Restitution, Competition, Preservation, Memorials, and Football

The Government of Lithuania has authorized compensation payments for Lithuanian Jews who survived the Nazi Holocaust and Soviet terror during World War II.  Criteria for eligibility and the application form can be found at http://www.gvf.lt/.  The deadline for applications is September 30, 2013.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

The National Archives "Files on Film"

If you can come up with an idea for a film based on a record from the National Archives of the United Kingdom, you could win £450 for first prize or £200 for second place.  I didn't see anything in the rules that says entrants need to be from the UK; it says "anyone can enter."  The only criterion is that the person submitting the film must be 18 or older.  The National Archives has provided a selection of ten documents to choose from, ranging from 1806 to 1968 and covering topics such as lunatics, illegitimate children, and lesbianism.  The film must be 3 minutes or shorter, and the deadline is midnight British Standard Time on September 24, 2013.  The documents and all rules are available here.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

English Football Association's Founding Fathers

To celebrate its 150th anniversary, the Football Association began a search earlier this year to find living descendants of football’s "Founding Fathers."  Apparently not much is known about the men who met on October 26, 1863 in the Freemasons' Tavern in London to form "The Football Association" and who later drafted the original laws of association football.

The Founding Fathers of English football included Charles William Alcock (1842–1907), John Forster Alcock (1841–1910), Francis Maule Campbell (1843–1920), Ebenezer Cobb Morley (1831–1924), Arthur Pember (1835–1886), Herbert Thomas Steward (1839–1915), James Turner, and George Twizell Wawn (1840–1914). Any living descendants who can be identified and located will be invited to a special ceremony at Wembley to honor their ancestors in October.

Since not much is known about the eight Founding Fathers, I figure some of their descendants might have ended up in the United States.  I didn't see anything on the FA site about invitations being restricted to only British citizens, so maybe an American descendant will attend the ceremony in October.

A few more details (though not many) are in the Football Association's news release.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

California Audiovisual Preservation Project

Primary-source sound and moving image recordings of the 20th century are endangered by physical deterioration, lack of playback equipment, and format obsolescence.  The California Preservation Program, through the California Audiovisual Preservation Project (CAVPP), has started an online collection of historic Californiana called California Light and Sound, available through the Internet Archive.  So far, 697 recordings are available online from 23 project partners.  CAVPP is now reaching out to more California archives and libraries to identify new partners and preserve more historic Californian recordings.  If you have historic, unpublished recordings of local, regional, or statewide significance, consider joining CAVPP.  CAVPP's free services include digitization, metadata management, quality control, and long-term preservation and online access.

The California Preservation Program has been leading a series of workshops to introduce the project and to train partners on how to use the CALIPR tool to assess the preservation needs of their audiovisual collections.  Potential partners assess the needs of their collections before recordings are selected and digitized through CAVPP.

The final dates for the northern and southern California workshops are:
University of Southern California Doheny Library (I used to work there!), Wednesday, October 2, 2013, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Berkeley Public Library, Thursday, October 10, 2013, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

RSVP for a workshop near you.  If you have audiovisual recordings that document California history in your collection or if you have any questions about joining CAVPP, contact Project Coordinator Pamela Vadakan at pamelajean@berkeley.edu or (510) 642-4665.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

Kentucky Historical Society Seeking Governor Memorabilia

Five governors served Kentucky during the Civil War.  Three were Union — Beriah Magoffin, James F. Robinson, and Thomas E. Bramlette — and two were Confederate provisional governors — George W. Johnson and Richard Hawes.  The Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, is looking for almost any document associated with one of these men while serving as governor.  This includes manuscripts and printed materials written by a Kentucky Civil War governor, documents addressed to a governor, documents endorsed by a governor, documents written by a secretary or assistant but signed by a governor, and documents reporting a governor’s words (e.g., speeches printed in newspapers).  If you have anything relevant to the project, or if you have any questions, contact the project’s editorial assistant, Whitney Smith, at whitney.smith@ky.gov or (502) 564-1792.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

Municipal Library of Nuremberg Seeking Descendants of Book Owners

The Municipal Library of Nuremberg houses looted books from World War II on permanent loan from the Jewish Community of Nuremberg.  The collection of about 9,000 items was taken from Jews, Freemasons, priests, and other groups during the period of Nazi rule from 1933 to 1945.  This collection was found at the end of World War II in the editorial offices of the anti-Semitic periodical Der Stürmer and in a private residence.

To aid in the search for the previous owners of these books the Municipal Library of Nuremberg has published a list of 1,390 names of individuals, corporations, and institutions from 300 towns across Europe.  (This is similar to the efforts of the Central Library of Berlin, about which I have posted previously.)  Many books have already been restored to their former owners or legal successors, from Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Switzerland, and the United States of America.  This effort is being done pro bono.

Please look at the current lists, which are sorted by name and place.  If you recognize one or more of the names, contact information is at the end of each file.

You can read more about the collection (in German) here.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

New Stolpersteine Project

Stolpersteine are memorial stones placed for individual victims of the Nazis.  Borken, Hesse's (Germany) first stolpersteine are being planned.  Bernd Hessler, the mayor of Borken, is very supportive and is encouraging descendants of any Borken Holocaust victims to consider memorials for their families.

Anyone interested in having these memorials placed in Borken for their family members should contact Hans-Peter Klein.  Klein lives near Borken and is a tireless keeper of the memory of the Jewish community of North Hesse.  Some Jewish family names from Borken are Appel, Blum, Gottlieb, Hain, Katzenstein, Kaufmann, Lehrberger, Nussbaum, Rosenbusch, Rothschild, Speier, and Stern.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

World War I Memorial Projects

As we approach the centenary of World War I, many memorial projects are being planned.  Roads to the Great War, a blog dedicated to the history of the war, recently discussed two of these projects.

The aim of the World War I Memorial Inventory Project is to create an online listing of all World War I memorials and monuments in the United States.  One post shows images of several memorials that have already been catalogued.  A second post explains the project and asks for volunteers to help.

The Michigan in World War I Project is hoped to be the first in a series of commemorations in different states.  Currently the Michigan project has a Facebook page and a YouTube channel.

If you know of a World War I state memorial project, contact Roads to the Great War editor Mike Hanlon.