The Lakeside Heritage Society maintains an Archives Center in a cottage at 324 West Third Street, immediately west of the Heritage Hall Museum.  The Center contains print documents and photographs about Lakeside, Danbury Township, the Marblehead Peninsula, and the American Chautauqua Movement, from 1870 to the present.

It is open by appointment year round to the public for personal and academic study, and will respond to information requests received in person, by telephone, US mail, or email.

Services

LHS provides the following services:
  • Hosts approximately 3,500 yearly visitors at the Heritage Hall Museum
  • Schedules Lakeside outdoor tours and inside Museum tours. Takes appointments in the Archives during the off-season
  • Provides merchandise for sale in the Museum Gift Shop
  • Publishes books on various topics of interest
  • Accepts artifact donations to the Museum and Archive collection
  • Processes information requests received in person, by telephone, U.S. mail, or email
  • Assists researchers conducting academic or personal research at the Archives Center on various topics

Collections

The Archives contains research materials about Lakeside, Danbury Township, the Marblehead Peninsula, and other historic independent U.S. Chautauquas. The current collection includes the following:

The Lakeside Chautauqua collection:
  • seasonal programs
  • newspapers
  • publications
  • club and society materials
  • directories
  • cottage files that include photographs
  • property transfer records from 1873 onward
  • performers and speakers indexed by date from 1880 onward
  • Lakeside Association historical files

The Marblehead Peninsula collection:
  • newspapers published since 1881: subject and year files from 1875 to the present; obituary index of permanent and summer residents
  • American independent Chautauquas
  • Lakeside Volunteer Fire Department historical files (1905-2013);
  • 10,000+ historic photographs and postcards
  • oral histories, family portfolios, diaries and scrapbooks from the early 1900s
  • Ohio Methodist Conference bulletins
  • hymnals, Sunday School books; temperance and camp meeting song books
  • area transportation history by railroad or boat
  • area maps
  • preservation and remodeling books, including materials received through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Resources
  • genealogical materials published by the Ottawa County Genealogy Society.

The Media collection:
  • slides used for Lakeside presentations
  • audiotapes of sermons delivered by visiting clergy (mostly during the 1980s and 1990s)
  • DVDs of delivered presentations.