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Resources for Reunion Planning in Athens, Georgia: Class, Family, Military and More

Thank you to Laura Carter, Athens-Clarke County Library's Heritage Room, for these resources presented at our February 2011 Reunion Planning Workshop!

Kinds of reunions - family, military, class, school, adoption, anniversary, club or organization, business/company, bunch of friends. There can be reunions commemorating anniversaries of people or events. Reunions can be planned to get people together for anything.

The Internet has made much of the hardest work easier - registration, payment, sending invitations, creating souvenirs and compiling informational booklets, promoting the event, and more.

Laura's Reunion Resources
 General  Information  Class/School Reunions
 Military Reunions  Family Reunions
 Media, Music & Stuff  Finding People
 Family History / Genealogy  

General Information for all reunions

  • National Association of Reunion Managers (NARM)
    http://www.reunions.com/
    This professional organization's website can lead you to professionals who do this for a living, and also serves as a resource for members of NARM.
  • The Reunion Planner
    http://www.reunionplanner.com/
    Provides ideas for activities, buttons, souvenirs, list of places for reunions by state, but seem to charge for listings so these are not comprehensive or unbiased.  Software to "manage contact information, develop your budgets, print mailing labels, invitations, and name tags create to-do lists, designate seating assignments."  The Resources drop down can be helpful as it sometimes has links to other sites.
  • Reunions Magazine
    http://www.reunionsmag.com/
    Site includes tabs for information on family reunions, military reunions, class reunions, for registering your upcoming reunion, how to get started with planning a reunion, and almost anything you can think of having to do with reunions.  You can also shop for a subscription to the magazine and for books and other materials to guide you and provide ideas.  Podcasts and articles with reunion planning information are free online.
  • Ninkovich, Thomas. Reunion Handbook: A Guide For School and Military Reunions, 3rd ed. Borgo Press, 1991.

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Class/School Reunions

  • ClassReport.org
    http://classreport.org/
    Classreport.org provides free high school class reunion websites for every graduating class of every high school, with free access for all class members.  No Ads.     No Spam. No Pop-ups. No fees. They do ask for a $15.00 per month contribution per class but it is not mandatory.  The site provides a template for listing school reunions and building a reunion web site.
  • Class Reunion Activities Icebreakers, Games, and Slide Shows Home Page
    http://www.greenleecds.com/letters.html
    He provides seven different ready-made activities on CD that include Elimination, Jeopardy, and Name that Song contests based on the year of graduation.  
  • Fun Theme Party Ideas
    http://www.fun-theme-party-ideas.com/class-reunion.html
    They have theme ideas, decorations, recipes and links to other sites.  In addition to class reunion ideas, they have information for other reunions as well.
  • Reunion Class 101
    http://www.reunionclass.com/
    Article from MyEvent.com website, that is advertising their products but the article is free and has a wealth of information and ideas.

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Military Reunions

There are lots of online sites to register military reunions and to search for buddies.  The sites below might help you find information about the unit and help make the event more meaningful.  These are the historical sites and often are not official military, Department of Defense sites.

Family Reunions

  • CyndisList
    http://www.cyndislist.com/
    Go to reunions category and look at options
  • Fall, Cheryl. Family Reunion Planning Kit for Dummies.  For Dummies, 2001.
  • Ninkovich, Tom.  Family Reunion Handbook: A Complete Guide to Reunion Planning, 2nd ed. 
  • Reunions Magazine
    http://www.reunionsmag.com/
  • Bagley, Nancy Funke.  Reunions for Fun-Loving Families, Brighton Publications, 1994.
  • Clunies, Sandra Maclean.  A Family Affair: How to Plan and Direct the Best Family Reunion Ever.  National Genealogical Society, 2003.

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Media/Music and Stuff

  • Athens Video
    http://www.athensvideo.com/
    Athens Video can transfer video to DVD, audio to CD, video the event or parts of it, edit a video someone attending made and duplicate to make it more effective and meaningful, or create a photo montage to display at the event or create one from old photos folks bring to the event if someone scans them. They can add music and movement to create an effective video from still photos and images past and present.
    They also rent screens, projectors and other items that can be expensive when rented from a venue.
  • Radar Productions
    http://www.radarproductions.com/
    Radar can add music and movement to create an effective video from still photos and images past and present. They can transfer video to DVD, audio to CD, video the event or parts of it, edit a video someone attending made and duplicate to make it more effective and meaningful, or create a photo montage to display at the event or create one from old photos folks bring to the event if someone scans them.  
  • Find a Photographer who specializes in large group photos so can get the whole group in, the people are recognizable, and no one is missing from the photo. 

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Finding people

  • AnyWho
    http://www.anywho.com/
    AnyWho is a free directory service with residential, business, and government white and yellow page listings." Includes reverse phone lookup.
  • InfoSpace
    http://www.infospace.com/ispace/ws/index
    Find a person, business, phone number, address, map, or driving directions.
  • Internet 800 Directory
    http://inter800.com/
    Internet 800 Directory - Directory of free toll free, 800, 888, 877, and 866 listings of businesses by company, number and type of industry, regardless of long distance carrier.
  • Johnson, Richard S.  Find Anyone Fast, 3rd ed. Military Information Enterprises, 2001.
  • Phone Validator
    http://www.phonevalidator.com/
    Submit a phone number and find out the phone line type (cell or land), phone company and phone location.
  • Reverse Phone Directory
    http://www.reversephonedirectory.com/
    Lookup by phone number to find a name and street address from a reverse phone lookup to see who lives there. Search 411 directory information listings to lookup people from a reverse phone directory and cross-reference people locator.
  • Sankey, Michael  The Public Record Research Tips Book: Insider Information for Effective Public
  • Record Research.  Facts on Demand Press, 2008.
  • Super Pages
    http://www.superpages.com/
    SuperPages.com is the leading online Yellow Pages directory service with millions of business and residential listings nationwide. Here you can find yellow pages phone listings, directions, online shopping sites, maps, and addresses for local or national businesses.
  • Switchboard
    http://www.switchboard.com/
    Telephone Directory: Internet Yellow Pages, Internet White Pages - You can find what is generally regarded as the best phone book online at Switchboard.com. Online maps, reverse phone number search and more.
  • The Ultimates
    http://www.theultimates.com/
    Search multiple directories at one time.
  • Yahoo! People Search
    http://people.yahoo.com/
    Search for email by person's name or domain name. Also search for phone numbers and addresses. 

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Genealogy/Family History

  • Find basic How-To information online and in books at your local public library, including the Athens-Clarke County Public Library
  • Ancestry Library Edition - available for free through GALILEO at public libraries in Georgia 
  • Ancestry.com - pay individual subscription site, but much helpful information is free. Use the free stuff on Ancestry.com and go to your library to get the pay stuff on Ancestry Library edition for free.
  • Ask Granny
    https://askgranny.com/
    This is an easy way to preserve family information from people attending a get-together.  The packets are free and if you are in the Athens-Clarke County area, one of the creators may be able to come and conduct the session.  They have created packets in large print with lots of space for older folks to enter information. 
  • Clarke-Oconee Genealogical Society (COGS)
    http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gacogs/
    The goal of the organization is to help further individual genealogical research efforts, knowledge, and techniques by way of our general meetings, roundtables, workshops, special interest groups, field trips, publications, and quarterly newsletter. 
  • FamilySearch.org
    http://www.familysearch.org/
    For census images and other historical records to assist you in finding your family.  Most of the records are free.  There is a helpful Getting Started section and there are free courses and articles you can view online.
  • HeritageQuest Online
    Available free through GALILEO from your local public library or at home
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