User:Srichart4

I consider myself a beginning wikipedia user. Every time I look up how to do something I learn something new. There is so much I don't know it is scary. I very much appreciate reviews and corrections by real wiki editors and the bots.

I have been involved in local Stevens County, Washington genealogical and historical organizations as well as the local libraries for about ten years. I've added a lot of material to the | Family Search Wiki page for Stevens County, Washington. I compared a local history book on rural schools with land records in the courthouse and, with a mapping partner, created a Google map showing the location, start and stop years, and names for over 200 local schools. For three years under a federal grant, I scanned or photographed over 15,000 pages of historical records from private and public sources for the county and surrounding areas and put them up online at | Crossroads on the Columbia project. I've been assisting in the mapping and research for the Fort Walla Walla Fort Colville Military Road project, which just finished. I'm starting a scanning project for the US Forest Service on some of their records in October 2014. I've visited the WA State Archives in Cheney and Olympia, and the Washington State Library conducting research. For over seven years, I've helped repair the New England Historic Genealogical Society's Massachusetts Vital Records 1841-1910 online database.

I'm a member of, and occasional presenter at, the | Northeast Washington Genealogical Society, and board member of | The Heritage Network, and the | Stevens County Historical Society.

I began making changes to local wikipedia articles after calling up the Chewelah, Washington article and seeing incorrect historical facts. Then looked at the Addy, Washington page and saw more inaccuracies. I just published my first wiki article about the Fort Colville (US Army). I found 25 wiki pages linked to the Hudson Bay Company Fort Colville, when the article editors really wanted the Army Fort Colville. My sources preference is for documents generated at the time of the events or earliest after an event. As part of the Crossroads project, I photographed 1100 pages of the Spokane/Stevens County Commissioners Journals 1860-1893, which I do use as a primary source. A number of our inaccuracies are based on stories written 50 or so years after the fact and the writer didn't check original sources. We also have a particular problem with the the book 'An illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington' by Richard Steele, published in 1904. This often cited book is riddled with errors. Any check of the legislative records shows the creation information in Steele's book to be totally inaccurate.

My goal is to enhance already existing pages with local historical information, and, if needed, create pages to cover important historical events in Eastern Washington.