SILVERHILL — The Oscar Johnson Memorial Library is expanding its hours and organizing its upstairs museum after adding a staff member.

Silverhill native Regina Kanne, the daughter of Ken and Kathy Kanne, is a recent graduate of Judson College and attends graduate school in the history department at the University of South Alabama.

With funds from the Library’s annual car show, Kanne has been hired as an archivist and, along with the library’s many volunteers, will help keep the library open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

In addition to other library duties, Kanne has been charged with organizing the library’s extensive collection of historical items.

The Silverhill Library Museum, located upstairs above the main library, is filled to capacity with items from the town which celebrated its 110th anniversary last year.

Kanne’s first task has been to organize and preserve the many newspaper articles and whole newspapers in the library’s collection, many of which are written in the native language of many of the town’s residents, Swedish.

Kanne also hopes to organize the library’s extensive collection of vintage books, many of which were written in Swedish and Norweigian.

Kanne said one of her most interesting finds so far has been a doctor’s bag which includes some of the doctor’s tools, a medical book and a notebook, both written in Swedish.

Kanne also hopes to preserve artifacts and articles from some of Silverhill’s most famous natives including the Meier twins, also known as the original Doublemint twins, and George David Lundberg, a doctor who became a member of the American Medical Board. Artifacts donated by Lundberg’s family include books from his childhood as well as a book he wrote himself.

The library is itself part of history, listed on the Registry of History Places, and the museum includes many other artifacts from the town’s early days, include those donated by town founder and library namesake Oscar Johnson himself, whose Svea Land Company offices were originally housed in the library building.

Kanne has also helped organize the library’s extensive collection of adult and children’s books, both paperback and hardback editions, as well as video and audio tapes available for checkout.

“We are always getting new items and we are part of the Baldwin County Library system, so if we don’t have it here, we can get it,” said Library volunteer Dorothy Edhegard. “We welcome people from all over the county to come and see what we have to offer.”

Edhegard is one of many volunteers who help keep the Library in operation on a day-to-day basis, including Louise Passmore, Josephine and Marian Fosberg, Doris and Emily Dearborn, Cyndi Cameron, Margaret and Shirley Stephens and Tonja Young.

In addition to the car show, the library raises money by collecting and selling aluminum cans, which helps support the library’s programs.

One of the Library’s biggest attractions is a vast collection of children’s books in the Library’s Elsie Chandler Children’s Wing which was opened about five or six years ago and named for the Library’s longtime librarian who, in her 90s, was one of the oldest librarians in the county.

“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ms. Chandler,” Doris Dearborn said. “We owe a lot to her for collecting many of the items we have in the museum and for keeping the library alive single handedly for many years.”

The library includes several books on the Public School Accellerated Reader List. Doris Dearborn said she also reads to a group of students from Silverhill Christian Academy every Thursday morning and welcomes other school groups to participate in library programs.

The Children’s Wing also includes computers with Internet access, including access to all the libraries in the County Library System.

Library Board Chairman Frankie Kucera said the library has something for everyone.

“We have a new librarian here and we welcome everyone to come by, visit and check out some books,” Kucera said.