The McGowan Funeral Home Collection: Rescuing & Reviving Community Memories with Alvin Blakes

 The McGowan Funeral Home Collection: Rescuing & Reviving Community Memories

The McGowan Funeral Home Collection Project is an effort to safeguard historical records, stories, and legacies that might otherwise have been lost, and to breathe new life into these memories for current and future generations. The collection holds significance in showcasing Dallas's cultural, familial, and historical identity, emphasizing the importance of remembering and honoring the past. What began as an effort by the African American Genealogical Interest Group members to document the history of McGowan clients has revealed invaluable insights into the lives of Dallas’s Black community during the latter half of the 20th century. Through the collective dedication of AAGIG volunteers, this project also offers a model for other communities aiming to preserve and interpret records from Black family funeral home collections.

Alvin Blakes, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has dedicated himself to researching African history since his teenage years. His genealogical research traces his family's lineage in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, back to the late 1700s, when they arrived from the 13 colonies and the Caribbean Islands. He is the author of the blog, Almost Disappeared: Unearthing My Family History, where he shares valuable genealogical resources discovered over the past 20 years while tracing his family history. Alvin is a participant in several organizations, including the Dallas Genealogical Society’s African American Genealogy Interest Group.

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