{"id":425,"date":"2012-12-11T22:54:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T04:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/40000-raised-for-the-war-of-1812-preserve-the-pensions-project\/"},"modified":"2013-07-03T21:18:56","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T02:18:56","slug":"40000-raised-for-the-war-of-1812-preserve-the-pensions-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/40000-raised-for-the-war-of-1812-preserve-the-pensions-project\/","title":{"rendered":"$40,000 Raised for the War of 1812 Preserve the Pensions Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fireworks\"<\/a>Big announcement today from the Illinois Genealogical Society (ISGS).\u00a0 In less than six months, ISGS received $10,000 in contributions from individuals and organizations, which ISGS then matched, making it $20,000.\u00a0 Ancestry.com will then match that amount, making it a total of $40,000.\u00a0 What an amazing job!<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019d like to contribute to the Preserve the Pensions project, you can do so by visiting http:\/\/www.preservethepensions.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Below is the full press release from ISGS:<\/p>\n

December 11, 2012 \u2013 Springfield, IL. The Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS) is proud to announce that it has completed its recently launched $10,000 War of 1812 Pension Match Challenge with strong support from ISGS members as well as the genealogical community.<\/p>\n

On June 18, 2012, the 200th anniversary of the declaration of the War of 1812, ISGS announced its $10,000 War of 1812 Pension Match Challenge. ISGS made a commitment to match any contribution (up to the first $10,000) made to the Preserve the Pensions project before December 31, 2012. In addition, Ancestry.com announced that it would also match all monies donated during the campaign, resulting in all contributions being quadrupled. A total of $40,000 to be donated to the Preserve the Pensions project will result in 88,888 additional pages of the War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files being digitized over the next few months.<\/p>\n

The Preserve the Pensions campaign (http:\/\/www.preservethepensions.org)<\/a>,
\nsponsored by the Federation of Genealogical Societies (http:\/\/www.fgs.org)<\/a> along with Ancestry.com, Fold3 and the National Archives, seeks to raise over $3.7 Million needed to digitize the War of 1812 pension files that are currently stored in the National Archives and make them freely available online. With over 180,000 Pension files in this historic record set and over 7.2 million pages, access to these records will benefit not only genealogists and family historians, but a variety of researchers. In addition, the digitization project will help preserve and halt further damage to these historical documents. The files are being digitized as funds become available and many files are already viewable by visiting http:\/\/go.fold3.com\/1812pensions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ISGS President Jane Haldeman notes: \u201cThe ISGS board made a strong commitment to the preservation of the War of 1812 Pension Records when it issued the fundraising challenge earlier this year. ISGS thanks all who contributed, especially those members of the genealogy community who are not members of ISGS. Digitizing these records will benefit ALL genealogists and hopefully result in more people locating information about their ancestors.\u201d<\/p>\n

About Illinois State Genealogical Society<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS) was formed in 1968 through the
\ncooperative effort and forward thinking of Illinois genealogical society representatives, who envisioned a statewide genealogical organization. ISGS is a not-for-profit, nonsectarian, educational organization. ISGS was established for the following purposes:<\/p>\n