Douglas Rubin, a 20-year-old student at the State University of New York at Albany, vanished without a trace on February 23, 1979. After over four decades, his sister Maddy's hope is renewed thanks to genetic genealogy. 

Rubin was last seen in Nassau County, leaving late one night reportedly in a state of distress, according to his mother. He never returned and has not been heard from since.

Rubin's vehicle was discovered in the middle of the night abandoned on the Throgs Neck Bridge, with his wallet and eyeglasses left inside. According to Maddy, a driver reported seeing a person get out of the car and move towards the bridge, but did not see them jump.

Despite an extensive search by divers, no trace of Rubin was found in the waters below. The case of Douglas Rubin remains unsolved, leaving his family and authorities without answers for over four decades.

If you have any information about Douglas' disappearance reach out to Detective Kerri-Ann Hoovert at the Nassau County Police Department at (516) 573-8800.

The journey for the first woman to be nominated by a president and confirmed by the Senate to become the archivist of the United States started during her childhood summer vacations with her family.

In an exclusive interview with WTOP, Colleen Shogan, who was let go by Donald Trump’s administration, spoke of her father.

“My father would take us to amusement parks and we would also go to a history location like Gettysburg,” Shogan said. “My dad really liked history, he was not in the history field, he was a draftsman.”

Shogan attended Boston College and received her doctorate in American politics from Yale University. After taking a break from teaching at George Mason University, Shogan went to work for then Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-CT.

Shogan thought public service would be temporary, with the belief that she would permanently return to teaching.

The path to the National Archives, career-wise, stopped at the Library of Congress, the Congressional Research Service and The White House Historical Society.

Former President Joe Biden on Aug. 13, 2022, placed Shogan in the history books by nominating her to be the 11th archivist of the United States — and the first woman to hold that position.

Shogan told WTOP that her father was incredibly proud.

“I had to explain it to him several times because the title is a mouthful,” said Shogan. “The job is to run the National Archives and Records Administration.”

A little over nine months later, Shogan was administered the oath by Chief Justice John Roberts, with former first lady Jill Biden giving remarks.

During her speech, Shogan said she visited the Declaration of Independence at least once every day she was at the Archives.

Not long after President Donald Trump relieved Shogan of her duties in February, she had a new job but the same mission as a senior adviser for the nonpartisan More Perfect campaign.

“An organization dedicated to enhancing and strengthening our nation’s democracy,” said Shogan. “It’s similar to what I was doing before so that we can bring our nation’s history to young people and Americans all across the country.”

Quite often, women asked for career advice from Shogan, especially from those wanting to go into public service.

“You better have tough skin,” Shogan said with a smile. “I believe women are criticized for their leadership more than men.”

Shogan admits some critical viewpoints may be valid, but not all.

“Some are just to make you feel bad about yourself or to get you to stop what you’re doing,” Shogan said.

The key, according to Shogan, is to know which criticism to listen to and which to brush aside.

Along with teaching one course a year at Georgetown University as an adjunct professor, Shogan is the author of a series of D.C.-based murder mystery books, like “A Stabbing in the Senate.”

Kansas police have finally identified the remains of a teenager who went missing 52 years ago.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced on Tuesday that it used DNAtechnology to determine that remains discovered in 1973 belonged to 16-year-old Jimmy Dollison.

The teenager had been living in Kansas City when he went missing in the autumn of 1972. His family reported his disappearance but never learned what happened to him.

In April 1973, authorities found Dollison’s unidentified remains three miles southeast of Garnett, Kansas. He was wearing a brown corduroy jacket, a green long-sleeve buttoned shirt, jeans, a black leather belt with a large black buckle, brown hiking boots and a navy blue stocking cap.

He was also wearing two gold rings with crosses, a ring with the number 78 and a silver chain with a large cross.

The coroner ruled his manner of death a homicide due to signs of trauma.

Two decades ago, officials determined the remains belonged to a man with brown hair and a slender build. Police made many attempts throughout the decades to figure out who the remains belonged to, but were not successful.

In 2024, investigators extracted DNA from the remains for forensic genetic genealogy testing. The testing was conducted by Othram, a company specializing in genealogy to help solve murders. To find a match, the company needed to identify any living relatives of the unidentified person.

Dollison’s siblings were identified through testing. Police contacted them for interviews and to obtain DNA samples for comparison. Officials later confirmed the remains belonged to the 16-year-old.

