The Monrovia Historical Society acknowledged Louise Robertson during their 40th anniversary celebration on Sunday.
Robertson, who passed away in October, was the secretary of the Monrovia Historical Society and co-director of the Legacy Project, which aims to preserve the historical photos and documents online and made available to the public.
During a presentation, President of Monrovia Historical Society Steve Baker and Vice President Sandy Burud spoke about Robertson before giving an overview of the Society’s history. Members paid tribute to her with a moment of silence.
“She [Robertson] was always there putting her hand up and saying I will do that. She would do anything,” Burud said.
Burud, who was co-directed the Legacy Project with Robertson, recalled through tears working alongside Robertson to sort through old historical documents.
“It was this sort of willingness to get her hands in there, and look through stuff, and laugh and get dirty and pull boxes out and discover little treasures,” Burud said.
The society was founded in 1979 to preserve the Anderson House, one of the first homes build in Monrovia. However, as time went by, the members of the society became old and with not many younger members to maintain continuity of their work, the society lost steam. It lay dormant until 2015 when it was revived by the Legacy Project.
“The opportunity to digitize all the Historical Society collections came along. That provided the impetus to revitalize the Historical Society,” Baker said.
Today, the Historical Society is fixing the Anderson roof and puts on various events to educate residents on Monrovian history. They are focusing on rebuilding its members so that they can continue to survive for future generations.
“All of the people overtime who helped originally form it, restore the Anderson House, continue to populate it with things, they are all to be celebrated. There is a new generation, and now we need another new generation,” Burud said.
The California state Senate acknowledged the society’s work with a Certificate of Recognition.
“Everything goes in cycles. There is somehow reassurance in knowing something that you’re experiencing has gone on before. People have come through it, they have survived, it isn’t the end of the world. It’s just the down-tick that you need to adjust to and survive. The pendulum will swing back. You just have to be patient, optimistic, and say ‘Okay I’m going to hunker down and get through this,’” Baker said.
