San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar: March 2012 Published

March 2012 events have been published on the San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar – a collection of local genealogical society classes, workshops and meetings within a 75 mile radius of San Francisco.

The March calendar lists fifty classes and events at various venues around the Bay Area, sponsored by twenty different societies and genealogy libraries.



The California Genealogical Society will be exhibiting at the San Francisco History Expo at the Old Mint on Saturday and Sunday, March 3-4, 2012, with SFgenealogy.com and the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society.

There are two events of note in Sacramento this month. The 7th Annual Family History African American Seminar Unlocking Our Family Treasures will be held on Saturday, March 10, 2012 and the Annual Spring Seminar with George G. Morgan will be on Saturday, March 31, 2012, sponsored by Root Cellar, the Sacramento Genealogical Society.


If you would like to add your group's events to the calendar, please email the information by the 15th of each month for publication on or before the 25th. (Please put "SFBA Calendar" in the subject line.)


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Black History Month: Honoring Genealogist Electra Kimble Price

It isn't often that a large city newspaper devotes half a page to an article on genealogy, so kudos to the San Francisco Chronicle and columnist Brenda Payton for yesterday's feature about Electra Kimble Price.

Electra Kimble Price (right) at the CGS Black Family History program in February 2010.

In case you missed it, the opinion piece on African American Genealogy "Digging Deep to Uncover Roots" is a detailed look at Electra's life and work. The online version bears a slightly different title but Genealogist Digs Deep to Uncover Blacks' Roots includes every word of Brenda Payton's glowing profile and several more photographs of Price.

Electra has been a member of the California Genealogical Society since 1994. She is an Oakland native and a local legend among Bay Area genealogists. I had the pleasure of meeting her at her home a few years ago when she donated books to the CGS library.

Price was one of the founding members of the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California (AAGSNC). She received the Distinguished Service Award of the Genealogical Society of Utah in 2000 in recognition of the countless hours she has devoted to helping family historians.

Many years ago Electra started an African-American genealogy research class (now taught by Judith Collins) at the Oakland California Family History Center. Price orchestrated a Black History Month event there this past Sunday where she was feted with another award and cake. Nicka Smith's report (and gorgeous photos) can be found on the AAGSNC blog Black Family History Day was a Success!

Congratulations Electra!


Photograph courtesy of Nicka Smith, 2/20/2010, Oakland, California.

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

RootCellar 21st Annual Spring Genealogy Seminar March 31, 2012

CGS member Denise Richmond of the Sacramento Genealogical Society sent this notice of their upcoming Spring Seminar:

Saturday, March 31, 2012
9:00 a.m. – 3:45 p.m. (Doors open 8:30 a.m.)

Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church
11427 Fair Oaks Blvd.
Fair Oaks, California

RootCellar, the Sacramento Genealogical Society, announces their 21st annual spring seminar with George G. Morgan, author of How To Do Everything: Genealogy. The full-day event includes an optional lunch, gift basket raffle, and book-signing.

Topics include:

• The Genealogist as CSI
• Push and Pull: Reasons for Migration 
• Sidestep Genealogy 
• Bring ‘Em Back to Life: Developing an Ancestor Profile

Download the registration flier.

George G. Morgan is president of Aha! Seminars, Inc., a training company for libraries and genealogical societies since 1996. He is the author of numerous books and articles, co-host with Drew Smith of The Genealogy Guys Podcast and he has held many positions in state and and national genealogical societies.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Getting Ready for the 1940 Census with Steve Morse

Saturday, March 24, 2012
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

California Genealogical Society Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
Oakland, CA 94612

CGS is pleased to be welcoming back Steve Morse who will be helping us get ready for the soon-to-be-released 1940 census. When it is released in April, the 1940 will not have a name index and it is estimated it will take up to six months for a name index to be available. Finding people in the census will involve searching by location using Enumeration Districts (EDs).

Morse's One-Step website contains numerous tools for obtaining EDs. His talk will present the various tools and show circumstances in which each can be used. Steve will also demonstrate a tutorial quiz for determining the best tool to use in each specific situation.

