Previous Grants Awarded 2009
January 2009
The First International Black Genealogy Summit is a momentous event that involves all of the black historical and genealogical societies in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean coming together to celebrate the joys and challenges of black genealogy. The grant award will be used to sponsor the 2009 Summit, taking place at the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne October 29-31, 2009.
February 2009
Alice Yeager of Alabama Neighbors produced two documentaries last year, and is now recording cemetery tours led by local historians in towns all overAlabama. The main focus will be on tombstone artwork and motifs and the amazing stories of the people who are buried within the cemeteries (both the famous and the infamous). The grant will be applied to filming, editing, and production expenses.
March 2009
Tammy White was doing genealogy research with members of her family when they discovered that the Thomas/Simpson Cemetery (south of Pleasant Hill, Jackson County, MO) was so buried under weeds, thorn bushes, and trees, that you could not even tell it was a cemetery. The grant will provide funds for the continued up-keep of the cemetery, specifically stabilization of a fence that will protect the cemetery from nearby cattle.
April 2009
Alannah Ryane has been documenting a series of webisodes, called By Her Roots "The Search for Peter Martin." The videos are shot in Nova Scotia as Alannah explores her family history, and are available on RootsTelevision.com. The grant award will be used to upgrade Alannah's video editing software as she completes last webisodes of By Her Roots.
May 2009
Save Our Cemeteries is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of Louisiana's historic cemeteries, and to fostering a public appreciation for their historical and cultural significance. They are currently working with Xavier University students to compile a record of those buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 in New Orleans. The cemetery is the largest New Orleans' creole cemetery, spanning three square blocks. The grant award will be used in support of this project.
June 2009
The Phillips County Museum is one of the major genealogical and local history resources in northern Montana, providing access to historic newspapers, obituary files, homestead plat maps, county histories, family history files, and rural school records, as well as a small library of local history reference works. The Museum also maintains an extensive collection of historic photographs of the area that have recently been digitized. The grant award will fund the purchase of a computer to allow visiting researchers to access the digitized historic photographs and other digital resources.
July 2009
The Reno County Genealogical Society in Hutchinson, KS provides a local resource for research, programs, and educational workshops. This year, they established a community connection project and are currently working to purchase name signs for 16 local cemeteries. The grant award will support this effort.
August 2009
The Indiana Genealogical Society in Fort Wayne, IN is working to preserve and digitize 25-40 boxes of probate records that have been stored in the basement of the Hendricks County courthouse. These records date from 1824 (when the county was founded) to 1899 and have never been microfilmed, indexed or otherwise accessible to the public. The grant award will fund the purchase of a camera needed for this project. Additional contributions welcome!
September 2009
Kelly Bickle and his wife are third generation owners of The Burns Studio in Boise, ID. The studio was built in 1919, and there are more than 100,000 negatives of people in Idaho. They are currently working to catalog and put the pictures online so people can search for their family portraits. The grant award will help fund the purchase of EmbARK Cataloguer for use with this project.
October 2009
The goal of the Boulder Pioneers Project in Colorado is to identify the original pioneers to the area for Boulder's upcoming sesquicentennial anniversary. The list currently includes more than 10,200 people. The grant award will go toward providing gift copies of the indices to the major genealogical research libraries.