An investigation into the teen’s death continues. Officials are asking anyone with information to call 1-800-KS-CRIME.

For 11 seasons, Henry Louis Gates Jr. has sat across from his guests on the popular PBS series “Finding Your Roots” and led them through secrets in their family tree. On Tuesday, it's his turn.

The Harvard scholar learns a long-buried puzzle about his great-great grandmother, Jane Gates, information which scrambles his ancestry and opens up a new branch that goes back to Ireland.

“I was moved to tears,” Gates tells The Associated Press ahead of the airing. “I used to pass her grave at the Gates' plot in Rose Hill Cemetery and I would say, ‘Grandma, I’m going to out you. I’m going to tell the world your secret.’”

“Finding Your Roots” is PBS’s most-watched program on linear TV and the most-streamed non-drama program. Season 10 reached nearly 18 million people across linear and digital platforms and also received its first Emmy nomination.

“The two subliminal messages of ’Finding Your Roots,' which are needed more urgently today than ever, is that what has made America great is that we’re a nation of immigrants," says Gates. “And secondly, at the level of the genome, despite our apparent physical differences, we’re 99.99% the same.”

Season 11 secrets

Season 11 has featured Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell, Melanie Lynskey, chef Jose Andres, Sharon Stone and Amanda Seyfried, who learned why her paternal third-great-grandfather was murdered.

Gates shares the last episode with Laurence Fishburne, who learns the identity of his biological father. It turns out both men adored jazz, which delighted Dyllan McGee, who helped create and produce “Finding Your Roots.”

“It underscored how family connections can shape us, even unknowingly, and made me wonder if reconnecting with our past somehow affirms the significance of our own stories by showing us how much each individual on our tree shapes us even when we don’t know it,” she says.

How it started

The series started in 2006 under the title “African American Lives,” conceived by Gates in the middle of the night in his bathroom. He invited prominent Black celebrities and traced their family trees into slavery. When the paper trail ran out, they would use DNA to see which ethnic group they were from in Africa.

Challenged by a viewer to open the show to non-Black celebrities, Gates agreed and the series was renamed “Faces of America,” which had to be changed again after the name was taken. Along the way, Gates had a crash course in DNA.

“For a guy with a PhD in English literature, I think I can do pretty well on the AP genetics exam,” he says, before proving it with a thorough explanation of autosomal DNA.

Over the years, the show has delivered fascinating results, like when Natalie Morales discovered she’s related to one of the legendary pirates of the Caribbean and when former “Saturday Night Live” star Andy Samberg found his biological grandmother and grandfather. It revealed that RuPaul and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker are cousins, as are Meryl Streep and Eva Longoria.

Guests have included former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, designer Diane von Furstenberg and “Game of Thrones” author George R. R. Martin.

“I always tell my guests that you’re not responsible for the crazy things your ancestors did. I don’t care what they did. Guilt is not inheritable,” Gates says. “You have to understand how the people functioned in the past without judging them.”

A kernel of truth

He and his team — particularly genetic genealogist CeCe Moore — have found that traditional family stories passed down through the generations are often filled with a few lies, often to cover up bad behavior.

“I call it where there’s smoke, there’s fire. The stories are never accurate, but they’re often close,” says Gates. “There is a kernel of truth there.”

It took researchers four years to resolve the mystery of who was Gates' great-great grandfather, the man who impregnated Jane Gates. The story she told about her children's father turned out to be not correct.

The researchers show him an 1888 obituary for her and a 1839 ad for her sale. Gates comments that he’s seen a thousand bill of sales like it, but this hit differently. At the end, he looks again at a photo of Jane Gates. “I see a lot of pain in those eyes and now I know why.”

“Something changed for him that day," says McGee. "I remember him calling me after the reveal saying, 'That was the best day of my life!' It was such a treat for the entire team to be able to give him the gift of a missing link in his family history that he has given hundreds of our guests.”

Gates is a huge advocate that everyone should have their family tree traced and pushes back against the idea that digging up the past is divisive.

“I believe that knowing about our ancestors is fundamental to knowing about ourselves,” he says. “The only way to deal with the past is to know about the past.”