Immediately following Morse's presentation, past-president Steve Harris will facilitate an open forum on using U.S. Census Records.

Register online.

The class is limited to thirty participants and is a free benefit of membership. Non-members fee is $20.00 (non-refundable) and can be applied towards membership on the day of the class.

Preregistration is required. Walk-ins will not be admitted. Registration confirmations will be sent to the first thirty registrants. Additional names will be collected and placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations.

Stephen Morse is the creator of the One-Step Website for which he has received both the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Outstanding Contribution Award from the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, Award of Merit from the National Genealogical Society, first-ever Excellence Award from the Association of Professional Genealogists, and two awards that he cannot pronounce from Polish genealogical societies.

In his other life Morse is a computer professional with a doctorate degree in electrical engineering. He has held various research, development, and teaching positions, authored numerous technical papers, written four textbooks, and holds four patents. He is best known as the architect of the Intel 8086 (the granddaddy of today's Pentium processor), which sparked the PC revolution thirty years ago.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Volunteers Needed for Youth Genealogy Program – Ancestral Project 2012

Pat Gallagher and Nicka Smith, two of the newest CGS board members, have put out a call for volunteers for Ancestral Project 2012 – the East Bay genealogy youth program that will run from February to June 2012.  Nicka is the Ancestral Project manager and she is inviting California Genealogical Society members to participate.

I wrote last year about the program created by Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson that helps youth learn the value of knowing one’s family history and the skills needed to discover it. The program began in 2011 and included three sites where more than fifty youth were assisted, mentored, and supported by Supervisor Carson’s staff and volunteers from the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California (AAGSNC) and the Oakland California Family History Center. 2011’s program was primarily focused on African-American genealogy research.

The Ancestral Project 2012 will expand to include youth from the Asian-American and Jewish-American communities, as well as youth in the Weekend Training Academy, a program of Alameda County’s Youth Probation Department. The California Genealogical Society is requesting that its members volunteer to be part of the 2012 project. Volunteering can be done in the following ways:

• Assist with teaching classes to youth;
• Attend one of the weekly workshops as support; or
• Attend one of the research trips to the Oakland Family History Center

Volunteers typically spend two hours per week, once or twice a month. It is preferable that volunteers are able to make a commitment for the full four months. One-time opportunities are also available. Volunteers will have the opportunity to attend an orientation session in early February to learn more about the goals of the project and expected outcomes.

The session dates are (choose one):
Monday, February 13, 2012, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. or Thursday, February 16, 2012, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.at the Oakland Family History Center, 4766 Lincoln Avenue, Oakland, California

If you have any questions regarding volunteering or about the program, please email Ancestral Project Manager Nicka Smith or call 650-906-1145.

For more about Ancestral Project 2012, please visit the AAGSNC website for blog posts, photos, and news coverage.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Organizing Workshop with Lorel Kapke Saturday, March 10, 2012

 

Saturday, March 10, 2012
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

California Genealogical Society and Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
Oakland, California 94612

Genealogy enthusiasts know that organizing and de-cluttering the vast amounts of documents, photos, certificates and records required to create a picture of a family’s history can be intimidating and time-consuming.

Lorel Kapke has created a tool to organize genealogy documents, research, and photos in one place to make it easy to recognize what you are missing. Join Lorel and learn how Sort Your Story software can help you:

• Organize and de-clutter your family’s important documents and photos
• Store valuable and irreplaceable data in one place in case of emergency or loss
• Easily run reports to spot trends, similarities, missing data and more in order to build a complete picture of your family’s history
• Compile data for submission to ancestry sites or self-publishers
• Simply and cost-effectively manage the vast amounts of data required to create a family history

Register online.

This workshop is limited to thirty participants and is a free benefit of membership. Non-members fee is $20.00 (non-refundable) and can be applied towards membership on the day of the workshop.

Preregistration is required. Walk-ins will not be admitted. Registration confirmations will be sent to the first thirty participants to register. Additional names will be collected and placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations.

