San Francisco History Expo February 12-13, 2011

For our readers in the Bay area, this sounds like a great way to learn about the resources in San Francisco.

The San Francisco Museum and Historical Society is proud to present the first San Francisco History Expo on February 12-13, 2011, at the Old Mint building. This unique two-day event will bring together historical associations throughout the City to share their stories, archives and people--piecing together our past--while showcasing the diverse and distinctive contributions each neighborhood and ethnic group has made to San Francisco, and the evolution of these communities over the years. Additionally, FoundSF.org will capture oral histories and scan historic photographs brought in by the public to share online.

Participating Associations (to date)
• Bernal History Project
• California Historical Society
• Chinese Historical Society
• Golden Gate National Recreation Area
• Golden Gate Park Preservation Alliance
• Guardians of the City
• History Center, San Francisco Public Library
• Labor Archives and Research Center, SFSU
• Market Street Railway
• Mission Creek Conservancy
• Portola History Project
• Potrero Hill Archives Project
• Prelinger Library and Archives
• Presidio Historical Association
• San Francisco History Association
• San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
• San Francisco Media Archive
• Shaping San Francisco/FoundSf.org
• Sunset Parkside Education and Action Committee
• Telegraph Hill Dwellers
• Visitacion Valley History Project
• Western Neighborhoods Project

Additional Activities
• San Francisco Fire Department Museum's vintage hook and ladder fire truck will be parked in front of the Old Mint to welcome visitors throughout the weekend.
• FoundSF.org will capture San Francisco stories from participants and attendees for the FoundSF.org website, and they invite everyone to bring in their historic photographs to be scanned and viewed online.
• Live historical performances in the Counting Rooms.
• Theater with continuous showing of historic film footage.
• History Author's Forum with local writers reading excerpts from recent releases.

Displays:
• Oil paintings of Gold Rush San Francisco by F. Alan Zimmerman.
• An historic quilt featuring landmarks, such as the Old Mint, Golden Gate Park, and the Golden Gate and Bay bridges, plus a variety of notable San Franciscans and significant local events.
• Special items from the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society archives.

SCGS: CORRECTED date for Irish and DNA Interest Groups

Gosh darn it everyone...I must be living in a time warp. I had the wrong dates on yesterday's message about interest group meetings. The meetings were, indeed, this weekend. The DNA group met today (January 29) and the Irish group meets on Sunday, the 30th. I hope you didn't get too confused!

It's a big weekend for our DNA and Irish interest groups this weekend. All meetings will be held at the SCGS Library, 417 Irving Drive, Burbank. The cross street is Glenoaks.


Sunday, January 30
Irish Interest Group
The focus for Sunday's workshop is Scots-Irish, led by SCGS member Clyda Murray-Bhatt. Clyda will speak at 11:00 a.m., before the lunch break. Interest group leader Marge Rossini will introduce some new resources and tips, and she will help with Irish research questions in the afternoon. Drop by the library and enjoy a full day of research dedicated to those Irish or Scots-Irish ancestors.

SCGS - DNA and Irish Interest Group Meetings This Weekend

It's a big weekend for our DNA and Irish interest groups this weekend. All meetings will be held at the SCGS Library, 417 Irving Drive, Burbank. The cross street is Glenoaks.

Saturday, January 22 - 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
DNA Interest Group
Tips on Getting the Most out of Autosomal Testing (Family Finder)
Presenters: Bonny Cook, Alice Fairhurst, Kathy Johnston
10:00-10:30 Answering questions about DNA testing.
10:30-12:00 Giving examples of autosomal testing and showing what it can and can’t do for the genealogy researcher.

$5.00 donation is requested. Individualized help will be available after the formal presentation for those who want to order DNA tests or who have received DNA results and need help managing their personal page or interpreting their results. A drawing will be held for a $30 discount certificate for ordering a DNA test. Brown bag or join us for pizza for an additional $5.00.

The DNA Project Administrators Roundtable will also be held on Saturday from 2-4 p.m.


Sunday, January 23
Irish Interest Group
The focus for Sunday's workshop is Scots-Irish, led by SCGS member Clyda Murray-Bhatt. Clyda will speak at 11:00 a.m., before the lunch break. Interest group leader Marge Rossini will introduce some new resources and tips, and she will help with Irish research questions in the afternoon. Drop by the library and enjoy a full day of research dedicated to those Irish or Scots-Irish ancestors.

SCGS at WAGS Seminar this Saturday 1/29

Are you going to see Lisa Louise Cooke at the WAGS seminar this Saturday? She's a great speaker, and Roger Mount and the seminar planning committee at the Whittier Area Genealogical Society always do a great job.

