A Special Evening Event with Noted Genealogy Author, Bill Cole

Join us on Thursday, March 8th, and be a part of a unique celebration between the California Genealogical Society (CGS) and the California Historical Society (CHS)! Our two genealogy and history-focused organizations are hosting a special event at CHS' headquarters to celebrate our shared history and collaborative missions. Access to CHS' genealogical collections viewing and current exhibits, and a special speaker, Bill Cole will be highlights of the evening. You must pre-register for the event. Free for CGS members or only $5 for non-members.

Interested in California history?  You won't want to miss this event!
Bill Cole will talk about a fascinating only-in-California event, the 1864 Bullion Bend Stagecoach Robbery. This amazing Wild West caper occurred during the Civil War’s final year. It was front-page news that captured the country’s attention.

These incredible events unfolded right in our backyard, from San Jose to Sacramento to Placerville. Genealogist Bill Cole, a relative of one of the perpetrators, dug deep into the California State Archives to uncover the full story. The treasure trove of information he found tells an amazing story, where fact is truly stranger than fiction.

About the Speaker
Bill Cole, M.A., is a passionate genealogist who has vigorously pursued his family history since 1980. His genealogy exploits include being the first person to document the English parents of his immigrant 8th great grandfather from the 16th Century. He has uncovered ancestors born at sea, a shipwrecked survivor pardoned from a death sentence who survived Jamestown, two Mayflower ancestors, multiple Revolutionary War patriots on both sides, and  other fascinating characters – including one involved in a California stagecoach robbery.  

Bill is a member of the Mayflower Society and the Vice President of the Sacramento German Genealogical Society. He recently served on the International German Genealogical Partnership’s International Conference Executive Committee.

Location
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Need directions or suggestions on how to get there? Visit their website.

Schedule
5:45 pm - Doors open with a reception, CHS' genealogical collections viewing, and access to CHS' current exhibits.

6:45 pm - Bill’s talk begins at “Bullion Bend: Confederate Stagecoach Robbers, Murder Trials, & the California Supreme Court -- Oh, My!”.

8:45 pm - Event ends

Exhibit information

Alexander Hamilton: Treasures from the New-York Historical Society

The extraordinary life and prolific career of Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804) continue to captivate the American public more than two centuries after his death. Drawing from the    collections of the New-York Historical Society and JP Morgan Chase bank, this exhibition presents original artifacts and documents—many never before seen on the West Coast—that illuminate Hamilton's role in shaping the legal, economic, and political systems at the foundation of the modern United States.

Meanwhile out West: Colonizing California, 1769–1821

At least 300,000 indigenous people lived in Alta California, as it was once known, when the Spanish Crown asserted sovereignty over the territory in 1769. In the ensuing five decades, Spain left an enduring imprint on the Native peoples, the landscape and on California's cultural heritage. This exhibition explores the period through manuscripts, books, paintings, and artifacts from the California Historical Society's collections.

Join us on March 8th and help us make this a celebration to remember!

Copyright © 2018 by California Genealogical Society

Exclusive Tour of The California Historical Society

Image courtesy of openclipart.org

Have you heard about the upcoming field trip to the California Historical Society (CHS) on Tuesday, October 25^th from 10:30 am – 12pm?  They are actually opening the library just for us!  We’re really excited about this tour and hope you’ll want to explore this one-of-a-kind, San Francisco historical treasure with us.  Register here.

Maureen Hanlon, Events Director said, "We're excited about the return of California Genealogical Society (CGS) field trips and are planning that the upcoming visit to the California Historical Society will be the first of many opportunities for our members.  This trip will build on our long-standing bonds with the Society, both an early partner in our history and a continuing resource for CGS.”

What’s of particular interest to genealogists?

The California Historical Society represents a rich resource for family history research. Their treasure trove of early newspapers and periodicals, Gold Rush and Immigration collections which include diaries, photographs, journals, letters and much more. 

What will be covered on the tour?

A staff member will present a brief lecture and then our group will be given an exclusive viewing of selected items from their extensive collection.

How do I get there?

The society is conveniently located near Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.  Travel easily by BART to the Montgomery Street station or if you prefer to drive, there are plenty of parking options nearby.

The California Historical Society, founded in 1871, was an early partner of the California Genealogical Society.  It houses materials from the Crocker family that became the foundation of the Society's North Baker Research Library and Fine Arts collection.

You can find out more about CHS at their Website, Blog, and their Events Calendar. 

Ready to sign-up?  Great!  We’ll see you there on October 25th!

Copyright © 2016 by California Genealogical Society

October is Family History Month

Family History Month kicks off in October at the California Genealogical Society!  Are you ready?

If you haven't been either in a while or ever, take the time to plan a visit today and see what our library has to offer you. Explore our wonderful genealogy collections and resources for free during the month of October.  Our hours are 10-4, Thursday through Saturday.  

