Marie Fraley, co-founder and former director of the Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies at Rhode Island College and former managing director of the Portuguese American Leadership Council of the United States, has donated $25,000 to the college to establish the Joseph George Ray Portuguese American Archives Endowed Fund. 

Administered by the Rhode Island College Foundation and named in honor of Fraley’s father, the fund is designed to support the establishment of the Rhode Island Portuguese American Archives, housed in Special Collections at Adams Library.

Specifically, the endowment will support the cataloging and preservation of the collection, sponsor internship and research opportunities for RIC students and support cultural events related to the collection.

Clark Greene, interim executive director of the RIC Foundation, states, “We are so grateful for Marie’s gift and her continued support of Portuguese studies at Rhode Island College.”

In addition to this generous donation, Fraley was the first to contribute to the archives. Among the items she’s donated are her father’s World War II medals and other insignia and his biography in book form, which embodies a legacy of Portuguese American life.

You can read more in an article at: https://www.ric.edu/news-events/news/25k-endowment-support-new-ri-portuguese-american-archives-ric 

You're on vacation or at a tourist attraction and find one of those penny presses. How much fun is it to squish a penny into an instant souvenir? Insert your coins and turn the crank to squeeze and squash a penny into stretched-out oval with an embossed design.

Now collectors of kitchy coins and touristy trinkets can easily find the locations of those coin-operated, hand cranked penny press machines while on a trip or right in your hometown. Enter a zip code and a search radius to get a list and map of the penny presses near you! (I was amazed to find over 30 different penny presses near me in Seattle.)

The site also sells hard to find pressed pennies, collector albums and display stands.

The following announcement was written by the Augusta Genealogical Society:

Augusta Genealogical Society Augusta, Georgia Virtual Genealogical Program

Saturday, 24 February 2024 11:00 am - 12:00 pm EST

Registration deadline is 22 February 2024 at www.augustagensociety.org
FREE to AGS members or $10 for nonmembers
JOIN AGS NOW and enjoy the benefits of several programs, which will be free to members in 2024.

Limited seating to view the virtual presentation will be offered at Adamson Library. To reserve a seat, please call (706) 722-4073.

Presenting

Brian Sheffey
IAAM Director for Family History

A New Resource for African American Genealogical Research

In this session, attendees will learn all the Center for Family History has to offer through its on-site exhibitions, reference library, research area, information kiosks, Story Booth, virtual consultations, genealogy programming, and more.

Brian Sheffey is the Director of the Center for Family History at the International African American History Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. He is also the founder and host of “Genealogy Adventures,” which he presents with Donya Williams.

His research areas have focused on the U.S. regions to the east of the Mississippi River, including the northern British American Colonies. He has a particular expertise in researching enslaved people and enslaved communities in the early British American colonial era.

Brian is the author of two award-winning Amazon Top 10 selling genealogy books: Practical Genealogy: 50 Simple Steps to Research Your Diverse Family History and Family Tree Workbook: 30+ Step-by-Step Worksheets to Build Your Family History.

International African American Museum

The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center is pleased to announce that new materials from our generous partners at North Carolina Central University are now available for viewing and research purposes on DigitalNC! The materials consist of publications from historically Black Churches in and around Raleigh, Durham, Henderson and Oxford North Carolina, a handmade scrapbook consisting of newspaper clippings detailing Black law enforcement officers and agents in Durham and educational materials pertaining to The North Carolina Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, Inc and the North Carolina Teachers Association. These materials give insight into Black life in the region. 

North Carolina Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers Inc. Bulletin, 1958

The North Carolina Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, Inc was founded in 1927 with the mission to improve student attendance rates, promote the overall health of students, lengthen the school year (NCpedia). Additionally local chapters raised money to buy land for schools, beautify campus grounds and to purchase musical instruments and other supplemental educational materials (NCpedia). In the 1950’s and 60’s local units garnered the support of radio and V ads along with a membership of over 300,000 participants to meet financial goals (NCpedia). The materials we have from the North Carolina Congress of Colored Parents and Teacher’s, Inc. are from the mid to late 1960’s. During this time education was still racially segregated by law. However, in 1969 the organization merged with it’s white counterparts and became known as the North Carolina Parent-Teacher’s Association. History of the north Carolina Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers Inc. was gathered from NCpedia.

North Carolina Teachers Association special edition publication, 1970

We have publications for the North Carolina Teachers Association as well. The North Carolina Teachers Association serve African American educators across the state of North Carolina. The organization originated as early as 1881. Educators from across the state would meet annually at various schools for networking and skill sharing sessions. The organization eventually merged with its white counterparts in 1970 when racial segregation ended (NCpedia).

You can read more in an article in the digitalnc.org web site at: http://tinyurl.com/3eyhfv7j.

If you have grown up with social media, chances are you have taken more photos in the last couple of decades than you will ever remember. When mobile phones suddenly became cameras too, social media turned into a community photo album, with memories kept online forever and ever. Or so we thought. 

In 2019, MySpace lost 12 years’ worth of music and photos, affecting over 14 million artists and 50 million tracks. If Instagram or the entire internet suddenly disappeared, would you be able to access your precious memories? 

We are living in a “digital dark age”, a term popularised by information and communication specialist Terry Kuny. Back in 1997, Kuny warned we were “moving into an era where much of what we know today, much of what is coded and written electronically, will be lost forever”. 

He argued that, like monks from the Middle Ages who preserved books (and therefore, knowledge), we must preserve digital objects of today. Otherwise, future generations will be left with gaps in knowledge about our present-day lives.

