Collaborators

Many individuals and organizations helped make this digital library become a reality. Organizations, such as Libraries, Museums and other collecting organizations are noted elsewhere on the site.

4/29/2012 – Still working on getting in touch with many people – so if I left anyone out – I apologize.

The Castle story stays alive through the efforts of the following individuals:

Daniel Barr:  If there is a Prince Charming of local history, I am quite sure it must be Dan Barr. He has personally devoted significant time in capturing and celebrating Hamburg’s rich history.  He is generous with his time and his resources as an active community leader and most of all, he is one of the nicest people my family knows.

Dr. Marion Wood:  Marion has provided invaluable support and guidance to this project from it’s earliest conceptualization.  She helped organize the Historical Society in Hamburg, she authored All About Hamburg, a rich source of information for this project and has personally helped my family preserve it’s history in Sussex County. Additionally, she allowed me to include portions of her original work in the Library.

The Bennett Family:  We saved the best part of this journey for last, and Fred, Bill, Shirley and Valerie, who are the descendants of Frederick H. Bennett have embraced this effort and have been sending along images and memories of their grandfather and great-grandfather. We are not done yet with our exploration.

Jacqueline Traeger Rado:  For speaking with me about her family’s experience as owners of the Castle; hoping we can learn more about that time in the coming weeks.

Dr. Tefko Saracevic:  Tefko has served as the advisor to this academic project. He is an authority on Digital Libraries and has a distinguished career in information science education.  His course on Digital Libraries was one of the highlights of my time at Rutgers. I appreciate his support and encouragement and look forward to working with him on another project.

Dr. Fotinos Panagakos:  Foti played a major role in being what he termed, the scanning lackey, for this project.  He patiently scanned materials, filmed the interview with Shirley Baldwin, and drove me, the Project Librarian all over Sussex County.  For this, and for so many other things, I am deeply in his debt.

Janet Baker Rowe:  Janet is a childhood friend with whom I lost touch after elementary school.  Recently, on one of the darkest days of my life, she appeared unexpectedly and has helped me by sharing her memories of her time as Gretel, to her twin Bobby’s Hansel. She has kindly supported me for the past months with words of encouragement on Facebook while I collected materials.

Shirley Baldwin:  Shirley is the starring Gretel of the Project.  She gave the project rich content about the post-War years of the Castle’s restoration to glory.  Her amazing ability to give portions of the tour, keep the magic alive.  She generously shared her time over the course of a weekend and has an amazing memory for details and names.

Linda Pellett Lannin:  Besides being very generous with sharing her memories of Hamburg, her knowledge of local history, sharing her connections to others in the community, and passing along her passion for libraries and books, she was one of Dan Barr’s teachers. Also, it is important to note that she is the mother of the first Library in Hamburg and the mother of the Gingerbread Librarian who created this Digital Library.

Charlie Brown:  I have never met Charlie Brown, but he is the most generous person with regard to sharing his magnificent collection and perspectives on the Nabisco family of Brands. The images he shared with me flowed in unexpectedly and are so much fun to look at.  I am so glad I was introduced to him by the very kind, Ms. Jean R. Walton.

Jean R. Walton: Jean is the Secretary of the New Jersey Postal History Society.  I reached out to her organization to find Hamburg Postal cancellations.  Jean helped do research for the project, she offered up her connection to Charlie Brown, noted above, and she is the first person to ever refer to me as a “Librarian” ( I have been called many other things in my life) and so I will always remember her for that.

Jonathan Wold:  Jonathan is a WordPress guru who magically appeared when I was stuck at the critical juncture of having purchased access to more technology tools than I knew how to properly use and having gathered way more content than I knew how to handle.  He trained me to be a WordPress, CMS user and got me back on track.

Dan Balogh:  Dan is a photographer, and is the first person I reached out to for permission to use his work on this Library, even before the Library was fully planned and operational. He said “yes” to me, a total stranger, about five minutes after I asked him, and that was very inspirational and helped get the ideas flowing. Leading me to think,  ”Who else can I ask for help?”

Heidi Hess Saxton:  Heidi grew up in Hamburg.  Heidi is a published author and when I asked if she ever wrote about her experiences at the Castle, she crafted the moving  essay Cookie Girl, specifically for this project.  She generously gave her time and talent to helping keep the memory of the Castle alive.

Jeff Bjorck:  Jeff is an artist of many talents who grew up in Hamburg. Jeff shared his father’s original art work, the Restaurant Placemat,  with me early on in the collection development process.

Michael Osnato:  Michael graciously shared his family’s home video footage with the project. He went out of his way to make a copy for me.  It has been well received by the people who have seen it and I thank him for taking the time to help me.

Frank M. Haas:  Frank has captured beautiful images of the Castle in modern day.  His work helps showcase the beautiful tiles and the grounds.  Thank you for arranging to share these albums with the project.

Lainie Oleske:  Laine is a Gingerbread Castle Collector living in Sussex County who recently hosted a library display in Vernon, New Jersey, which in turn led to me reaching out to her about this project. Laine has generously shared images of her precious items for inclusion in the Library.

Shirley Fowler:  Shirley lived in Hamburg, was Hamburg School’s Librarian as well as a neighbor and the wife of our minister, Father Donald Fowler, at the Church of the Good Shepard in Hamburg (1966-1976).    Shirley shared information about the history of the school library program for the project.

Dr. Katherine Panagakos: Katherine is a classics professor at the Richard Stockton College. She helped the Librarian brainstorm how to make connections across the areas of: classics, fairy tale, digital storytelling and libraries. She shared information about key scholars in this area as well.

Karen Lannin Dulany and Laura Lannin Stelzer:  These young visitors of the Castle got their start in Hamburg doing mean things such as chasing the Gingerbread Librarian around with nasty worms;  as they grew up, they turned out to be very helpful in remembering Hamburg, the Castle and family history as well as sharing their network of friends to assist in this effort.