The following is a press release written by folks at the Board for Certification of Genealogists®:

FREE BCG-SPONSORED WEBINAR
“A Matrimonial Advertiser:” Tracing the Treacherous Trail of an Early 20th-Century Romance Scammer
by Sharon Hoyt, CG
Tuesday, April 15, 2025, 8:00 p.m. (EDT)

Research on a man's mysterious second marriage identified his wife as a romance scammer who preyed on Civil War veterans. This case study shows how evidence correlation and reasonably exhaustive research cut through the lies and misdirection in a woman's records to establish her identity and reveal her sometimes deadly deception.

Sharon Hoyt, CG is a researcher, speaker, and author from California’s Silicon Valley. Her primary research areas include New England, New York, the Midwest, Canada, and England. She is happiest when on the trail of a family story, particularly when it involves the Civil War. Sharon’s research has been published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, and Minnesota Genealogist. She is the winner of the National Genealogical Society’s 2017 Family History Writing Contest and the Minnesota Historical Society’s 2016 Michael Clark Family History Writing Award. She holds a master’s degree in Library and Information Science.

BCG’s next free monthly webinar in conjunction with Legacy Family Tree Webinars is “A Matrimonial Advertiser:” Tracing the Treacherous Trail of an Early 20th-Century Romance Scammer by Sharon Hoyt, CG. This webinar airs Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at 8:00 p.m. EDT.  

When you register before April 15 with our partner Legacy Family Tree Webinars (http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=9366), you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Anyone with schedule conflicts may access the webinar at no charge for one week after the broadcast on the Legacy Family Tree Webinars website.

“BCG promotes continuing education as essential for competent family history research,” said President David Ouimette, CG, CGL. “We appreciate this opportunity to provide webinars focused on standards that help genealogists and family historians build their knowledge and skills and hone their craft.”

Following the free period for this webinar, BCG receives a small commission if you view this or any BCG webinar by clicking our affiliate link (http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=6803).

To see the full list of BCG-sponsored webinars for 2025, visit the BCG blog SpringBoard (https://bcgcertification.org/free-bcg-sponsored-2025-webinars). For additional resources for genealogical education, please visit the BCG Learning Center (https://bcgcertification.org/learning).

The following is a press release written by the employees of  TheGenealogist:

New Release of Digitised Volumes Offers Rich Context for Family History Researchers

TheGenealogist is excited to announce the release of a major new collection of fully searchable historical books. This diverse collection encompasses nearly 200,000 names from rare publications, providing family historians and genealogical researchers with an invaluable resource to delve beyond basic records. With these new volumes, users can uncover not just names and dates, but the rich social and occupational contextthat brings ancestors’ stories to life.

A page from Leading Insurance Men of the British Empire

The newly added titles span three centuries and a broad range of subjects, from professional directories and club yearbooks to literary works and social commentaries. Each book has been digitised and is searchable by name, allowing researchers to find ancestors across different walks of life. Notable titles in the collection include:

• The Incorporated Accountants' Year Book 1936

• Leading Insurance Men of the British Empire

• Who’s Who 1897, 1923 & 1928

• Universal Directory of Railway Officials 1929 & 1943–1944

• The Railway Diary and Officials' Directory 1920

• Auctioneers and Estate Agents Year Book 1929–1930

• Directory for Surveyors, Auctioneers & Land and Estate Agents 1929

• The Royal Aero Club of the UK Year Book 1924–1926

• Yorkshire County Cricket Club 1936 & 1940

• The Company of Clockmakers, Register of Apprentices 1631–1931

• The British Launderers' Year Book 1939–40

• The Watch and Clock Makers of Northumberland and Durham 1449–1801)

• A Handbook and Directory of Old Scottish Clockmakers 1540–1850

From Victorian-era social surveys to early 20th-century professional directories, these publications offer genealogists a chance to explore the world their ancestors inhabited. Family historians can trace an ancestor’s career in the railway industry, find a forebear listed among incorporated accountants or insurance professionals, read contemporary accounts of working-class life in mid-1800s London, and much more. All of this information is readily searchable by name, making it easier than ever to uncover connections that might previously have gone unnoticed.

“This release brings a wealth of social and occupational context to our users’ family trees, enabling researchers to uncover not just names and dates, but the real-life stories of their ancestors,” said Mark Bayley, Head of Content at TheGenealogist. “We’re empowering our subscribers to step into their ancestors’ daily lives – whether it’s identifying the factory where your great-grandfather worked or discovering that a relative was noted in Who’s Who over a century ago.”

