Blog | California Genealogical Society

A Wee Book In The Griffin Collection of our Library

by Chris Pattillo (2/12/2021)

A tiny book from the Griffin Collection

By Chris Pattillo

Yesterday I picked up boxes 10 through 13 of the Griffin Collection from our manuscripts room and delivered them to Stewart Traiman in Alameda, who has been scanning and indexing the material in the collection. This is part of our ongoing project to digitize our collections and make them available online. When I arrived at Stewart’s we exchanged the new boxes for the ones that he had finished scanning. While I was there Stewart showed me one of the many items contained in the collection – the little book pictured above. You can see how tiny it is–about two inches by four inches. It has a black leather cover and only a few pages. The text on the first page says, “Genealogical Records of the Griffith Family copied from an old Bible belonging to Philip Griffith of Clarksburg Maryland.”

This item is just one of hundreds in the collection, which includes photographs, an assortment of family trees, official documents and myriad other family records. This is the second set of records that Stewart has scanned and indexed. Previously he scanned the John Ellis Hale Collection which has been uploaded to our website. You can find it on the Research page under Online Resources. The photo on that pagewas taken inside the manuscripts room. Each time we meet to exchange material Stewart makes a point of sharing one of the special items he has found. For me, these exchanges feel like my reward for doing my part, and now I am sharing it with you.

A big win for access to immigration records

by Jennifer Dix (2/10/2021)

Alien Registration File for Raymond Hiroshi Hirai.
Courtesy of Rina Hirai.

A hard-fought battle to keep records affordable has resulted in victory. The U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) has backed off a proposed “astronomical increase” in fees for copies of records essential to immigration research.

In late 2019, genealogists and other research advocates sounded the alarm about a proposed increase of fees for USCIS records. Rich Venezia, founder of Records Not Revenue, spearheaded the campaign to protest the fee increases, spurring nearly 40,000 individuals to post comments on the agency’s website. We wrote about the issue at the time, detailing the ways in which increased fees would effectively put this unique resource for immigration records out of reach for many researchers. CGS members Grant Din and Linda Okazaki were among those active in spreading the word, and the California Genealogical Society board wrote a letter opposing the fee change, along with hundreds of other genealogical societies, historical organizations, and genealogists around the country.

The proposed fee increases also would have applied to visa and immigration filing fees, increasing hardship for current immigrants, as well as hobbling their access to their A-Files to defend against removal, apply for immigration benefits, and naturalize. A recent article on the website Immigration Access details the judge’s ruling in December 2020 which ordered USCIS to make those records available in a timely fashion. On February 2, President Biden issued an Executive Order directing that agencies should promote access to the legal immigration system and specifically calling out the proposed fee increase.

The work continues for access to immigration records. Genealogist Judy Russell points out that there may still be a fee increase in the future. Many people have asserted that these are public records that should be available through the National Archives. Records Not Revenue is working on strategies to push USCIS to get these records to NARA. The story continues. Meanwhile, congratulations to Grant and Linda and everyone who lent their name to this effort!

Online genealogy, week of February 8-14

by Jennifer Dix (2/6/2021)

Our weekly roundup of upcoming genealogy events. Numerous associations offer online genealogy classes every week. Most are free. To register for one of the events below, click on the name of the host organization.

CONFERENCES:

February 12-19: Genealogica 2021: the first German virtual genealogy conference (in German)
February 13: “Looking Backward, Moving Forward: 2021 Black History Month Conference” (African American Special Interest Group & Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society)

CGS EVENTS:

February 13: Monthly Board Meeting. All welcome.

American Ancestors

February 9: “An Explosion of Beauty: The Art, Architecture, and Collections of British Country Houses, Part II” by Curt DiCamillo (3-part course)

February 11: “Stories from the Archives: Samplers” by Judy Lucey and Todd Pattison

BYU Family History Library

February 10: “The Power of Stories in Family History: Discovering and Sharing Your Family Stories” with Kathryn Grant

Legacy Family Tree

February 9: “Making the most of MyHeritage resources with the Help Center, Knowledge Base, and site settings” by Daniel Horowitz

February 10: “Chinese American Research: Challenges and Discoveries” by Grant Din

February 10 & 11: “Researching Your Maine Ancestors” by B.J. Jamieson

The San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar lists a wealth of Bay Area events and exhibits. This week:

February 8: “Citations: Easier Than You Think” by Stewart Blandon Traiman (Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society)

February 9: PBS’ “The Black Church” – Sneak Peek and Discussion (KQED Community Outreach)

February 10:

SF Chinatown Neon Tour (Chinese Historical Society of America)

February 11:

“Think Like an Archivist: Libraries and Archives for Genealogy” With Nancy Loe (Contra Costa Genealogical Society)

February 12:

“Black Family History” (San Francisco African American Historical and Cultural Society)

February 13:

“American Chinese Restaurants” (Chinese Historical Society of America)

“Hellacious California: Tales of Rascality, Revelry, Dissipation, Depravity and the Birth of the Golden State” by Gary Noy (Sonoma Valley Historical Society)

Conference Keeper has a large calendar of classes (too many to list) from beginning to advanced, hosted by various genealogical organizations. Here are some of the coming week’s highlights:

February 8:

“Family History in the Kitchen” with Gena Philibert-Ortega (MyHeritage Facebook Live)

February 9:

A Brief History of the Evangelical Synod of North America (Tri-State Genealogical Society and Willard Library)

“Polish-Jewish Genealogy & Protecting Polish Jewish Cemeteries” (JewishGen)

February 10:

The Lives of Amish Women (Max Kade Institute, University of Wisconsin–Madison)

February 11:

“The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life” (HistoryCamp)

“Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery” (Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

February 13:

“Searching for Your African-American Homesteaders” (Los Angeles Public Library)

“FROM SLAVERY TO DNA: Dealing with the Challenges of African American Genealogy” (Pinellas Genealogy Society)

“Freedmen’s Bureau eXperience” (Allen County Public Library)

“Mass State Police Crime Lab” (Massachusetts Society of Genealogists)

See our post “Genealogy Learning in the Time of Coronavirus” for links to classes archived online at Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsTech, and more. Be well, stay safe, and happy learning!