Each time I finish a blog, I look ahead and wonder what will come up that will be interested in the next month. We spend our time scanning and doing inventory so much of our time, and I wonder if there will be anything interesting for the next blog. Well . . . May turned out to be a very interesting month! It is going to take me 3 blogs to tell it all!
We had some welcome visitors this month from Salt Lake. Elder Dennis Brimhall is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Family Search, Inc. That means he is the one at the very top of the organization! He was here to discuss with the HSP Director, Paige Talbot about the possibility of putting a Family History Center in the building here. We had a nice visit with him and Elder Milan Kunz who is the Area Seventy here.
They discussed the plans to make a scanning area along the whole wall where we work. That will mean bringing in more scanners and computers and more missionaries.
This is Paige Talbot, the director, and Elder Milan Kunz, the area Seventy.
The following week we got another treat. Elder Dennis Meldrum from SLC had a speaking assignment in the area and spent some time with us. He is over all the book scanning operations in Family Search. We visited with him for about an hour.
Lee Arnold, who works here at the library, came and got us.
Lee Arnold, who works here at the library, came and got us.
He took us into the vault, and this time I took my camera. Here we are looking at the Emancipation Proclamation.
You can see the signature of Abraham Lincoln at the bottom.
Next we saw the First Draft of the U.S. Constitution.
You can see that it is in a very secure protective case.
It was written on the right and corrections and additions were on the left.
Here it says: "We the people of the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia do ordain, declare, and establish the following Constitution for the government of ourselves and our posterity."
Later they replaced all the names with "United States."
"The title of this government shall be 'The United People and States of America.'
"The government shall consist of . . . legislative, executive, and judicial powers."
This is the first copy off the press of the Declaration of Independence.
You can see there are quote marks on some of the phrases. This is where the reader on the street is supposed to breathe. The quote marks are not on subsequent copies.
The careful opening of . . . .
The Articles of the Confederation.
This is the Star Spangled Banner, actually hand written by Francis Scott Key. . .
. . . and signed by him.
William Penn had this map drawn to show his plan for the city of Philadelphia. There is a square right in the middle where the city hall is today. We ride passed it everyday on the way to the library. The city didn't grow as planned. Much of the city developed on the east side, but the west developed much later. It doesn't look like this so much now.
This is a heart wrenching book. It is the log kept on the Underground Railroad. It has a record of the names and descriptions of many slaves escaping to freedom.
Harriet Tubman's name is at the top of this page.
They kept track of the money that was spent on clothes, etc., that was given to them.
After seeing the treasures in the vault, we went to lunch with Elder Meldrum, Paige Talbot and Lee.
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I finally got a picture of the front of this building. We ride past the side everyday.
Want to know what this impressive building is?
It is the Ritz Carlton. Fancy, huh?
A block and half South is the Union League building.
The Union League of Philadelphia was founded in 1862 as a Patriotic Society
to support the policies of Abraham Lincoln. Today it is a private members-only club.
It is an impressive building that caught my eye when we first got here, as we passed near it every day on the way home.
I never dreamed we could actually ever go inside, but we did!
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania had their Founders Award Dinner there this year and we were able to attend. It is a fund raising event, and Family Search bought a table.
I took some pictures of some of the areas we were able to go. My camera was being a little weird, so some pictures aren't as clear as I would have liked.
The next five pictures are all in the main hallway.
They have a Presidents Room where they have pictures of the presidents of the United States. . . but only Republicans. We didn't get to see that. There was much we didn't get to see, but we did was impressive!
Before dinner there was a social hour. They also had some silent auctions going on.
We didn't bid on anything.
Jerrol is getting a little refreshment at the bar. (7up)
The Mummers came through in their costumes, playing music.
They are quite popular and famous here in Philly. It is a group that is exclusive to Philly and also exclusive to membership. You have to be born into it.
(They have a very large parade on Thanksgiving.)
Dinner was extra nice!
I never did find out what the salad dressing was. I just know it was brown and very delicious! We also had chicken, potatoes, green beans and carrots. We had cheesecake for dessert.
There were about 250 people there.
This is Elder Milan Kunz and his wife. He used to be the mission president in Nebraska. He knows Diana's bishop, who was in that mission with his wife as a senior couple. Small world.
The dining room is very elegant!
At the end of the dinner they announced that the person at each table with a birthday closest to that day's date could take the centerpiece home.
Jerrol was the lucky one!
We also received complementary chocolates and a copy of the book, The Invention Of Wings,
by Sue Monk Kidd, who received the award that night.
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Back to the library.
They have a large display screen in the main lobby area that they have various pictures they change about once a month. Mostly they have been historical in nature, but lately they have put up pictures of staff and volunteers.
This is many of the staff we see around the library. Paige Talbot is in red in the middle.
I'll just highlight the two we see the most.
Margie is a volunteer that works at the front desk sometimes. and each Thursday she works right by us on the 2nd floor returning phone calls from people seeking help from researchers. She is nice, quite a character, and fun to talk to.
Ellen volunteers one day a week also and uses the desk by us. She is indexing some very large books of orphanages. She is nice, works hard, and is quiet, so we don't know her as well. You can see Jerrol in the background.
And here we are!
I was just cruising around family search and found this article. I knew they had done one about our work last fall, but didn't really know where it was until now.
https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-historical-society-pennsylvania-publish-historical-documents-online/
I had no idea we would meet the people we have met, go to the places we have gone, see the things we have seen, or be involved with some amazing work! I'm just a farm girl from Spanish Fork, Utah!