The collection is already yielding fascinating finds. Among the notable figures unearthed in these books is William Henry Smith of WHSmith's high street fame, who was a Victorian entrepreneur and politician. Researchers can find Smith’s name and details within these newly digitised pages, connecting them to the story of the famous bookseller and newsagent. TheGenealogist has highlighted his story in an article on their website, illustrating the real-life detail this collection provides to enrich family narratives. Read the William Henry Smith story here. This is just one example of how these records allow users to go beyond basic facts, revealing personal achievements, occupations and the communities influential individuals were part of.

With the addition of these titles, TheGenealogist continues to expand the breadth of its resources. This launch follows the company’s tradition of bringing often overlooked or hard-to-access materials into the digital realm. By searching these books, subscribers can gain insights into historical events and industries that shaped their ancestors’ lives – from cricket club records offering sporting context, to clockmakers’ registries that might confirm an ancestor’s apprenticeship in the 1700s.

The new Historical Books Collection is available to search right now on TheGenealogist. Family history enthusiasts are invited to explore these records and see what stories await in the pages of these old books. To start discovering your ancestors in this unique collection, visitwww.TheGenealogist.co.uk and use the site’s advanced search tools to find names, keywords, and connections across the entire library of historical resources.

Don’t miss out! For a limited time, you can subscribe to TheGenealogist for just £97.95 - Save 30%

Not only will you get a 30% Discount, but you'll also receive a 12-Month Subscription to Discover Your Ancestors Online Magazine! 

Explore these new records and start your genealogical journey today with TheGenealogist by claiming this offer here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/MGBMPR325

Offer expires 11th July 2025.

Books covered in this release are: The Incorporated Accountants' Year Book, 1936; The Lloyds of Birmingham 1907; A Flat Iron for a Farthing by J. H. Ewing (1873); The Village Blacksmith (Life of Samuel Hick); Leading Insurance Men of the British Empire; Memories of Land and Sky; Who's Who, 1897; Who's Who, 1923; Who's Who, 1928; (Moore's Almanack Improved) Wills's Farmer and Countryman Calendar 1821; Fire Over London, 1940-41; Universal Directory of Railway Officials 1943-1944; Great Western Railway Engines; Prevention of Accidents to Staff Engaged in Railway Operations; Railway Accidents 1st July to 31st December 1856; National Union of Railwaymen, Report and Financial Statements for 1913; The Railway Diary and Officials' Directory, 1920; The Universal Directory of Railway Officials, 1929; Auctioneers And Estate Agents Year Book 1929-1930; Directory for Surveyors, Auctioneers & Land and Estate Agents, 1929; The Royal Aero Club of the UK, Year Book, 1924-1926; Yorkshire County Cricket Club 1940; Yorkshire County Cricket Club 1936; The Company of Clockmakers, Register of Apprentices 1631-1931; The British Launderers' Year Book 1939-40; The Watch and Clock Makers of Northumberland and Durham, 17th and 18th Centuries, 1449-1801; A Handbook and Directory of Old Scottish Clockmakers, 1540-1850; London Labour and London Poor, Extra Volume, 1850; London Labour and the London Poor, Vol II, 1850; London Labour and the London Poor, Vol III, 1850

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections. 

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

MyHeritage has just released a significant new collection: United States, World War II Draft Registrations, 1940–1947.

Search United States, World War II Draft Registrations, 1940–1947

This collection includes 42 million records of men who registered with the Selective Service System during and immediately following World War II, between 1940 and 1947. The records span multiple draft registration rounds and include men aged 18 to 64 across 33 states and D.C., offering personal details like addresses, occupations, next of kin, and even physical descriptions. This collection was indexed using cutting-edge AI technology developed by our Machine Learning team, which was able to automatically and accurately extract handwritten information from the draft cards.

You can search the collection here, and read more about it on the MyHeritage blog.

Beth (Elizabeth Elentari) Taylor, daughter of Susan Lee Embry Taylor and Benjamin Joseph Taylor, died on March 31, 2025.

