Surviving the Loss of Family Tree Maker

This week Ancestry.com announced that in January 2017 they would drop support of their popular genealogy software package, Family Tree Maker. The reaction in the genealogical community has been overwhelmingly negative but if Ancestry does indeed follow through with their intentions, there are many alternatives for those of you using their software. First of all, don't panic! You have more than a year to move your files and to work out glitches, if any occur.

The office volunteers at StLGS have long recommended either RootsMagic or Legacy Family Tree for PC users and Reunion for Mac users. All three programs are solid, well supported, and flexible. You can do everything you did in FTM and lots more, including extremely valuable source citations, charts, media attachments, etc. We have sample copies of both PC programs at the office for those who want to see before making a decision and we have volunteers in-house who can help you with all three packages. We often have classes in using software too; the winter class schedule will come out in January and we already have two classes planned for March on using RootsMagic. In addition, instructor, Ted Steele, is working on a new monograph on using RootsMagic, which will be available soon.

Those of you who have very old versions of FTM (or other aging software) would do well to upgrade during the next few months, as it is always dangerous to keep valuable files in outdated versions of programs.

Meanwhile, for those of you who have begun to ask, you transfer your files via GEDCOM. If you are a member of StLGS, you can download a free monograph (PDF) on GEDCOMs, written by Ted Steele, in the Member Benefits section of our website. (Or go directly to http://stlgs.org/resources/on-this-site/monographs-for-members/) The monograph is also for sale in our store in print form. Just search for "GEDCOM."

We will be providing more ways to help you during the next few months. Watch for announcements and know that there are lots of StLGS volunteers who are available to help you through this transition.

Books, Books, and More Books: StLGS Book Jamboree Update

Do you have a neighbor or friend who loves to read? Do members of your book club like to talk to authors about their books? Know anybody who's stuck on finding that perfect gift for someone? Why not bring them along with you to the St. Louis Genealogical Society’s Book Jamboree?

Held once a year at our office, 4 Sunnen Drive, Suite 140, in Maplewood, Missouri, from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m., this round up of more than fifteen local authors in one place will give you a chance to chat, purchase current books and get them autographed, and even take a selfie or two with your favorites.

We have a great variety of regional topics, including new histories of the region, popular St. Louis institutions, ethnic St. Louis, and more. Attendance prizes too! The Book Jamboree is open to everyone and there is no cost to come and browse. But bring your wallet, as you will surely want to buy a book or two to begin your holiday gift list.

You won’t want to miss: 
Matthew Nolan: 250 Years – 252 Cakes: The Definitive St. Louis 250^th Anniversary Cake Book

Ryan Nusbickel: The St. Louis 12 Days of Christmas and Who Moved My Gooey Butter Cake

Dr. John Oldani: St. Lou-ism’s: Lingo, Lore, and the Lighter Side of Life in the Gateway City

Carol Ferring Shepley: St. Louis: An Illustrated Timeline

Elizabeth Terry: Ethnic St. Louis

Also featured are:

Vicki Erwin/Justine Riggs: Guidebook to St. Charles

Dr. J. Frederick Fausz: Historic St. Louis: 250 Years Exploring New Frontiers

NiNi Harris: Downtown St. Louis and Historic Photos of the Gateway Arch

Kenneth Johnson: Moonlight Serenade to City Lights: Rare Images of Bands and Orchestras from the Dance Hall Era in Missouri

Dorris Keeven-Franke: Utopia: A German State in America and Warren County (Images of America series)

And some more fascinating topics:

Gary W. Abbott: The Lost Decade: Players of the 1970s Cardinals

Marilynne Bradley: Once Upon a Time in St. Louis: An Illustrated Trip Through the Past

Ross Malone: The Book of Real Missouri Records: Show Me the First, Last, Smallest, Fastest, Strangest, Weirdest and Funniest

Jeffrey Smith, Lindenwood University: Confluence Magazine and Seeking a Newer World
 
Just Added:  
Ben Hilliker: Willy Willys 

Diane Rademacher: Famous Firsts of St. Louis

 For more information, click on the link on our home page at www.stlgs.org/. We hope to see you on 6 December!

StLGS Thanksgiving Hours

The StLGS office will be closed on Thursday, 26 November and Saturday, 28 November so our volunteers can spend Thanksgiving weekend with their families and friends. The office will reopen on Tuesday, 1 December. All of us at StLGS wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

StLGS Annual Book Jamboree Coming Up Soon!

