Previous Grants Awarded 2007

December 2007
Mary's Genealogy Treasures, a website started by Mary Tollestrup, houses over 20,000 genealogy links, including over 550 pioneer histories, a surname registry, and over 1100 webpages. Mary created the website to help Alberta, Canada Family History Center staff assist patrons in locating genealogy resources on the Internet. The website now helps people from all over the world find their ancestors. Mary will use the grant to purchase resources she needs to help update and maintain her growing website.

November 2007
The Conway County Genealogical Society in Morrilton, Arkansas provides a number of services to members, including publishing a monthly newsletter with genealogical tips and information, sponsoring the annual Arkansas River Valley Ancestor Fair that is a meeting place for anyone interested in genealogy, and sponsoring several genealogy workshops. The organization also runs the Conway County Research Library that provides a place for the public to begin their genealogy research. The grant will fund Internet service in the research library, allowing members and visitors to expand their research by going online.

October 2007
The Howard County Missouri Genealogical Society is a small society that has been accumulating resources and doing research in genealogy since 1993. They plan to use the grant to purchase bookcases and books to further their research activities.

September 2007
The Genealogical Society of Siskiyou County provides the only connection to genealogy for members in Yreka, CA, a rural farming community. The organization maintains a research center for meetings and to house their growing collection of local family histories and research aids from all over the U.S. They would like to add Internet access to their research center, providing members with the opportunity to contact experienced genealogists for assistance in their research. The grant will fund Internet access and wireless capabilities for the organization’s research center.

August 2007
Kristina Mullenix is beginning a project to interview those who participated in the Civil Rights Movement in Meridian, MS, of which almost no documentation currently exists. Special attention will also be given to documenting women's roles in the movement. The grant will be used to purchase a digital camera for photographing interviewees and a tape recorder for proper transcription and documentation.

July 2007
The Genealogical Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania provides research assistance, purchases research materials for the local library, offers how-to sessions, and publishes periodicals four times a year. The grant will fund updating their current website to a database-driven site to accommodate large searchable documents.

June 2007
Amy Smith is a doctoral student in the School of Communication Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, focusing her dissertation on women as they conduct their own research into family genealogy. The goal of this project is to gain a better understanding behind the motivation of these women when conducting such research, as well as to gain insight into the impact genealogical data has upon family communication. The grant will be used for research expenses, such as audio tapes, transcription machine rental and travel expenses to and from interview sites.

May 2007
While working in genealogy since 1994 in the Georgian State Archives, Georgian Genealogy created one of the first genealogical websites in the country of Georgia. The website provides genealogical and historic information based on the state archives and libraries. The grant will go towards the purchase of a digital camera to be used to archive records and books, taking photos of historic places, etc.

April 2007
Ann Williams of Alberta, Canada has compiled a large body of data relating to the Astridge surname and has worked over the years with fellow researchers to connect long lost family members. A gathering of Astridges in Overton, Hampshire, England is planned for October 20-21, 2007 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the marriage of the earliest couple traced, Aaron Astridge & Mary Smith. Approximately 74 of their descendants from the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all parts of England are expected to attend. The grant will subsidize copies of materials to include wall-mounted charts and individual kits containing the weekend schedule, family trees, a listing of local places and their Astridge associations and the story of Aaron and Mary.

March 2007
The Wachusett Writers and Poets Club in Westminster, MA is a group of seniors, all over age 55, who met through a course in Creative Writing at the local junior college. They write short stories, poems, essays and more and self publish a text of their individual works once a year. Their love of writing continues to grow, as they explain: “We all have been bitten by the bug of writing since childhood. Retirement has allowed this love to blossom into the joy of telling for posterity.” The grant will be used to fund a workshop for the group, guided by the Central MA Genealogical Society to enrich their research skills for the telling of family stories.

February 2007
The Cemetery Surveys, Inc. website, run by Rose Birdwell, posts pictures of every stone in each surveyed cemetery (over 1,000 currently online), plus panoramas. They also post birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, obits and other material with genealogical value. In the past two years, website traffic has increased to over a quarter million per month, slowing the server down and creating problems for their Internet service provider. They plan to use the grant to upgrade their server and to pay for a year of business internet.

January 2007
Clark County Internet Library provides research on local history, genealogy, and a host of transcriptions designed to assist family research of Clark County, WI ancestors. Information posted on the site is collected by 200 volunteers in 16 states and 3 foreign countries. They plan to use the grant toward the purchase of suitable shelving for newspaper microfiche used by all of the libraries in Clark County. And by the way, check out the cool book shelf on their home page!

January 2007
Seymour, IN is a town with rich history -- founded by "builders and busters, entrepreneurs and scoundrels" and the site of the nation's first train robbery. To document this history, the Seymour Museum board is in the process of creating a living history tour through the Riverview Cemetery to celebrate its 125th year. In this project, historians and actors will research primary documents and family histories to accurately portray notable individuals throughout Seymour's history. The grant will be used to help fund this tour, which will be held in April 2007.