Last year, as a result of the women's leadership conference, the Museum received a scrapbook detailing student life at the University of Iowa in the 1920s. Through a joint project with the University of Iowa , the Museum digitized the scrapbook and it is available on the internet.

A gentleman in Texas was surfing the internet when he came across the scrapbook online and within it, a particular photograph caught his eye. The following is the text of the email written to Museum curator Susan Kuecker:

"GOD. . .This is a picture of my Grandfather. He passed away when my father was a small boy. I only had a small picture of him, far way, standing in front of his car and home in Iowa. My father, Craig W. Spotser, has never seen a picture of him that close up, but he passed away in February 2002. This is amazing. How can I obtain a copy of the photo of my Grandfather? I was surfing the web, and this is the first time that I have seen this picture. I almost started crying. I look almost identical to him, and so does my son."

Mr. Craig D. Spotser received a copy of his grandfather's photograph, but the story does not end there. When Kuecker shared the story with the rest of the Museum staff, we knew we had to share it with our supporters. We promptly contacted Mr. Spotser to ask permission to reprint his email. We received two replies—one from Mr. Spotser and one from another family member.

"It would be an honor to have our story shared with others in the Community. I am really thankful that the African American Historical Museum has taken the time to disseminate this information over the internet. The staff at the Museum has been a pleasure to work with and you all have touched our family in a way that we cannot put into words.

God bless you.

Craig D. Spotser"

 "Wow,

We are so elated that you will be publishing our search for our grandfather; we always knew our dad was missing something in his life, and it was this great man, our grandfather, and his dad. We loved our dad so very much and we idolized every wonderful thing he did for us, but we knew my father did not have the same experience; we never took him for granted. Even my grandmother, Cecelia, was so in love with him that she got married twice after he died in 1930, lived to 90 years old, but only had one child, just one, our dad. So, we can surmise that she consciously chose to never bear another child. He was only 26 when he died, and he died around her birthday which was June 28. I can only imagine how devastating that was to her, burying her only love after just 3 years of marriage or so. But she did, and loved him so much as to never have another child; I cried when I saw his death certificate, and am teary-eyed as I end this note. Just knowing how much she loved him tells me right away he was a good, gentle man; and I've never even touched his whiskers.

Thanks for your work; we will always be grateful.

Christopher Kyle Spotser"

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