Orphanages, Newspapers, and Congregations: Some Updates

As we mentioned to you a few weeks ago, we are in the process of reviewing many outdated blog posts in preparation for moving to our new website. Although many of the oldest posts were short and restricted to events occurring at specific times and places, some are still quite relevant, and we want to share some of those this week.

We first wrote about the expansion of the Historic St. Louis Post-Dispatch database offered by St. Louis County Library to its patrons in 2017, and at that time, we were excited to tell you that the archives were extended to 1968, having previously ended at 1922. Now, they go all the way to 2003. Actual digital images of the newspaper, beginning with 1874, are available with your St. Louis County library card at https://www.slcl.org/content/historical-st-louis-post-dispatch-proquest/.

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We get dozens of questions about orphanage care in St. Louis, so periodically we like to call your attention to our Orphanages page on the StLGS website! Viki Fagyal, author of a series of orphanage articles that appeared in our StLGS Quarterly and then of the definitive book on St. Louis orphanages, created a wonderful bibliography, timeline, and census charts that should be of great help to everyone looking for more information on ancestors who spent time in a St. Louis orphanage. Find a link to Viki’s book as both a hardcopy and a downloadable PDF, plus links to the aforementioned resources in the right-hand column called "More Orphanage Information" at https://stlgs.org/research-2/institutions/orphanages/.

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In August 2017, a reporter from the online version of St. Louis Magazine interviewed StLGS projects director Carol Whitton about the society's ongoing congregations project. StLGS has digitized thousands of St. Louis City and County church and synagogue records, saving them from potential loss and making them accessible to researchers everywhere. The article is still viewable at https://www.stlmag.com/history/this-organization-is-on-a-mission-to-track-every-baptism-confirmation-marriage-and-death-in-st-louis-history/

If you are affiliated with a congregation that has records to share, please let us know so we can reach out to you and your church or synagogue leaders. You can send an email to Carol at projects@stlgs.org.

And, if learning about some of our work at StLGS inspires you to join the fun, we always need more volunteers. Go to the Volunteer Opportunities page on our website for all the information you need to get involved.