Genealogy East and West May Meeting
RSVP by May 15th
Our next meeting of the genealogy special interest group will take place Saturday, May 18, 2013 at Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS), 10875 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44106 from 11:00 to 3:00. Plan to stay for any time period that fits your schedule. We will meet in the foyer so we can see how many participants we have. If we have more than 12, we can get a group discount that will bring the cost of admission to $8.00 and $7.00 for seniors 62+. Your admission will not only get you into the Research Library but all of the exhibits at the WRHS. To learn what is available to view in the museum portion of the building, go to www.wrhs.org and search their website. Exhibits change periodically so the website is your best source or call 216-721-5772.
It is my understanding, we will get a 10 minute orientation and then volunteers will be available to help us with our research. I advise you to go to the website and search the library catalog and archives to see what might be available to augment your research. Materials cover Ohio and the surrounding states. You will not find Eastern European info but may be able to add a marriage record or more to your collection of data about your family, once they settled in the US.
To search the catalog go to:
www.wrhs.org
From the home page choose
Research and Collections, from the gray bar
Click on that for a drop down menu and choose
Search Collections (second from the bottom)
This will give you three choices for searching. The topics are in red with a description of each holding.
Library Collections
Archives Collections
Museum Collections
Type in a key word and see what it brings up. Write down the sources you want to search and be sure to bring backup data to have the names, dates and places you might want to search.
There is another area on top of the page that says Search Catalog. This got me nowhere. Use the above directions to search the catalog.
To learn more about how to use the Research Library go to:
The same
Research and Collections - from the drop down menu
Choose
Research Library and then from the box on the upper right of that page
Choose
Researching in the Library
This same box has another area to search called
Genealogy. Please make yourself familiar with both of these sections to make your visit more productive.
Copies are done only by library staff. You present what you want copied with payment and pick up the completed copies in a designated location. Bring quarters.
If possible, have family trees and/or group sheets with all pertinent data you will need.
The last time I was there I needed to show my Social Security card. I don't know if that is in effect now or not. Better safe than sorry. I will try to double check this the next time I speak with someone there.
Limited items may be taken into the library. - no pen - pencils are OK. Lockers are available to store jackets, purses etc. I believe you put in a quarter to release the key and when you return the key your money is returned. I will check this out as well.
Box lunches can be purchased for $10.00, provided arrangements are made prior to the visit. There is a small snack bar with a very limited menu. I advise you to take a sack lunch.
Parking is available in the lot adjacent to the museum for $5.00 per car but I highly recommend carpooling as there are not a lot of spaces and, if the lot is full, the next alternative is parking on the street.
I need a head count and box lunch order so they can prepare for our visit. Please let me know quickly and
no later than May 15th, if you plan to attend. RSVP to paulpopovich@sbcglobal.net
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Future communication with the genealogy group will be through the blog. This will save me a lot of time. For your convenience, you can enter your email address in the space on the blog's home page that will alert you to new entries. I highly recommend this feature, as entries will be put in when something of importance comes up. The blog can be accessed at www.c-rscleveland.blogspot.com.
Should you find items of interest that you think the group would like to know about, please email me (paulpopovich@sbcglobal.net). You never know what someone will find in his/her searching. Many new genealogy databases are coming online all the time.
Barb Popovich
