I visited Rutgers for something and stumbled onto my 7th great grandfather’s files - Governor Lewis Morris. The librarian said the archivist was on vacation and, if I wanted, I could just xerox any of his original papers. I whispered to husband that our travel plans had just changed. Stayed for 3 days and xeroxed every piece of paper in his files, including political poetry. That’s another set of papers I haven’t made use of yet.
That’s so interesting re: the history you have uncovered.
My husband has interviewed over 30 WWII vets. At first he just did audio and copied any pictures they wanted to share, and then he began using his camera to record them. Some of the stories are so interesting. Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima, being captured and in prison camps, etc.
I have no idea what to do with all of this material!
I wrote an article for the paper about his uncle who died on Armistice Day. He was the brother of his great grandfather, and he was never talked about, so of course the history disappeared until he discovered him when researching another relative.
I think my husband should have been a history teacher.