Caitlin R. Donnelly, Head of Public Services at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at The University of Kansas Libraries, will be here to tell us about the collections and services at this repository.  

Caitlin works with students, faculty members, scholars, and other patrons and visitors who come to the library to conduct research, attend class, or tour the North Gallery and exhibit area.  Her interests have evolved to focus on facilitating and expanding the use of special collections; demonstrating the relevance of history and special collections to a variety of scholarly disciplines and groups of non-academic users; and helping researchers become comfortable and competent users of special collections materials.

She ia a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and sister of a KU alumnus.  She has a BA in Humanities–American Civilization from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2004), an MA in public history from North Carolina State University (2006), and an MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2008). Before joining the team at Spencer, Caitlin was the Archivist at the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo (2008-2012), where she was responsible for all duties associated with managing the archival collection.  Also, her realm of experience includes the Missouri State Archives-St. Louis, UNC’s Documenting the American South, the NCSU Special Collections Research Center, the UIUC Government Documents Library, and the National Park Service.

Come find out about what awaits you at this gem of a resource so close to Overland Park. 

Don't forget - the 2017 Skill Building classes take place on the same Saturday as our general meetings. 

This month the class is Organizing My Research at 1:00 pm in the Carmack Room, Central Library
We know genealogy may start with a simple sheet of paper but shortly becomes an onslaught of paper, photos, digital images, books, maps, correspondence, and more. Discover how to create an organization system designed the way you think, enabling you to find items within seconds, saving you time and money.  Presenter: Char Mitts

 

 

 

Save the date! Hold the phone! It's not too early to put this date in your calendar. October 28, 2017.We will be hosting Thomas MacEntee this October for an action packed all day seminar. We return to our favorite venue, the Ritz Charles event center in Overland Park.

Thomas MacEntee is a genealogy professional based in the United States specializing in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogy research and as a way to connect with others in the family history community. Thomas has started his own genealogy-related business called High Definition Genealogy. He also created an online community of over 3,000 family history bloggers known as GeneaBloggers. His most recent endeavor, Hack Genealogy, is an attempt to “re-purpose today’s technology for tomorrow’s genealogy.” We are sure to have another successful event this fall.

 

JCGS has the best volunteers around.  Every aspect of our operation is created, designed, and carried out by volunteers. On the Genealogy Desk at the Central Library sits a neat new box with little cards on the side for recognition of those volunteers.  We do this work because we love it and community service is our middle name but, you know, it's always a delight to hear a nice word or two for the effort.  Next time you are in the Genealogy area maybe go look for the box and if someone has really made your day - let us know so we can let THEM know.  You can also just drop us a line. Happy genealogy hunting! 

 

                                            

JCGS is now offering skill building classes on a monthly basis. The classes will be held at the Central Resource Library on 87th and Farley.  All classes will be presented by JCGS members.  These classes are in addition to our regular 4th Saturday general meetings and will be held on the same day as the general meetig except for October and November - those skill building classes will be held on the THIRD Saturday not the fourth. 

Contact Education Chair, Darlene Jerome for more information.  These classes are listed on our events page. 

It is overwhelming. Looking at all those initials after their names. Many folks are confused about the differences between genealogical credentials and those who offer professional services. Debbie Wayne Parker, CG and CGL, has a discussion which covers the credentialing and professional organizations in the U.S. governing the field of genealogy.  The discussion is aimed at those interested in becoming credentialed genealogists, those considering hiring a professional, and genealogical event planners who need to understand the many of initials following a name. Click here to read more about credentialing.

Be one of the first to use the Midwest Genealogy Center’s Quick Look! This new and exciting feature provides online access to some of MGC’s resources. One of the resources you can search is inactive pension claims from the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, which contains over 1.5 million records. Search the index by name and/or date. If you locate a resource, you will have an opportunity to request it from the source organization. In addition to the Railroad Retirement Pension Records, you can also find obituaries from newspapers like the Kansas City Star and Independence Examiner. Records currently indexed include obituaries, vital records, indexes for books within MGC’s collection, and more.

What can you expect after a search? Searches will yield an index that will allow you to request a full record. For U.S. Railroad Retirement Board Pension Claims, you will be directed to the National Archives. For all other collections, MGC staff will fulfill your request. The link to this great new feature is found on MGC’s main web page here. Have fun searching and watching MGC’s digital collection grow!

The Library of Congress (LOC) is a dream destination for many U.S. genealogy researchers, but most of us can’t get there in person. Here are 4 ways–all online–to access the mega-resources of the Library of Congress for genealogy. From our 2016 Annual Seminar speaker Lisa Louise Cook:  LOC Online

Take a few minutes and visit the genealogy orientation page for Worldcat, the online, worldwide library catalogue. WorldCat provides information about library materials, where they are available and links to digitized versions of library materials. WorldCat is the world’s largest bibliographic database. It contains information about more than 210 million items owned by 10,000 libraries around the world. Constant growth makes WorldCat a rich resource for genealogists who seek primary source materials.

 

WORLDCAT FOR GENEALOGY

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