Another week and it will be Thanksgiving! Once the turkey is eaten and the kitchen is clean, it's time to think about some serious shopping for holiday gift-giving and what better place to start than with books?

Would you like to meet some local authors and get their take on a variety of topics? St. Louis Genealogical Society will host more than fifteen authors and publishers at the annual Book Jamboree on Sunday, 6 December from 1 to 3 p.m. 
 
Bring your holiday shopping list for your family and friends. The event is free and open to the public at the society’s offices, 4 Sunnen Drive, Suite 140, in Maplewood, south of Manchester and west of Big Bend Blvd.
 
Chat with authors and get their take on regional topics, from the Cardinals to the 252 St. Louis birthday cakes, from historic horse racing to the twelve days of Christmas, St. Louis style. Books and publications cover new histories of the region, popular St. Louis institutions, ethnic St. Louis, and more.

You won’t want to miss:

Matthew Nolan: 250 Years – 252 Cakes: The Definitive St. Louis 250^th Anniversary Cake Book

Ryan Nusbickel: The St. Louis 12 Days of Christmas and Who Moved My Gooey Butter Cake

Dr. John Oldani: St. Lou-ism’s: Lingo, Lore, and the Lighter Side of Life in the Gateway City

Johnny Rabbit         

Carol Ferring Shepley: St. Louis: An Illustrated Timeline

Elizabeth Terry: Ethnic St. Louis

Also featured are:

Vicki Erwin/Justine Riggs: Guidebook to St. Charles

Dr. J. Frederick Fausz: Historic St. Louis: 250 Years Exploring New Frontiers

NiNi Harris: Downtown St. Louis

Kenneth Johnson: Moonlight Serenade to City Lights: Rare Images of Bands and Orchestras from the Dance Hall Era in Missouri

Dorris Keeven-Franke: Utopia: A German State in America and Warren County (Images of America series)

And some more fascinating topics:

Gary W. Abbott: The Lost Decade: Players of the 1970s Cardinals

Marilynne Bradley: Once Upon a Time in St. Louis: An Illustrated Trip Through the Past

Nancy Carver: Making Tracks: The Untold Story of Horse Racing in St. Louis, 1767–1905

Ross Malone: The Book of Real Missouri Records: Show Me the First, Last, Smallest, Fastest, Strangest, Weirdest and Funniest

Jeffrey Smith, Lindenwood University: Confluence Magazine and Seeking a Newer World

 For more information, click on the link on our home page at www.stlgs.org/. We hope to see you on 6 December!

Some October Events for Your Genealogy Calendar

 Remember that the StLGS October monthly meeting is this coming Saturday, 10 October, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Louis County Library Headquarters in the auditorium. Rena Schergen, the director of the Catholic Archdiocese archives in St. Louis, will discuss the Catholic records that are available to genealogists and how to access them.

 

For those of you with roots in northern Illinois, the Tazewell County Genealogical and Historical Society announces their conference, “Harvest Time for Genealogists,” on Saturday, 24 October 2015. The day's featured speaker will be Lin Strong, current president of the Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America. Lin has led many tours to Ostfriesland (Germany), the Netherlands and Belgium. More information is on the society's website: http://www.tcghs.org/.

  

The Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS) is sponsoring three upcoming free genealogy webinars. On 13 October, “Polish Genealogy: Four Steps to Successful Research;” on 10 November “In-laws and Outlaws: The Bylaws of Talking About the Family Skeletons,” and on 8 December, “The US Federal Census: Good, Bad, and Ugly for Genealogists.” These webinars are available to all as they are presented. Once they are archived, they will only be available to members of ISGS. Learn more about these webinars and how to register, if you are interested, at  http://www.ilgensoc.org/cpage.php?pt=227/.

StLGS Irish Sig Meeting for July

On Tuesday, 28 July, the Irish Special Interest Group of St. Louis Genealogical Society will have a special meeting to celebrate the beginning of their seventeenth year! Join the group at 7 p.m. at St. Louis County Library Headquarters in the auditorium to hear Ann Fleming, nationally-known researcher, author, and speaker, (and a long-time StLGS member) discuss "Chart the Trails Using Timelines." Ann will show you how to use timelines to organize data and better identify those elusive ancestors. Questions? Contact Kay Weber at irishsig@stlgs.org/.