Beth was born in Redwood City, California, on November 29, 1979, and moved to Utah before she was a year old. She learned to crawl, backwards, at a motel along the way. She grew up in Orem, attending public schools in the city, and then completed a BA in history from Brigham Young University. Afterward she served an 18-month LDS mission in the Michigan Detroit Mission. She was then hired by the LDS Church History Library in Salt Lake City as a secretary, but soon found her way to genealogy, which was her deep passion. She became a Certified Genealogist in 2010. She worked at the library for almost 20 years, helping guests, doing research, and teaching classes that were so popular that people woke up across the world to attend them. She founded DNA Day, developed a missionary training program to help the missionaries improve their genealogical skills, and became the manager of the US/Canada team. It is hard to overstate the impact she had through her work at the library, and she was deeply loved by so many colleagues and patrons there. 

Beth was passionate about cats and about pop culture. She enthusiastically attended conventions like Fan X, and cosplayed as Canary and General Leia. She watched every single episode of every Star Trek series. She enjoyed visiting her family, both living and deceased, and was known to drag her siblings to see cemeteries and tell them about their ancestors. She spent a lot of time getting to know her extended family, sometimes traveling around the country to meet various relatives. She played a huge role in maintaining the connections in her immediate family as well, initiating regular family reunions that became a valued tradition. She was deeply generous with her time and her money, and helped her family in all kinds of ways, including flying out multiple times to assist with the moves of family members. She enjoyed photography, and would always be up for pulling over to the side of the road to get pictures of a good view. She was excellent at organizing, and always got assigned to pack things into the trunk of the car. As a kid, she loved to dance, and loved horses. She was particularly interested in women’s history. She loved to learn more about the lives of ordinary people, and felt deeply connected to the ancestors that she learned about. She visited Paris in 2019, and fell in love with the Louvre; she said she wanted to get a master’s degree in the history of the Louvre. She enjoyed having the unusual middle name of “Elentari,” which comes from the Lord of the Rings; it’s the Elvish name for Elbereth, and means “Star Queen.” Beth was both deeply intelligent and incredibly kind and caring. She was straightforward and authentic. Her passing leaves a huge hole that will never be filled.

A genealogist until the end, Beth oversaw the writing of this obituary, and emphasized the need to include correct information on her headstone.

Beth is survived by her parents and by six siblings: Genevieve, Aaron (Janell), Sheila, Kynthia, Arwen (Matt), and Kathryn, as well as five nieces and nephews, and her beloved cat Shimmer.

The funeral will be held on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at 11:00 am, at Larkin Funeral Home in downtown Salt Lake City (260 E South Temple), and there will be a visitation at the same location from 6:00 - 8:00 pm on Friday, April 11. Beth requested that people either send flowers or donate to Reclaim the Records. In addition, the family would love to have any memories of Beth, which can be emailed to beth.taylor.memories79@gmail.com.

Those wishing to view the service via Zoom can click "Watch Service" or follow the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84718269640

As Trump moves to eviscerate the federal government with astonishing speed, he has wreaked havoc on one agency long known for its nonpartisanship and revered for its mission: the National Archives and Records Administration.

The independent agency and its trove of historic records have been the subject of Hollywood films and the foundation of research and policy. It also holds responsibilities in processes that are crucial for democracy, from amending the Constitution to electing a president.

As the nation’s recordkeeper, the Archives tells the story of America — its founding, breakdowns, mistakes, and triumphs. Former employees of the agency fear it has become politicized.

In February, the convicted criminal and White House occupant abruptly fired the head archivist. Since then, several senior staffers at the Archives have quit or retired. An unknown number of staffers at the agency also have accepted government-offered deferred resignations, often known as buyouts, or been fired because of their probationary status.

WHAT DOES THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES DO?

Everything that happens in the government, domestically and internationally, generates records. The National Archives is their final landing spot.

Among those are the nation’s precious founding documents, including the original Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The collection also includes military personnel files that allow veterans to get benefits, employment and tax records, maps, drawings, photographs, electronic records and more.

The archivist of the United States is the steward of those billions of records, which belong to the American people, said James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association.

Besides its museum in Washington, the agency manages field offices and presidential libraries around the country. It also authenticates and certifies new constitutional amendments and houses the Office of the Federal Register, which, among other things, verifies electoral certificates during presidential elections.

WHY DID TRUMP TARGET THE AGENCY?

Trump did not give a public reason for firing archivist Colleen Shogan, but he has long held a grudge against the agency for notifying the Justice Department of his alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office following his first term.

That 2022 referral led to an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and a federal indictment against him. A federal judge loyal to Trump dismissed the case last year.

