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Logan to receive donation of family
histories
By Arrin Newton Brunson
Special to The Tribune
LOGAN -- A $1.7 million collection of family histories, encompassing
80,000 family records worldwide and compiled over the past 57 years,
will be preserved in northern Utah's Cache Valley.
The donation to the Logan City Library is being made by a software
developer who, in January, acquired Everton Publishers, a longtime
publisher of genealogical and family history materials.
The collection is described as one of the world's finest privately
owned sets of genealogical books, family histories and other documents,
according to Bobbie Coray, president and CEO of the Cache County Chamber
of Commerce.
The deal was consummated last month by Logan Mayor Doug Thompson. He
declined to comment, preferring to wait for a news conference scheduled
for Wednesday. But he confirmed Monday the city's acceptance of the
donation.
In addition to the family histories, assets going to Logan City
include a Web site, magazine, a 10th edition genealogy book and
Everton's intellectual property. Total value of the donation is
estimated at $4 million, according to Robert Johns, spokesman for donor
Bill Schjelderup, owner of Companion Corp. of Salt Lake City.
The Cache County Council is scheduled to discuss tonight whether to
allocate $25,000 to move the genealogical materials from their home in
an old LDS Church in Nibley, southeast of Logan. The materials will have
to be temporarily stored until the city establishes a permanent place to
house the collection under the direction of the Logan library.
Coray, a self-described genealogy addict, said she learned about 14
months ago that the Everton genealogical assets were in jeopardy of
being liquidated. She compiled a "dream team" of family history
enthusiasts who have ties to Cache Valley to put the deal together.
"We have now a one-of-a-kind treasure in our library, and this can
be a catalyst for downtown development," Coray said, adding that
genealogy is the No. 2 most popular use of the Internet, second only to
pornography.
"We believe that if it is in Logan, it makes Cache Valley a mecca
for genealogists, and there is a potential of people coming to do
research and hold conferences and workshops here because now the
[materials] will be publicly available for everybody."
Everton Publishers was formed in 1947 by Walter Everton when it
first began publishing Everton's Genealogical Helper magazine, the
oldest magazine of its type in the country. Its assets were sold in 2001
to Family History Network Inc., and then purchased in January by
Schjelderup.
His company is the developer of Alexandria Software, a system for
cataloging library holdings. Spokesman Johns said the entrepreneur
decided to donate the Everton assets in order to streamline his business
interests.
In addition to the private collection of genealogical materials,
Logan will inherit Everton's Genealogical Helper, a family history
magazine. Johns said the city is expected to seek a private enterprise
partner to run that operation.
Logan City will also own The Handybook of Genealogists: USA, which
has sold over 1 million copies, and has been considered for nearly 50
years to be the "finest genealogical research book in the United
States," Johns said.
ajbrunson@comcast.net
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