Wordless Wednesday: Vertical Files Grand Opening

If you missed the Vertical Files Grand Opening hosted by Pat Bonderud and Linda Darby this past Saturday, then enjoy these photos from that wonderful day.

What's the vertical file collection?  
Approximately 2,000 files of newspaper clippings, newsletters, correspondence, reproduced records, compiled family charts, research notes and many other interesting items. You never know what you’ll find in this eclectic collection. The contents of these files have been contributed by members and non-members over our 100+ year history. 

How do I search it?
We have an online Vertical File database that includes: a title (usually a surname), brief description of the contents, timeframe, and geographic location for each file.

Happy hunting!

Arlene Miles, our newest board member, cuts the ribbon
and opens the vertical file to everyone.
Photo: Ron Madson

Our vertical file curators: Pat Bonderud & Linda Darby
Photo: Shannon Reese

L to R: Linda Okazaki, Arlene Miles, Linda Darby & Pat Bonderud
Photo: Ron Madson

Linda Darby
Photo: Ron Madson

Copyright © 2016 by California Genealogical Society

Genealogical Treasures Revealed September 10th: Come see what you’ve been missing!

by Linda Darby

Come to the Library to check out our Vertical Files Grand Opening hosted by Pat Bonderud and Linda Darby, September 10th, from 12pm to 12:30pm. Light refreshments will be served.

Our 2,000 files include newspaper clippings, newsletters, correspondence, reproduced records, compiled family charts, research notes and other interesting items. You never know what you'll find in this eclectic collection.

Photos by Maureen Hanlon

Both members and non-members have contributed the contents of these files over our 100-year history. 

To make your search easier, we have an online Vertical File database index that includes: a title (usually a surname), brief description of the contents, time frame, and geographic location for each file. A few examples include:

•    1856 Ogle County, Illinois marriage certificate for Philo Wood and Almira McKinnery.

•    1925 Iowa Adjutant General's Certificate regarding James Strain's (of Crawfordville, Iowa) military service in the Civil War.

•    1911 statement by Mrs. E. J. Grady of New Jersey regarding Alexander Desnoyers, her grandfather, who had resided in Quebec.

•    O’Bryant surname:  Research material including marriage and death certificates, charts and photographs from Kenneth G. Felton of Castro Valley, Calif. in his quest to find M. A. Bruer who married James Ira Nelson in Dec. 1891.

•    Mesa surname: Death certificate and obituary for Frank Mesa (1835-1910); photo of daughter, Lucy M. Mesa (1875-1944) with vital information; Lucy Mesa’s death certificate and wedding announcement; and death certificate for Harry Durand Wilkinson (1876-1946)

•    Miller surname:  Marriage records of the Miller family, 7 pages. Includes the Miller family Bible records, plus marriage certificates for Clement H. Miller & Alice W. Davis, and Samuel Miller born 1801.

•    The History of the Bibber Family at Harpswell, Maine by Rev. Chas. N. Sinnett, Fayette, Iowa [1913].

Please Register for this FREE Event. We hope to see you there!

Copyright © 2016 by California Genealogical Society

More Organizing in the Library: the CGS Vertical Files

It's hard to keep up with all of the volunteer projects that go on in the California Genealogical Society Library. Maintaining our collection is an endless task and volunteers step up to keep things organized and ready for our patrons.

One of the library's gems is our Manuscript Collection. Volunteers Pat Bonderud and Linda Darby catalogued and organized ninety linear feet of loose papers, research, and family history material donated to the society over the past 114 years. The manuscript collection is now being maintained by volunteers Georgia Lupinsky and Virginia Turner. The thirty-page inventory in pdf format entitled CGS Manuscript Collection can be downloaded from the society website on the Searchable Databases page.

Pat Bonderud and Linda Darby

Now Pat and Linda have turned their attention to another neglected collection in the library – the vertical files. The vertical files contain small items: clippings, reprints, and other miscellaneous materials. Over the years the two vertical file cabinets became a bit of a "catch all" for holdings that don't fit anywhere else in the library. Most are surname files.

Bonderud and Darby are examining the contents of each and every file. They are curating and creating brief descriptions of the files, including surnames, time frame, and location.

It is painstaking work that they hope to complete in the next few months.

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Wordless Wednesday

Aging and Disability Technology Summit

San Francisco City Hall

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Photographs by Kathryn Doyle and Shannon Reese, San Francisco, 5/15/2012.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Announcing the CGS Manuscript Collection

Please come to the California Genealogical Society Library this Saturday, September 12, 2009, at 12:30 p.m. and join us at an open house to celebrate the completion of the Manuscript Collection Project. Light refreshments will be served. There will be a five to ten minute presentation about the project at 1:00 p.m. at the start of the membership meeting.

The CGS Manuscript Collection consists of loose papers, research and family history material totaling ninety linear feet which have been donated to the society over its 111 year history. A comprehensive review and organization of the collection has recently been completed by member volunteers Pat Bonderud and Linda Darby. All materials have been cataloged and a comprehensive document has been created to describe the society's holdings. Thanks to a generous grant by the BayTree Fund, all items are now arranged on open shelving in a separate room at the library and the documents are stored using acid-free and museum quality archival enclosures.

Pat Bonderud, Judy Avery and Linda Darby.

Besides the preservation of materials, it is the intent of the society to open the collection to interested researchers. A twenty-three page inventory is available in pdf format at the society website on the Searchable Databases page. It includes a synopsis of each collection and provides enough information to help you determine if further examination of a manuscript is beneficial to your research. Individual collections may be viewed at the library by appointment once a team of volunteers is identified who will oversee the collection.

If you are interested in helping the society offer this new service, please email CGS.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday
CGS Manuscript Committee
Pat Bonderud and Linda Darby

Photograph by Kathryn M. Doyle, 7/31/2008, Oakland, California

Linda Darby's Report from FGS Philadelphia

CGS member Linda Darby loves a good conference. She sent this report from the Federation of Genealogical Society Footprints of Family History Conference in Philadelphia, September 4 to 6, 2008:

Conference attendees remained cool, inside the spacious Philadelphia Convention Center, while the City of Brotherly Love baked in record high temperatures. We were greeted by that renowned genealogist Benjamin Franklin, and also welcomed by Ms. Betsy Ross. The conference had numerous sessions on German, Irish, and Pennsylvania research. All attendees obtained a CD of the syllabus, could download specific sessions from the FGS website, and a hard copy could be purchased for $32. Many folks don’t like the weight of all that paper. And, printing is pretty pricey these days. Many sessions were recorded, and the recordings on CD could be purchased, so as invariably happens, if you are interested in more than one session at a specific time, you can hear them both.

Jane Lindsey and Linda Darby in Salt Lake City
at the CGS Research Tour last April.

In addition to gleaning information from the session, another incalculable benefit of attending conferences is talking to other attendee and sharing information. One such incident occurred at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania the Tuesday before the conference began. Many folks attending the conference had come in early to do some local research. I was no exception. While browsing in the Scranton City Directories, I encountered another attendee. We began chatting. She was from Boston. She was looking for a family from a small town near Scranton. My family is from this same town. What surname? Incredibly, she was looking for a collateral line of my family! We exchanged business cards, and I’ve passed along her information to a cousin in that line. He was astounded. You just never know.

Next year, the FGS Conference, Passages Through Time, will be held in Little Rock, Arkansas, September 2-5, 2009. Y'all come!

Linda Darby

Photograph courtesy of Cathy H. Paris, Apr 19, 2008, Salt Lake City, Utah.