Families have preserved their ancestor's stories for generations. Our role is to help ensure that your ancestor stories are honored with care and historical accuracy. An Ancestor Certificate is an official commemorative certificate issued after historical review and certification by our organization.
The Eastland Disaster Historical Society is dedicated to researching and preserving the history of the Eastland Disaster. Through our work, including our communications with families, we are able to gratefully serve as the exclusive - and trusted - organization for recognizing your family history. When a certificate is issued, it honors your family’s memory and reflects the most careful historical research available.
When you order, we provide you with both a digital certificate and a printed certificate! Each of the two certificates includes:
If your certificate purchase is a gift, the giftee's name and relationship are used.
The digital certificate is a 1-of-a-kind electronic credential created as a PDF file that certifies your ancestor's role in the Eastland Disaster. But it's much more than an online PDF file. Digital certificates are secured with encryption and other smart technology that make them impossible to fake. Share them with your family and friends across every social media platform without risk or concern of them being copied or tampered with. Our digital certificates never expire, and most importantly, once we issue a certificate it will always remain a permanent part of the historical record in the EDHS Collection maintained at the iconic Newberry Library archives.
If we locate your ancestor's name and role in a newspaper, magazine, or other published periodical, then that becomes the authoritative record to certify your ancestor as a victim, survivor, responder, or other.
Absent any results via our public record search above, if you have family records - a letter, an entry in a journal, or other physical document - then that becomes the authoritative record to certify your ancestor in this category.
Don't have an authoritative public record or family document? Only have the stories passed down from your great-granduncle or told to you by your grandmother at the kitchen table? No problem, the Certificate of Familial Oral History is for you! We value family history, and this type of certificate is a vital part of the historical record in our archives.
All certificates follow our structured certification, verification, and issuance framework.
This price is for the general public whereby you are not a dues-paying member in good standing with EDHS.
A 20% discount is available if you are an annual dues-paying member of EDHS in good standing (that is, your $50 "basic" membership with EDHS was started or renewed within the past 12 months).
A 50% discount is available if you are an annual dues-paying member of EDHS in good standing (that is, your $100 "premium" membership with EDHS was started or renewed within the past 12 months).
Not certain of your membership status with EDHS? Just contact us and we will let you know!
