By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Justin Engleman is only half kidding when he says he has been in Barton County since 1878. That’s the year his great-great grandparents moved to the area and married. Like his ancestors, Engleman has remained in the area. A lover of history, he was recently named executive director of the Barton County Historical Society.
“I’m getting to actually lead the ship and make sure everything is being taken care of and properly catalogued, and create new exhibits,” he said. “I’m able to be able to be here during the day to see all that happen, and not have it happen in the evenings and on weekends.”
Engleman graduated from Great Bend High School, then continued his education at Barton Community College and Kansas State University. He has twice served an unpaid position on the Historical Society’s Board of Directors, including over the past four years. He has also volunteered his team as a guide on Historic Downtown Walking Tours in Great Bend. Now, as executive director at the Historical Society, he has more than 150 years of material to work with.
“I love digging into the collection, seeing what’s actually here,” Engleman said. “We have a collection of more than 6,000 photographs from right here in Barton County. That’s one of the goals is to get them completely catalogued, because there are a number of them that are not catalogued, so we know exactly what we have, and then begin to digitize them so we can share them with the community.”
Another popular event at the Historical Society are its monthly programs. Engleman looks forward to more active role in selecting the topics of those programs.
“We’ve usually had one program every month on the fourth Monday,” he said, “but I think, in the last few years, the quality of the programs has increased greatly, and the subject matter has been such that folks have really embraced coming to attend those programs to learn what is happening in the area and the history of the area.”
The Barton County Historical Society, located just south of Great Bend on U.S. 281 Highway, is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 1-5 p.m. on the weekends. The society is closed on Mondays.