GPP HistoryThe "Gravestone Photo Project" or "GPP" was first undertaken as a single county gravestone photo archive. Since 2002 it has grown to include separate repositories in a over 15 states -- and is now believed to be the largest gravestone photo repository in the world.
Project Roots
The project first began when Rich Lowe, an Iowa GenWeb project county coordinator, wanted to store his Van Buren County Iowa GenWeb cemetery photos in a searchable database.
Since there was no known existing software that allowed Rich to have the functionality needed-he contacted his son Jeff Lowe (a website programmer) to see what kind of effort would be needed to create a tool. Before long a working model emerged. It soon became evident that the tool was capable of storing tens of thousands of records rather than the hundreds of records originally planned-- and that with further modification it could be useful to other county coordinators statewide with it's combined database being available for individual or statewide searches. It was at this point that the project was proposed and quickly adopted by IowaGenWeb. Project Timeline
July 2002 - Van Buren Co. Iowa site is conceptualized and work commences on the GPP software. November 2004 to March 2005 - An additional eight states begin using the software May 2005 - The "Gravestone Photo Project" is established as an opensource project and the code is placed in the public domain.
Project FutureSince it's inception several states have chosen to use the GPP software. The program has gone through multiple revisions to help break it free from some of legacy code related to it's Iowa roots. We are now attempting to move the project from a single developer to a team of contributors that can help add all the features that are being requested. If you are interested in volunteering for the project drop us a note on the "Contact Us" page.
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