Some Dates for your Calendar

As you are making your summer plans, here are some new dates for upcoming StLGS meetings/events. Don't forget you can always check the calendar on our website home page <www.stlgs.org> for all our previously announced meetings.

     1. Family Tree Maker Users Group––After a very successful first meeting, FTM Users Group Leader, Stephen Comfort-Mason, has scheduled the next meeting for Wednesday evening, 25 July, at the StLGS office from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. Anyone who uses FTM software is invited to attend. For more information, you can contact Stephen at <technology@stlgs.org> or look at Stephen's meeting summary posted on our Facebook page <www.facebook.com/groups/76633518155>.


     2. We don't yet have a catchy title for our second event, since it's in its earliest planning stages, but if you are in town, you will want to save some time on Saturday, 15 September, for a visit to our office. During a scheduled appointment that day, you will get the chance to meet with an "expert" to help solve a brick-wall problem, introduce you to (or help you with) genealogy software, assist you in using our website (or any other you may be having some trouble with), or just help you brainstorm your genealogy to-do list. We will ask you to pre-register for a time slot so everyone can be matched to someone who can help. There will be no charge for this members-only event. Stay tuned for more information in the very near future.

1940 Census Broadcast on KWMU

StLGS Research Projects Director, Ann Carter Fleming, and John Dougan, Missouri State Archivist, were interviewed by Don Marsh, host of "St. Louis on the Air," on St. Louis Public Radio station KWMU Thursday morning,
21 June. The hour-long broadcast was repeated during the evening, but it's also available for all of us to listen to on the KWMU website. Ann and John answered many questions on the importance of the 1940 census and took phone calls and answered e-mails on the topic as well. You can listen to Ann and John in either Windows Media Player or MP3 format by clicking here.

StLGS Forming Users Group for Family Tree Maker

The first meeting of the St. Louis Genealogical Society's Family Tree Maker Users Group will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 27 June at the StLGS office, 4 Sunnen Drive, Suite 140, Maplewood, Missouri. You can find a map and directions to the office by clicking here.

StLGS Technology Director, Stephen Comfort-Mason, will be the group's leader. Stephen says, "This will be primarily an organizational meeting but some time will be spent on product issues, including upgrades to FTM 2012, how to better 'tune' your computer to more effectively support FTM, and how FTM uses computer resources as it organizes your data and stores files." If you are interested in this popular genealogy software and would like to be on Stephen's e-mail list (so you can receive an agenda and notices of future meetings) or if you have some particular issue you would like for him to address, send him an e-mail at <technology@stlgs.org>.

Huge progress on the 1940 Indexing Project

As of this morning, Missouri is 83% indexed! Hundreds of volunteers are working on finishing the state by the end of the month. You can still help. Go to our website www.stlgs.org and follow the directions at the top of the home page. To see the progress being made, go to the FamilySearch site for Missouri: https://familysearch.org/1940census/1940-census-missouri/ .

Reminder about the June Monthly Meeting

Please join us for our monthly meeting tonight, Tuesday, 12 June, at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium at St. Louis County Library Headquarters. Special Collections librarian, Larry Franke, will be talking about  "Immigration and Naturalization." Have you ever thought about why your ancestors immigrated to the U.S.? Do you know if your ancestors became American citizens? If so, What were the laws regarding naturalization at that time and what records still exist? Come and learn about the resources available for immigration and naturalization research. The meeting starts promptly at 7; see you there.

1940 Census Update

News from the FamilySearch Indexing Project ... As of this morning, the 1940 U.S. census is more than 50% indexed, a month ahead of schedule. According to the press release sent out today, 75 million records are now indexed and eighteen states and territories are searchable by name on the FamilySearch website <https://familysearch.org>. If you are an indexer or an arbitrator, the whole genealogical community thanks you for your efforts! If you aren't but you have some time, it's not too late to sign up. Go to the StLGS website <www.stlgs.org> and look for the instructions on the top of the home page.

StLGS now has a blog

Welcome to the St. Louis Genealogical Society's brand new blog! We hope you will continue to follow us as we bring you all the latest society news and keep you up to date with what's happening in the broader genealogical world. We will be posting regularly and encourage you to read our blog for the society's most up-to-date announcements.

To that end, our first announcement is that this Saturday, 9 June, our office will be closed to visitors, as the St. Louis Susan G. Komen workers will be on site for the Race for the Cure pre-registration. We hope you will join us in supporting this worthwhile cause.