Ah-ha! That explains it! All of a sudden, I started getting lots of orphan heirloom applications in rapid succession. After wondering what was going on, I discovered the answer -- Jana Lloyd's article in the current issue of Rootsweb Review:
Orphan Heirlooms: Returning Flea Market Finds to Their Families
I'm delighted, of course, but I'd like to take this opportunity to make a personal plea. I've done countless orphan heirloom rescues over the years (you can read about a bunch of them here), but there's been a bit of a disturbing trend. More and more, when I do the detective work to find the family of origin and get back to the submitter, I get no response -- even if I try several times. Frankly, this is frustrating as it forces me to solve multiple cases in order to write a single article, and I wind up feeling, well, cheated. There's no rescue and I can't get the time (and sometimes money) I invested in the research back. It's to the point where I sometimes have to research five cases in order to be sure to have one to write about (sadly, I'm not exaggerating).
So here's my plea: By all means, submit your orphan heirloom to be rescued. I welcome it. I love doing the sleuthing! For me, there's nothing like the thrill of the hunt. But please don't submit if you're not quite sure whether you're truly ready to return the item to the family of origin yet (yes, I know, we can become quite attached to these items even if they're not from our own families). So please be sure you're ready and willing to participate in the rescue before submitting, OK? Thanks!