Come to the annual meeting — tomorrow, Sunday the 11th, 2 pm

Dear IGS Members,

Your presence is very much needed at the IGS Library, 1310 W. Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank (cross street = Griffith Park; park behind in spaces off the alley).  With all the disruptions in Ventura County, it may be hard for other members to reach the meeting — at which we vote for the incoming Board of Directors!!  So by coming, if you can, you help us reach our threshhold number of participants.

And, come early and stay late for research.  We will have computers available, and this weekend there is the option of free research on several pay sites.  That’s been advertised on several genealogical pages and blogs, but here is the information as passed along by the Germans in St. Louis group, thanks to Kathy Wurth (who summarized it well!):

“…this weekend has quite a few “free weekends” from some genealogy pay sites. They are:

“MyHeritage Miltary Records – Nov. 8 -12
https://bit.ly/2JPkKXM

“Find my Past Free Access – Nov. 9 -12
https://bit.ly/2zDbXDv

“Fold3 Native American Records – Nov 1 -15
https://bit.ly/2SYd8pZ

“NEHGS All Databases – Nov 6 – 13  American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) are granting free access to more than 1.4 billion names within its data-rich online records.   https://www.americanancestors.org/free-billion

If you haven’t checked out Kathy’s group, and are a German genealogist, you owe it to yourself to visit the site, here.

Volunteers wanted–German records to transcribe

Molly Rogers, Digital Database Coordinator for the New England Historic Genealogical Society, has requested our help.  She writes:

“The New England Historic Genealogical Society has partnered with the
Archdiocese of Boston to digitize and create a searchable database of
sacramental records. We have many volunteers helping us scan and index
volumes for this project. We are currently trying to transcribe
volumes from Holy Trinity Church which was a community center for
German immigrants in Boston. Many of these records are written in
German including old-fashioned script. We are looking for more
volunteers who could read German and help us index these volumes!

“I was hoping perhaps you could help me pass on this message to the
members of your society to see if anyone is interested in helping out.
We have many remote volunteers—we handle remote work through
Microsoft Excel and Dropbox. Thank you for your consideration! Please
contact me if you would like further information about this project.”

If you would like to assist, please contact Molly directly at <molly.rogers@nehgs.org>.  Thanks!

Give-aways at the Library

It’s Spring Cleaning time at the IGS Library, and there are some free items for those of you who can come in.  Of particular note are: some old world atlases that are not as useful as the ones we’re keeping, and some Ohio Gen. Soc. (OGS) Reporters from years ago that are duplicate issues.  But there are other items as well that could be of help to you.  The free items mentioned are in boxes on the tables closest to our rear door (to the parking behind the library).

Other free items are now on a cart that we’re placing outside our front door, for passersby to peruse.  These are things like folded maps, old genealogical directories and guides, and various U.S. items that might catch the eye.  We hope these items might cause people to stop in and chat with us.  But we have a lot of items we simply don’t need.  And we need to clear space, and so….

Still other items often duplicate our holdings, but are of greater value.  Many of these were Betty Sharp’s home office reference copies, often of items we’ve had on the shelves for years.  Betty’s daughter Jackie donated the home library to us about a year ago, and included were many other books and periodicals we did NOT have on our shelves, but quite a few that we did.

These latter items are in a separate grouping behind the computer we have for patron use, as one enters from the front door.  For these we’re requesting a donation; suggested amounts are listed on stickers, but we’re mostly interested in finding these duplicates “good homes” where they’ll be used (so, just ask, if the “price” isn’t right).  Proceeds will help us with new book purchases, such as Roger Minert’s continuing “German immigrants in American church records” series.

“The Kansas Historical Quarterly”

If you have immigrants who lived in Kansas, and you live close to our IGS Library in Burbank (California), then you might want to stop by to peruse the various duplicate issues of The Kansas Historical Quarterly, 1952-74, that are offered free to anyone who would have an interest.  We had many of these on our shelves, and most were recently duplicated by the donation of Jackie Sharp of her mother’s personal collection of this periodical.  And when we find ourselves with duplicates, we like to offer them on a “First Come, First Served” basis.

Should you wish to see the issues that were displayed on our shelves, please be advised that they have been moved.  Because of our serious space problems, and with the recent acquisition of a number of new genealogical books relating to Maryland, the KHQ issues have now been boxed in what is identified as “Acquisition Box #1.”  For the moment, it’s resting by Stack 12 on the floor….