By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

BARRY, Ill. -- The 10 high school basketball players and two coaches stare into the camera, four trophies lined up in front of them.

The 1968-69 Barry Tigers were the first undefeated team in school history at 24-0, claiming both the county and the Wenois championships.

The image is one of seven with Barry ties featured in a postcard series funded through the Illinois Humanities Council.

"That's the card getting the most attention," said Sandra McWorter with the New Philadelphia Association. "Their wives are wanting to get extra copies to give to the grandchildren, saying look at grandpa."

The idea behind the project was to take a look at some of Barry's history, including its ties to nearby New Philadelphia, the first community platted by an African-American, Free Frank McWorter, in 1836.

The council awarded a $10,000 grant last year to five organizations -- the New Philadelphia Association, Barry Public Library, the Barry Museum, the city of Barry and Western High School -- to work together to train eight young people as public historians.

The students organized historical materials, designed an exhibit on the community's history and culture and pulled together postcard possibilities. "The kids were learning a lot about their community and culture -- and that some of this stuff does not get passed on," McWorter said.

A bust of Free Frank, Sandra McWorter's great-great-great-grandfather, is featured on one of the cards as is an 1875 map showing Barry and New Philadelphia.

Other cards highlight the Illinois Traditional Country Music Festival, launched in Maysville in 1981 and moved to Barry in 2005; the Barry Public Library; the Barry Apple Festival; and an 1863 handsewn flag on display at the Barry Museum. The flag was given to Company I, 28th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, composed mostly of men from Barry, Kinderhook and the surrounding area.

"Since there were funds to duplicate the cards, they gathered up the images that were interesting, especially the Civil War flag. Everyone was very pleased about getting that out there, the fact we have that at the museum," McWorter said.

Barry is focusing more on its history, especially with the continued activity at New Philadelphia. The site was named a National Historic Landmark this year, and work is under way to make the site a national park.

The growing attention paid to Free Frank and New Philadelphia is "pleasurable," but it also puts more pressure on his descendants, McWorter said.

"He made such a large footprint. To assist in the further understanding of it is a real challenge for us," she said. "We're trying our best."

-- dhusar@whig.com/221-3379