Here’s a “window” into my despair: I’ve reviewed for retention purposes a file folder in my society’s library’s vertical files that purports to offer useful information about the State of Wisconsin. It’s a random choice from the file drawer devoted to U.S. states. Here are the categories of items I found, the dates -- where dated -- of the various items I found there, and their disposition (largely according to age of material)....
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brochure on WI Area Research Center Network (1997)
county map depicting these areas (1992)
series of county maps from WI State Gen. Soc. newsletters (1978-83)
list of St. Hist. Soc. naturalization records holdings, by county (1986)
UW-Madison map depicting percent German settlement, by county
brochure on Max Kade Institute at UW-Madison (ca. 1988)
6-pg. list of Milwaukee church records on microfilm
brochure on 7th Day Bapt. Hist. Soc. in Janesville
Indiana Mag. of History 1980 article pertaining to Draper papers
photocopied pgs. from Mayville hist. book (1972)
Toss
brochure & handout on WI Area Research Center Network (1990-92)
FHL WI research outline (1993) & guide to gen. research (n.d.)
genealogical society leaflets (1988-92 & etc.)
gen. soc. addresses, phones & officers (1993)
gen. soc. publication lists or order forms (1990)
tourism brochures, articles (1982-92 & etc.)
promotional ltr. from gen. researcher (1979)
accessions list pgs. from WI Mag. of Hist. (1965-76)
Milwaukee Central Library brochure (n.d.)
lecture handout on Old Northwest Terr. & migration (1993)
Milwaukee Co. Hist. Soc. research collections (1992)
F-G listings of 1869-73 City of Milwaukee deaths
6-pg. partial transcript of local historical recollections, unsourced!
Nat. Geographic article on WI Ice Age (1977)
pg. on churches from “Hist. of Northern WI” book
outline of “publications of WI Hist. Records Survey” (ca. 1941)
Gen. Helper article on WI Research (1979)
WI Vital Statistics office info, from 50-state list (1988)
ltr. concerning professional researchers at State Hist. Soc. (1978)
WI Hist. Soc. online gen. research svcs. leaflets (2003)
When I finished sorting better than half the items I saved were the county maps. I saved them because they show not only rural roads, but also the range-and-township lines that would allow someone to locate an ancestor’s land from the farm’s legal description. But overall, slightly more than 50% of the material I found in the file was put into the recycle dumpster. The most recent item I encountered was a decade old, and we now live in an internet age when up-to-date information is available at one’s fingertips from not only computers, but now smartphones!
Most of two whole file drawers had originally been devoted to the U.S. States vertical files when I began my review, and almost all states had a folder. Upon completion I’ve retained 21 state folders that take at most a third of a file drawer. The sad truth is that most of the material saved over the years had become useless and/or misleading (by virtue of being out-of-date). No one had bothered to add new items for years.
How is this possible?
The Society in question is the Immigrant Genealogical Society, located in Burbank, California. It is national in scope, but has always depended upon local membership. It has as its primary focus German genealogy, which is my specialty. The IGS is a constituent organization of the Federation of East European Family History Societies (FEEFHS). Going to the “German Genealogy Resources” link from the FEEFHS home page will provide a list (at the bottom of the page) of “societies and organizations.” The IGS is one of 16 link options, and two others relate to “Die Pommerschen Leute” -- The Pomeranian People -- which is an IGS special interest group by virtue of using our bulk mail permit for its own publication (linked above), but which has separate officers and membership from the IGS.
So, you might ask, how did all of this come about? The IGS has an interesting history. No one decided one day to create a specialized society. It started with a library. A print shop owner in North Hollywood wanted to build a collection of books to aid her genealogical research, but found it difficult to acquire books relating to her German lineage. But she had an idea. Her daughter was going to school in Switzerland, and had a best friend there who was herself a German. In time, the mothers of these two girls got to know each other and found that they could help each other.
The German, who was not a genealogist, could nevertheless search for and acquire books in Germany for the American, while each could provide a “home base” for the other while visiting in the other’s country. And so an international friendship between two parents resulted in a growing personal library for the American. The library began in the garage at home, but eventually moved to a large spare room at the print shop.
Having this collection housed in a place of business led to something else. The owner decided that she should share what she had with others, and so placed a listing in the telephone book for an “International Library.” This was back in the ‘70s, pre-PC, when genealogists went to libraries, courthouses and the like, and subscribed to The Genealogical Helper. Over time, word got around and those with an interest in conducting European research began coming to the print shop to use the resources.
By this time the German lady had been “bitten” by the genealogical bug, and the two decided they’d try placing a small ad in a German genealogical publication. The ad would offer an exchange of research services. Germans wishing assistance in tracing family descendants in America could write to the “International Library” for assistance in return for help with genealogical research in Germany. Not much was expected from this, but the response was overwhelming! So the print shop owner reached out to her library users for help, as she couldn’t do the work of helping these many Germans with their queries while she was away in Europe.
