Earlier this year, Roots and Recall began requiring users to login, thus becoming a R&R member. Frankly, this was something founders, Rusty Robinson and I didn’t want, but were assured, it would make R&R safer, ultimately “serious” users would return, members would provide increased financial support, and the website’s outstanding internet rankings wouldn’t suffer. These…
POST CARDS PRESERVE LOCAL HISTORY
“Postcards are candy to the eyes of a preservationist.” A friend of Roots and Recall, who owns an enormous post card collection, offered us thousands of them for posting on the website five years ago. Several volunteers spent hours digitizing only a small portion of the massive collection. This was a learning experience which didn’t turnout…
Where We Traveled – A Look at Old Maps
Two years ago, R&R co-founder, J.I. Robinson wrote a short blog about old maps. He shared that maps are a fantastic asset in tracing old house location and family history. He wrote, “over the years we’ve collected old South Carolina maps from all kinds of sources and they offer features not found on current maps. They often…
The Roots and Recall Community
Roots and Recall was started shortly before my granddaughter, Frances Wylie was born, so it is easy for me to remember the sequence of events surrounding the development, as well as the many ups and downs of the website. For newer members, you may not realize, R&R has been redesigned several times and new features…
Preservation at the Forefront
On Friday of last week, Roots and Recall was asked to provide a presentation at the historic Hart House in Hartsville, S.C. If you have never visited, the house and Kalmia Gardens, they are a delight – their staff professional and welcoming. The purpose in having us to the cultural center, was to continue exploring, the…
Shoe Box History – A Preservation Tool
About six months ago we received a notice via an R&R friend, notifying us of someone in Boston who was trying to emulate the type of service provided by Roots and Recall. Of course this peaked our curiosity and we took a few hours to examine the work undertaken by two scholars at Harvard University’s…
Historic Map Collections
Collections arrive routinely for digitization and preservation, destined for the pages of R&R. But one arrived very unexpectedly last year, the Mayhugh Plat Map Collection. This was not a family history project, but the lifetime work of one individual, Mr. Tom Mayhugh, of Chester Co., S.C., who for decades has been dedicated to researching and…
Southern Queries – Forum
As most of you have inevitably noticed, Roots and Recall is going through many updates; offering a featured site, wonderful new articles, removal of advertising, an enhanced menu bar, easier navigation, new linking “Thread” options, allowing members to create a favorites list, mark pages to stay connected to, and most recently a new members forum…
Carolina Vernacular – III
The third of the Carolina Vernacular blog series is designed to offer insights into three skilled antebellum artisans from York, S.C. Each of these individuals contributed to the area’s fine body of architectural work, some of which unfortunately has been demolished. It is rather fascinating that S.C. entrepreneur and York County resident, Hiram Hutchison, wrote Columbia…