Shogan was not working for the agency at the time. Still, Trump fired her abruptly on February 7 without giving her a reason, she said in a social media post.

The Society of American Archivists said its leadership was alarmed by the news and said the firing with no stated cause “does harm to our nation and its people.”

The president is allowed to dismiss the head of the agency, but none has done so quite as brazenly as Trump. The closest historical precedent was in 2004, when archivist John Carlin resigned and revealed in a letter to a U.S. senator that he had been asked to do so by President George W. Bush’s Republican White House.

The president is required by law to notify Congress of the reasons for the firing, but he is not bound to any timeline.

The Senate committee that has appropriations jurisdiction over the Archives was not told of Shogan’s firing beforehand, nor has it been told of any replacement, a congressional staff member said.

WHAT INFLUENCE COULD A NEW ARCHIVIST HAVE?

The person leading the National Archives has discretion over which records to preserve and how. The risk is that an archivist whose primary loyalty is to Trump could be biased in those decisions, leaving behind a skewed picture of history for future generations, according to several past employees of the Archives who talked to the AP.

That could affect what is preserved of Trump’s insurrectionists from the January 6, 2021, failed coup and attack on the U.S. Capitol, for example, or the current overhaul of federal agencies, said Thomas Brown, whose work at the agency before he retired included some of its early efforts to identify and preserve electronic records.

“It pains me to think that I spent 30 years trying to build something and enhance the reputation of the National Archives to see it pulled down by political ideology,” he said.

The Archives’ duties related to constitutional amendments and Electoral College votes are generally ministerial. But that would not necessarily stop Trump from pressuring a new archivist to serve his interests rather than the law, said Anthony Clark, who oversaw the National Archives as a senior staffer on the House Oversight Committee and authored a book on presidential libraries.

The Office of the Federal Register reviews the electoral certificates sent in from the states. The archivist would not have the authority to force the office to reject a slate of electors but could disrupt the process, said Daniel Weiner, director of the Brennan Center’s elections and government program.

“And anything that shows disruption and uncertainty in the process is not helpful for our democracy and is dangerous,” Weiner said.

A Trump-aligned archivist might also be less inclined to enforce the Presidential Records Act or ask questions if Trump leaves office with troves of classified documents, said Norm Eisen, executive chair of the State Democracy Defenders Fund.

Jim McSweeney, who worked for the Archives for about 40 years before retiring in 2022, said the agency’s role is to preserve all historically valuable records, “good, bad and ugly, warts and all.”

“They can’t be whitewashed. They happened,” he said. “And they need to be present for forever, so that historians and regular citizens can learn and study these events.”

WHY TRUMP PLANS REWRITE HISTORY?

Trump’s targeting of the National Archives is not just about bureaucratic control, it is part of a broader effort to rewrite history and bury evidence of his past criminality as President. His history of obstructing investigations and destroying records has been well documented, from allegedly mishandling classified documents to attempting to suppress records related to the January 6 insurrection.

With direct influence over the Archives, Trump has a pathway to erase or manipulate the official record of his presidency, shielding himself from future scrutiny. A Trump-aligned archivist could selectively retain or discard records, diminishing access to key documents that expose his abuses of power, legal violations, and efforts to subvert democracy.

The archives serve as an institutional safeguard against authoritarian revisionism. Yet, Trump’s interference is designed to turn it into a tool for his political agenda, one that distorts the truth, legitimizes his false narratives, and erases inconvenient facts.

By undermining the agency responsible for maintaining America’s historical record, Trump can consolidate power and also ensure that future generations inherit a history curated to serve his corrupt interests rather than the truth.

Winston De Ville, FASG, noted genealogist, historian, and author – focusing on colonial Mississippi Valley/Provincial Louisiana history –died Monday, March 24, 2025. He was 87.

De Ville was born August 8, 1937, in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, son of Dalvis Joseph De Ville and Olevia Marie Johnson. In 1959, he was graduated magna cum laude from Louisiana College with majors in Piano and French, and minors in organ and journalism. He received his master’s degree in history

from Louisiana State University in 1965.

Winston De Ville was inducted as a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (FASG), an organization limited to fifty members worldwide, selected on the basis of quantity and quality of published works. He was a member of Mexico’s Academia Mexicana de Genealogía y Heráldica.

