FootNote
The new kid on the block, FootNote is known for digitizing historical
documents... many of which are genealogical gems. With naturalizations,
city directories, war records, newspapers, town records, etc... this new
kid is quickly being recognized as an alternative to Ancestry.
While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Sent to: North and South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri,
Mississippi, Oklahoma.
April 14, 1937
Mr. Edwin Bjorkman
State Director, Federal Writers' Project
Works Progress Administration
City Hall, Fifth Floor
Asheville, North Carolina
Dear Mr. Bjorkman:
We have received more stories of ex-slaves and are gratified
by the quality and interest of the narratives. Some of these
stories have been accompanied by photographs of the
subjects. We would like to have portraits wherever they can
be secured, but we urge your photographers to make the
studies as simple, natural, and "unposed" as possible. Let
the background, cabin or whatnot, be the normal setting—in
short, just the picture a visitor would expect to find by
"dropping in" on one of these old-timers.
Enclosed is a memorandum of Mr. Lomax with suggestions for
simplifying the spelling of certain recurring dialect words.
This does not mean that the interviews should be entirely in
"straight English"—simply, that we want them to be more
readable to those uninitiated in the broadest Negro speech.
Very truly yours,
George Cronyn
Associate Director
Federal Writers' Project
GWCronyn:MEB
This paragraph was added to the letter to Arkansas.
Mr. Lomax is very eager to get such records as you mention:
Court Records of Sale, Transfer, and Freeing of Slaves, as
well as prices paid.
