COUSINS PLEASE READ;
This is something that I have hoped to get OUR Cousins to do at our
Reunions.
Talk to the Older Cousins, a lot of them have Old Pictuers, Letters, &
other Old timey Information about what happened LONG AGO.
NOW We have Help, The Virginia State Library has hired some one to help
US.
Please Cousins Lets take Advantage of This Free opertunity, JUST remember
that from little Acorns do BIG OAKS GROW>
And as Always <ASK & ANSWER QUESTIONS SOME ONE KNOWS>
Cousins this Realy could help, now we are not alone.
Please lets not mind to Speak up. What ya think, and if one doers not
like
IT COSTS NOTHING. Lets hope to learn what who may have some interesting
Family Information Please Speak. CUZ A T _atpowelljr(a)aol.com_
(mailto:atpowelljr@aol.com)
Lohmann, _Times Dispatch Staff_ (
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/staff/38/)
Published: January 27, 2011
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_vote
nowBuzz up!_
(
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?publisherurn=the_times_dispat&guid=http://...
imesdispatch.com/news/2011/jan/27/tdmet01-finding-history-in-od
d-places-ar-801897/&targetUrl=) POWHATAN --
_Virginia Black_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/virginia-black/)
knew that her mother had a collection of old family papers
hidden away for safekeeping, but she didn't know precisely what it
included, and she certainly didn't think anyone else would care.
But after her mother died, Black started going through a Tupperware
container that had been stashed beneath her mother's bed. She discovered
letters
and other documents belonging to _James Cooper_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/james-cooper/) , a
great-great-grandfather — or
maybe it was a great-great-great grandfather, she's not altogether certain
—
who had served as a _U.S._
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/country/tags/united-states/)
_senator_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/position/tags/senator/) from
_Pennsylvania_
(http:
//www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/provinceorstate/tags/pennsylvania/) and at the end
of
his life as a brigadier general for the _Union army_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/organization/tags/union-army/)
in the Civil War.
Just the sort of stuff _Laura Drake Davis_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/laura-drake-davis/)
is looking for.
"Wow," said _Davis_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/laura-drake-davis/)
, a senior state records _archivist_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/position/tags/archivist/) for
the Library of
_Virginia_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/virginia-black/) ,
as she leafed through Black's stack of fragile papers. "These are
quite good."
_Davis_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/laura-drake-davis/)
is _a coordinator_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/position/tags/coordinator/)
of _The Civil War_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/movie/tags/the-civil-war/)
150 Legacy Project, a
collaborative effort of the state library and the Virginia
Sesquicentennial of the
_American Civil War Commission_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/organization/tags/american-civil
-war-commission/) . The aim is to find and
digitize privately held materials — such as family letters, diaries and
photographs from the Civil War era — that have been stashed in attics,
sock
drawers or under beds in Tupperware containers.
The resulting _online collection_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/industryterm/tags/online-collect
ion/) will be publicly accessible and,
project organizers hope, "shed light on things that haven't been studied
before, but also bring a new perspective to things that have been
studied,"
_Davis_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/laura-drake-davis/)
said.
I caught up with _Davis_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/laura-drake-davis/)
at the _Powhatan County Public Library_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/facility/tags/powhatan-county-pu
blic-libra
ry/) last week, one of the most recent stops of her road show. She and
_fellow coordinator_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/position/tags/fellow-coordinator
/) _Renee M. Savits_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/renee-m-savits/)
hope to visit every county and
independent city in _Virginia_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/virginia-black/)
at least once by June 2012, and they hope people
such as _Virginia Black_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/virginia-black/)
show up with little treasures they may not have
realized they had.
"I'm so glad to share these with somebody who's interested," said
_Black_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/virginia-black/) ,
who lives in _Powhatan_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/provinceorstate/tags/powhatan/)
with her husband, _Mike_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/mike/) .
Said _Davis_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/laura-drake-davis/)
, "That's why we're doing the project. You get to share, but
you also get to keep them."
The program works this way: You bring in whatever items you have, the
archivists scan them with a high-resolution scanner, you fill out a
permission
form for the library to include them in the collection (and whether you
want
to be identified as the person who is the source) and jot down any
details
about the item you know. You go home with your belongings, and the
library
has another piece of the Civil War puzzle for historians, school kids,
genealogists or anyone else who is interested in that era. Because of the
turnout statewide, it takes three to six months for images of items to
reach
the project's website.
So far, Virginians have brought in a variety of items: soldiers' diaries,
oaths of allegiance, parole passes for soldiers released from prison
camps,
letters, photos, drawings. Among Black's possessions was a certificate
appointing _Cooper_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/james-cooper/)
brigadier general. She also had a booklet put together after
his death with newspaper clippings attached to the pages with straight
pins.
The joy of the project, _Davis_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/laura-drake-davis/)
said, is not knowing who will show up
with what at any stop, or what conversations will come up. At the
_Powhatan
library_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/facility/tags/powhatan-library/)
, _Sandra R. Kemp_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/sandra-r-kemp/)
arrived with photographs of her ancestors who were
slaves at Belmead Plantation, while _Helen Graham_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/helen-graham/)
came with numerous items
including documentation of a Confederate soldier buried in the yard of her
home,
Roseneath. While they waited, they chatted about people and places and the
history of the county.
"The social aspect is tremendous," _Davis_
(
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/topics/types/person/tags/laura-drake-davis/)
said. "You learn a lot."
__._,_.___