Collections Processing – My father’s collection is mostly his own photographs with some passed down from his father. You learn a lot about a family by their pictures: Christmases, businesses they owned, photo opps of my grandfather when he was running for president, and when he married his third wife in a campground at Thanksgiving. I’m excited to digitize, write about, preserve, and archive this family collection to give my family something to treasure for many years to come. 💜

Orphan Heirloom Research – If I had a relative that had fought in The Great War, I would be thrilled to read his words and hold his notebook in my own hands – the same notebook he carried in his pocket across the Atlantic Ocean, through France and back. I immediately knew I had to get this into the hands of his descendants. Currently digitized and transcribed, you can Read about the Notebook here.

Collections Processing – A secret box full of photographs, letters, and writings was found among my mother’s things after she died. One of the strongest themes I found reading her poetry, short stories, and essays was abandonment. Because her mother gave her away when she was eight, she was haunted for the rest of her life. In addition to writing her story, I’m digitizing and archiving her writing for now. Future plans are to publish her work as an Abandonment Collection.

Orphan Heirloom Research – This antiquarian Bible, with birth, death, and marriage records dating back to 1887, and held together with duct tape, was found in an antique shop in Waynesville, NC. It didn’t belong there. After researching the family in the documents and locating their descendants, the adventure contacting them began. In the meantime, I digitized some of the pages, blogged about the adventure, and gave the Bible a new box. After a nice lunch with the Parkers, the Bible is now returned to its original family. Read about the Bible here.

Collections Processing – Worked with photographs, documents, and artifacts in the collections department of the Tampa Bay History Center where I numbered, tagged, photographed, created digital records, filed, and stored items for two collections. After serving as an intern with the USF Digital Humanities Masters Certificate program, I stayed on as a volunteer to catalog a recently donated family history collection.

Genealogy and Descendant Research – Researched the genealogical history of people buried in the erased Zion Cemetery in Tampa, Florida in order to locate descendants. Read the Tampa Bay Times article “Search for story of Zion Cemetery shifts from graves to family records” by Paul Guzzo.

Photograph Research and Preservation – Volunteered with the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative to research historical Tampa Bay area photographs up to 100 years old, identify duplicate prints, and upgrade preservation materials for the Burgert Brothers Photograph Collection housed at the library.

Collections Processing – As an Undergraduate Research Student Assistant in the University of South Florida (USF) Library’s Special Collections department, I transcribed and researched several plays written and directed by Dion Boucicault during the mid-19th century. My research covered the playwright’s role in inspiring well-known poet and playwright Oscar Wilde.

Family History Research – My research into my mother’s traumatic childhood became an obsession. How did it impact my inability to grieve? Emily Leinfuss covers the ways that family history research can help heal us in this Sarasota Magazine article “Finding Your Roots Is Easier Than Ever. But For Some Sarasotans, the Results Weren’t What They Expected.”

Genealogy and Descendant Research – Volunteering for the Florida Genealogical Society, I researched and found the grand daughter of a couple buried in Zion Cemetery. Read the Tampa Bay Times article “Search for story of Zion Cemetery shifts from graves to family records” by Paul Guzzo.

Family History Research – Researching my family history turned up biological family that my mother kept secret from us. This changed my life. Emily Leinfuss covers that research and that of others in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, “Finding Connection: Letters and digital records connect people to their roots and others.”