For the final quarter of 2015, I awarded a grant to the Sequoia Genealogical Society of Tulare, CA – an award which will effectively be doubled thanks to a matching initiative (love it when that happens!).

After the city decided it could not afford to have a paid genealogical librarian in the library’s genealogy research room and that if the room were to remain open, it would have to be run by volunteers, the Sequoia Genealogical Society stepped up to the job and even pays for all supplies needed to keep the room running. The library houses over 500 rolls of newspaper microfilm and the grant will assist with the costs of digitizing the rolls covering the years 1882-1922, which are no longer copyrighted. From these years, the newspaper microfilm to be digitized includes The Tulare Register, The Daily Evening Register, The Weekly Tulare Register, The Tulare Advance, and The Daily Tulare Register. You may also enjoy this newspaper article about the project.

To apply for a Seton Shields grant, fill out and submit the form here. You can see examples of past grant awards here.

Photo Credit: This photograph of microfilm rolls and of Society president, Lorene Clark, (left), providing a tutoring session
is used with the kind permission of the Sequoia Genealogical Society.