Lincoln University’s Archives – a resource for genealogical researchers
It should not be surprising to anyone that I am often contacted by African Americans doing genealogical research who want to learn more about an ancestor who, they know or believe, graduated from Lincoln University. It is always a pleasure to talk to or correspond with them and to alert them to the resources that we have digitized and made available from our website – alumni directories, college catalogues (which in past years included lists of students and information about their class rank and awards at graduation), alumni newsletters, student newspapers, etc. – that allow individuals to do their own research, without even visiting our campus.
Two genealogical researchers who have contacted me over the course of my nine years working in the Lincoln University Archives stand out as unusual, in that their genealogical search for an African-American ancestor came about after learning in middle age that they even had such an ancestor; in short, both these individuals had grown up assuming that their ancestry was strictly European.
In the first case, the individual learned in late middle age that his father had “passed” into the white community as a young man. It was only after his father’s death that he tracked down other members of his father’s family and discovered for the first time the reason for the total estrangement between his own nuclear family and his father’s extended family all the while he was growing up. He contacted Lincoln after learning that his grandfather, whom he had never known, was a Lincoln University graduate (class of 1888).
The second case occurred just last week, when an individual contacted me looking for information – and if possible, a photograph – of his grandfather, an 1897 graduate of Lincoln. This gentleman had no knowledge of his own African roots until he met his African American father for the first time about seven years ago. He described the experience of meeting and getting to know his father as wonderful, and declared his strong interest in finding more about his grandfather. Amazingly, it turned out that one of our online resources, the 1893-1901 Student Record Book that is part of our HBCU Library Alliance digital collection, contained a “thumbnail” size black and white photo of his grandfather!
We are very pleased to be able to help all descendants of Lincoln University graduates in their quest for information about their ancestors, and we continue to “grow” our collection of digitized resources that are available from our website. Our latest PHMC grant is funding the microfilming and digitization of yearbooks, Garnet Literary Society materials, and faculty and board of trustee minutes up to the mid-twentieth century and will result in significant contributions to our online archival collections, once they are complete in 2010.
Two genealogical researchers who have contacted me over the course of my nine years working in the Lincoln University Archives stand out as unusual, in that their genealogical search for an African-American ancestor came about after learning in middle age that they even had such an ancestor; in short, both these individuals had grown up assuming that their ancestry was strictly European.
In the first case, the individual learned in late middle age that his father had “passed” into the white community as a young man. It was only after his father’s death that he tracked down other members of his father’s family and discovered for the first time the reason for the total estrangement between his own nuclear family and his father’s extended family all the while he was growing up. He contacted Lincoln after learning that his grandfather, whom he had never known, was a Lincoln University graduate (class of 1888).
The second case occurred just last week, when an individual contacted me looking for information – and if possible, a photograph – of his grandfather, an 1897 graduate of Lincoln. This gentleman had no knowledge of his own African roots until he met his African American father for the first time about seven years ago. He described the experience of meeting and getting to know his father as wonderful, and declared his strong interest in finding more about his grandfather. Amazingly, it turned out that one of our online resources, the 1893-1901 Student Record Book that is part of our HBCU Library Alliance digital collection, contained a “thumbnail” size black and white photo of his grandfather!
We are very pleased to be able to help all descendants of Lincoln University graduates in their quest for information about their ancestors, and we continue to “grow” our collection of digitized resources that are available from our website. Our latest PHMC grant is funding the microfilming and digitization of yearbooks, Garnet Literary Society materials, and faculty and board of trustee minutes up to the mid-twentieth century and will result in significant contributions to our online archival collections, once they are complete in 2010.
posted by Susan Gunn Pevar | 7:35 AM
1 Comments:
I am trying to find a list of the Native American students, in particular Apache students, that may have come to Lincoln Institute between January 1884 and 1900. I have been told that some English speaking Apache Students bound for Carlisle may have come directly to or were forwarded on to Lincoln Institute for advanced education. Any assistance is appreciated.
Post a Comment
<< Home