One of the treasures of Menomonee Falls Public Library is the Maude Shunk Local History Room.
It’s home to thousands of historical documents, photographs, and collected information about Menomonee Falls, Fussville, and surrounding communities. It provides access to digitization equipment through the Digital History Lab. It preserves an archive of Menomonee Falls newspapers, yearbooks, maps, and family histories. It provides an avenue for patrons to conduct their own genealogical research, with tools such as Ancestry Library Edition and Family Search.
The 120 Year Anniversary of Menomonee Falls Public Library is on March 26, 2026! Part of the celebration is an event about a well-known figure in early-Wisconsin Libraries: Books In A Box: Lutie Stearns and Wisconsin’s Traveling Libraries.
But it’s equally important to highlight the resource that has, and will continue to, preserve the history of Menomonee Falls while making that history more accessible.
Establishing the Maude Shunk Local History Room
After the Menomonee Falls Public Library was established in 1906, Maude Shunk became the first Head Librarian. Maude served in this role and as Library Director until 1958. In 1956, to celebrate her 50 years of service to Menomonee Falls, the Library was renamed the Maude Shunk Library.
In 2003, when the current 52,941 square foot Library Building was built, the Library was renamed to the original Menomonee Falls Public Library. At this time, a resolution was passed to continue honoring Maude by establishing the Maude Shunk Local History Room which would be housed in the new building.
This made sense because Maude was a lover of history. She saved every local newspaper (from 1906 on) and many local historical documents. Her passion for history is honored to this day.
Local History Archive
An agreement was made between the Menomonee Falls Historical Society for the Library to become a holding area for historical paper documents. In 2014, it was wondered why we were holding all this cool stuff without anyone able to access it.
Continuing the Library fields mission of creating access, staff and volunteers began going through these collections and digitizing it. It’s a process that continues today. Just take a look at everything that anyone with a Café Library Card can access in our digital archives:
Menomonee Falls Yearbooks
Business and Organization Files
Church Histories
Cemetary Inscriptions, Obituaries, and Funeral Memorial Cards
Family Files and Histories
Maps, Plat Maps, and Property Histories
Photos and Postcards
Digital Collections and RecollectionWisconsin.org
Digital Newspaper Collection at menomoneefallslibrary.historyarchives.online
Access to online resources such as FamilySearch.org and AncestryLibrary.com
The Maude Shunk Local History Room wouldn’t be what it is without the help of volunteers. There are always ongoing projects, and we’re always looking for help. If you or anyone you know is interested in volunteering, please don’t hesitate to contact Ellen Rohr at 262-532-8939 or erohr@menomonee-falls.org.
Digitization Equipment
Over time, the Maude Shunk Local History Room expanded to offer digitization equipment for personal use. Today it’s the perfect place to digitize your family memories or anything else you may wish to preserve. Available equipment includes:
Epson Flatbed Scanner: for slides, negatives, photographs, and paper documents.
CZUR Book Scanner: for bound books and oversized paper documents
Epson FastFoto Scanner: for quickly scanning photos, postcards, and documents
Video to Digital Conversion: to convert old family audio recordings or memories on VHS to a digital format.
Digital Transfer Gadgets: to convert old files still on floppy disk.
Slide Scanner to scan slides and negatives
Cassette Tape recorder – to digitize old cassette tapes
Recollection Wisconsin
The Maude Shunk Local History Room continues to expand. In 2024, we officially began to participate in the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative.
Recollection Wisconsin is an initiative that helps cultural heritage institutions preserve, promote, and facilitate access to its historical resources. It’s the project that Elizabeth described so well in her blog ‘Locating the “Local” in Our History at Menomonee Falls Public Library’ that was published last week. Our involvement with Recollection Wisconsin has made Menomonee Falls history accessible to a larger audience than ever before.
120+ Years and Counting
Menomonee Falls Public Library has been around for 120 years. This blog opens by mentioning the upcoming event, Books In A Box: Lutie Stearns and Wisconsin’s Traveling Libraries. But what’s not mentioned is that this event would likely not have happened without the resources in the Maude Shunk Local History Room. It was by looking through these resources that we found out that Lutie Stearns was at the first meetings when the Menomonee Falls Public Library was first approved.
This is proof of the importance of these resources–whether it be for historical research or for preserving your own history.