Washington Park Cemetery in St. Louis Needs You!

Washington Park Cemetery is the largest African-American cemetery in St. Louis. Founded in 1920, at a time when segregation was the norm, it quickly became a popular spot for African-American burials. Unfortunately, over time, the cemetery became neglected. By the late 1990s, because of airport expansion and other construction, the City of St. Louis took ownership of the cemetery and moved many of the bodies. The graves that remained were generally overgrown; many of the stones toppled.

Recently, the cemetery's new owners have begun a massive cleanup of the site, and here is where your help is needed. On the first weekend of every month (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), as long as the weather is good, volunteers will be working at the cemetery to restore it to its former dignity. Work will be ongoing each day from 8 a.m. until dusk.The owners hope you will bring any tools that might be helpful such as lawnmowers, weed eaters, chain saws, and hedge trimmers, and that you will come whenever you can and stay for as long as you can. Obviously, the more people who show up, the better, so please pass this information on to others.

For more information on Washington Park Cemetery, go to: http://www.stlouiscityrecorder.org/archives/cemetery/washingtonparkcemetery.html . If you have questions, please contact Calvin Whitaker at 314-406-0518 or Chris Whitaker at 314-387-0345.

StLGS on TV, Monday, 26 November

On Monday, 26 November, incoming StLGS president, Fran Behrman, and projects manager, Ann Fleming, will be interviewed on STL TV LIVE!, a production of the television network of the City of St. Louis. The actual broadcast will be on late Monday afternoon at 5 p.m. If you have cable, the show airs on channel 992 or channel 99 on U-Verse. For those of you without cable or who may not have access to those channels, the interview will be on YouTube sometime Monday night or Tuesday.

Fran and Ann will be talking about the Book Jamboree (Sunday afternoon, 2 December), the Open House (Sunday afternoon, 27 January), and other society goings-on. You can learn more about STL TV on their website: www.stltv.net .

Look for the interview on the Web at any of these locations:
www.facebook/com/stltvchannel
www.twitter.com/stltvchannel
www.youtube.com/saintlouistv

Please Ignore Strange E-mails

During the past few days, we have been made aware that there is spam going out to StLGS members, probably because of an old RootsWeb mailing list that we have been trying to shut down. If you receive any e-mails that invite you to look at strange websites, please just delete them. If you click on the link, you spread the spam further because the worm invades your contact list and sends more e-mails. It's not a deadly virus; just an annoying hassle. We truly apologize for the inconvenience and ask you to just be patient while this runs its course. If any of the e-mails seem to have gone out from your address, you may want to change your e-mail password so your address doesn't get hijacked again.

StLGS Annual Book Jamboree Coming Soon

One of our favorite annual society events is just around the corner, and we hope you have marked your calendars. On Sunday, 2 December, from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m., we will host more than a dozen local authors, plus representatives from societies and book vendors in our office at 4 Sunnen Drive, Maplewood, Missouri.

This free event is a wonderful way to begin your holiday shopping for family and friends who love books with a local historical/ genealogical twist. The books run the gamut from the St. Louis Arch, to the the city/county park system, local radio legends, and Germans in St. Louis. For a complete list of all the authors and some of the books they will have available, click here.

You can purchase your books with cash, check, or Visa/MasterCard, and the authors will be happy to sign your books. Of course, we will have lots of StLGS CDs, books, and other merchandise for sale that day as well.

Hope to see you there!

Speaker Series CDs Now Available for Sale

J. Mark Lowe spent Saturday, 27 October with us at the annual Fall Speaker Series, talking about "Looking for Family in Court Records." In his four talks, Mark covered the basics of using court records, what you are likely to find in them, the various kinds of records that might be available, and how you can mine those records for clues about your ancestors' lives. He took us through an actual court case and answered many questions on those interesting but under-utilized treasures.

Mark's four lectures were professionally recorded, and the CDs are now on sale. The cost is $65, which includes a copy of the syllabus and shipping. You can purchase the CDs from our website <www.stlgs.org> by clicking on the button on the home page.

Chance to Tour Lemp Brewery Caves

Our friends at Landmarks Association in St. Louis are holding a fundraising raffle for chances to tour the caves under the Lemp Brewery. This is a rare opportunity to see the caves that played an important role in the success of this once-active St. Louis brewery. The caves are not open to the public at any time, so this may be the only way that you can ever get to see them. In addition to the caves, the tour will visit other features in the building, such as the remains of the Lemp family's private theater and their heated swimming pool.

You can buy as many raffle tickets as you like, but only 1,000 will be sold. Each ticket costs $20 and the lucky winners will get two places on the tour. The drawing will be on Friday, 2 November. The tour will take place on the afternoon of the 16th of November.

Winners will be notified by Landmarks Association by phone or by e-mail. You can purchase your tickets by calling Landmarks at 314-421-6474 or send an e-mail to <lempcavetour@landmarks-stl.org>.

The Landmarks Association of St. Louis is dedicated to preserving the history of architecture and building in St. Louis City and County. You can learn more about this important organization at their website: www.landmarks-stl.org .

Speaker Series Reminder

Have you registered for the October Speaker Series yet? Today is the last day to save a little money on early registration. You won't want to miss J. Mark Lowe's all-day workshop on "Looking for Family in Court Records" on Saturday, 27 October at the Orlando Gardens in Webster Groves. Registration includes all four lectures plus a box lunch. You can register online at <www.stlgs.org>. Hope to see you there.