The Perry Historians began in 1976 as a grass-roots organization, largely through the efforts of Harry A. Focht and Jerry A. Clouse, to preserve the oral and genealogical history of Perry County that was slowly slipping away. The group focused on the lives of county residents, both mighty and humble, who had contributed to making the county what it is today. Begun before the age of the computer, the internet, and Ancestry.com, some of its programs and initiatives were groundbreaking at the time and served as an example for other historical establishments. Tracing family roots then meant long hours of painstaking search through often unorganized records at different county and state repositories, so an early goal was to concentrate these sources of information at one location. That was accomplished through the systematic copying of the county's cemeteries, the microfilming of county newspapers, church records, and justice of peace dockets, and the indexing of source documents. Another goal was to maintain, continue, and enhance the family research of long-time genealogist Harry W. Lenig. In 1977, Focht purchased Airy View School, which had been converted to a four-room house in the 1950s, and later donated the property to the Historians. After two years of largely volunteer restoration and renovation work, the Historians' library was dedicated in 1979 as the Herry Lenig Library. By 1985, sufficient money had been raised to enable construction of the 30 by 40 foot vault on the east side of the school. In 1993, a brick-faced search-room wing was added to the south side of the vault. The Historians were designated the county's official records repository in 2003, and the climate-controlled Hoverter Archives was completed in 2006 to house the records. Over the years, many faithful and dedicated volunteers helped the library's holdings and outreach grow into a regional research center.