Genealogical Good Deeds
Long ago, before I started researching my own family I developed a fascination with old photos and papers, diaries, general ephemera. I have a fairly large collection of that sort of thing.
I have a large diary of a teacher from upstate New York, full of newspaper clippings, love letters, even a list of the grades that she gave her classes on semester. I have 5 years worth of diaries from another gentleman that detail everything from his daily life, including his sex life (he was a college student in the 40's for most of the time that the diaries cover.) I have boxes of photos, including one very large box that was literally found on the street in Manhattan. It contains over 200 photographs going back 50 years or more.
Now that I'm researching my family I realize what a treasure trove this stuff would be for a researcher. So I've started gathering what information I have from the items and researching those people, in the same way that I have looked at my own ancestors, and trying to contact the families that might be interested in these old treasures. Some of the people are turning up easily, mostly names from the photos, others are proving a bit more elusive. I haven't found anyone that would seem to be worthy of the diary (I'd like that one to go to a direct descendant if such exists) and no one seems to be researching the family that the large box of photos belongs to. I've made a few posts in message boards here and there, and contacted a few people who have published research about the pertinent people. No one has responded yet.
I hope this works as sort of a genealogical karma. I could use a few hints on some of my own research.
I have a large diary of a teacher from upstate New York, full of newspaper clippings, love letters, even a list of the grades that she gave her classes on semester. I have 5 years worth of diaries from another gentleman that detail everything from his daily life, including his sex life (he was a college student in the 40's for most of the time that the diaries cover.) I have boxes of photos, including one very large box that was literally found on the street in Manhattan. It contains over 200 photographs going back 50 years or more.
Now that I'm researching my family I realize what a treasure trove this stuff would be for a researcher. So I've started gathering what information I have from the items and researching those people, in the same way that I have looked at my own ancestors, and trying to contact the families that might be interested in these old treasures. Some of the people are turning up easily, mostly names from the photos, others are proving a bit more elusive. I haven't found anyone that would seem to be worthy of the diary (I'd like that one to go to a direct descendant if such exists) and no one seems to be researching the family that the large box of photos belongs to. I've made a few posts in message boards here and there, and contacted a few people who have published research about the pertinent people. No one has responded yet.
I hope this works as sort of a genealogical karma. I could use a few hints on some of my own research.
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