora Hancock​
Tankie & Peggy Spivey
Cotton and Jacqueline Grant
Deanna Grant
Henry Heidleburg
Margreet Pinnick Willard
Earl Tisdell
Sylvia Faye Davis Durr
William Elms
L.J. Chapman
Tootie Watkins Spivey
Ruby Watkins

Alta Faye Beavers Cox​
​Michelle Hadden
Gale & Charlene Black
Candace Gregory
Bonnie Parsons
Sheryl Winn
April Gardner
Eula Huff Grant
Ruth Robinson Thomas
Daisy Carnahan Robinson
Beedie Hancock Allred
Dorothy McCarty
Beulah Hammons
Evelyn Reynolds
​Robin Thurman

Steve Longest
Lyndal Fox
James and Pat Fox
Mattie Meekins Bourland
Clifford & Cleo Baxley
Clearance McCarty
Dorothy & Loyd Jackson
Nat & Pennie Mitchell
Tom Hammons
Oneta Riggs
Wavie Dorsett Stanford
Doris Sigler
Bethana Jones
Evelyn Reynolds
Cora Hancock
Alta Faye Beavers CoxEvie Downs Eubanks
Grossie Dorsett Joachim
Dovie Dorsett Jones
Harvey Rabb
Paul B. Hammons
​Tom Hancock
Alec Hammons
Fan Burns
​Billy Joe Watkins
​and many more.....