Madison
County Genealogical Society
Minutes of the Meeting - April 9, 2009
The April 9, 2009, meeting of the Madison County Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library in Edwardsville, Illinois.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the meeting to order.
Reports:
Librarian Elsie
Wasser reported that we had received several new
items for the library:
Vogelbacher's Bakery - Its History, In Marinetown,
Illinois by Shirley A. Daiber. Small
size 84-page book on the bakery and family from 1834 to the present.
Donated by the author.
Post Offices in Marine, Illinois by Shirley A. Daiber.
Donated by the author.
The Urbana Free Library of Urbana, Illinois, sent a large packet of information
on the Schneider family covering from the Civil War up to almost the present
time. The data includes all types of vital records (birth, death, etc.).
milies: Hollman/Holman,
Good, Brown family of Ireland, Fuhrmann-Poneleit
Ms. Amy Wilkinson of the Teaching with
Primary Sources Program, School of Education, Southern Illinois University at
Edwardsville, gave a presentation titled Primary Sources from the Library of Congress.
Anyone who has an Internet connection can access the online portion of the
Library of Congress (LOC) with no charge. The address for the LOC is
www.loc.gov. Using her laptop and the Edwardsville Library's WiFi, Ms. Wilkinson showed two sections of the many
available on the LOC website: 1. Resources for Researchers
and 2. Digital Collections.
Resources for Researchers leads to you a series of sub-sites
that give you a broad overview of what is available in the genealogical
collections. It also has a section explaining reading room policies,
preparing for your research, and getting a reading card, which is required and
takes about ten minutes for a U.S. citizen with a current photo ID
If you have a question about what is available in the LOC, there is an Ask a
Librarian link on most pages. You can submit your question and a librarian will
send you a response within 2-4 days. Most of the resources for research at the
LOC are available for use only at the library. However, if you know when your
trip to Washington is going to be, you can go to Ask a Librarian and the
library personnel can help you focus your research.
The Digital Collections area gives you online access to print, pictorial, and
audio-visual collections and other digital services.
Ms. Wilkinson demonstrated many of the areas of the LOC website during her very
interesting presentation. If you would like to ask Ms. Wilkinson a question
about the Library of Congress website, you may e-mail her at amwilki@siue.edu.
This presentation was well received and prompted several questions.