California Genealogical Society and Library
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CGS eNews Volume 1                                                                April 2007
Message From the President, 
by Jane Lindsay
 

CGS is now settled (almost) in our new home at 2201 Broadway. We hope you will come and maybe bring a group of friends to visit our new space.

 

This year one of our goals is to improve communications with our membership. E-mail is becoming the best way to communicate with our members, but it is a time consuming process. Last month the board voted to purchase a very cost effective email program that will allow us to send a monthly e-news communication. A small percentage of our members do not have email and we will continue to communicate information to them by mail.

 

This monthly e-bulletin is our first issue. Later this year, we will begin sending CGS News to members via the e-bulletin.  This will save us over $5000.00 in printing and postage! Newsletters will continue to be mailed to members without email.

 

In the next few months we will develop a set format with specific headings to alert you of events and other valuable information.

 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Upcoming Events both CGS and non-CGS

Websites of interest

New books in the library

Used books for sale

Volunteers needed

 

Please let us know what you think. Let us know if you have some information to add to the e-bulletin

 

Jane Lindsey

 

Special Announcements

ALLEN COUNTY TOUR AUGUST 19th - Sign ups needed!

Are you planning to join the Allen County Public Library Trip in the week of August 19th?  We need a minimum of 15 participants.  If you are interested please let us know ASAP.  If you need more information,  the flyer is on our website, in your last newsletter and at the library.  If you are thinking of attending the FGS conference the week before, please let Jane Lindsey know soon. We have a few rooms available but they will be released as room availability is scarce.  For info on the conference  http://www.fgs.org/

 

 

Ancestry.com no longer available at Family History Centers

As of April 1, 2007 the Family History centers and the Family History Library in Salt lake will no longer carry the full version of Ancestry.com  There are substitutes for some sites and there may be some changes in the future. Until then the Ancestry Library Edition is available at CGS and some public libraries. The full edition is only available by personal subscriptions.

Calendar of Events

 

April 25 TRAIN TRIP TO SACRAMENTO - See article below

 

CGS LIBRARY FREE THE FIRST SATURDAY Remind friends and fellow genealogists that the CGS library is free on the first Saturday of every month.

 

April 28  Sonoma County Genealogical Society presents John Phillip Colletta

 
May 14   Saturday General Meeting at 1:30 at CGS.  Jurgen Mollers will be speaking about writing and recording family histories.
 
 

                     

May   16-19     NGS Seminar Virginia

 

June 8-10        Southern California Jamboree

 
Volunteers Needed

Transcription assistance for newsletter  articles.   Many articles that are submitted need to be transcribed into a format suitable for the newsletter. Two or three volunteers are needed to assist Newsletter Editor, Jane Hufft.  Typing and editing skills beneficial. 

 

General meeting set up - Two members able to come in on Saturdays and set up for the meeting, make sure handouts are ready and provide simple refreshments.

 

Group visit coordinator - Schedule and coordinate group visits to the library to assure we are staffed to accommodate their visit.   

Books in the Library

New books in the library

Coming soon:    A listing of new books purchased and donated now in the library.

 

Used books for sale

Coming soon: Books will be listed and will be sold on a first come first serve basis.
Sacramento Train Trip
Why visit the State Library "California History Room"?
by Lorna Wallace 

When: Wednesday, 4/25
What: research Trip to State Library in Sacramento

  

See a helpful list of library holdings to pique your interest. However, "items such as photographs, prints, vertical file materials, telephone books, some maps, city directories, and special indexes are not listed in the Main Catalog."

 

Search the online catalog

Be sure that the resource is located at "California State Library Calif History Room", not Sutro!

 

There are open stacks of books, a microform room, and a climate-controlled room in which to use the archived books and items.  Photocopies are 15 cents and microfilm copies a quarter.  Please bring plenty of change.

 

If you're not familiar with Amtrak:

It is easy to buy a ticket (non-reserved seat) by phone or on the Web.  Un-used tickets can be credited toward future trips, I believe.

 

Trip time examples: from Martinez station, the trip takes about 1 hour and from Hayward about 2 hours 20 minutes.  Most of us can apply a 10-15% discount to the fare (AAA or "senior over 62", respectively) making the fare approximately $27/round trip from Martinez or $38/round trip from Hayward  (Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond stations fall in between).  Richmond station is adjacent to the Richmond BART in case one wants to "BART it" to the train.

 

No California ancestors? 

You will probably have a lot more success at Sutro.

 

Lorna Wallace, trip co-ordinator

 
Websites of Interest
 

If you discover a valuable website,  please send it on to CGS.  We will publish it here for all to see.

 

When researching, do not forget to look at state archives.  Many states are adding searchable databases to their sites.

 

http://hosted.surpasssoftware.com/calgensoc/    California Genealogical Society and Library Card Catalog (CGS beta test site of the online catalog). All california books are on line as are many other books. Click on "advanced search" to use the key word search.

 

www.americanhistoricalimages.com    Photographs of Louis Hensel from the late 1800's

 

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpamap.html   WPA life histories for some states.    Interesting information may add color to your genealogy.

 

http://www.ancestorsonboard.com/  Records of English Passenger records now covering 1890-1919

 

http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/     sponsored by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment of the Humanities. A beta testing site for newspapers.

 

http://www.academic-genealogy.com/    This site is collecting information to refer you to other sites for genealogical research.

 

http://www.interment.net      for finding cemeteries and actual grave sites

 

http://www.findagrave.com/  another cemetery site

 

http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/   National Union catalogue of Manuscript collections 
California Genealogical Society and Library