 Jefferson Barracks Expansion

Also, for those who live in south St. Louis County or are interested in the possible expansion of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, there are public meetings scheduled for Tuesday, 21 July, and Thursday, 23 July, at 7:00 p.m. at the Pavilion at Lemay, 305 Gregg Road, St. Louis, MO 63125. If you cannot attend the meeting but want to express an opinion, you can fill out a survey for the Parks Department online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MT63YK3/.

Jefferson Co., Missouri, Needs Volunteers

Volunteers are needed to assist in preserving the long lost Jefferson County historical Circuit Court records. Archivist Bill Glankler will spearhead the project for the Missouri State Archives (MSA). When completed, the digital copies will be placed on the MSA website for all to view. Volunteers are needed to straighten folded circuit court packages. The documents are being digitized in Hillsboro at the Jefferson County History Center at Jefferson College. The Center is located in the Jefferson College library and is a repository for historic documents from the Jefferson County Courthouse.

The project will start on Thursday, August 13th and then continue every Thursday. The hours will be from 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. They are planning on working from 10–12, taking an hour lunch break, and then working again from 1–3. If someone isn't able to volunteer every week or all day, he/she can work every other week or just a morning or afternoon shift. If the project has more than four volunteers, they will plan to set up an every other week rotation schedule.

Please let Joette Klein, librarian for the Jefferson County History Center, know if you are interested.  Her e-mail is jklein1@jeffco.edu or by you can phone her at 636-481-3161.

(Thanks to Chris Merseal in Jefferson County for sending us this information.) 

Book Reviewers Needed

Time for putting out the word again that we need book reviewers for the StLGS Quarterly. We have a batch of interesting books that need to be read and reviewed. You do have to come into the office to pick up the book and to return it. Reviews are usually anywhere from a half to a whole page long, nothing more complicated.

Please contact Dan Kerckhoff, our archivist, at archivist@stlgs.org or just come by the office during business hours if you are able to help.

Here are the books currently waiting review:

The Jewish Presence in Early British Records, 1650–1850 by David Dobson

Irish Emigrants in North America, part eight, by David Dobson

Historic German Newspapers Online, compiled by Ernest Thode

Derry-Londonderry: Gateway to a New World by Brian Mitchell

The Surnames of Wales, Updated and Expanded by John and Sheila Rowlands

German Pioneers of Montgomery County, Ohio, translated and edited by Elfe Vallaster Dona

O'Sullivan: The Earliest Irish Royal Family History and Genealogy by William Randolph McCreight

The Ultimate Search Book, 2015 edition, U.S. Adoption, Genealogy & Other Search Secrets

Quick Sheet: Citing Genetic Sources for History Research by Elizabeth Shown Mills

Genealogy at a Glance: Ohio Genealogy Research by Michael A. Ports

Polish Roots, second edition, by Rosemary A. Chorzempa

June StLGS Events

Now that the 2015 National Genealogical Society Family History Conference is history, StLGS is back on track with some fun summer activities planned for our members.

Scan-a-Thon

First, tomorrow, 11 June 2015, a group of volunteers will be in the office all day (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) working on scanning the thousands of pages of notebook material we have on hand. Our goal is to reduce the amount of paper we keep in the office and to provide additional space in our large classroom for more activities. If you have some time during the day, we invite you to stop in for an hour or two to help out. We will need people to scan, to proofread, and/or to enter data. We especially need people from noon to six. If you have questions, drop an e-mail to Karen Goode, volunteer coordintaor, at volunteers@stlgs.org or call the office tomorrow (314-647-8547).

e

German SIG Open House

Next week, on Wednesday, 17 June, we invite you to an Open House for the German Special Interest Group, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the StLGS office. During that time, we will have volunteers leading office tours, volunteers with expertise in translating old German script, and volunteers who can help you with immigration research on hand to assist. Drop in for the whole time or just for a brief visit. Questions? Send a note to Carol Whitton, German SIG coordinator, at GermanSIG@stlgs.org or call the office and ask for Carol.

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Classes and Salt Lake City Research Trip

And a reminder that we have summer classes open for registration and a few more rooms still available for our annual research trip to Salt Lake City in late October. Go to the home page of our website www.stlgs.org and click on the appropriate buttons for lots more information on both topics.

