Vista Grande October Class

If you've returned to Casa Grande, you might want to take advantage of the first class of the season at Vista Grande Library. "Diseases Our Ancestors Faced" is the title of the presentation which begins at 10 AM, Monday, October 7.

Family History Month

October is Family History Month.

It's time to organize your family history materials for the coming season. We are looking forward to some interesting topics. We are waiting for notification from Activities regarding our room assignment and will begin scheduling speakers soon.

Library Genealogy Classes

Vista Grande Library has announced the topics for genealogy classes scheduled for the coming season. Sessions will be held at 10 AM the first Monday of each month from October through April. Mark your calendars! 

2024

October 7 - Diseases Our Ancestors Faced

November 4 - County Histories

December 2 - Reminiscing, Reunions and Recipes

2025

January 6 -Writing Your Ancestor's History

February 3 - FamilySearch Search Tab

March 3 - FamilySearch Wiki

April 7 - Newspaper Research

Canadian Newspapers

The Internet Archive and Library and Archives Canada have announced a partnership to bring online 100,000+ out-of-copyright publications. Below is part of the announcement from Internet Archive Canada. Note there is no date for completion.

As part of this project, six digitization workstations, known as Scribes, have been installed at LAC’s Collections Storage facility in Gatineau. This digitization centre (staffed by six operators) will play a pivotal role in digitizing a vast collection of up to 100,000 out-of-copyright publications from the 1200s to 1920. The materials will be made freely accessible online to researchers, historians, scholars, individuals with print disabilities, and the general public, in line with IAC’s and LAC’s commitment to expanding digital collections of Canadian content. 

Legacy's Webtember

Legacy is promoting its annual "Webtember" event where free lectures appear on the website each Friday during September. You can register to watch in real time or plan to access the options any time during the month.

Some of the titles include: "Six Ways to Figure Out How We're Related," "10 Things You Don't Know About Cemeteries," "Researching Your Birmingham Ancestors," "The Real Life of New England Vital Records," "Church Records in Archives," "Irish Landed Estates" and many more.

https://familytreewebinars.com/webtember/  lists the upcoming webinars with descriptions and links to register.

Microfilm Retirement

The FamilySearch Library has announced that as of December it will cease in-person microfilm, microfiche and CD lookups at the library. Previously, patrons could request any reel from the site vault to be transferred to the library for research.

Does this mean you should not plan a stop at the library in the future? Of course not! Although all of the microfilm in the collection has been digitized as of September 2023, many of those records cannot be viewed unless you are at the library (or a FamilySearch Center) in person. The volunteers at the library also continue to be a valuable resource for any genealogist.

Vista Grande Library Classes

Mark your calendars! The genealogy meetings at Vista Grande Library are moving to Mondays. Classes will be held at 10 AM on the first Monday of each month from October through April. We encourage you to attend while you are at Palm Creek.

Google Lens

Here is another Google option to play with during your research. My cousin and I have been examining some old psalm books, hymnals, etc. from our Norwegian collection. Her daughter used Google Lens to translate pages from those books. When you open a photo in Google Photos, one of the choices at the bottom is "Lens." That choice will allow a translation of a photographed record. (Although we all know that Google isn't perfect.) Here is a small snip from one of the books. Give it a try!