Can anyone suggests grants programs I might apply to, for the preservation of old records and photographs pertaining to Bergen County and the Village of Ridgewood? Since my father passed in August 2001 I became custodian of his vast collection of records. because I am writing a book about the Romans of Ridgewood, NJ utilizing the materials contained in my fathers files as research materials. I spent the past few years contacting the organizations in which my father was a member, about which my father has information in his files. As this concerns many Ridgewood and Bergen County organizations. I want to offer these records/memorabilia as a donation to the various organizations in his name after I have completed the book. Or rather books as it turns out the files are more involved than originally anticipated. Some of the organizations do not even exist anymore. Those records will be donated to the Genealogy and the Historical Societies if they have room for them. And if I can take appropriate measures to preserve them in the meantime. There are records for the West Side Presbyterian church that burned a few years ago. They lost the archives and I have already been corresponding with the Historian about our eventual donation of their records. The Department of Emergency Management lost early years records to flooding, from when it was Civil Defense, then CDDC. My father was director for many years and we can rebuild their earlier records from his files. I don't image we would be rebuilding files for all of the organizations of which he was a member, but we do know that for some this may be all that is left. During my fathers final illness I became his personal assistant. The first project I was given was to inventory all 7 of his file cabinets. The inventory consisted of 57 pages of files listed by file folder labels, and sectioned by file cabinet and file drawer. This did not include the boxes of loose files he had stored in his office, as well as in a spare room used for storage. These were considered current files that he kept close by for easy access. We found out after his death, when attempting to find files that were needed for estate matters, that he had gone thru and rearranged files after they were listed in the inventory. To give you an idea of the scope of working on Pops records, it took me 4 days to clean up Pops office after he passed away. And only then did we find out the he had a broken desk chair buried underneath all the piles of files in there. Our guess is he planned to fix the chair one day. We knew there were files in the office, and spare room, and a small two drawer file cabinet in his bedroom. What I had not anticipated were the piles of files also to be found in his bedroom, as well as tucked away in the livingroom, and familyroom. An attempt was made to consolidate all of his files, to fit the loose ones in with those already filed in the cabinets. Pop originally had 1 two drawer file cabinet, 1 five drawer cabinet, 3 three drawer cabinets, and 2 four drawer cabinets. I have added 1 four drawer cabinet, and 1 two drawer cabinet. And we still have boxes of files sitting in front of the row of file cabinets. More boxes were added as I came across them throughout the house. All had been preserved in case the estate needed any information that had not yet been located. I became custodian for our fathers files for genealogical purposes once they were no longer needed for estate matters. There were some files presented to each of us, those that pertained to us personally. It has taken almost 3 years to get to the point where I could actually get to work on Pops file cabinets. First I needed to weed thru the thousands of notebooks he had collected on Emergency Management and Banking. After contacting the bank he used to work for, and the EOC here he had volunteered with it was decided to discard the contents of the notebooks as all the information was now either out of date or stored on computers. Next was boxes stored in the garage that we hadn't known about until moving things around after a part of the ceiling collapsed. These were boxes of every canceled check my parents had ever written, and the statements from these accounts. It wasn't a difficult decision disposing of these as they basically disintegrated when being touched. Later accounts records were shredded once they were no longer needed. After that I tackled a multi drawer 3x5 card file unit. I regret that numerous drawers also had damage, as these had contained the cards he used to call people to help with the offering at the West Side Presbyterian church on Sundays. Pop had written in pencil the names addresses and phone numbers, the dates he had called them and the dates they had been able to help. These cards were based on membership lists. Unfortunately they were past salvaging, a few were so worn and smudged you could no longer read what he had written on them. The majority of then turned to dust/powder when touched. My brother had received all the home movies, which had been converted to Video and DVD for the rest of us. I have come across more home movies many having the 4th of July parade and other Village events from each year. As to Pops photo collection. He and I had discussed donating those not pertaining to family to the Bergen County Genealogical Society. I only learned after his death that Pop had at one time had his own dark room and developed his own photographs. Pop had a number of inventories of the Polaroid photographs. And had written on each one who was in the picture the date and where it was taken so those won't be difficult to go thru. He also inventoried earlier photos, with corresponding numbers on the photos. But had altered the inventories and added numbers so it will be difficult figuring which inventory was the most accurate. Then there is a large unit in the garage which I always thought contained tools, which actually contains many small cigarette boxes, that had old small photos and negatives. Have