A Few May Genealogy Events

Here are a few genealogy events you might like to add to your calendar for this month (other than the NGS Family History Conference coming up next week!):

Dedication Ceremony/Father Dickson Cemetery

Saturday, 9 May 2015

845 Sappington Road, Crestwood, MO 63126

Noon/No fee/Open to all

This historic African-American cemetery will be dedicated as a stop on the Missouri state-wide Civil War driving trail (known as the U.S. Grant Trail) at a ceremony tomorrow. A two-foot by three-foot interpretive panel describing the historical significance of the cemetery and its namesake, Moses Dickson, will be set in place by several representatives from preservation and Civil War groups. The cemetery is the final resting place of more than 12,000 people, including veterans of all American wars. For more information on the cemetery, including driving directions, go to http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/dickson/fdc.htm/. For more information on Missouri's Civil War Heritage Foundation, go to http://www.mocivilwar.org/.

Curators' Map Colloquium/Mercantile Library

"Going Off On Tangents: Maps, Railroads, and the Shortest Distance Between Two Points"

Lecture by Nick Fry, Curator of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library

Saturday, 23 May 2015

St. Louis Mercantile Library at UMSL, in the Thomas Jefferson Library

1:00–3:00 p.m./Fee and pre-registration required

For more information on this talk, including fees and how to register, go to http://www.umsl.edu/mercantile/events-and-exhibitions/index.html/ or call 314-516-7248.

Civil War Walking Tour/Bellefontaine Cemetery

"Homecoming: The Sesquicentennial: The End of the Civil War"

All-day event

Saturday, 30 May 2015

Bellefontaine Cemetery, 4947 W. Florissant Ave., St. Louis, MO 63115

9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m./Free, but pre-registration required

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. This beautiful cemetery, filled with Civil War-era tombstones, is hosting an all-day event to celebrate this historic milestone. There will be Civil War reenactors, living history volunteers, and vendors on hand throughout the day. Participants can walk a two-mile path or, for a small fee, take a bus tour through the cemetery. For more information on this special day, including how to register, go to http://bellefontainecemetery.org/event/1680/ or call Daniel Fuller at 314-381-0750.

StLGS GenChat Coming on Friday

Join StLGS on Twitter for a #genchat this Friday

This Friday, 24 April, from 9:00–10:00 p.m. (CST), StLGS will be live on Twitter, participating in a #genchat about genealogical research in St. Louis. A #genchat is a free genealogy discussion you can join on Twitter. This is a great way to learn more about St. Louis-area records and repositories, and, if you’re attending the NGS conference in St. Charles next month, it’s a great way to prepare for your visit.

To participate in the #genchat, you will need a free Twitter account and must search for the #genchat hashtag and include it in all your tweets during the event. For help in setting up a new, free Twitter account, visit https://support.twitter.com/. (To see a schedule of upcoming #genchats, go to www.genealogygenchat.com/. There are also tips on how to participate at that website.) If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow the society at @StLGS.

StLGS Conference News: Live Streaming Options

Can't make it to the NGS Annual Conference in St. Charles in May? Or do you have so many choices already earmarked that you don't know which talks to attend and which you might have to sacrifice? Not only are some talks being recorded as audio CDs and MP3s, but NGS is offering the opportunity for you to see and hear certain speakers in two live-streaming packages on 14 and 15 May (and three months afterward).

Track One offers five lectures on immigration and naturalization. Track Two offers five lectures on methodology. Both tracks feature some of the conference's most well-known speakers. The cost of one track is $65 for NGS members ($80 for non-members); a bundle of both tracks costs $115 for NGS members ($145 for non-members). Once you are registered, you will receive special instructions for viewing the lectures.

The deadline to register for the two live-streaming options is just a week away, Wednesday, 29 April. Read more about the lectures and register on the NGS website http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/attend/live-streaming/.

For Those with Missouri-German Ties

This is the final weekend for the fascinating exhibit, "Utopia," that has been at the Missouri History Museum. If you haven't seen it yet, you will certainly want to visit, and if you have been to see it already, you may want to catch one more look before the artifacts return to their home in Germany.

For details of the closing events, go to http://mo-germans.com/closing-weekend/, where you will find a schedule that includes special tours, music, lectures, a movie, and even a winery visit.

Also, the exhibit's local curator, Dorris Keeven-Franke, is now editing an e-journal called Der Anzeiger, a quarterly publication of the Missouri Germans Consortium. You can learn more about this group and the journal at http://mo-germans.com/.

Upcoming Genealogy Events

Civil War Eyewitnesses

Thursday, 16 April

Maplewood Public Library

7550 Lohmeyer

6:30 p.m.

