Sometimes, family heirlooms almost drop in your lap. This is from our sister site, Hanneman Archive: I heard the answering machine pick up a call in my office. Normally they are hangups or some robo-call, but I sensed this was different. I strained to hear what the woman was saying. It was clear it was … More When Heirlooms Drop in Your Lap
A wonderful way to remember a departed loved one is through use of a tribute video. These can be done to show at a visitation, or anytime to share with family and friends. We used a fairly simple program called iMovie on an Apple iMac to create the video at the link below. The video … More Remembrance in Video
From The Hanneman Archive The September 1960 Chicago plane crash that killed all six members of the Richard Rickman familywas caused by a faulty engine valve and an intense oil fire, according to a federal investigation report obtained through the National Archives. Richard E. Rickman, 34,was flying his wife and four children from Wisconsin Rapids to … More Tragic Rickman Air Crash Caused by Fire, Faulty Part
I have to chuckle at the image above, showing a U.S. Navy man during World War II. Inside the car behind him, his younger sister is doing the 1940s version of the photobomb. The look on her face is priceless: “Gotcha!” Ah, the small details that can be found in vintage photos! We used a … More Vintage Photos Make Great Postcards
Othelia Winger was only doing what young women her age have done for generations: trying out different shades of lipstick. Through a combination of unfortunate circumstances, her cosmetic choice on one November day in 1930 would prove deadly. Tillie was planning to attend a party near her family’s farm in the Town of Bern, just … More Germs From Lipstick Sample Kill Young Woman
The sky was brilliant and clear as Michael Grzegorski, his wife and five children set off for midnight Mass on Christmas Eve 1918. He urged his children to look up at the central Wisconsin sky. “Look at the stars in the sky and see if you can find the Star of Bethlehem,” he said. As the … More Farmer Dies on Way to Midnight Mass
I recently met a woman tending to her grandparents grave, a bit frustrated by the misaligned bricks that formed a border around the headstone. I asked her a few questions about the bricks, and she told one of the most touching stories I’ve ever heard. Her grandmother died in 1963. Her grandfather visited the cemetery … More Cemeteries Have Great Stories to Tell
Oral history is one of the most important arrows in the historian’s quiver. Source documents, photographs, databases and the like offer their own advantages, but audio and/or video interviews deliver information not available with other types of media. It’s one thing to read about someone and the details of their life. But being able to hear … More Preserve Oral History, While You Can
Orignally published on LinkedIn. The Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero understood the importance of how lives of the present are linked to those of the past. More than a half-century before the birth of Christ, Cicero wrote, “For what is the worth of a human life, unless it is woven into the life of our … More Six Reasons Genealogy is Worth Your Time
The Auckland War Memorial Museum in New Zealand has just digitized and published an amazing collection of photographs of United States servicemen who were stationed at Warkworth in northern New Zealand during World War II. The museum is asking for help from Americans to identify the service members. Nearly 1,100 images can be viewed on … More Rare Photos of WWII U.S. Servicemen in New Zealand
Treasured Lives 