Be sure to stop by the SCGS table and talk to Leo and the others who are staffing our booth. You'll be able to sign up for Jamboree (and get a $5 discount!) and also sign up to win a free Jamboree registration.

See you there!

SCGS Lunch 'n' Learn, Saturday, February 12

February's Lunch 'n' Learn session features a double bill.  Bring your brown-bag lunch and socialize with others at noon. You can also order lunch from one of the neighboring restaurants, including Subway.  Classes are held at the Southern California Genealogical Society's Family Research Library at 417 Irving Drive, Burbank. Cross street is Glenoaks.

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.                

Finding and Using Los Angeles County Records 

Mara Fein, Ph.D.

This lecture introduces both beginning and intermediate genealogists to the major records and repositories available to them in Los Angeles County.  Participants walkaway with an understanding of what is available, where they need to go, the costs, and the roadblocks.

 

Mara Fein belongs to the Association of Professional Genealogists, National Genealogical Society, and Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles.  She holds degrees from Northwestern University (B.A. in English) and the University of Southern California (MBA and PhD in English).  

2:30 – 4:00 p.m.              

Introduction to the National Archives

Kerry Bartels

This lecture will cover four major categories of records held by the National Archives that are most commonly used by genealogists, a discussion of record digitization of the National Archives records, and an introduction to the partnerships for digitization.  Examples of records that are rich in genealogical value but are little known and little used by genealogists will be explored.

Kerry Bartels is an Archives Specialist at The National Archives and Records Administration facility in Riverside, California.  He has been a professional archivist since 1977 and has worked in historical societies, libraries, museums, universities, state archives, and now at the National Archives.  He has been a genealogical practitioner since 1962 and has done extensive research in the United States and Canada as well as many nations in Europe.

 

The library will not be open for research.

Any questions please contact Charlotte rubymoon01@yahoo.com

SCGS Board of Directors, Officers Elected

Congratulations to the new and returning Board members and officers of the Southern California Genealogical Society:

Officers:
Heidi Ziegler - President
Donn Dufford - 1st Vice President
Paula Hinkel - 2nd Vice President
Cathy Romero - Recording Secretary
Fran Bumann - Corresponding Secretary
Louise Calaway - Treasurer
Peggy Schulz - Financial Secretary

New Board members:
Dorothy des Lauriers
Vieve Metcalfe

Re-elected Board members:
Donie Nelson
Marilyn Heck
Donn Dufford

A special thank-you goes out to the Board members who have ended their terms of office: 
Pam Wiedenbeck - Past President
Marva Grove
Alice Fairhurst

Thanks to everyone for your support and willingness to volunteer and continue the success of the Southern California Genealogical Society.

Hungry Historians TV Show is Looking for You

Passing along this item of interest ...

Greetings from the Hungry Historians show!

The Hungry Historians is new television program that travels back in time and spans the globe to visit ancient cultures to discover the food of the past.

We are researching and developing new episode ideas and wanted contact you and your organization to give you a chance to be covered in one of our episodes. Specifically we are looking to cooperate with cultural/heritage organizations and other history oriented individuals and groups by covering lectures, talks and presentations you have scheduled that feature historic cuisine, eating styles or cooking techniques.

Feel free to contact us at thehungryhistorians@gmail.com if you think that there might be a match between your organization’s educational mission and that of the Hungry Historians. We are interested in a wide variety of cultures and time periods and cuisines; from what movie stars ate in the golden age of Hollywood, to food of the California Missions, to the menus of luxury train travel, to the cuisine of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, to the what they ate in ancient Rome, China, Russia, Israel, Armenia..., you name it! If it is something that you're interested in, we want to hear about it. You name the time and culture and cuisine and we want to know what they ate and how they ate it.

“Hungry Historians, it's the history show you can really sink your teeth into.”

Warmest regards,
Michael Escher
Executive Producer
"Hungry Historians" thehungryhistorians@gmail.com

P.S. - Feel free to forward this to other like-minded fans of history and food!

Area Event: British Isles Family History Society, January 23

We're passing this along for our friends at the British Isles Family History Society USA:

"Intuition, Coincidence and Serendipity: Their Part in Genealogy" is the topic of the next meeting of British Isles Family History Society-U.S.A. to be held on Sunday, 23 January 2011, 1:00 p.m. at the Los Angeles Family History Library, 10741 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, California 90025. Nancy Carlberg will lead the discussion and share some of her experiences of unusual, coincidental occurrences during her research.

