Southern California Genealogical Society: Change in Member Benefits Announced

The Southern California Genealogical Society offers a number of benefits for its members, ranging from discounts on research assistance and publications, to a number of online resources, including its webinar archive and free use of paid databases.

Remote Access to World Vital Records Added

Good News! Remote access to World Vital Records (WVR) has been added to the list of member benefits of the Southern California Genealogical Society. As of July 30, all members are able to access the valuable online resource from home, day or night. A full-price annual subscription to World Vital Records is $89.95 but can be used from home as part of an SCGS annual membership, which can be purchased for as little as $35.

Through World Vital Records, members can search over 5 billion family history and genealogy records and 28 million family trees.  Key collections include U.S. Federal Census images from 1790 to 1940, military records, 1 billion newspaper articles, and many other special local and world databases.

To access the WVR resources remotely, members should go to the SCGS website (www.scgsgenealogy.com), log in as a member (click the red rectangular button on the upper right on the screen and then log in), and click the World Vital Records graphic. If you have any difficulties, please drop an email to scgs@scgsgenealogy.com and put "World Vital Records Help" in the subject line. 


Access NewspaperARCHIVE remote access cancelled by ProQuest

Unfortunately, we have been notified by ProQuest that societies’ remote-access subscriptions to Access NewspaperARCHIVE will end as of August 31, 2013.

This change reflects a recent policy decision by the ProQuest's management – a decision made over our strong objections. Therefore, we will no longer be able to offer remote use of Access NewspaperARCHIVE as a benefit to our members after August 31. We encourage everyone to take advantage of the remaining time to do as much research as possible.  If you encounter any issues using the resource, send an email to scgs@scgsgenealogy.com and put "NewspaperArchive Help" in the subject line.

We are very disappointed that this valuable benefit had ended. We know that it was a very popular benefit and wish that ProQuest had not made the decision to end remote access for all societies and institutions.

World Vital Records’ large and popular collection of databases will continue to be available for onsite patron use in the SCGS Family Research Library in Burbank, as will Access NewspaperARCHIVE.

Our members enjoy a number of other benefits, including 24/7 access to over 70 hours of genealogical instruction from the Jamboree Webinar Series, discounts on purchase of all SCGS publications and programs, discounts on Research Team assistance (German, French-Canadian, and general). Be assured that in the future our society to continue efforts to expand benefits for members in Southern California and far away.