De Ville was also named a Penrose Associate of the American Philosophical Society (APS); “Penrose Associate” refers to the legacy of Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, Jr., a prominent philanthropist who bequeathed a significant 

portion of his estate to the American Philosophical Society.

Of Winston’s many works, his Louisiana Soldiers in the American Revolution published in 1991, is important to those wishing to join either the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution. Winston partnered with NSDAR genealogists to complete the work and President General Marie H. Yochim wrote the preface. His hope was to assist those who descended from Louisiana and Mississippi Valley families to point with pride to their own ancestors of the American Revolution.

Winston De Ville was considered an expert in colonial-era Opelousas history because of his extensive work in primary source documents related to Opelousas’ founding. He was the author of the ground-breaking book, Opelousas: The History of a French and Spanish Military Post in America, 1716-1803. He often spoke about rewriting the tome because of newly discovered information on the founding of Opelousas and the life of the early colonists who settled in the area.

Winston was a publisher and owned Polyanthos, Inc., and Provincial Press, which published numerous genealogical and historical publications. Provincial Press will continue to publish De Ville’s unpublished works by Louisiana historian and Opelousas native John N. Harper. Winston De Ville’s selected papers were compiled by Harper in 2012, and Winston’s acclaimed series, Mississippi Valley Mélange: A collection of Notes and Documents for the Genealogy and History of the Province of Louisiana and the Territory of Orleans will also continue under John Harper.

Archives of De Ville’s papers are housed at Louisiana State University Hill
Memorial Library’s Special Collections.

Prominent genealogists and historians had this to say on the passing of Winston:

“As a historian, a pianist, and a raconteur, Winston De Ville is already a legend among his peers. For more than six decades, he excelled in ferreting outobscure documents that shed priceless light on the social structure of the Louisiana colony and those who peopled it. As an author and translator, he leaves more thana hundred titles on library shelves around the world to help others with their research. As the Father of Louisiana Genealogy, he left no offspring to extend his
branch of the De Ville tree, but he mentored a legion of inquisitive minds to carry on his legacy. Godspeed, Winston. (And may you now, in your afterlife, get answers to all the delightful suspicions you had about Mme. Marie des Neiges Juchereau de St. Denis de Soto.)”

Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG

“By far, Winston De Ville is the earliest of Louisiana's prolific genealogical writers... I can think of few genealogical authors with so many works to theirnames... as important to the historian as to the genealogist... [His] quality

productivity in so few years is remarkable.”

P. William Filby, former director of the Maryland Historical Society

“There are so many wonderful things that can be said about Winston by so many, and for me, mine was the honor of being asked to collaborate with him. Winston had collected a series of letters on his ancestor Joaquin Ortega. By the time Winston could dream about this project, his typing skills had diminished enough that he needed assistance. He gave me the letters which I set out in chronological order and included with his previously published articles about the Ortega family. Kristine Sjostrom and Molly Long Fernandez de Mesa (my sister), willingly assisted with the Spanish translations. Hence the beautiful, finished product published in 2017, The Papers of Joaquin Ortega. There is now a Facebook page for descendants of Ortega (mostly Ortego’s and Orteg’s) who have connected thanks to this work. I traveled back and forth from Houston to Opelousas for about three years visiting Winston and working on the book. His favorite outing was to go to Soileau’s and have a whiskey sour and catfish. My time with Winston also gave me much precious time to ask him questions about Opelousas history and the early families who settled there. Winston was a precious gift who gave freely of his knowledge to so many and I for one am so grateful for his legacy.”

Mary Anthony Startz

“In 2012, Sieur Winston De Ville asked me to help him compile his numerous articles and publications that were in periodicals and journals all over the country. He wanted his more than sixty years of work and research published in one place. I retyped each article and our finished publication became the Mississippi Valley Mélange series and Winston’s An Annotated Bibliography & other writing, 1959 – 2012. These projects gave me an opportunity to spend time with the person I respected and admired and saw as my mentor in all aspects of Opelousas and greater Louisiana and the Mississippi Valley colonial history. I am proud to continue to research Louisiana’s colonial past and continue to publish the Mississippi Valley Mélange series.”

John N. Harper

“For many decades Winston served as a one-man clearing house for genealogical and historical data about southLouisiana and the Lower Mississippi Valley in general, especially regarding the colonial era. He always gave freely of his time, research, and wisdom.”

Dr. Shane K. Bernard