Has a twist of fate led you to a serendipitous discovery? Tell your story at the meeting!

After the break, Nancy will lead a workshop, "Getting Ready to Travel with Your Genealogy." She will suggest how to organize your genealogy for the research trip to Salt Lake City on 2-9 February. Her hints are useful anytime or place.

There is still time to register for the Salt Lake City Research Trip. Bring your registration form and payment to the meeting on Sunday. See www.bifhsusa.org for details about the research trip and to obtain the registration form.

The Los Angeles Family History Library will be open on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

You'll be an Ancestor Someday

Will you be beloved or bemoaned?

If you're lucky, you have an ancestor who left a wealth of information for you to discover. Either it's a juicy tale that's well documented by papers, or a photo album that has every person meticulously identified by name, date of birth, location, and shoe size.

Maybe it's someone who knew the value of recording complete information on a grave marker and who had the financial resources to actually engrave it in stone, like this wonderful marker I came across at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California.  It lists birth, death, place and relationship information for about 20 family members of the Lewellen, Reynolds, Knott, Mace, Stalder, Terrell and other families.  We should be this lucky!

What kind of ancestor will you be for your great-great-grandchildren?  Will you leave your own stories, a diary with details of your daily life?  Will you leave a rich bounty of information about life in the early 21st century? Or will you be one of the many who are born, wed and dead without leaving any life details?

Start today to be a beloved ancestor. Write a few lines every day.  SCGS member Amy Coffin, MLS, though GeneaBloggers, has launched a series for 2011 called "52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History."  You don't need to be a blogger, you don't need to post your writings and you don't have to share with anyone. But think about using the topics as a prompt to get you started on your own writing.

Thus far this year, the topics have been:

Week 1: Did your family have any New Year’s traditions? How was the New Year celebrated during your childhood? Have you kept these traditions in the present day?!

Week #2 – Winter Memories Week 2: Winter.  What was winter like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

Week 3: Cars.  What was your first car? Describe the make, model and color, but also any memories you have of the vehicle. You can also expand on this topic and describe the car(s) your parents drove and any childhood memories attached to it.

It's not too late to get started now to record your own family history.  I know you'll have fun cruising down memory lane as you pull together the things you remember from your own past. Put on some music in the background, especially songs from the years you are writing about. Flip through a photo album or scrapbook to jog your memory.

If you'd like some support from other writers, think about joining the SCGS Writers Group.  Jean Snow is the leader of the group, which is open to SCGS members. Contact Jean for meeting dates and times at jcs2007@snowstarjean.com.  You'll be glad you did!

Just like the Nike commercial says, Just Do It!

#geneabloggers

SCGS In the Wild - WAGs and RootsTech

Your SCGS Outreach Team is looking forward to meeting with our genealogy friends at two upcoming events. Members and prospective members, please stop by and say howdy.  We'd love it if you would help us promote Jamboree as well as SCGS's excellent membership benefits.  Do you have an SCGS Tree Shirt?  Wear it and show your support for YOUR society.

WAGS - Whittier Area Genealogical Society's annual seminar on Saturday, January 29.  SCGS will have an exhibitor's booth at the annual one-day conference sponsored by WAGS in Whittier, California.  The conference features one of Jamboree's very popular speakers, Lisa Louise Cooke of GenealogyGems Podcast.  It's become tradition that WAGS is the first conference where we roll out registration AND offer a $5 discount for those who register at the conference. Attendees will also have a chance to win a FREE three-day registration for Jamboree.  Click on the link above to register.

RootsTech - The #1 genealogical destination is always Salt Lake City.  February 10-12, that is even more the case.  RootsTech, a three-day conference focused on the use of technology in genealogy, will be held at the Salt Lake City Convention Center.  SCGS will host a booth (tables 210 and 212) in the exhibit hall.

If you are toying with the idea of attending, GO.  It looks to be an outstanding event.  Just check out the outstanding list of presentations!  SCGS Board member Paula Hinkel will participate in two panel discussions: Thursday 4:15 - "Self-Publishing for Genealogists and Genealogical Societies" and Friday 1:45 - "Genealogy Blogs: Impact and Influence in the Genealogy Community." 

We will hold drawings for FREE three-day registrations for Jamboree--one drawing each day of the conference.  SCGS members, if you have an hour free here or there, we would love to have your assistance greeting visitors at the booth.  Drop us a note at jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com to let us know you're going to be there. 

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!