She found one reader-researcher who was willing to become the coordinator, and a retired bilingual pastor who was willing to do translations of both queries and responses. Research on the queries was shared among the various volunteers, while others handled the return queries seeking German research assistance.
But there was a problem. How was the postage to Germany to be covered, as international mail (and especially international reply coupons) was an expensive proposition when considered in quantity. The head volunteer, now trained by the print shop owner to handle the library operations in her absence, found herself (that first summer after the placement of the ad) with no means of covering the postage cost. So, thinking fast, she decided that if the users of this private library formed a “society” and each one chipped in 5 bucks for an “annual membership,” then enough funds would be there to cover all postage needs.
When the print shop owner returned to California and learned that a “society” had been formed, she wondered if it shouldn’t be disbanded. But membership money had been collected, and now it was necessary to provide something for those members. A newsletter was thus begun, and with a print shop as the home of the new society the expense of production wasn’t a concern. This was by now April of 1981. The library was donated to a newly-formed nonprofit association, and monthly workshops with guest speakers were organized. By the next year a “German Genealogical Exchange Group” had grown out of the haphazard organization of volunteers.
Now fast-forward three decades. The two founders of the library both passed on some years ago, as have many if not most of the original society members. The print shop hasn’t been in the picture since sometime in the ‘80s, and the IGS (the “new” name) moved to new quarters (a double storefront with connecting passage) in Burbank from that North Hollywood print shop. Due to the popularity of the internet and the services which it offers, few people come to the IGS Library to do their research these days. Which is sad, because we do still have many hard-to-find items, both books and serials, and little of it has been made available anywhere through digitized scans.
Which brings us back to the state of the society today. We’re fighting as best we can to keep membership, because those members account for most revenue these days. It used to be, before almost everyone in the older cohorts used the internet, that we got a lot of small donation research requests ($5 and up, generally) by USPS mail. This was generated by leaflets that we distributed widely, and then later by mention on (Yes!) a web page. This revenue stream, added to our membership dues (minimum $25) and additional supporting contributions, kept us housed in our storefronts. And that is the essential element of our existence, for the collection needs to be preserved and made readily available to both the membership and the public (who are asked to contribute $2 per visit, but whom we help irregardless).
The major expense is the rent and associated expenses of housing the collection, although the cost of having the newsletter printed and half-mailed -- the other half being distributed by email -- is not inconsiderable. We could go to all-email delivery perhaps, but there are two problems with that. First is that we distribute “comped” copies to certain libraries and societies, and those are almost always by USPS. Second is that some of our members never made the shift to using a computer, and this is the only way they’ll receive it. So we’re caught in a strange, half-modern world. Because we’ve split off part of our membership to electronic delivery, we’ve fallen below the minimum USPS bulk mail count for the rest. Thus newsletters we still mail now go 1st Class, even though most who request a paper copy only pay at the bulk mail membership rate.
A silver lining to the membership situation is that when I visit locally-based societies within driving distance, the people who now sign up are very likely to accept email newsletter distribution. And if I can persuade small groups of friends to carpool over to the IGS Library for a look at the collection, it adds further to membership and builds traffic to the books and serials that we love to share. And, we’re not ALL German; our New England collection is quite good, for instance.
But back to the start of this diary.... Because we haven’t had an active locally-based membership for some years, and because the locals we do have also find themselves turning to the internet for Google searches, wikis, etc., etc., we haven’t kept up our holdings as I believe should have been done. That gets back to the fact that, with an older membership base, it’s increasingly difficult to find volunteers to: (1) staff the library, (2) conduct research, (3) catalog and shelve the serials we receive and the books that are contributed or purchased, (4) serve as officers, (5) come to meetings to show support for our speakers, even if the topic might not be of much interest. Sigh!!
I used to live in the Midwest until 30 months ago. When I did contribute articles to our publication’s 2010 issue, I later learned that it surprised the editor to receive something from one living so far away. Once I arrived, I stepped into the position of newsletter editor to relieve the very ill editor (who herself had replaced an elderly editor not many years before).
Now I’m editing (and largely writing in some instances) both newsletter and annual publication (semi-annual if I receive enough contributed articles!), staffing the library nearly every Wednesday, and visiting those nearby societies to keep our name before the genealogical public. Still, I can’t help feeling the wolf is very close to our door. We just HAVE to find a college or local library that would accept the donation of our collection, but institutions also have it hard these days. But when I start to despair, I think of that quote from Bertolt Brecht:
“Wer kämpft, kann verlieren. Wer nicht kämpft, hat schon verloren.”
One who struggles may lose. One who doesn’t struggle has already lost.
So think of me and of the IGS the next time you visit a local genealogical society or connect to one with a larger membership base. Show them some love! Volunteer! Not everything you need is on the internet. And not everything you know and are can be shared by that means alone.