Our library is located in the historic Breuner Building at 22nd Street & Broadway, one block north of the Paramount Theater, in uptown Oakland.  All classes (for which you must register) during October will be held here, unless specified.

Have you explored our City Directories?  It’s now a part of our main library with a collection of 6,000 city and telephone directories dating from the 1840s to the 1960s.

Our member volunteers have been lining up a month of special events and exciting classes. Please help us celebrate Family History Month by attending one of the many genealogy events we’ve highlighted below in the San Francisco Bay area:

Saturday, October 1st

1pm - 3pm  If you’re ready to find out your family’s story, then we’re here to help you. Register now for our Intro to Genealogy - First Saturday Free! class.

Image from www.nichibei.org

11am - 3pm  The California Genealogical Society (CGS) is participating in the Nikkei Pilgrimage to Angel Island.  This fun, all-day event is focused on the Japanese-American experience at the "Ellis Island of the West". CGS President Linda Harms Okazaki will present and then will be available to help people get started in their own research.  Our other volunteers helping are Todd Armstrong, Lisa Gorrell, Maureen Hanlon, Diana Edwards, James Russell, Stacy Hoover, Janice Sellers, and Adelle Treakle (all CGS members & genealogists).   

Presented by: the Nichi Bei Foundation in partnership with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation & National Japanese American Historical Society.

Saturday, October 8th

10:00am - 11:30am  Attend the monthly meeting of the CGS Board of Directors that focuses on making our tagline, “helping people connect to their diverse family heritage” a reality.

12 noon - 3pm  Please come for the 2016 Genie Awards and noontime Fall Membership meeting in the CGS Library.  The Fall Membership meeting gives all of us the opportunity to “Join your CGS” friends for lunch, conversation, and celebrate our volunteer contributions.

The Genie Awards are not only an opportunity to thank our generous volunteers, but also for new and returning members to learn about ways (large and small) to help keep CGS alive and thriving.

The red carpet will be unrolled, our mystical master of ceremonies will be there with her gold lame' turban and magic lamps will be available for your three wishes!  Please bring your own lunch.  Dessert and beverages will be provided.

Saturday, October 15^th

10am - 11:30am  Our San Francisco Special Interest Group (SF-SIG) is led by Sandra Britt-Huber.  Topics include both pre & post 1906 time periods. Come & join us this month if you have an interest in San Francisco history and genealogy! Register here.

1pm to 4pm  Need an easier and better way to organize, find, and maintain all of your genealogy research?  Then come join our Family Tree Maker™ Special Interest Group (FTM-SIG) that’s devoted exclusively to better understanding and using this genealogy research organizational software program. Facilitators are Ron Madson and Karen Halfon. The topic for the October 15th meeting will be The Publishing Module, Part I.  Register here.

John Phillip Colletta, PhD
Photo from www.genealogyjohn.com

9am - 3:30pm  Our friends at The Contra Costa Genealogical Society are presenting famed genealogist, John Phillip Colletta, PhD in “Ancestors on the Move”.  It’s an all day seminar in Lafayette comprised of 4 lectures focused on immigration and naturalization.  He’s been described, “as one of America’s most popular genealogical & family lecturers” with his lectures being known for their warmth and humor.  Click here for details and registration information. 

Saturday, October 22^nd

1pm to 4pm  You may have been asking yourself, “I've tested. So how do I use the results?”  Well, we’ve got a class to help you get some answers.  Attend our You Have Your Ancestry DNA Results: Now What? class.  This has been revamped.  It's geared to those who have submitted DNA samples at Ancestry.com and want to know the best steps and strategies to make family connections from the results. Pam Miller is the instructor.  Register here.

9am-3pm  Spend the day in Menlo Park as our friends at the San Mateo Genealogical Society present Research Rewards from Paula Stuart-Warren with Paula Stuart-Warren, a nationally known professional genealogist.  This wonderful all-day seminar encompasses 4 interesting lectures and will help you become a better researcher.  Click here for details and registration information.

Tuesday, October 25^th

10:30am – 12pm is the California Historical Society Tour. Visit the California Historical Society (CHS) near Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.  A CHS staff member will present a brief lecture and a viewing of selected items from their extensive collection.  

The California Historical Society represents a rich resource for family history research. What’s of particular interest to genealogists? Their treasure trove of early newspapers and periodicals, Gold Rush and Immigration collections which include diaries, photographs, journals, letters and much more.  Register here.

Saturday, October 29^th

1pm - 4pm  Similar to our class on the 22^nd that’s focused on DNA testing results from Ancestry.com, You’ve got Your Family Tree DNA or 23andMe DNA Results, Now What?, is a revamped class geared to those who have submitted DNA samples at FamilyTree DNA or 23andMe and want to know the best steps and strategies to make family connections from the results. Pam Miller is the instructor.  Register here.

Want more to choose from?  For a full listing of all Bay Area genealogy events, check the frequently updated San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar.

Get started today on your family history today and begin telling the stories of your family now and for generations to come.

