Library capturing Madison County history through family photos

DANIELSVILLE - John Barton got interested in the history of his Madison County neighborhood after hearing that the state Department of Transportation might try to buy his home and build a road on his property. <br> <br> But when Barton went to the Board of Education to find a photograph of an old school that once stood next to his house, he came up empty. <br> <br> ``They looked at me like I was from Mars,&#39;&#39; said Barton, a Madison County radiologist. ``It was clear that there wasn&#39;t any obvious public forum for old pictures.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> His frustrating search led Barton to work with the Madison County Library to start a digital photo archive. <br> <br> ``Without an archive, they would have to either retrace my steps or give up in frustration,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> The project, dubbed Vanishing Madison County, already has collected more than 500 photographs in its first few weeks. The archive aims to document the county&#39;s history through images of events, buildings and residents. <br> <br> Headquartered at the Madison County Library, the project asks people to bring in their family photos, allow them to be scanned into a database and tell all they know about the pictures. It focuses mainly on pre-World War II images. <br> <br> Among the treasures are photos of Will ``Bud&#39;&#39; Long, the first black man in Madison County to own land, currently on display at the library for Black History Month. <br> <br> Barton said his favorite photo in the collection shows a locomotive crash in either 1910 or 1913; the historical records don&#39;t agree. <br> <br> ``Two giants plowed into each other,&#39;&#39; he said. ``The force of the impact must have been phenomenal.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Barton and librarian Suzanne Degrasse also have their eyes on the long-term goal of having the entire collection on the Internet before Madison County&#39;s 200th anniversary in 2011. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s saving history one picture at a time, and anything we get is an addition,&#39;&#39; Barton said. ``The pictures have a lot more in them than just the building or the person in the image.&#39;&#39;