Highlights Archives
Blakely Gift Boosts Genealogy Collections
Shortly before she passed away on December 27, 2006, Eleaner L. Blakely, a longtime volunteer for the Society, made a very substantial and generous gift to the library and archives' preservation Endowment. Her support helps ensure that the marvelous genealogical collections that she cherished will be preserved for generations to come.
Eleaner began researching her family history in 1963. Soon after earning her master's degree in 1966, she began to volunteer in the Society's library, continuing until 2003. Over those three decades she spent hundreds of hours serving family history researchers in the Microforms Reading Room, where she patiently helped out-of-town visitors navigate the massive collections and master several generations of microform technology.
She also played a large role in creating our online Wisconsin Name Index, which is currently used about 800 times each day. During the 1980s, Eleaner meticulously typed thousands of index cards for people mentioned in printed Wisconsin county histories, ensuring that the final index would be comprehensive. No matter what the task, she was always willing to take on work with good humor and no-nonsense efficiency. With her husband Jim, assistant dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, she also supported many other local and Wisconsin organizations, including the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society.
The library and archives preservation endowment to which she made her last gift began in 2004 with a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. NEH pledged the Wisconsin Historical Foundation $500,000 on a four-to-one basis, challenging the Foundation to raise $2 million. Combined with prior gifts, including $300,000 from the Mead Witter Foundation and several major donations from other Society supporters, Eleaner's generosity carries the drive to within 70 percent of its goal. The endowment will support a full-time senior conservator and provide annual funding to conserve the collections, including the nationally renowned family and local history materials so highly prized by Eleaner and her fellow genealogists.
Eleaner Blakely was typical of those genealogists who donate their time, energy and funds to the Society. Several of her friends continue to arrive at the library punctually for weekly volunteer shifts. Many other genealogists contribute regularly to the Society's annual fund and other appeals, as does the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society. Some generously share both their time and their financial help.
The Society is extremely grateful for their continued support. Like them, we appreciate that all history begins in families. Thanks to gifts like Eleaner's, we can be hopeful that we'll be able to keep connecting new generations with their family histories for many years to come.
:: Posted January 19, 2007
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