Copyright © 2016 by California Genealogical Society

Field Trip to the California Historical Society March 20, 2013

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

California Historical Society

678 Mission Street

San Francisco, California 94105

For members only!

Join Henry Snyder, chair of the library committee, for a field trip to the California Historical Society. A talk and tour by the CHS staff will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m. After the tour the library is open until 4:00 for research. Bring lunch or try one of the nearby restaurants.

Register online.

The CHS Collection comprises a diverse body of materials documenting the history of California, including:

• 50,000 volumes of books and pamphlets
• 4,000 manuscript collections
• 500,000 photographs
• Printed ephemera, periodicals, posters, broadsides, maps, and newspapers
• The Kemble Collection on Western Printing and Publishing
• 5,000 works of art, including paintings, drawings, and lithographs
• Artifacts and costumes

There is a also a gallery with changing exhibitions. At the time of our visit, “See Beauty in this Life: A Photographer Looks at 100 Years of Rural California” with a retrospective by Lisa M. Hamilton, will be playing through  March 24, 2013.

The CHS website includes a research page which highlights the strengths of their collection and is a gateway to their online catalog and the Online Catalog of California (OAC). The OAC is an online archive of collection guides and digitized primary sources contributed by libraries and other cultural heritage institutions throughout the state, maintained by the University of California.

The California Historical Society, founded in 1871, is a membership-based, non-profit organization with a mission to inspire and empower people to make California's richly diverse past a meaningful part of their contemporary lives.

The writing assistance of Carol Corville Horn is gratefully acknowledged.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

2012 Book Donations – "A Stellar Year"

The donation of books accounts significantly for the growth in holdings of the California Genealogical Society Library over the past century. Library chair and board member Henry Snyder sent this update about recent donations to the library. 

This has been a stellar year for book donations to the library. It began with a handsome gift of materials from the library of John Ellis Hale, a past-president of the California Genealogical Society. The gift was substantial and it was recently supplemented by another small group of books and unpublished materials for which we are most grateful.

At the beginning of the year we had a call from J. Ryan May. His grandfather, George S. May, another long-term member, had given up his apartment to move into a retirement home. Ryan and his father decided to donate his library to a worthy institution and Ryan called us to see if we were interested. Of course we were! Diana Wild and I met him at his apartment in San Francisco and packed up a number of boxes sufficient to fill my car. Ryan had only been able to bring half of them down and the following month he delivered the rest to our Oakland quarters. The donation was rich in family histories and historical materials, largely focused on the Northeast. 

As many of you know, at one time the CGS shared quarters and a library with the California Historical Society (CHS). When we separated and moved to our own facility in San Francisco the library was divided up among the two institutions. The CHS kept the material on California and the Western States and we took the materials for the country east of the Rockies. The family histories largely came to the CGS but more have now been discovered at CHS. The indefatigable Jane Lindsey has been in discussion with Mary Morganti, CHS Director of Library & Archives, for years about books in storage at CHS that might be of interest to us. When I joined the library committee she suggested I follow up as I had worked previously with Mary on other projects. I did so last year and the result was that Mary graciously agreed to review the stored materials and pull items that were more germane to our mission than theirs. The result has been three substantial shipments since the first of the year with more to come. We have been particularly pleased that the preponderance consisted of family history charts and practically everything they offered was new to our collection. We are most grateful to Mary and the California Historical Society for turning over these items to us. To recognize their generosity, the Board has agreed to offer CHS members free use of our library. 

Still another major gift was received when member Thomas Sinton called to say he was giving up his genealogy collection and offered it to us. Subsequently he delivered no less than thirty-six boxes of books to us at the beginning of the summer. They were again rich in New England material, including many Higginson reprints of scarce out of print works in stout library cloth bindings printed on acid proof paper, more durable than the originals. Also included was a nearly complete set of the Barbour collection, the essential source for Connecticut families, forty-five out of fifty-five volumes. We are in the process of purchasing the balance so we can proudly state we will have a complete set in essentially new condition. Finally there was an interesting group of materials, some unpublished, on San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara. 

Barbara Silveira, another long-time member died this year and her family invited us to take what we wanted from her library. She had built a whole room on to her house to hold her collections! Jane Lindsey, Georgia Lupinsky, Pat Smith, and I responded to the invitation. The library was rich in manuscript materials but we also retrieved twelve boxes of books. 

There has been a continuing flow of small donations which enrich the collection. Thanks to the generosity of our members and their families the library has grown substantially this past year. We are adding new shelving to accommodate the increase. So please keep the gifts coming! Our library is essentially the result of the gifts of our members and we count upon their continuing good will. 

—Henry Snyder, 14 September 2012

The California Genealogical Society Library appreciates donations of books and periodicals that have genealogical content. Donations will be gratefully received by the CGS Library Committee and will be reviewed by Committee members, who will make decisions regarding retention using the Book Donation Policy.

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