Interest in genealogical research has increased with new technological innovations, including online databases, but members of the Buffalo Genealogical Society of the African Diaspora long ago discovered the value of African American funeral programs – in all their low-tech glory – as rich sources of biographical information for those working on their family trees.

The society recently teamed with the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, University at Buffalo and Western New York Library Resources Council to digitize a community resource that it created called the Funeral Collection project.

This digitized collection includes more than 3,600 funeral programs donated to the society from families, churches and funeral homes across the U.S.

All project subjects have a Buffalo connection. Some – including Daniel R. Acker Sr., a former president of the Buffalo Branch NAACP who worked on the Manhattan Project, and musician Al Tinney – were well known regionally. Most came from more common walks of life.

The earliest program is from is from a person born in 1848.

You can read more in an article by Harold McNeil at: https://tinyurl.com/4s45ufak.