yet to locate any type of inventory for these. Have found some old pictures on cardboard in my initial scanning of my fathers files which have the names of the individuals on the cardboard. There are also numerous pictures of Pop while he was in school with his classes. My progress was hindered slightly during my mothers final illness. Then I was laid off and had to step up my own lecture travel. These boxes still need to be inventoried, and the file cabinets reorganized. There are 11 various sized file cabinets as well as several boxes of loose materials. Many of the organizations are not interested in the records and have given me permission to use them as book research and donate accordingly after that to Genealogical and Historical Societies in the area. Some are comparing the information we have to what they have in their records, and sending us information about my grandfather and father that we did not have. They in turn will receive a donation of the materials from my fathers files. Any they are not interested in will be offered to the Genealogical and Historical Society. That is if I can keep them from deteriorating like the 3x5 cards did while using them as research materials. I recently came across Progress reports from Pop and and my Aunt about their Pianoforte studies with Miss Marble and programs from three of their recitals which lists the other students. I have already made arrangements to curtail my own travel so that I can concentrate on the files. Organization and Preservation of the records and photographs is my main concern at this point. It has been suggested that if I can obtain funding for initial proper storage, then scanning the materials onto computer discs. At least the information will not be lost, even if the documents themselves do deteriorate further. Thank you for any suggestions anyone might have about grants. Laurie Beth Roman

Laurie You might check the NJ Historical Commission's website. http://www.newjerseyhistory.org/ Click on Grants and Prizes and check out the Mini-Grants. Maybe you would be able to qualify under that category. If not, you still might want to contact them. They might be able to direct you to some other grant funds or foundations. If you haven't already, you might also want to contact the Bergen County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs. http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/Parks/Cultural%20and%20Historic/Contact.htm I don't think they sound like the right place to get funding - but they might be able to point you in the right direction. Also, try the Bergen County Historical Society and the Genealogical Society of Bergen County. http://www.bergencountyhistory.org/ and http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsbc/ Someone in these groups might have other ideas. Maybe others will have other suggestions... Good luck! Regards, Joan Joan M. Lowry Genealogical Society of New Jersey mailto:membership@gsnj.org website: www.gsnj.org > -----Original Message----- > From: NAAHKITTY@aol.com [mailto:NAAHKITTY@aol.com] > Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 11:41 PM > To: NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [GSNJ] Records and Photograph Preservation Funding Information > Needed > > > Can anyone suggests grants programs I might apply to, for the preservation of > old records and photographs pertaining to Bergen County and the Village of > Ridgewood? >

Laurie- One suggestion, though it's not a NJ repository. You might think of the LDS Libray (Family History Library) in Salt Lake City. They will copy all your data and put it on microfilm or fiche. It will then be available for anyone to use. Because the library is now into a new phase of copying things, they are now donating these manuscripts to other libraries after they have been copied. I believe you may donate the rights to copy and ask for your property to be returned, but you would have to check about that. Danel NAAHKITTY@aol.com wrote: Can anyone suggests grants programs I might apply to, for the preservation of old records and photographs pertaining to Bergen County and the Village of Ridgewood? Since my father passed in August 2001 I became custodian of his vast collection of records. because I am writing a book about the Romans of Ridgewood, NJ utilizing the materials contained in my fathers files as research materials. I spent the past few years contacting the organizations in which my father was a member, about which my father has information in his files. As this concerns many Ridgewood and Bergen County organizations. I want to offer these records/memorabilia as a donation to the various organizations in his name after I have completed the book. Or rather books as it turns out the files are more involved than originally anticipated. Some of the organizations do not even exist anymore. Those records will be donated to the Genealogy and the Historical Societies if they have room for them. And if I can take appropriate measures to preserve them in the meantime. There are records for the West Side Presbyterian church that burned a few years ago. They lost the archives and I have already been corresponding with the Historian about our eventual donation of their records. The Department of Emergency Management lost early years records to flooding, from when it was Civil Defense, then CDDC. My father was director for many years and we can rebuild their earlier records from his files. I don't image we would be rebuilding files for all of the organizations of which he was a member, but we do know that for some this may be all that is left. During my fathers final illness I became his personal assistant. The first project I was given was to inventory all 7 of his file cabinets. The inventory consisted of 57 pages of files listed by file folder labels, and sectioned by file cabinet and file drawer. This did not include the boxes of loose files he had stored in his office, as well as in a spare room used for storage. These were