Quaker Genealogy

Mary Crauderueff, Curator of Quaker Collections, Haverford College Libraries, will give a presentation about Quaker historical records and genealogy on Sunday May 7 at 1 pm. Join us by Zoom or in person at the Barnegat Friends Meeting House, 614 East Bay Avenue, Barnegat, NJ 08005. For details and Zoom registration, check https://barnegatquakers.org/events--news.html.

Editor's Note:
All of our historic minutes and records are archived and cataloged online for easy viewing and searching but behind a paywall of Ancestory.com. Ancestory.com is now owned by Blackstone Inc. and has been since 2020. Blackstone has been called the world's largest residential landlord and has been accused by the United Nations of unfair housing practices. Blacktone's founder, Stephen Schwarzman, supported lawmakers who voted to overturn the 2020 election results to the tune of 33.5 million dollars. He is also under scrutiny for financial support of a campaign group – Georgians for Kelly Loeffler – who's alleged tactics included Facebook ads that darkened the skin of his opponent. I have been told that the decision to turn over our records to ancestory.com for scanning and achieving was made at a PYM interim meeting that decided on behalf of the monthly and quarterly meetings in 2008. I have also been told that while ancestory.com did send back raw data files, they are unable to be accessed by anyone but the Haverford Librarians on site. Reportedly, ancestory.com did make those records available for free online, but they are only accessible onsite at Haverford, Swarthmore, Earlham, and Guilford colleges; making anyone who has accessibility needs or other needs that require use from home forced to buy a membership. Who speaks for the records of individual Meetings and is it time to revisit the decision made in 2008?

~ Joshua Ponter