• Washington, October 15, 2020 •

As part of our hunt for more collections of German-American letters, we’re excited to announce that we are starting a contest to collect more letters and we're offering a group of genealogy books as the prize! We look forward to learning about additional collections of letters sent to and by German immigrants in the United States between 1800 and 1920. If you are interested in contributing your letters, please share some information about your collection with us and you’ll be entered to win a package of useful books for researching German-American genealogy. Plus, the larger your collection, the more opportunities you’ll have to win!

We are pleased to be partnering with two experts, James M. Beidler and Katherine Schober, who are offering their books as prizes in our German-American genealogy book contest. To enter, send an email to contest@germanletters.org listing:

• your name
• the number of letters in your collection
• any relevant family/personal names
• any available information about the origin(s) and destination(s) of your collection

The number of letters in your collection will determine how many entries it receives. We’ll draw entries at random and each winner will receive signed copies of three books: The Family Tree Historical Atlas of Germany, by James M. Beidler, and The Magic of German Church Records and Tips and Tricks of Deciphering German Handwriting, both by Katherine Schober. In addition, we’ll follow up with all entrants to help them share their collections with the German Heritage in Letters project. The first-round deadline for entries is Saturday, October 31!

Our second round begins November 1 and runs until Monday, November 30!

Our contest is made possible with the sponsorship of Wunderbar Together USA 2020, an initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and supported by the Goethe-Institut to celebrate the ties between Germany and the United States. To learn more, visit wunderbartogether.org.

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