Chronicling America: A Treasure at the Library of Congress

One of the best free websites for finding and using American newspapers is Chronicling America, the digital collection at the Library of Congress (LOC). The site has been up and running for years, but a few years ago, the LOC added an interactive map and a historical timeline that make the collection so much more valuable. With the interactive map, the search functionality of the site is enhanced by the ability to pinpoint exact locations for the newspapers in the collection and to be able to access the newspapers according to publication date.

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As we mentioned to you a few weeks ago, we are in the process of reviewing many outdated blog posts in preparation for moving to our new website.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.

August Genealogy Meetings and Classes

In spite of the disruption at our office caused by ongoing roof and ceiling leaks, we continue to carry on with our scheduled meetings and classes. (If you didn't read about our water woes, be sure to take a look at last week's post.) We are excited about the grand opening of the Emerson History and Genealogy Center at the new Clark Family Branch that opened on 9 July, and we have already begun to avail ourselves of the library's new meeting spaces. Our friends there came to our rescue in providing space for the Irish SIG meeting on 27 July, and our first monthly meeting will be held at the Clark Branch in August. You are invited to tour the new facility, if you haven't already done so, this coming week. Read on for more information . . .

July Genealogy Meetings and Classes

It's almost July 4th, which means summer has officially begun! Enjoy the upcoming holiday week, but don't forget to get out your calendar and make note of some of our upcoming programs. This month's general meeting will be our last at the Grant's View Branch of the St. Louis County Library system. With the new Clark Family Branch opening on 9 July, we will finally be able to go back to meeting at one location, now with ample room and state of the art technology! We'll have more for you on that soon; meanwhile, please read on for July's offerings. . . .

Missouri, St. Louis, and Irish Offerings at our Family History Conference, Saturday, 4 May 2024

Last week, we told you about the FamilySearch part of the program for our annual Family History Conference, Successfully Navigating Websites for Your Genealogy, coming up on Saturday, 4 May 2024. (Did you miss last week’s post? You can read it here.) But, in addition to the three lectures that our featured speaker, Chief Genealogical Officer for FamilySearch David Rencher is presenting on the library and its catalogs, we have five more exciting talks scheduled for the big day. You can learn more about important resources at the State Historical Society of Missouri, the brand-new Clark Family Branch library here in St. Louis County, our own StLGS website, and fantastic sources for online Irish research. PLUS, all participants will have access to the full slate of eight lectures and an electronic version of the syllabus via our website for three months after the conference. Excited? Read on for more information . . .

March 2024 StLGS Genealogy Meetings and Events AND Family History Conference Registration Opens!

Spring is in the air early this year, and we are looking forward to welcoming you to an enticing array of genealogy events. We will, of course, continue to offer you the option of attending remotely, but we hope with the warm weather, you will return to attending in person. It's always so good to see all of you! We want to remind you about our Open House on Saturday, 23 March, and we are also excited to announce our 52nd annual Family History Conference featuring noted genealogist David Rencher. Here is the upcoming schedule.

A Little-Used Genealogy Resource: Legal Notices in Newspapers

One of the lectures in our upcoming 2023 annual Family History Conference will be “Advertising the Law: The Gems in Legal Notices,” presented by our featured speaker, Judy Russell. If you have used newspapers in your research for the wide array of information you can find in them, you have probably seen those notices, but maybe you skipped over them because you were searching for a feature article or an obituary. However, you might want to pay a bit more attention once you see how valuable a resource those little ads can be.