The collection was donated by sisters, Eileen McLaughlin Koenig and Joyce McLaughlin Pappaceno, who grew up in Hicksville and are descendants of the Keller family.
Joseph Keller, the patriarch of the family, was born c1849 in Austria and immigrated to the United States with his wife Louise in 1874. They had eight children. The family settled in Hicksville early in the nineteenth century and participated in local life and industry. Joseph Keller was the proprietor of the White House hotel in Hicksville and his children’s occupations included teaching and nursing.
Scope of Collection
The Keller family collection consists of family records, photographs, clippings, brochures, ephemera, and memorabilia from their time in Hicksville. It is a small collection spanning the years 1911 to 1975 with particular concentration on early school photographs, community parades, Hicksville’s Tercentennial celebrations, and Red Cross nursing in World War I.
