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by Dawne

The death of my dear Uncle Stan at the end of May has brought again to the forefront of my mind the need to get family stories written down sooner, rather than later. Uncle Stan was one of four brothers – Oliver, the oldest; then Stanley, Philip and Laurie, my father. My father and his brother, Oliver, have been gone for almost ten years. They died within five days of one another back in December 2002. Since then, Uncle Stan and Uncle Phil have filled the role of surrogate grandfather for all of the family’s grandchildren.

I was able to attend Uncle Stan’s funeral in North Little Rock and, as I suspected that it would be, it was an occasion of joy and laughter, along with the sorrow and tears. Uncle Stan was a rare character. He had a quirky sense of humor and his escapades are legend in our family. Stories about him were shared at the visitation, and funny stories that he told time and again were repeated once more. Many of the “props” for his practical jokes were on display at the visitation and the funeral. These included a fake wooden cell phone made from ...

by Delia

As I am sure you've seen in the news media, one of the most famous ship wrecks of all time occurred one hundred years ago tonight. Of course, the Titanic was famous even before it sank in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. It was one of the largest passenger ships at the time, and with all of its safety features, it was reported to be unsinkable. The various stories and legends of the event have been told and retold, and many of us have watched movies fictionalizing the event, including the 1958 "Night to Remember," based on the Walter Lord book of the same title. When the 1997 James Cameron movie came out, a number of people came into the department, asking to see the "Titanic passenger list."

First of all, the Titanic never made it to port in New York, so a passenger list was never submitted to US immigration authorities. Most of those who survived arrived on other ships, most notably the Carpathia. The bodies that were recovered were, for the most part, buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Feisty Rose, doomed Jack and evil fiance Cal from the movie "Titanic" were fictional, although, ...

Renovation of the building at 900 Webster took place began in 2004, which entailed gutting the structure and almost doubling its space, as is shown in this view from this Washington Boulevard view and by 2006, the building was nearing completion. New shelving went up in the new Genealogy Center and new equipment was installed, including computer tables and chairs.

All was ready for Opening Day!

Next (and last) installment of Genealogy Center History: Opening Day!

 

Rebuilding building and move out and in...

In 1965, the library moved to temporary quarters in the Old Purdue Building at Jefferson and Barr Streets.

The Genealogy Collection is on the second floor, above the Young Adult Room in this photo of the Purdue Building "ballroom."

Researchers used microfilm readers

 and print material

and were asked to "remove no material from Historical Genealogy."

Next time: The new building on Webster Street!

Running the country and conducting a Civil War weren't the only things on Abraham Lincoln's mind. Political controversy was a daily occurrence. The Lincoln Financial Collection, housed at the Allen County Public Library, contains a vast collection of broadsides, pamphlets, booklets, maps, photographs, and cartoons that provide in-depth background on Lincoln and the politics of his time. To highlight this material, The Genealogy Center Gallery is hosting a display of facsimiles of some of these original documents. Stop in and see this fascinating display.

Music is often used to call to mind a certain time, location or mood. The popular music created in the '30s ("Brother Can You Spare a Dime?") or 40s ("I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time") evokes the era, and we are lucky that, as time goes by, more of these songs are appearing on digital archives like the Library of Congress's American Memory Project or Internet Archive. Some songs, though written much later, suggest an earlier event. One of the best known of these is "(Coming to) America," released by Neil Diamond in 1980, which strongly brings to mind the great mass of immigrants of the second half of the 19th Century, traveling in steerage as they made their way to what they hoped was a better life. What's your favorite "history" song?

February 22 became a national holiday in 1880, celebrating the birth of George Washington, and it was celebrated on that date until the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved it to the third Mondays of February. Popular tradition has combined it with the February 12 birthday celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, which although observed as a holiday in many states, was not a federal holiday. There is occasional grousing about moving the holiday from the actual birthday of our first President, but Washington wasn't actually born on February 22, 1732, but February 11, 1731. When the Catholic countries of Europe began to change from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar, named for Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, the Protestant countries, including England, declined to follow this new calendar, which began when Thursday October 4, 1582 was followed by Friday October 15, 1582, dropping 10 days from the calendar. Over the next 170 years, various countries adopted the changes, until finally, England, and her colonies joined in by following Wednesday February 17, 1753 with Thursday March 1, because by this time it was necessary to drop an additional day. Also in England, the civil new year had started on March 25, making ...