Kansas Ancestor Fair

Welcome!

Join us in celebrating Family History Month at the Kansas Ancestor Fair, October 8th, 2011 at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, Kansas!

Whether you're just wondering where to start, or are an experienced researcher, we'll have lots of information and learning opportunities for everyone. Representatives from Ancestry.com will be on-site, providing mini-sessions and tips for using their website.

Celebrate Family History Month

Celebrate Family History Month with Midwest Historical & Genealogical Society and All of Its Partners

What do you get when you combine genealogy, trolley rides, and partnerships? An absolutely delightful day of fun and discovery on Saturday, October 22nd!

"Ride to the Past" will get you to places you might never have been. Not only does October Jubilee promise to be a great day at Midwest by shopping the used book sale, seeing the display of vintage bikes from the Coasters Bicycle Club, and learning about our latest and greatest collection being unveiled at the library, you can also hop aboard a River City Trolley that will stop at the Kansas African American Museum and the Genealogy Department at the downtown public library, just across the street from the Wichita-Sedgwick County Museum.

Being underwritten by the Wichita Genealogical Society, the trolley will run in a loop from Midwest to the Kansas African American Museum and then on to the downtown Wichita Public Library and its Genealogy Department (downstairs) before it loops back to Midwest and begins all over again. WGS's Trolley Tour called "Ride to the Past" is offered FREE of charge for 2 1/2 hours starting at 1:00 from Midwest.

Both the Kansas African American Museum and the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum are waiving admission prices for those entering with trolley tour stickers which will be issued when you step aboard. Our friends from WGS have a special afternoon planned in the Genealogy Department at the library with special exhibits on display along with family history packets and tours. So stop along the way and enjoy yourself!

Start your day early at Midwest, grab a bite to eat (we hope to have a vendor on site), and then in the afternoon hop aboard the trolley. Celebrate Family History Month in a way that's never been offered before!

Forgotten Settlers of Kansas

Volume 27 of Forgotten Settlers of Kansas is now available for sale. It is indexed on Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies web site in combination with Volume 26, at http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/kcgs/FS26%20A-E.htm . The cost of Volume 27 is $25 per book or $15 for a CD. Visit our web site for an order form - http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/kcgs/fsorder.pdf

Genealogy Inspired Crafts

"Genealogy-Inspired Arts and Crafts Projects " — Saturday, September 24th @ 1:00 p.m.
Helen Bortz, presenter — former Midwest president, current MHGS Webmaster, and long-time crafter and dedicated genealogist.

An interesting array of ideas for arts and crafts projects, inspired by and created from Helen's own family research and photo collections, will be presented. Whether you're an amateur crafter or the most experienced artist, this program will show you ways to take your genealogy discoveries and memorabilia and turn them into visually appealing designs to enjoy, share with and make for your family and friends for generations to come. Preserve your treasures with an aesthetic twist! This presentation is open to the public at no charge.

Organizing Your Photos

Organizing Your Photos

Saturday, August 27, 2011

10:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m.

If your daughter asked you for her high school graduation picture, could you find it? How about your parents’ wedding picture — or last year’s Christmas pictures?

Do you know how many pictures you have? Have you inherited pictures?

Let’s get those pictures ORGANIZED!! We will be looking at organizing printed pictures, slides and digital pictures and how we can organize them so we can find them anytime.

You can keep your albums as they are, you can digitize them, and you can do both or a combination. Plus you WANT to get your pictures out of “magnetic” photo albums that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s!

Do you want to find out WHERE to start, HOW to keep them (in albums or digitizing) and HOW to find a particular picture?

Join us Saturday, August 27^th at Midwest Historical and Genealogical Society at 10:00 a.m. for a 2-hour program on “Organizing Your Photos.” After a short break for lunch, scanning of photographs will be available from 1:00-3:00 p.m. ($0.10/each for MHGS members; $0.15/each for non-members — all at 300 dpi; limit of 250 pictures per person. (Margaret and Francene, see separate attachment for more information.)

Midwest Historical and Genealogical Society will also be hosting a “Scanning Saturday” on July 30^th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

A follow-up program on “Editing Your Digital Pictures” will be held IF there is interest.

2011 Kansas Ancestor Fair

Saturday, October 8, 10am - 3pm. 2011 Kansas Ancestor Fair, at the Kansas Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Street, Topeka, KS. Mini-sessions, preservation consultants, "Ask-the-Experts" consultations, informational displays by local chapters of lineage societies and organizations with historical/genealogical interests. Co-sponsored by Topeka Genealogical Society, Kansas Historical Society, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, and the Topeka Family History Center of the LDS Church. All events are free and open to the public. For questions, email president1@tgstopeka.org.

Kansas Newspapers

Kansas Newspapers

I am writing to ask for your help in promoting the digitization of Kansas' historical newspapers. In 2009, the Kansas Historical Society received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress to begin the process of making newspapers from across the state available for free, accessible from anywhere, and keyword searchable. So far, twenty titles from across the state have been digitized and are currently available. Would you please consider adding a link to the Chronicling America website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/#Kansas) on your own website? You can also visit our project website, http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-digital-newspaper-program/16126, for more information. Sincerely, Jocelyn Wehr Library and Archives Division Kansas Historical Society 6425 SW 6th Avenue Topeka KS 66615-1099 785.272.8681 ext. 284