John Judge has died

[Peter Lemkin]

Dear FOJ ~


I am so pleased to tell you that the John Judge Collection is completely moved out of his house and into the new Hidden History Center at 105 Rowell Court in Falls Church, VA! It is the end of a long journey, and the beginning of a new one.

The final load, containing nine filing cabinets, assorted office supplies, disassembled tables and 38 archive boxes, was moved by Great Scott Moving Company on Sunday, July 5. (Those who loved John most should know that we also moved his lifelong friends, Clownie and Ducky, and put them in a place of honor in a glass display case in the new office.)

This project was a Herculean effort by the movers in hot, muggy weather, carrying everything down the long flights of stairs at John's house and up a flight at Rowell Court. The guys did a great job and handled the collection respectfully and carefully. Nothing remains at John's house now, except a few odds and ends, which we can easily transport in a van or SUV. We are thrilled to be at this point after 14 long months of work!

I owe a debt of gratitude to all the volunteers who worked long and hard to pack John's books and carefully sort his papers. Many people contributed time and effort to honor him. I especially want to thank Richard Ochs, Deborah Cunningham and Susanne Zeiders, who showed up week after week and worked tirelessly to help me. They are my heroes!

So now we begin in earnest to create the Hidden History Center in John's honor. Right now, we have an office packed with boxes. There is barely room to walk around. We need to begin making order out of chaos. We have a plan for our next steps, including

• cataloging the books in the collection
  
• digitizing the newspaper clippings
  
• sorting, organizing and digitizing the documents
  
• creating an exciting, information-packed new website (watch for it to debut late this summer)
  
• creating an extensive e-mail list that will enable us to keep in touch with our supporters
  

It has take lots of determination and sacrifice to reach this point, but it has been worth every bit of the hard work. I know John would be so delighted to see his dream coming true, and I know those of you who love him are pleased, too.

We can use your continued help and support. Let me know if you have skills to offer that might help us accomplish the goals I have listed above. Or, if you have no time, you can always help us pay the rent and utilities at Rowell Court by sending a check, made out to the Museum of Hidden History, to me at P.O, Box 514, New Cumberland, PA, 17070. Or you can contribute using the Donate button on the $upport Us page of our website. The link is below.

With much love and deepest gratitude to everyone whose thoughts, prayers and contributions made this accomplishment possible, I remain ~

Marilyn Tenenoff
Executive Director
Hidden History Center


Museum of Hidden History | a museum about the history you never knew