A Special Message from the President:

As an organization dedicated to preserving, collecting, sharing and encouraging historical research, we are all too familiar with our sad and often brutal history of race relations in America. Recent events, including the tragic murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arberty and others, demonstrate how racial injustice tears at the very fabric of our American conscience and belief in the equality of men. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and all who work for justice.

We must be united in our efforts to end racism and resolve to celebrate all that we share together. I recall the words of Abraham Lincoln when, on the brink of civil war, he spoke of healing the nation:

“We are not enemies, but friends. Though passion may have strained it, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of this Union, when again touched as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” (Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, 1861).

May God bless our country and ALL her citizens. We are one!

Joanne Rajoppi
President