Upcoming Meeting Topics:

July 1, 2008: Pat Roberts, “Dating and Identifying Heritage Photos” Old photographs have aesthetic and historical value and when they are family photos, there is also nostalgic and sentimental appeal. But sometimes those pictures are not properly identified, which greatly limits their value, both as historical objects and as family mementos. Family photographs are among those heirlooms most liable to have survived the hazards of time and mobility. They are relatively small and thus easy to pack or carry. Ancestors often seem to have understood that throwing them away would be akin to throwing their own ancestors away. Only today do we see families actually selling their ancestors' images to antique dealers. It is sad to see those lonely, abandoned faces sell for little better than a few dollars each. These are, after all, literal representations of ancestors, one of their few means of immortality. We owe them proper appreciation, just as we would hope descendants would appreciate us.

August 5, 2008: Mona Lambrecht - “Not Your Average Internet Genealogy Research” Discover how you can improve your long-distance genealogical research by finding websites which offer free online digital collections. Mona will explore how you can uncover digitized genealogical gems of town- and county-specific documents, maps, and photographs from library and archive websites. Learn tips to give you the best chances of success at finding online collections, and see examples of what you might find at the Library of Congress down to the libraries of small town America.

September 2, 2008: Carol Darrow, “The Naturalization Process” Becoming a citizen was not always easy and finding naturalization records can be a challenging task for any researcher. Carol Darrow, CG, will present an overview of the naturalization process, describe the types of documents you may find, and offer some clues about where to look for these records.

October: TBD

November 4, 2008: Susan Becker - "Capturing Memories and Voices: How to Do Oral History" Susan Becker will talk about the oral history interviewing process, including choosing people to interview and equipment to use; how to plan for and structure an interview; techniques for obtaining in-depth, interesting interviews that go beyond the surface; and what to do with an interview once it has been recorded. She also will describe the Maria Rogers Oral History Program collection and explain how to access its more than 1500 interviews.

December 2008 Program: "My Most Inspirational Ancestor" Contest!
Dust off your ancestor’s documents and start thinking about which family member you have researched that has been the most inspirational! Then prepare a proposal and the Program Committee will pick the three most interesting and well-prepared stories to present at the December meeting. Inspired by the Pikes Peak Genealogical Society, we hope this contest will engage some fun membership participation and bring forward society members who have fascinating family stories to tell.

Proposals are due September 15, 2008. Click here to download a file for more information about proposal submission. Please contact Mona Lambrecht, the Program Chair at mlambrecht@mac.com with questions or for more information.

For more programs we are working on, click here.

BGS News:

• Program Topics Survey
  As the new BGS Program Chair, I would like to hear about what genealogical topics members are interested in hearing. I want to make sure I find the informative and thought-provoking speakers that will further inspire your genealogical research. I would like to hear from both new and long-time members, so please, let me know what topics fascinate you!
  
  Click here to download a Word document (.doc) survey form. Either email your form to me, or print it out and hand it to me at the next meeting. Thanks for your contributions! Mona Lambrecht, BGS Program Chair, mlambrecht@mac.com.
  
  
• Buzzy Jackson, a resident of Louisville, is working on a book about genealogy. She's hoping to meet and interview people who have interesting stories about their genealogy-related experiences, whether it's something they learned about their ancestors, or how they got involved in genealogy in the first place, or anything else. Are you obsessed with your family history? Has searching through old census data taken over all your spare time? If so, Buzzy would love to talk to you - whether your new to genealogy or an old hand.
  
  Here's a little more info about her book project, called THE JACKSON 5000 (a reference to the vast number of potential Jackson relatives out there). Historian Buzzy Jackson's THE JACKSON 5000 will be a lively tour through the strange and fascinating subculture of genealogy buffs - a quest that begins with questions about her own family tree, then takes her from the archives of the Mormon church, to a dedicated "genealogy cruise," and even into a lab for a DNA test -- all to figure out why the pursuit of our past fascinates so many Americans.
  
  Buzzy can be reached at:
  buzzyjackson@gmail.com
  c. 303-709-8968
  
  
• Boulder Daily Camera Index to Obituaries, 1960-1969 is published! A special thank you to all of the volunteers that helped complete this project! To order your copy, click here.
  
  
• Boulder Daily Camera Obituaries from 1998 - 2002 Full obituaries are available for these years. An index is being worked on, but for the time being, the webmaster is willing to check for names. Donations for copies/postage appreciated for found obituaries.
  
  
• Research Needs A Home: A late BGS member compiled lots of French & French-Canadian research. BGS was given her research and maybe someone would like to have it. Essentially it fills two wine case size boxes. The writing of the late BGS member is both beautiful and readable.
  
  Here are some of the families: Lahaie, Chatillion, Plante, Massue, Vallee, Prejean, Tabaut, Latouche, Legrand, Dudevoir, Messaguier, Garnier, and Coutancineau. I don't want to sort the information further and would like to send the two boxes to one person.
  
  There are also three notebooks and these could be mailed separately. Again the writing is clearly readable.
  1) Ambuski and Zalewski (Cattaraugus Co. NY)
  2) Gouget, Gover-Belisle
  3) Vallee (La Valle)
  

BGS Educational Series:

"YOU ASKED FOR IT" - Our popular informational series which will answer some requests from a member survey of interests. These will take place BEFORE the regular BGS meetings in the same location from 6:30 - 7:15.

No YOU ASKED FOR IT in May.

June, July and August will be presented by Gary Routh about publishing your book.

Items of Interest on this Website:

• Boulder Daily Camera Obituary Index for 1970 -1974. Includes a maiden name index.
  
• Hygiene Cemetery Burial Index now online! Tombstone photographs coming soon!
  
• Lyons Cemetery Burial List - Over 500 images online!
  
• BGS Quarterly Tables of Contents
  
• Columbia Cemetery Burial Index (including a link to the NEW city of Boulder Web site which contains all biographical data found in the Columbia Cemetery Book as well as photos of tombstones.)
  
• We have family bibles that we would like to reunite with family members.
  
• For information on local Family History Centers, click here.
• Read our Bylaws and Standing Rules (newly revised).