The Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed) Alumni Association is sponsoring the Richard S. Lackey Scholarship in 2022. The Gen-Fed Alumni Association’s purpose is to promote, conduct, and foster education, research, study, and analysis related to genealogy and to disseminate information and support other similar undertakings.
Richard S. Lackey (1921–1983) of Mississippi was a leader in the drive to improve the professionalization of the genealogical community. In addition to lecturing and teaching, he was an author/compiler of standards for genealogical writing, and of Mississippi source material. His work exemplified the highest standards of competent research and scholarly citation of sources. His books Cite Your Sources: A Manual for Documenting Family Histories and Genealogical Records (1980) and Write it Right (1983), co-authored with Donald R. Barnes, promote proper documentation of sources within family histories and genealogical papers. At the time of his death, Richard was President of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®.
The scholarship is awarded annually to an experienced researcher active in a paid or volunteer position which directly benefits the genealogical community. This year the scholarship will award $1000, which covers full tuition for the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed), and partly defrays hotel and/or meal costs. Provided the public health situation allows it, the Gen-Fed Alumni Association will also provide dinner at the Gen-Fed Alumni Banquet on Friday night, Aug 12, 2022, where a check for the amount less tuition will be presented to the recipient.
Nancy Calhoun, our 2017 scholarship recipient says, “Receiving the Lackey Scholarship has not only benefited me but also the genealogy and local history staff at Muskogee Public Library and the patrons we assist. We never know what people are going to request. The training received will assist us in being better equipped to search out that information in the vast collections of National Archives.”
For more information about the Institute, visit www.gen-fed.org. The application can be downloaded from the Scholarships page.
All applications and additional attachments must be submitted in PDF format, combined in one file. The completed application form and attachments should be emailed to Jonathan
- Deiss at jdeiss@soldiersource.com with “Lackey Scholarship 2022” in the subject line. The PDF file name should include your last name and first initial, such as “DoeJ Lackey Scholarship 2022 Application.”
A complete application must be received by midnight, (EST) 31 December 2021. The winner will be notified by 15 February 2022. Other applicants will be notified shortly after that date. The scholarship winner will automatically be accepted for the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records to be held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., from Aug 8–13, 2022.
A’Lelia Bundles is the author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker, a biography of her great-great-grandmother. This New York Times Notable Book is in production as a four-part Netflix series starring Octavia Spencer and scheduled to air in early 2020. She is at work on her fifth book, The Joy Goddess of Harlem: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, about her great-grandmother whose parties and arts patronage helped define the era. Ms. Bundles is the brand historian for Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Culture, a line of hair care products manufactured by Sundial Brands and sold exclusively at Sephora. A former network television news executive and Emmy-award winning producer at ABC News and NBC News, she is a vice chairman of Columbia University’s Board of Trustees and immediate past chair of the board of the National Archives Foundation. She founded the Madam Walker Family Archives and is on the advisory boards of the March on Washington Film Festival and the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute.
The Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed) 2018, held July 16–21 at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., was another great week of learning and camaraderie. Attendees used words like exceptional and excellent and amazing to describe the experience but this comment best captures the unique quality of Gen-Fed:
The Genealogical Institute of Federal Records Alumni Association (Gen-Fed Alumni Association) will hold its Annual Banquet on Friday, July 20, 2018, at the Vantage Point Restaurant, Holiday Inn Rosslyn, in Arlington, Virginia. The traditional post-institute gathering offers the Class of 2018 an opportunity to meet area alumni and a beautiful evening view of Washington, D.C.