Lorel Kapke is the founder and creator of Sort Your Story, an organizational software tool that stores genealogy records simply and conveniently on your Mac or PC computer. Kapke is currently 1st vice-president of programs at the Sonoma County Genealogy Society where she has served in a variety of capacities, including one year as president.

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

San Francisco History Expo – March 3 and 4, 2012 at the Old Mint

The Second Annual San Francisco History Expo will take place at the Old Mint, 88 Fifth Street at Mission, on Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4, 2012. The Expo will run from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day, and admission is free (donations are welcome).


This year the California Genealogical Society will have a presence thanks to the generosity of  SFgenealogy.org and the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogy Society who are sharing their space. 

Dozens of neighborhood-based and other historical associations representing the diversity of San Francisco will present mini-museums displaying artifacts and sharing information about their organizations.

In addition, there will be an exhibit entitled “Elegant Pit Stops,” images of historic garages from around the city. Artist Alan Zimmerman will display his large-scale oil-on-wood paintings of Gold Rush San Francisco.

Historic figures will mingle with the crowd and there will be historic films presented on the vault level and several special presentations during the weekend.

You can find the latest information on the Expo at SFHistoryExpo.org.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Three Directors at SLIG 2012

Three happy California Genealogical Society board members just finished a week of intensive learning at the 2012 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, sponsored by the Utah Genealogical Association. President Jeff Vaillant and Recording Secretary Lisa Gorrell were here with me although we rarely saw each other since we were taking different courses.

Kathryn Doyle, Jeff Vaillant and Lisa Gorrell at SLIG 2012.

We were able to sit together at last night's banquet and compare notes about our courses, instructors, and what we learned. Bottom line: we all need to catch up on sleep but we had a fantastic time and learned so much.

Read Jeff's reports on previous SLIG years at Jeff Valliant's Reports.

Thanks to Kim von Aspern-Parker for acting as our photographer.

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar: February 2012 Published

February 2012 events have been published on the San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar – a collection of local genealogical society classes, workshops and meetings within a 75 mile radius of San Francisco.

The February calendar has more than fifty classes and events at various venues around the Bay Area, sponsored by twenty different societies and genealogy libraries.

If you would like to add your group's events to the calendar, please email the information by the 15th of each month for publication on or before the 25th. (Please put "SFBA Calendar" in the subject line.)


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

What You Missed: 2012 Annual Meeting

The Annual Business Meeting of the California Genealogical Society was held on Saturday, January 21, 2012, at 1:00 p.m., at the library. President Stephen Harris welcomed members and introduced the board of directors. He announced the book sale in the Media Room and thanked the library committee members who organized it: Barbara Hill, Arlene Miles, Diana Wild and Henry Snyder.

Recording Secretary Lisa Gorrell read the minutes from the 2011 meeting which were approved. Treasurer Laura Lee Karp gave reports on the reading of the society’s books and on the financial health of the society before presenting the 2012 budget which was approved.

Nominating Committee representative Linda Okazaki presented the slate of nominees for seats on the board of directors. Kim Cotton, Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, Pat Gallagher, Karen Lemelin, and Nicka Smith were elected by acclamation. Strategic Planning Committee chair Tom Gesner summarized the proposed changes to the bylaws which were emailed to members in December. The motion to accept the bylaws changes was approved.

Committee reports were delivered by Diana Wild (Library), Publications/Marketing (Shannon Reese), Sandy Fryer (Membership), Lavinia Schwarz (Research), Kathy Watson (Technology), Tim Cox (Events), Jeffrey Vaillant (Facilities), Tom Gesner (Strategic Planning) and Chris Pattillo (Investment).

Diana Wild presented Steve with a card and cymbidium orchid in appreciation of his service as society president.

The business meeting was adjourned at 2:15 p.m. The board of directors met briefly to elect officers for 2012. The new officers are:

President: Jeffrey Vaillant
Vice-president: Diana Wild
Treasurer: Laura Lee Karp
Recording secretary: Lisa Gorrell
Corresponding secretary: Karen Tracy Lemelin

2012 Board of Directors

Photographs courtesy of Shannon Reese and Tom Gesner, 1/21/2012, Oakland, California.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library