Previous Grants Awarded 2001

December 2001
Marge Rice has an admirable and unusual hobby. She rescues orphaned photos from antique stores and uses her genealogical skills to reunite them with their families of origin. To date, she has restored 1,275 photos to family members. Grateful recipients have sent her so many thank you notes that she is now on her second scrapbook of them! Marge plans on using her grant to rescue another batch of photos. If you're lucky, maybe they'll include yours!

Marge Rice is continuing her orphan photo rescuing efforts. Here's another article about her and here are her latest stats:

November 2001
November's grant goes to Camden County Library in Voorhees, New Jersey for being one of the most genealogy-friendly libraries around. Although they do not have the staff to handle genealogical requests, they are very helpful in providing alternative resources and will, as time permits, try to facilitate your research. On three occasions, they have been kind enough to assist with Korean Repatriation Project cases by locating and faxing obituaries within 24 hours!

*** Update as of July 2005
With the grant money, we purchased Camden County census reels from the 1930 census and the book Professional Genealogy by E.S. Mills. -- Maureen Wynkoop, Librarian and Webmaster, Camden County Library

October 2001
Back in 1991, historian Richard D. Longo was asked by the mayor of Rochester, New Hampshire to undertake a project to locate all of the city's cemeteries. The mayor thought there were 72, but Richard has found 139! After he finds a cemetery, he takes photos, notes the location, records all headstone data, and enters all of this into a database - more than 12,000 names so far. Because many of these are small, off the beaten path cemeteries, Richard often has to note their location by reference to buildings, boundaries, etc. Because he fears these reference points will change over time, he will use his grant to purchase a GPS to enable him to note the precise, geographic location of each cemetery, so no one will have to repeat his efforts in the future.

September 2001
In a program Gloria Cordova calls "Finding and Honoring Our Spanish-Mexican Grandmothers," she uses her own family history and doctoral dissertation research as a means of discovering and giving visibility to Spanish-mestiza ancestral women. Gloria's intent is to inspire others to research and discover the women in their families, to learn who they were, and to love what they represent. The program also discusses New Mexico history and genealogical records as related to the early Hispano settlers of the area. Gloria will use her grant to cover expenses incurred in presenting her program.

*** Update as of July 2005
I used the grant funding to prepare materials for Honoring Our Spanish-Mexican Ancestral Grandmothers presentations to several genealogical societies. Here you can see a photos of Maria Paula "Pablita" (Trujillo) Ribera (center, my ggg-grandmother, with her two daughters; left, Marina Ribera and right, Damiana Ribera) and of me, presenting at the National Society of Hispanic Genealogy, Denver, CO. - Gloria Cordova


August 2001
The Lawrence Cemetery Restoration Project of Long Island, NY is an all volunteer project formed to repair the vandalized and nearly abandoned Lawrence Cemetery, Lawrence, Nassau County, NY (c.1831) to its original pristine condition. Upcoming plans include organized clean ups and landscaping, the installation of new fences and iron gates, grave stone repairs, and the development of an official record of stones. There are currently over 100 stones damaged and faced down in the two acre cemetery, making it virtually impossible for most of those who wish to visit or seek genealogical information. The organization has a regular newsletter and volunteers range from two to 90 years of age. A grant is being given to support this historic and challenging endeavor and will help pay the balance needed for a new iron gate.

July 2001
Donna Bradley is the recipient of a grant for her project to supplement the 1905-1997 CA Death Index that resides on Rootsweb.com. Specifically, Donna intends to copy, transcribe and upload pre-1905 death records for San Diego County. This new index will also reside on Rootsweb. Over time, Donna (a long time volunteer under Rootsweb's Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness program) hopes to extend her efforts to other records (e.g., marriage, divorce, etc.) and other CA counties.

*** Update as of January 2002
The California Pre-1905 Death Index project is well underway and spreading like wild fire! This initially one-county project is becoming a statewide one supported by generous volunteers and donors!



June 2001
The African-American Genealogy Group of Philadelphia is planning a Black History Month celebration for February 2, 2002. This celebration will include presentations about the involvement of African-Americans in the Civil War (conducted by descendants dressed in the attire of the era), a variety of workshops, and a guest speaker. Students from the African-American Studies Department of Temple University and public schools will participate as well. A grant is being given to support this educational initiative. Please contact Mildred Diane Harden for more information.

