Celebrating the Winter Holidays, Part 2

Last week’s blog post focused on some winter holiday traditions, including Christmas trees. (If you missed it, you can read it here.) Of course, a lot of the fun in having a tree for Christmas is decorating it with ornaments. However, decorating indoor trees with man-made objects was much slower to catch on than previous traditions, and, like the trees themselves, the first ornaments came from Germany. This week we will meet a fascinating German immigrant who made St. Louis his home and might very well have helped your family to have a brighter Christmas.

Celebrating the Winter Holidays, Part I

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, you’ve probably begun decorating your house for the rest of the holiday season. Whether it’s lights and inflatable snowmen outside or an “Elf on the Shelf” resting comfortably on the living room mantel, most of us are fascinated by holiday decorations. If you celebrate Chanukah, you have started lighting candles and spinning dreidels, and if you are celebrating Christmas, you have likely already got your Christmas tree up and have hung all the family's favorite ornaments on its branches. As we like to do around the holidays every year, let’s look at how our ancestors passed down these traditions to us.

StLGS to Host Photo Scanning Event with Missouri State Archives

Do you have photographs documenting Missouri history tucked away in your attic, closet, basement, or even on your cellphone? Are you interested in safeguarding these treasures and helping to grow the photographic history of the state? You can help the Missouri State Archives preserve the Show-Me State’s now 200+ year history by submitting images to the Missouri Bicentennial Photograph Drive. Attend a photo-scanning open house at the St. Louis Genealogical Society office in January 2024, and help preserve some of our state's history. Learn how you can be part of an important ongoing project by reading on!

It's Time for Our Annual Genealogy Gift-Giving Guide!

Every year about this time, we publish our "Genealogy Gift Guide," filled with ideas for the genealogists on your holiday shopping list. We have a wide variety of gift suggestions. You can purchase some in the stores and most online. Something here is sure to fit the bill for that family historian on your annual gift-giving list whether you get into your car or shop comfortably at your computer. Have fun fulfilling someone's (or your own) wish lists!

New Additions to the StLGS Website, Part II: Cemetery Maps

Last week, we announced the first of some wonderful new additions to our StLGS website, and, as promised, this week we have more! We told you about the new Missouri Territorial Papers collection, with hundreds of names of early St. Louis residents who signed petitions concerning their governance and land ownership. If you missed that post, you can read it on our Blogspot site. This week, we have another exciting addition to the website, thanks to our resident mapping guru, Jim Bellenger. Read on for all the details . . .

Announcing Exciting New Additions to the StLGS Website: Part I

The St. Louis Genealogical Society's website, https://stlgs.org, reflects the society's ever-growing commitment to its mission of "collecting, preserving, and publishing genealogical and historical records." Almost all our volunteers work towards enhancing the website in myriad ways so that anyone with an interest in St. Louis can benefit from our efforts. During the past few months, we have been adding some exciting new online collections, and we are now ready to share them with you. The first will be of special interest to anyone whose roots go back to the earliest years of St. Louis and the Missouri Territory. Even if your ancestors are not represented in these lists, you may find the historical information and the familiar old St. Louis names to be fascinating. Here are the details.

StLGS Election Results and Three New Books for Sale in Our Store!

Thanks to all of you who voted in the election for two of our 2024–2025 officers. With unanimous votes, Michelle Pearce has been reelected treasurer, and Donna Foelsch will take over as vice president for programs beginning in January. We’d like to say a huge thank you to Kay Weber, who currently holds that position and is ready to step down and hand the reins to Donna. Kay has worked tirelessly during the past few years to ensure the society’s meetings, classes, and special events have been of wide-ranging appeal. She has juggled countless schedules, phone calls, texts, and emails, so our meetings could run as smoothly as possible. Because of her efforts, all of us have greatly benefitted, and we thank her from the bottoms of our hearts for all she has done for StLGS. In addition to her job as vice president for programs, Kay is co-leader of our Irish SIG, and we look forward to her continuing in that position in the future.

And now for some great new books just added to our online store, of special interest to those of you whose ancestors may have served in the military fighting for the Union during the Civil War . . .