LSTA Grant Awarded To Fox Lake Public Library

The Fox Lake Public Library was recently awarded a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant to work with the University Of Wisconsin Digital Collection Center to digitize part of the collection of trumpeter Bernard “Bunny” Berigan materials held by the library.

The information to be digitalized has been collected and organized by volunteers throughout the past 20 years to make it available to the public. The grant will allow for 1,000 archival items, which includes loose pages, newspaper clippings, letters and 250 photographs to be digitalized. The materials will be available online by the end of 2010 and accessible through the State of Wisconsin Collection.

Bernard “Bunny” Berigan was born in Hilbert, Wisconsin in 1908 and raised in Fox Lake. "Bunny” grew to be a popular trumpet player during the 1930’s and early '40s, playing with his own band as well as with Benny Goodman, The Dorsey Brothers and Paul Whiteman. Fox Lake honors “Bunny” each spring with the “Bunny” Berigan Jazz Jubilee, and this year's jubilee will be held Saturday, May 15, 2010, in the American Legion Clubhouse in downtown Fox Lake.