A little more than a year ago, Klaus Wust died, leaving us a legacy of his fifty years of research, not all of which has been published yet. His final book is being edited now by his daughter, Francoise Joiris, and her son Julian Joiris.
Naturally, there are many papers resulting from the years of research. The family has decided that the best place to put these is in the Shenandoah County Library in Edinburg, Virginia. This is appropriate for several reasons. It is a new library building, and it already has a sizeable German-related collection under the direction of Robert L. Pasco, Director, and Jean M. Martin, Archivist. It is also the repository for the collection amassed by the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society . Klaus' Virginia home was a couple of miles from the library. Perhaps even more significant, the library is less than a mile from Interstate 81, so that it is not difficult to reach.
The library has agreed to take the papers, but it notes that much work is required, which will go beyond the Library's regular budget. The family is asking that, in memory of Klaus Wust, contributions be made to the Library, in order that it can better fulfill the role as a focus of German-American studies.
At the memorial service for Klaus, speaker after speaker noted that Klaus went out of his way to help others. He gave freely of his time and expertise that others might advance their knowledge.
It would be appropriate if we made contributions to the Shenandoah County Library to assist it to help others, all in honor of Klaus. If you do contribute, give your name and address and the amount you intend to contribute, with the date, and send it to:
Shenandoah County Library
1587 Reads Road
Edinburg, VA 22824-2934
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.