Join Dennis Northcott, associate archivist at the Missouri History Museum's Library and Research Center, for a look at the Civil War through the eyes of those who witnessed it first hand. Dennis will tell stories of the battlefield and the home front derived from letters, diaries, and other documents from the museum's collection. Free and open to all.

 Moving Targets: The Challenge of Mapping America's Rivers

Saturday, 18 April

Mercantile Library

UMSL-St. Louis, in the Jefferson Library building

1:00 p.m.

Sean Visintainer, curator of the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library, will describe the difficulties early mapmakers faced as they attempted to understand the geography of the new country. Sean has access to many rare original maps that he will display and discuss during his talk.

Pre-registration is suggested for this talk, which costs $10 for Mercantile Library members and $12 for non-members. Call 314-516-7248 to register or for more information.

NGS Annual Conference News

Just a reminder that the early bird registration for the upcoming National Genealogical Society conference, to be held in St. Charles, Missouri, from 13–16 May, will end tomorrow, 30 March. By registering today or tomorrow, you will save $35, which is a substantial discount.

You can register by going to the StLGS website and clicking on the conference button on the home page or you can go directly to the NGS website at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/.

Although some events are already sold out, there is still room at the NGS banquet, most of the luncheons, and on Tuesday's tours. You can pay for those special events when you register, if you want to add them.

We also want to announce that St. Louis Genealogical Society will be one of the official media representatives for the conference. We will have an active presence on Twitter, Facebook, and in our blog. We are looking forward to sharing lots of news about this exciting conference during the week in May.

Activities for Your Upcoming Weekend, 7 & 8 March 2015

Saturday, 7 March 2015
Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center
225 S. Skinker Blvd., St. Louis, MO

Workshop on House History featuring associate archivist Dennis Northcott

9:30 a.m.
$10 ($5 for MHM members); pre-registration required
Call 314-361-9017 to reserve a space.
More information at http://www.mohistory.org/node/10579

Saturday, 7 March 2015
Oak Grove Cemetery
7800 St. Charles Rock Road
Bel-Nor, MO

Cemetery Clean-Up Day!

9:00 a.m.
Volunteers needed to help with trimming around stones, raking leaves, trimming bushes, moving fill dirt, and picking up tree limbs. Please bring your own trimmers, rakes, yard waste bags, and saws.

Contact Susan Ing at susaning61@yahoo.com for more information.

Sunday, 8 March 2015
TLC (cable television station), 9:00 p.m. (Central)/10:00 p.m. (Eastern)

Who Do You Think You Are?

New season features eight new celebrities: Julie Chen: 8 March; Josh Groban: 15 March; Angie Harmon: 22 March; Sean Hayes: 29 March; Tony Goldwyn: 5 April; America Ferrera: 12 April; Bill Paxton: 19 April; and Melissa Etheridge: 26 April.

More information at www.TLC.com/WDYTYA

Trivia Night Coming, Friday, 6 March

The sixth annual StLGS Trivia Night is one week from today, Friday, 6 March 2015. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and the fun begins at 7. This year, we are at a new, convenient, and central location: the Richmond Heights Community Center, 8001 Dale Avenue, just one block southeast of I-64/40 and Hanley Road.

This is always such a fun-filled night! In addition to thought-provoking trivia questions, there are extra games, snacks and soft drinks, and a fabulous silent auction. The Trivia Night committee has been working for weeks to create gorgeous baskets of goodies for you to bid on, and thanks to the generosity of so many people, we know you will be thrilled to see what they have assembled. Here are two of about a dozen baskets and you can see how creatively they have been composed.


Trivia Night is our primary fundraiser this year, so we hope you will join us for the evening. You are welcome to bring additional food and beverages but PLEASE, do not bring any GLASS into the facility, as they have rules against glass containers.

Registration is so easy. Just go to www.stlgs.org and click on the Trivia Night button. A table of eight is $120 but we welcome individuals at $15 each and will happily find you space at a table. Directions and a map are also on the website. Questions? Please call the office at 314-647-8547 on Saturday, Tuesday, or Thursday between 9 a.m. and noon or send a note to our Trivia Night chair at volunteers@stlgs.org/.

