SARANAC LAKE — Historic Saranac Lake has moved its wiki website of local history to a new platform that is more reliable and easier to use. The web address for the new site is wiki.historicsaranaclake.org.

Historic Saranac Lake Archivist/Curator Chessie Monks-Kelly led the project to move the wiki to a new host to ensure the over 8,000 pages of local history would continue to be available to the public.

“This project has been a long time coming, and is a huge step forward for HSL,” Monks-Kelly said.

The wiki website was started about 15 years ago by Historic Saranac Lake volunteer Marc Wanner. Wanner has added and edited thousands of pages, gradually building a website that maps the stories and places that make up the rich history of the Saranac Lake region. As a wiki site, anyone can add to it, and hundreds of people over the years have contributed information, photos and stories. Historic Saranac Lake’s longtime director Mary Hotaling was an avid editor, and much of her rich knowledge of the architecture and history of the area is reflected on the wiki.

In recent years, the platform began working slowly, and HSL worried about the long-term security of this important resource. With grant support from the Network of the National Library of Medicine, Region 7, the wiki was moved to a new hosted solution, and the site was updated to run on new, more reliable software. The wiki pages are now easier to edit and format. The software also improves searches and navigation.

“We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of HSL volunteer, Andy Kelly,” HSL Executive Director Amy Catania said. “Andy spent countless hours working on this project, and his expertise has been invaluable.”

Historic Saranac Lake invites the community to create use and update the wiki on its new platform. The old wiki will be available for some time to come, but it will no longer be updated.

“Look for Historic Saranac Lake’s “HSL” logo on the top of the page. If you see that, you know you are at the new wiki. Once you make a new user account, you can click “edit” and add what you know,” Monks-Kelly said.