You can read more in an article in theconversation.com web site at: http://tinyurl.com/4ebcyast. 

The nation’s capital is home to key moments in Civil Rights history, and a new interactive map highlights the cultural, political, and social impact of those moments and the Black leaders that called D.C. home.

Anita Cozart, director of the DC Office of Planning, told WTOP that the agency has been working on the project for a while.

“We see it as our mission to help advance knowledge both for District residents but also the nation,” she said.

Among the places featured on the map is the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, and the Anacostia home of Frederick Douglass, now a national landmark.

But there are also locations whose historic importance are less widely known — schools, shops and churches were activists lived, built community and fought for their rights, including the Truist Bank location on Massachusetts Avenue NW, near Union Station. The stately building was once a restaurant where, in 1949, civil rights activists held a sit-in protest that Cozart said helped desegregation efforts.

You can read more in an article in the WTOP web site at: http://tinyurl.com/msvvtyr4.

Thursday was National Unclaimed Property Day, and Arkansas kicked it off with the "Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt." 

One in four Arkansans are owed money from things ranging from utility deposits, stocks, or even items left behind in safe deposit boxes.

Arkansas State Auditor Dennis Milligan wants to make sure you get any money that is owed to you by introducing a new websitewhere people can go to see if they have any of the more than 400 million in unclaimed cash owed to Arkansas.

Milligan says some people have a lot of money coming to them and that 1 In 4 Arkansans are owed money. Not only people could find unclaimed money on the website, but companies- both those still in business and those closed — plus non-profits.

Claiming any money you have coming to you is easy. All you must do is go to claimitar.gov to see if any funds are owed to you. 

Once on the website, click search under claiming property, and type in your first and last name. 

It will then let you know if you are owed anything.

You can read more in an article by Melissa Hall published in the 4029tv.com web site at: https://www.4029tv.com/article/arkansas-unclaimed-property-website/46615862

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. 

Beginning U.S. genealogists soon learn that the 1890 census records were destroyed in a fire in the basement of the Commerce Building on January 10, 1921. Many people who would like to see these records just shrug their shoulders and move on.

A short search on the Web, however, soon reveals that not all of the records were destroyed. In fact, census fragments for 1890 in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and the District of Columbia survived and are available now.

The morning after the fire 1921 fire, Census Director Sam Rogers reported the extensive damage to the 1890 schedules, estimating that only 25 percent of the records were destroyed, with 50 percent of the remainder damaged by water, smoke, and fire. Salvage of the water-soaked and charred documents might be possible, reported the bureau, but saving even a small part would take a month, and it would take two to three years to copy and save all the records damaged in the fire. The preliminary assessment of Census Bureau Clerk T. J. Fitzgerald was far more sobering. Fitzgerald told reporters that the priceless 1890 records were "certain to be absolutely ruined. There is no method of restoring the legibility of a water-soaked volume."

Had the fire occurred in the year 2024, many of the volumes could have been saved. Today, water-soaked documents can be freeze dried, removing the water without creating additional damage to the pages. Unfortunately, such technology was not available in 1921.

The remainder of this article is reserved for Plus Edition subscribers only. If you have a Plus Edition subscription, you may read the full article at: https://eogn.com/(*)-Plus-Edition-News-Articles/13309920

Want to live to a ripe old age? Just eat the same things over and over. Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that...

When asked how she made it to the ripe old age of 117, Emma Morano had an incredible answer.

She reckoned that the secret to her longevity was steering clear of men and the fact she abided by a strict diet throughout her entire life. Take notes, ladies!

Emma, one of the oldest people to ever grace this planet, hailed from the Piedmont region of Italy and was welcomed into the world on 29 November, 1899 - which made her the last surviving person who was born in the 1800s, before her death.

Despite being the eldest of eight siblings, she had managed to outlive them all when she passed away on 15 April, 2017.

She overcame a lot of hardships in her lengthy life too - including an abusive marriage, the death of her only child, more than 90 different Italian governments and two World Wars.

The former factory worker believed that her decision to stay single after showing her spouse the door has a lot to do with how she made it to such a great age in life.

Emma explained the marriage had hardly ever been a match made in heaven - as she had actually been in love with a man who died during WWI and wasn't too interested in finding anyone else.

She didn't really have a say in the matter when the proposition of getting hitched was put before her, anyway.

You can read the full story in an article by Olivia Burke published in the adbible.coweb site at: http://tinyurl.com/y4kna3jr 

Maudy Adkinson Johnson remembers walking across cow fields and busy roads as a child to get to her one-room schoolhouse in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

It was the 1950s, and Johnson said the Lee-Buckner School was teaching her how to read, write and do math problems. She was also making friends with other Black children.

Never once did she question why there were no White students at her school – instead, she said students were more focused on their education and building a sense of community.

“We never even talked about it being a difference in the races,” Johnson said. “We didn’t understand it.”

But whether the students knew it or not, Lee-Buckner was part of the Rosenwald Schools project — a broad effort to educate Black children in the rural South at a time when segregation prohibited them from attending White schools.

Julius Rosenwald, a philanthropist and president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, launched the project in partnership with Black American orator and president of the Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington.

Rosenwald, his nonprofit, The Rosenwald Fund, and members of the Black community raised funding for the construction of more than 5,000 schools, teacher homes and shops between 1912 and 1932, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

You can read more in an article on CNN by Nicquel Terry Ellis at: https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/01/us/rosnewald-schools-legacy-preservation-reaj