Genealogy: College records bridge generation gap

By DONNA MURRAY ALLEN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 1, 2001

Everybody loves a success story, especially us "rooters." The following e-mail recounts how one reader's ingenuity and persistence paid off handsomely, thanks to random acts of kindness by staff at the University of Richmond:

I'm not sure you'll remember me, but I believe I originally wrote to you around the beginning of the year (I'm sure I'll find out it was actually last summer!) asking some advice on tracking down various pieces of information about my father, Kenneth Godfrey, who passed away nearly 20 years ago. One of the paths I was interested in going down was school/college records. Well, I have good news to report.

At the time, you recommended going to the Alumni Office or the Office of the President of the university. I immediately went online, got an e-mail address for the Alumni Association and sent an e-mail detailing my request. Nothing. Not even a response.

After waiting a long period of time, and then getting busy, in July I went back online, and not wanting to disturb the president directly, I got e-mail addresses for an administrator in the Office of the President of the University of Richmond. I e-mailed her, explaining who I was and what I was looking for, and asked her for some help. I almost instantly received an e-mail back and was copied on the e-mails she sent to several of the university's employees, asking them to help find data for me. Feedback came in relatively quickly.

There wasn't a lot of information, but everything they had they copied, from the microfiche transcripts (good student except for foreign languages, which runs in the family) to a copy of an article when he was a POW, and a note he sent them when he first moved to Cleveland, Ohio, informing them of what he was doing there (job, etc.).

They also sent me what I think amounted to their yearbook but looked more like a roll book of who attended in each particular year.

The gem, however, arrived in early September. Though most of their yearbook is simply class (freshman, sophomore, etc.) and name, his senior yearbook contained pictures of seniors. And there it was. It was him in 1935, the oldest known photograph we have of him. (The earliest we had up until this was his military photo taken around 1941. After that, we have nothing until he met and married my mother in 1951).

Needless to say, in our estimation, it's priceless. It was printed on photocopy paper from the microfilm. A very poor copy indeed, but the best that could be produced considering the storage method. We scanned it in our computer, and my wife, Martha, set about the task of removing all the color (shades of gray and black) in the background. Although it is a bit grainy, doing the above has yielded a picture that has some depth and contours, and to us looks great.

We immediately put it on a CD and took it to our local Eckerd and made 5 by 7s for the rest of the family and framed one for my mom. They were all flabbergasted. It's a huge hit, and what I think is a major find.

So I wanted to thank you for your help and advice in pointing me in the right direction -- it is very much appreciated -- and to give you the happy ending on this. As far as we're concerned, it's a family treasure.

Now on to his high school!

Thanks, again, Donna. I appreciate the help, and continue to enjoy your column.

Best regards,
Tom Godfrey
Dunedin

Jewish Genealogical Society to meet

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay will meet at 2 p.m. Nov. 11 at Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, 14041 Icot Blvd., Clearwater. Guest speaker Bill Israel will talk about the vast resources available to Jewish genealogists at the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City.

Anyone interested is invited to attend. For information, call Mark Baron at (727) 842-5789 or Sally Israel at (727) 343-1652.

- Donna Murray Allen welcomes your questions about genealogy and will respond to those of general interest in future columns. Sorry, she can't take phone calls, but you can write to her c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@aol.com. You can read her column online at www.sptimes.com. Type Donna Murray Allen in the search box.

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