Blog

Pat Bonderud and Linda Darby enjoy volunteering in the CGS Manuscripts Collection, and you can, too!

The volunteers who work in the Manuscripts Department find it an enriching experience. A “manuscript” is defined as a document, book, or piece of music that is handwritten and has not been published.

Linda Darby is a big fan of manuscripts and has spent many of her volunteer years poring through genealogy-related manuscripts donated to the California Genealogical Society Library.

Darby and several other volunteers are tasked with the “job” of reviewing and organizing personal papers or manuscripts, including photos and other documents that might also be part of a family’s donation to CGS.

Many of these collections include ancestry charts, family histories, letters, family group sheets, newspaper articles, certificates, compiled genealogies, vital and military records, copies of original deeds, probate records and even some tintypes.

Reading through family letters and other documents can be surprisingly interesting, says Darby.

Several volunteers have their favorite manuscript collections. Darby’s favorite manuscripts have been from the “Ringo Collection,” donated by an heir of a San Francisco opera singer. “I am not really an opera fan,” said Darby, “but I loved reading the letters and looking at the photos – it really piqued my interest.”

Another favorite is the Hale Collection. This family descended from California pioneers. One of the descendants was a woman juvenile judge in the 1920s, while another took the time to write about her 1906 earthquake experience.

Darby says she loves helping to preserve family documents for researchers. “I wanted to give back to the community because I have received so much help with my own genealogy,” she said.

She suspects other CGS members would enjoy working with manuscripts and is putting out the word that two volunteers are needed at the library. It’s a fun job, says Darby, and the hours are flexible.  She usually spends three hours once a week at the Library when organizing a new collection. Training is provided.  Most of the work organizing a collection requires being at the library, but here are a few things that can be done from home, if necessary.

CGS members interested in learning more about working with manuscripts can send an email to Volunteer Coordinator Kathleen Beitiks for more details.

Meanwhile, take a look at the online manuscript database by going to “What’s in the Library” on the CGS website. The database can be viewed by clicking on “Manuscript Collection.”

Who knows? You might stumble upon one of your own, long-lost ancestors!