considered current files that he kept close by for easy access. We found out after his death, when attempting to find files that were needed for estate matters, that he had gone thru and rearranged files after they were listed in the inventory. To give you an idea of the scope of working on Pops records, it took me 4 days to clean up Pops office after he passed away. And only then did we find out the he had a broken desk chair buried underneath all the piles of files in there. Our guess is he planned to fix the chair one day. We knew there were files in the office, and spare room, and a small two drawer file cabinet in his bedroom. What I had not anticipated were the piles of files also to be found in his bedroom, as well as tucked away in the livingroom, and familyroom. An attempt was made to consolidate all of his files, to fit the loose ones in with those already filed in the cabinets. Pop originally had 1 two drawer file cabinet, 1 five drawer cabinet, 3 three drawer cabinets, and 2 four drawer cabinets. I have added 1 four drawer cabinet, and 1 two drawer cabinet. And we still have boxes of files sitting in front of the row of file cabinets. More boxes were added as I came across them throughout the house. All had been preserved in case the estate needed any information that had not yet been located. I became custodian for our fathers files for genealogical purposes once they were no longer needed for estate matters. There were some files presented to each of us, those that pertained to us personally. It has taken almost 3 years to get to the point where I could actually get to work on Pops file cabinets. First I needed to weed thru the thousands of notebooks he had collected on Emergency Management and Banking. After contacting the bank he used to work for, and the EOC here he had volunteered with it was decided to discard the contents of the notebooks as all the information was now either out of date or stored on computers. Next was boxes stored in the garage that we hadn't known about until moving things around after a part of the ceiling collapsed. These were boxes of every canceled check my parents had ever written, and the statements from these accounts. It wasn't a difficult decision disposing of these as they basically disintegrated when being touched. Later accounts records were shredded once they were no longer needed. After that I tackled a multi drawer 3x5 card file unit. I regret that numerous drawers also had damage, as these had contained the cards he used to call people to help with the offering at the West Side Presbyterian church on Sundays. Pop had written in pencil the names addresses and phone numbers, the dates he had called them and the dates they had been able to help. These cards were based on membership lists. Unfortunately they were past salvaging, a few were so worn and smudged you could no longer read what he had written on them. The majority of then turned to dust/powder when touched. My brother had received all the home movies, which had been converted to Video and DVD for the rest of us. I have come across more home movies many having the 4th of July parade and other Village events from each year. As to Pops photo collection. He and I had discussed donating those not pertaining to family to the Bergen County Genealogical Society. I only learned after his death that Pop had at one time had his own dark room and developed his own photographs. Pop had a number of inventories of the Polaroid photographs. And had written on each one who was in the picture the date and where it was taken so those won't be difficult to go thru. He also inventoried earlier photos, with corresponding numbers on the photos. But had altered the inventories and added numbers so it will be difficult figuring which inventory was the most accurate. Then there is a large unit in the garage which I always thought contained tools, which actually contains many small cigarette boxes, that had old small photos and negatives. Have yet to locate any type of inventory for these. Have found some old pictures on cardboard in my initial scanning of my fathers files which have the names of the individuals on the cardboard. There are also numerous pictures of Pop while he was in school with his classes. My progress was hindered slightly during my mothers final illness. Then I was laid off and had to step up my own lecture travel. These boxes still need to be inventoried, and the file cabinets reorganized. There are 11 various sized file cabinets as well as several boxes of loose materials. Many of the organizations are not interested in the records and have given me permission to use them as book research and donate accordingly after that to Genealogical and Historical Societies in the area. Some are comparing the information we have to what they have in their records, and sending us information about my grandfather and father that we did not have. They in turn will receive a donation of the materials from my fathers files. Any they are not interested in will be offered to the Genealogical and Historical Society. That is if I can keep them from deteriorating like the 3x5 cards did while using them as research materials. I recently came across Progress reports from Pop and and my Aunt about their Pianoforte studies with Miss Marble and programs from three of their recitals which lists the other students. I have already made arrangements to curtail my own travel so that I can concentrate on the files. Organization and Preservation of the records and photographs is my main concern at this point. It has been suggested that if I can obtain funding for initial proper storage, then scanning the materials onto computer discs. At least the information will not be lost, even if the documents themselves do deteriorate further. Thank you for any suggestions anyone might have about grants. Laurie Beth Roman ==== NJ-GSNJ Mailing List ==== Save the Date!!! Save the Date!!! Save the Date!!! 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