COGenBlog

The CGS Special Interest Class this month will be “Wills, Probate, Inventory, Guardianship – The Paper Trail Left by the Dearly Departed” presented by Carol Darrow, CG. The class will meet Saturday, November 21 at the Denver Public Library, 5th floor Gates Room. The main class will be 10am - noon with hands-on activity from 1-2:30 pm. You are welcome to bring your own lunch or go out during the hour between activities. The class is free and open to the public.

The regular meeting of the Colorado Genealogical Society will be on Friday November 20 at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 2300 S. Patton Ct. from 7-9pm. The speaker will be Peter Marck presenting the topic “What A Life! Making a Life History DVD.” Peter will cover the equipment needed, pre-interview planning, and items to include in your story. The meeting is free and open to the public.

The Colorado legislative season will soon be upon us, and public access to historical records is an ongoing concern in states as well as the national scene. Whether it’s the closure of records themselves, or the restriction of research sites hours and days open, it’s a matter of great concern to genealogists.

Did you know that most members of the Colorado Assembly don’t even know genealogists exist?

This Saturday, November 7, join fellow genealogists to hear Colorado Representative Sara Gagliardi speak on “How to Effectively Communicate with Your Legislator.” Sara looks forward to meeting members of the genealogical community and advising us on how to achieve effective communication with our representatives.

With the Colorado Assembly scheduled to convene in January, we need to prepare to monitor bills introduced that will limit or restrict our access to vital records, or any records of historical significance to our research, and be prepared to offer opinion and advice on these matters. With thousands of genealogists in Colorado, and the several genealogy societies which serve througout the state, we can marshal our voices to offer our expert opinions to try to influence and bring about a balanced view on records of important to us.

Join the Colorado Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, who invite all Colorado genealogists to this public event, on the 7th floor of the Denver Public Library, at 10:30 am.

Please RSVP to Bobbi King at Rking24600@aol.com, in order to prepare handout materials, and for further information.

See you there!

“Grave Images,” an art photography book published by the Museum of New Mexico Press, is a remarkable coffee table book of photographs of San Luis Valley gravestone and cemeteries.

Kathy Hettinga began taking gravestone photographs in 1994 after her husband died. Ms. Hettinga grew up in Alamosa and now lives in Pennsylvania, returning to the San Luis Valley each summer where she maintains a studio. She has taken over 9000 photographs memorializing the departed, but still remembered as their unique and personal markers are beautifully documented in her photographs.

The full story is in the Denver Post, Sunday November 1, 2009, edition on page 5B.

If it’s too early to carve your jack ‘o lantern this Saturday, consider working on your genealogy at one of two genealogy events which take place this coming Saturday. Or both! It might be hard to choose which one to attend, but they’re both being held at the Denver Public Library. How convenient!

The Black Genealogy Search Group is hosting guest speaker Reginald Washington in the lower conference level of DPL, celebrating their 8th Annual Heritage Festival. Reginal Washington is an archivist from the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. He’s lecturing on Freedmen’s Bureau records, but don’t let that one specific ethnic-based lecture deter you, because I’m sure he’ll take a question or two from the audience, and his National Archives knowledge is broad. In the afternoon, Lisa Arnold, from Ancestry, will have a session about African-American records on Ancestry, plus “Getting The Most from Your Ancestry Collection.” Don’t let this Ancestry opportunity pass you by! The event begins at 9 AM.

Upstairs in the Gates Conference Room on the Fifth Floor, the Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England Family History Society will have, beginning at 1 PM, a program called “Accents and Dialects of the British Isles” where native speakers from each area will speak in their dialects. They’re going to read the same paragraph, each in his or her own dialect, demonstrating the differences. Discussion will take place about the difference between accent and dialect. This sounds like a terrific afternoon, and if you’re hungry, light refreshments will be served to stave off your afternoon slump.