May 2001
Susan Parish owns the negative archives of three Olympia, WA photographers who were active circa 1870-1995. In all there are over 100,000 negatives. Due to some personal misfortunes, Ms. Parish is no longer able to maintain and store the collection. Her efforts to date to find a new home for the negatives have been unsuccessful to date. A grant has been given to Ms. Parish to pay for proper storage of the collection while she continues her search for an appropriate repository. Anyone with suggestions and/or Washington roots (Who knows? Maybe some of your ancestors are in the collection!) is encouraged to contact Ms. Parish or visit her website at Shadow-Catchers.

*** Update as of July 2005
Megan was a Godsend to me...and my community's history and untold family historians. Thanks to her generosity, I was able to survive a difficult financial time in my business which is based on my being a private photo-archivist, and pay storage on a very large collection of over 50,000 historic, commercial portrait negatives until I could find a home for them. Given more time, which her grant allowed, I was able to convince the Washington State Archives that these historic portrait negatives were valuable, and now they are in proper storage at their climate-controlled underground facilities on the Washington State Capitol Campus which is accessible to anyone wanting to do family research!

At the time I found her and applied for her grant, I had been paying storage on them for over 18 years, but had run out of money as I had recently been injured in an automobile accident and had to close my photography business while I convalesced. I had to severely cut back on my expenses and had to make difficult choices. I had always known these negatives were valuable to genealogy and had, over the years, made prints from them for many people who had contacted me and were so very thankful they could find photos of family members. But I could no longer pay the storage fees and was desperate, as the owner was going to toss them because he could see no value to them. I was so very sad and then I found Megan! I can't thank her enough for her work on behalf of history and genealogy as precious artifacts like this are one of a kind and will never be again, and without people as dedicated as her would be lost to future generations.

The WA State Archives in Olympia, Washington, USA now understands and values historic negatives and photography of people, places and events, and has continued collecting and cataloging -- and has even hired their first photo-archivist in their commitment to preserve Washington's history. Today I am back at work and re-building my business, Shadow Catchers ~ Historical Photography of the Pacific Northwest, from my home studio and thanks to the Internet, am making photo-history available again with a glad heart knowing that together Megan and I did 'a very good thing'! -- Susan Parish, Olympia, Washington, Shadow Catchers

April 2001
Komunitna Nadacia Modra Torysa or The Blue Torysa River Regional Foundation, is a private, non-governmental, grant-giving organization in Lipany, Slovak Republic. Spearheaded by Sona Sabolova (foundation director) and Peace Corps volunteer Susan Finklepearl, its aim is to provide financial support to individuals and groups working to solve economic, social and environmental problems faced by rural communities in the Upper Torysa region of Slovakia. This grant is being given to the Foundation in support of its Cultural Heritage Program, which is designed to preserve and rescue Slovak craft traditions. The organization was brought to my attention by Pete Semanick who recently arranged for the installation of a playground in Olsov, the village his family comes from. Please contact Susan for details on how you can make a donation. Remember, even a few dollars go a long way in Slovakia!

March 2001
Linda Alexander wrote, "There's no such thing as coincidence. I have been "found" twice by materials that seemed to want to be returned to their original family, as well as have their story told." Most recently, she received the 1842 indenture papers of a 6-year old girl. Through research, Linda learned that the child had been murdered the following year by the wife of the man who bought her. There seem to have been only two items to prove she ever existed -- the indenture and a blurb in the local newspaper that told of the trial of her murderer. Linda has made it her mission to learn this little girl's full story and put it in written form. March's grant will be used to support this effort. As she says, "This girl remains a timeless poster child for abuse . . . and (she) deserves closure." Linda, who only learned of her own mixed heritage a few years ago, also gives lectures to educate folks on how interconnected we truly are. To learn more about her intriguing projects, visit I Am America.

February 2001
With her keen interest in Slovak genealogy, Karen Melis has produced a family newsletter (Vodzak/Lopata), organized international family reunions, and supported TARG (Tatra Area Research Group), which has a number of family history initiatives concerning villages on the Polish/Slovak border. This grant is being awarded for just one of these efforts, the transferring of photographed church records from some of these Slovak villages to indexed, searchable CDs which will be made available to the extended TARG community. I hope other regional and ethnic organizations will consider borrowing this wonderful idea!

January 2001
Your Past Connections is a terrific site created by Ed Elliott for the purpose of "helping people find original items and memorabilia from their family's past." Through this site, you can search for family photos, Bibles, and other memorabilia through the "Available Items" feature, as well as leave your wish list of family treasures you hope to find through the "Requested Items" feature. An update feature allows you to be notified of new listings on a periodic basis. Ed has been doing this several years at his own expense and only recently started to accept donations through the Amazon Honor System (through which we contributed). If you like what you see when you visit, please consider making a contribution yourself.