900 Miles from Nowhere: Voices from the Homestead Frontier
With springtime weather upon us, can a genealogy road trip be far behind? Maybe it is time to take what you have learned from your research and set off to follow in the footsteps of your ancestors. There is nothing quite like visiting the towns or farms they inhabited to help see through their eyes. You don’t want to miss the local cemetery, either!
I recently participated in the 2013 National Library Legislative Day. This event is sponsored by the American Library Association and occurs in the spring every year. The Missouri delegation was comprised of three public librarians, two academic librarians, and one school librarian, coming from all parts of the Show-Me State.
History is all around us. We share it when we tell stories about the church our grandparents were married in, look at old photos of family farms, spend an afternoon visiting a historic cemetery, and pass through a neighborhood where family members once lived. It is in these buildings, sites, and objects that we have our most visible and valuable ties to the past.
The Midwest Genealogy Center has joined the Pinterest community. We are very excited about this new opportunity to share all the wonderful resources MGC has to offer. Pinterest’s main attraction is the ability to share photos and websites through "pinning" and allow others to share or "repin" your information; think online scrapbooking. Users create boards to hold their pins, and followers can repin whole boards, as well.
While the weather doesn’t show it, the calendar says that it is now May, and that means summer reading is on the way. You can go Beneath the Surface with this year’s Teen Summer Reading Program. Registration started May 1, so don’t wait to sign up! The official TSRP dates are from May 20 to July 31. You can begin logging your reviews May 21.
Find Out What You Can Discover Using Our New Catalog!
Do you want to see what's on the New York Times Best Sellers list? Do you want to search the Library's eBook listings? Do you want to send yourself a reminder to pick up a book?
MCPL’s new catalog is here to help! Easier to use and more integrated with the Library’s website, this catalog will make your search for the right item faster than ever!
What better way each year to celebrate the infamous April Fool’s Day than to dress up! Here at the Midwest Genealogy Center, we are all about history, family, and maybe not dressing up, but definitely about making history come alive! We started this fun "History Dress Up Day" five years ago when we moved into our new building. Since then we have had staff dress as ancestors of all descriptions.
Genealogists love to share...most of the time. After all, it is by sharing that we find genealogy gold. It is with this spirit that we use social media. One of our goals is to meet our customers where they are at online. By using social media, we are able to connect with you in a unique way on your terms. MGC is using a variety of platforms for your convenience including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.
One of my best memories from last year is traveling to Chicago to attend the RT Booklovers Convention. After five days of book signings, authors’ workshops, fantastic all-day parties, and a TON of swag, I couldn’t wait to get home and tell everyone about the fabulous time I had. Authors are our Rock Stars after all, so meeting so many of them in person was the ultimate thrill! One of my co-attendees, Beth Atwater, called the convention "one giant slumber party with 1,000 of your best friends." What could be better than that?
Relax, the Library Has Your Back: A Few Tips for Taking a Test
Woe to the days of studying and cramming information into my head the night before a major, (and possibly) standardized test. I was never really a good test taker, and I don’t propose that I am now a better one after taking enough of them, but I do know that there are some things to make it a little easier when the test day comes.
