Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Using Land Records in Genealogy
Workshop with Pam Miller
Saturday, August 8, 2009

Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox, Oakland, California.

Family Stories to Help You Break Down Your Brick Walls – September 12, 2009

September Membership Meeting
Saturday, September 12, 2009
1:00 p.m.
CGS Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California

It's story time at the California Genealogical Society Library but these won't be the bedtime variety. Four active CGS members have interesting tales to tell and each is a lesson of discovery that helped them loosen some of those proverbial bricks.

Lorna Wallace will present Buckingham's Letter – how a twenty year search ended because of what someone said in the CGS Library. She'll tell what happened that day and how it changed her research.

Tom Gesner will offer Name That Man: Who Was Mr. Ross? – how a fiftieth wedding anniversary announcement from 1912 led to an action plan guaranteed to find a missing identity. He'll explain what happened and why he did a lot of unnecessary work.

Mary Beth Frederick will share the search for a surname for her great -great-grandmother – The Long and Winding Road to Anne E. She'll tell the story of what she found in a cemetery that made her more determined than ever.

Steve Harris will relate brief vignettes with brick wall solutions using familiar sources in unfamiliar ways. He’ll share his own personal tips and tricks on researching and what can be done when we think we may have come upon a brick wall.

Please note that the short membership meeting starts promptly at 1:00 p.m. The presentations follow at 1:30 p.m. There will time for questions and answers. Seating is limited so please arrive early. Meetings are open to everyone but non-members pay a $5.00 users fee to enter the library. (Or come and become a member of CGS!)

Tip of the Iceberg Poster – Buy Three Get One Free!

It was in March of this year that I first reported on the "Tip of the Iceberg" idea that developed during a casual conversation between CGS member volunteers Lisa Gorrell and Tim Cox. Lisa asked her daughter Elizabeth to create a graphic image and the project snowballed after Dick Eastman mentioned it in his online newsletter.

Tim followed up and had a poster created which was unveiled at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree in June.

Now Tim has sent word that the "Tip of the Iceberg" posters are available by mail order.

The charge for a single 11 x 17 poster is $13.00, including tax and postage. The poster is mailed in a protective cardboard tube.

Up to four posters can be mailed in one tube so the society is offering these price breaks:

Two posters – $23.00, including tax and postage.

Three posters – $33.00, including tax and postage plus one free poster!

Send request, including payment to:
The California Genealogical Society and Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
Oakland, CA 94612-3031

Thanks for helping us spread this vital message.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday
California Genealogical Society and Library
Research Team - the Look-up Ladies
Judy Bodycote, Pat Smith, Lavinia Schwarz

Photograph by Kathryn M. Doyle, 3/3/2009, Oakland, California.

At the Library: A New Reference Homepage for Patrons

Something new has been added to the CGS computers. Designed to give welcome visitors and give them a starting place, "At the Library" is another innovation to make the technology as user-friendly as possible.

The first thing our patrons see is "Welcome To Our Library."

We are glad you are here! We will make every effort to make your visit to the California Genealogical Society Library comfortable and successful. If you have any questions or need help with equipment, please don't hesitate to ask.

Is this your first time here? If so, please ask for a tour of the library.

At the library, we offer access to subscription internet sites (to the left), the library catalog and reference indexes.

You many recall that the computers themselves are a new purchase for the library thanks to the generosity of our members.

It's the volunteer members of the CGS Computer Committee who keep hardware and software humming along and who handle any problems that may arise. The current members of the committee are Al Clark, Paul Mayer and Kathy Watson. Each Monday, one or two of them are at the library performing maintenance activities and fixing any reported problems. Paul has undertaken the effort to clean up the old computers. Al is the mainstay of the committee with the longest participation and history of the computer environment at the library.

Kathy gave me a quick tour of the "At the Library" features and she also showed me the special Desk Duty version installed on the computer at the reception desk. Calling it her brainchild, Watson informed me, "When there was talk of revamping the reference notebook for the Desk Duty Committee, I was inspired to deliver an electronic version rather than another paper version."

The reception desk version of "At the Library" is password protected and is designed to become an online procedure manual. Kathy's plan is to create a web version of everything in the CGS desk manual so volunteers will have every piece of information "at their fingertips."

Both versions of "At the Library" feature links to the CGS Library Online Catalog and to the following databases:

American Memory: California
Ancestry Library Edition
California Genealogy
Family History Archives
Family Search
Footnote.com
Historic American Newspapers
Information Wanted
Library of Congress Catalog
NewEnglandAncestors.org
Newspaper Archive
Rootsweb
S.F. Genealogy
World Vital Records
Vital Search-CA
Vital Search-World