Genealogy Classes online!

If you are interested in becoming a Genealogy Consultant or a Volunteer Field Genealogist there's no need to pack your bags or make a flight reservation for Washington, D.C. Classes will be given online. The DAR Genealogical Education Program will be unveiled in January 2012 and be available on the DAR Members' Website. For more information and how you can enroll in the online course, visit the Volunteer Genealogists Committee web page starting in early 2012. Our Chapter needs you!

If you love roaming cemeteries and transcribing tombstones, hunting through dusty volumes in your local county building, or collecting precious family Bible records, check out the DAR Genealogical Records Committee projects at http://members.dar.org/ committees/GRC/index.htm

Quaker Research on Tuesday 17 January 2012, 6:15 p.m. in the Santa Clara City Library Cedar Room
Jeff Moore, the SCCHGS Genealogy Society Librarian, will give a talk on Quaker records and how to research Quakers. Jeff spent five years researching his Quaker ancestors in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The extensive church, meeting and other Quaker records he discovered helped him document hundreds of Quaker lives.

Ancestry.com Search Techniques: Saturday 4 February, 1 p.m. in the Santa Clara City Library Redwood Room.
Laura Dansbury, Ancestry’s ‘Senior Product Manager for Search’ will bring along other product managers to discuss new and advanced product features and techniques that will help produce better results when searching Ancestry.com. Laura has many years of experience in web, online search and graphical information display focused on making web search easier and more powerful. Topics covered will include: Organizing and sharing your family tree; Breaking down brick walls; Getting the most out of your ‘Ancestry.com’ membership; and, Advanced search techniques. She will also discuss how soon Ancestry will be able to put the 1940 US Census records online after the federal government releases those records in April 2012.

What’s New for Genealogists & Local History Researchers at Central Park Library Tuesday, March 20th, 6:15 p.m., Redwood Room Local History Librarian, Mary Hanel, will review some of the Library’s new reference books and resources for genealogists and historians. She will also show part of “The Better Part” public access TV documentary on ‘Genealogy’ that featured an interview with a Genealogy Society Library Consultant and a tour of Central Park Library’s Heritage Pavilion.

Genealogy Society’s 55th Anniversary Celebration Tuesday, April 17th, 6:15 p.m., Redwood Room The Santa Clara County Historical & Genealogical Society will celebrate its 55th anniversary as a Society and the 45th anniversary of its partnership with the Santa Clara City Library. There will be cake, treats, and displays. Favorite stories about overcoming brick walls and great family history discoveries made while doing research in the Library’s Genealogy Collection will be shared.

Ancestor Roundup 2012: 31st Annual Genealogical Seminar presented by the Commodore Sloat Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and Family History Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Saturday, January 28, 2012, from 8AM to 3:30PM. Keynote speaker Claire V. Brisson-Banks will speak on “The Perfect Social Media: Family History & Genealogy.” Claire is a nationally known genealogist, researcher, and teacher. She has worked at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City since 2003. She is a member of The International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists. In addition to her keynote address, Claire will teach classes in New England Research, Scotland Research Strategies, Preserving Your Records, and Attacking Those Brick Walls. Pre-registration of $30 by Jan. 21 guarantees a syllabus and includes lunch.

DAR Classes! If you are interested in becoming a Genealogy Consultant or a Volunteer Field Genealogist DAR Genealogical Education Program will be unveiled in January 2012 and be available on the DAR Members' Website. For more information and how you can enroll in the online course, visit the Volunteer Genealogists Committee web page starting in early 2012. Our Chapter needs you!

Santa Clara City Library, 2635 Homestead Road, Santa Clara, home of the genealogy collection, still has free library cards. If you are not a resident of the City of Santa Clara, a library card is still available at no charge.

This card will give you borrowing privileges, access to in-house computers and paid subscription databases like Ancestry Library edition, AmericanAncestors.org, formerly known as New England Ancestors. Available from home with your library card are Heritage Quest Online, which has many U.S. Census records, full text of 28,000 family and local history books, the U.S. Serial Set, Freedman's Bank records, PERSI, an index to over 2.3 million genealogy and local history articles, and selected Revolutionary War patriot records and the San Jose Mercury News Historical Archive 1886-1922.

You can also borrow books interlibrary loan for genealogical research as well as borrow books through Link+. Tell your friends and fellow researchers since there is confusion with the Santa Clara County Library's decision to charge $80 for a card for those who do not reside in that library's district as of July 1, 2011.