Thomas W. Jones, Elizabeth Shown Mills,
Warren Bittner, D. Joshua Taylor, Jane E. Wilcox: people I had heard
about, but by whom I had never attended a presentation before this
week. Ceil Jensen, David Ouimette: familiar faces in the crowd and
speakers I had met before. Building evidence, computer applications,
women's resources, context of place: familiar topics with new tidbits
gleaned.
My most intriguing potential new source
of information: Presidential libraries! Which of my ancestors are
most likely to have written a letter to a sitting President? Jane
Wilcox presented a copy of a letter she had written to President
Nixon, retrieved from his library. She had also made a search
through the collection at the FDR library in Hyde Park, which is not
indexed. I'm pretty sure that my parents would have written to the
White House during my lifetime. Were there other political activists
in my family tree? I will have to see what I can uncover.
