Dawn; There is much interest (on the part of others) on Banat music matters. It is not clear from your message if the picture you have is taken in America or in the Banat. The big expert on Banat music is Franz Metz who writes articles, appearing from time to time in the Banater Post. Almost every Heimatbuch will have a chapter on the local music Kapella and choir. Some Banat localities were especially know for their Music Kapella and if memory serves the ones from Billed and Kl Betschkerek and perhaps others made tours about Europe and North America. These were relatively wealthy villages and could afford instruments and moreover, had one or more directors which devoted their time to fostering music in the locality. In your case, I would recommend gathering up as much background information on your photo as possible and send it off to Franz Metz. You might check the Baltimore newspapers for the week following 4 Jul 1914 , especially the German language ones, for articles on the Saengerfest. If you can identify the village that is associated with the people in your photos then certainly the respective HOG would like to have a copy that they might publish in their Heimatblatt. Dave Dreyer ----- Original Message ----- From: Dawn Marshall To: ddreyer@pacbell.net Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 10:35 PM Subject: Banat family History Dear Mr. Dryer, My name is Dawn Marshall. I have been researching my family history for some years now and have only recently tried to untangle the German side of the family. When we sold my gram's house two summers ago, we cleaned out the attic and found many items from the past that we did not know even existed. Apparently, when my grandfather first married my grandmom, all this stuff was put up there and left that way as his parents had passed on and sadly, he would pass on in about 12 years time. This was in the 1940's. When I think how we almost sold the house without going in the crawl space! Thank you for all your work, it has helped immensely. The reason I am writing to you is that we seem to have large portraits of a mens choirs called the Banater Maennerchor. We think we can pick out a few of our relatives. We also have a large portrait of what looks like a huge banquet picture taken, but we can't tell what it is. Since we found them together, we think they are of the same people and time frame. I was wondering if you knew of anything with this. My mom has the pictures, but I would be glad to get a copy of them and email them for you. I do know one was taken at Vereinigte Arbeiter Gesangvereinen von Nord-Ost Staaten Sängerfest in Baltimore, MD. on July 4th, 1914 as its written on the picture in the white pencil they used back then. -- Dawn Marshall DawnMarshall73@gmail.com