Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Genealogy resources at new St. Louis County Public Library headquarters

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I’ve been a little out of touch with life outside my apartment and the hospital but I’m finally focusing on email and was delighted to learn that the renovation of the St. Louis County Public Library’s headquarters has been completed and that the building, complete with its new genealogy room, has been re-opened. I drove by recently and it’s a lovely building!

Genealogy classes are being offered at the Emerson History and Genealogy Center in new headquarters in September (and beyond), including classes on doing newspaper research, beginner genealogy and interpreting DNA results and more. Click on the link above to see a list of the upcoming genealogy classes, including some offered at other branches. The library system also offers virtual programs and digital archives.

The new library branch, known as the Clark Family Branch, has a Memory Lab where you can bring photos or other documents to be digitized. The library also has a Library of Things that includes two kits that can help genealogists. One is a scanning kit with a Chromebook and flatbed scanner that can be borrowed for 21 days. The other is an oral history kit that includes a portable recorder and a lavalier microphone, as well as a memory card and adapter and a folder with instructions on conducting oral history interviews.

A St. Louis County Library card is required to access some of the genealogy sources, though there is a “register as a guest” button for the classes. So you may be able to register for virtual classes that interest you, even if you don’t live in the St. Louis area.

All residents of St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and St. Charles County are eligible for free St. Louis County Library cards. Residents of neighboring counties can receive a card for a $50 annual fee.

Once my life settles down, I look forward to exploring the Emerson History and Genealogy Center at the new Clark Family Branch!

30 x 30 challenge (June 2024) wrap up

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I know this is a little (a lot!) late. But for those of you who participated in the June 2024 challenge to do 30 minutes of genealogy-related endeavor every day for 30 days, how did it go?

I have to beg forgiveness for ignoring the challenge. We finished moving on June 22 and then my husband was hospitalized on June 24 and I haven’t been able to pay attention to much else. Barry is still in the hospital but we’re very hopeful for an excellent, life-changing outcome. In the meantime, it’s a bit stressful.

I haven’t blogged in any of my blogs since the move. (I have two others, my organizing blog and my budgeting blog.) I did manage to get my organizing newsletter out on the 15th, which felt like an achievement.

All that aside, I do care about your progress! Please let me know in the comments how the challenge worked out for you and whether you’d like to see another one in the near future.

30 x 30 June 2024 challenge: mid-month check-in

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For those of you participating in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge, how’s it going? Were you able to put in 30 minutes a day toward your goal? If not, did you end up doing more than you would have done had you not been doing the challenge?

You’ll recall that my commitment wasn’t for daily genealogy research this month, rather it was to work on getting ready for my move every day. The move is now five days away (gulp), on June 21, and you can bet that I’ve been working on it every day for way more than 30 minutes. I have professional organizers (my team members) coming in to help me pack this week and unpack starting Saturday. So the days in the coming week will be full but they’ll also be very productive.

I’m hopeful that you’ve had a productive month as well! Please let us know in the comments how your challenge is going.

How about a June 30 x 30 challenge?

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Sorry I’ve been writing so infrequently; I’m moving in (gulp) three weeks and have so much to do. But I realized today that I haven’t done a 30 x 30 challenge since January so I’d like to invite you to join me for one. Please comment below if you would like to commit to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research (or organizing or whatever projects suits you) for 30 days in a row in June.

Sadly, I won’t be joining you in the genealogy research. But I commit to putting in at least 30 minutes a day every day editing my belongings, finding homes for those I no longer want and packing those I do! It will probably be a lot more than 30 minutes a day, in fact.

Since I’m not researching as much these days, I used my move as an opportunity to get together with my genealogy buddy, Vickie Sheridan, and gave her my collection of National Genealogical Society Quarterlies and NGS Magazines. That felt great! I gave her a few genealogy books as well. It felt so good to find a good home for them.

Please let me know in the comments if you’re up for the challenge!