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For nearly a decade, October has been celebrated as Family History Month among genealogy enthusiasts. The California Genealogical Society and Library will celebrate by hosting beginning to advanced genealogy seminars throughout the month.

Topics range from organizing and performing basic genealogical research to a special workshop on the whys and hows of genealogy blogs. Friday and Saturday lunchtime sessions at the library are open to the public and free of charge.

During the entire month of October, the society library waives the usage fee for non-members and opens its doors to the public without charge.

The full menu of Family History Month October 2009 offerings is listed on the Events flier.

The society’s complete schedule of classes, workshops and consultations can be always be found on the Google calendar at the society Web site: http://calgensoc.org/

Please come to the California Genealogical Society Library this Saturday, September 12, 2009, at 12:30 p.m. and join us at an open house to celebrate the completion of the Manuscript Collection Project. Light refreshments will be served. There will be a five to ten minute presentation about the project at 1:00 p.m. at the start of the membership meeting.

The CGS Manuscript Collection consists of loose papers, research and family history material totaling ninety linear feet which have been donated to the society over its 111 year history. A comprehensive review and organization of the collection has recently been completed by member volunteers Pat Bonderud and Linda Darby. All materials have been cataloged and a comprehensive document has been created to describe the society’s holdings. Thanks to a generous grant by the BayTree Fund, all items are now arranged on open shelving in a separate room at the library and the documents are stored using acid-free and museum quality archival enclosures.

Pat Bonderud, Judy Avery and Linda Darby.

Besides the preservation of materials, it is the intent of the society to open the collection to interested researchers. A twenty-three page inventory is available in pdf format at the society website on the Searchable Databases page. It includes a synopsis of each collection and provides enough information to help you determine if further examination of a manuscript is beneficial to your research. Individual collections may be viewed at the library by appointment once a team of volunteers is identified who will oversee the collection.

If you are interested in helping the society offer this new service, please email CGS.