Fun Friday Lunch

If you are in St. Louis this Friday, the 20th of February, you might like to spend your lunch hour learning about some archaeological discoveries in the city. Our friends at Landmarks Association are hosting archaeologist Joe Harl for a brown bag luncheon lecture from noon to about 1:15 p.m. at the Landmarks office, 911 Washington Ave., Suite 170, St. Louis, MO 63101.

Mr. Harl will present an overview of some of the sites he has investigated during his long career. His talk will focus on the archaeology of St. Louis from the late eighteenth through the nineteenth centuries and will cover diverse sites in the city, such as the nineteenth-century bordello of Eliza Haycraft, the remains of nineteenth-century tenements beneath the Cochran Gardens housing complex, the rectory of the original St. Ferdinand Church in Florissant, the second Catholic cemetery on Jefferson Avenue, and more.

Reservations are NOT required and the talk is free to all. Seating is limited, however, so come early, bring your lunch, if you like, and be prepared for an informative, interesting hour or two. More information at 314-421-6474 or www.landmarks-stl.org/.

Some Genealogy News

The St. Clair County (Illinois) Genealogical Society's February meeting will be held Thursday night, 5 February, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Luke's Parish Hall, 226 N. Church St. in Belleville. This month's topic is "Do's and Don'ts of Cemetery Preservation." Dawn Cobb, Human Skeletal Remains Protection Act Coordinator for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, and Hal Hassan, an archaeologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, will discuss cemetery preservation efforts, including proper maintenance and repair of headstones and monuments. The meeting is free and open to all. More information on the SCCGS website www.stclair-ilgs.org/.

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Those of you on our Facebook page already know this interesting news, but for those of you who don't . . . Google Earth Pro is now being offered as a free download instead of a $399 application! It is available for both Mac and PC and seems to have many more features than it did before. Go to https://geoauth.google.com/gev0/free_trial.html/. You will need to fill out the boxes and then Google will send you an e-mail with the registration keys for unlocking Google Earth Pro. You can read more about the program at https://www.google.com/work/mapsearth/products/earthpro.html/. Try it and see how valuable a tool this can be for genealogy mapping.

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Anyone interested in writing book reviews for our Quarterly journal? We have a new batch of books to review and always are looking for people to read and write. There are some new QuickSheets, some books on Maryland and Delaware, Irish, German, Polish, and Jewish-related books, and even a new book on adoption and donor conception! Please contact Dan Kerckhoff, our archivist, if you are interested. You can reach him at archivist@stlgs.org/. Thank you!

Heads up on StLGS office closure: Saturday, 31 January 2015

Our office complex will be undergoing maintenance on the electrical transformers on Saturday, 31 January. We have been notified by management that the electricity to our part of the complex will be shut off that day and all our devices have to be shut down, just in case. Hence, we will not be in the office, as no lights and no computers and no heat mean that we can't get much accomplished. If you were planning to come to the office on the 31st, we hope to see you on an alternate day. Thanks for your understanding.

Genealogy Road Show, Season Two, Begins Tuesday

If you enjoyed the first season of Genealogy Road Show on PBS, you will want to get ready for season two, which begins this Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. (Central Time; check your local listings for day/time/PBS station).

In addition to the fun of watching professionals Kenyatta Berry, Josh Taylor, and Mary Tedesco work on challenging puzzles, this six-part season features St. Louis in two episodes. (New Orleans and Philadelphia were the other two cities where the Road Show set up shop.)

According to the show's executive producer, more than 7,000 people applied to be on the show. In St. Louis, the producers chose twelve people for the major stories and twelve with smaller mysteries. Many local genealogists spent part of a weekend meeting the crew and watching the action at St. Louis Public Library and Union Station last August, when the filming was in progress.

Look for St. Louis stories to be featured on the 20 January and 10 February episodes. All of the episodes will air locally on Channel 9, PBS, at 7:00 p.m. and be repeated on Thursdays at 1:00 a.m. (Usually they are also placed online, so if you miss an episode, check out http://www.pbs.org/genealogy-roadshow/home/.)

Missouri History Museum Library & Research Center Closed in January

The Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center has announced that beginning today, Friday, 8 January and continuing through Friday, 30 January, they are closing their facility to researchers due to the installation of new carpeting. Although staff will be on site, they will not have access to most of the interior space. They will be unable to get to the card catalog and many of the books and maps that line the walls of the Reading Room. Telephone and e-mail requests will be handled as best as possible during this time, but expect delays. If you have any questions, please call 314-746-4500 or send a note to library@mohistory.org/.