#rootstech11

SCGS RootsMagic User Group Sunday, January 16, 2011

The next meeting of the SCGS RootsMagic User Group will be held Sunday, January 16, at the SCGS Family Research Library, from 2-4pm

In case you missed the announcement, RootsMagic began a series of webinars earlier this month. So far, two have been held: "Getting Started with RootsMagic" (January 8) and "Publishing a Family History with RootsMagic" (January 11). Both are available at  http://www.rootsmagic.com/webinars/   You can download them to your computer for later playback.  Be sure to follow the instructions under "Past Webinars" and download the file to local storage before playing it back. If you click on the online link to start playback, it can take as much as 3 or 4 minutes for the playback to begin.

The next webinar in the series, "FamilySearch Made Easy with RootsMagic," takes place on Tuesday, January 18, at 5:00 PM PST. Remember, if you are not able to watch it live, it will be available for download within a few hours afterward.

Our January program will focus on the first webinar, "Getting Started with RootsMagic."  Bruce covered quite a number of the basic program capabilities in rapid succession, so this is a chance to review selected topics and discuss them in more detail. If possible, please have a look at the "Getting Started" webinar before you come to the meeting and let us know which topics you would like to discuss. If you have problems, or you're not quite sure what this is all about, we will help you get started on using these great new learning tools.

Additional help will be available as needed for RootsMagic beginners covering the basics such as setting up a database, data entry, and importing data.

As always at our meetings, contributions by attendees are encouraged - bring your questions and recent discoveries about RM to share with the group. You are also invited to email me suggestions for topics to be covered at this or future meetings.

Date: Sunday, January 16, 2011
Time: 2-4 PM
Place: SCGS Library
            417 Irving Drive (near Glenoaks) in Burbank

Next Month's Meeting - February 20, 2011
Future Meetings in 2011 March 20, April 17, May 15
Latest Version of RM4 - Version 4.0.9.9 (16 Dec 2010). For more information see the RootsMagic blog (http://blog.rootsmagic.com/)
For further information about the meeting or the user group, contact Jay Holladay: jholladay@ca.rr.com

Area Event: Santa Clarita Valley Family History Fair

You are cordially invited to the 2011 Santa Clarita Valley Family History Fair on Saturday, January 22, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The event will be held at the Family History Center at 24443 McBean Parkway in Valencia. 

Advance registration is required. Get all of the details from the event's website.

SCGS Lunch & Learn Saturday, January 8

Lunch and Learn Saturday January 8, 2011  

It's a double-header!  Elyse Doerflinger will present "Conquering the Paper Monster." In this informative session, Elyse will show how to efficiently and effectively turn those piles into organizes files, once and for all. Elyse is a young genealogist with 8 years of genealogy research experience.  She has lectured in California on genealogy and technology and has written for various genealogy magazines.  She is a member of SCGS and the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Following Elyse's presentation, SCGS education committee chair Charlotte Bocage will present  "Why Source Your Documents."

Bring a brown bag or choose something tasty from Subway, Starbucks or California Pizza House, all located within a block of SCGS. The library is closed for research.  For additional information, contact Charlotte Bocage at rubymoon01@yahoo.com. 

RootsMagic Now Offering Webinars

Is one of your New Year's resolutions to get organized? There's no better way to start then by moving your hard won research from paper to a genealogical software database. The award winning software developer, RootsMagic, is now offering webinars with topics for beginners to experienced users.

The first webinar, "Getting Started with RootsMagic" is scheduled for Sunday, January 8th. To register click here.

Some classes may already be marked "FULL", but don't worry. Webinars will be available for download for viewing at your leisure.

Complement your webinar learning by attending the next SCGS RootsMagic Users Group meeting on Sunday, January 16th from 2 pm - 4 pm at the SCGS Library. Get you questions answered, listen to a great lecture, meet great people! Check the SCGS online calendar for all the 2011 meeting dates.

Want to experience how easy RootsMagic is to use? Download a free copy and give it a test drive.

Writers' Group January Meetings

Tuesday January 4, 12-2 PM, and Sunday January 23, 1-3 PM

Our second December meeting was flooded out by the threat of those torrential rains, thus January meetings will be a continuation of the topic of "voice." Who tells your tale? You in your own voice? Editorial third person? You as a child (very difficult, limiting the language you can use). What is the "tone" of the voice?

Most important, how do you pull your reader in? Alice in Wonderland's King says "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. Plunging into interesting action or emotion will pull your reader in. Once the reader is "hooked," you can back track to set the scene more completely and describe your characters more fully.

Please note: if you would like to join us (SCGS members only) but have not attended before, be sure to e-mail me at jcs2007@snowstarjean.com. And for all members: please e-mail me whether you will attend or not. Thank you! Jean Chapman Snow