Category Archives: WSGS Programs

Olympia and Clark County Earn Top Honors

by Roxanne Lowe

The Olympia Genealogical Society and Clark County Genealogical Society earned outstanding society awards at the WSGS Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony on May 26 in Vancouver.

WSGS President Virginia Majewski presented the Outstanding Project Award to CCGS President Brian Runyan and member Lois Bosland.

The Clark County Genealogical Society, in addition to being the excellent hosts of the Awards Ceremony, were the recipients of the Outstanding Project Award for their Tax Ledger Project which included digitizing, transcribing and indexing original 1886 and 1891 tax ledgers for the City of Vancouver. As we all know, those are critical years for any family history researcher in lieu of the 1890 census disaster. The tax records included who owned property in Vancouver and how much tax was owed and paid (or not). The Clark County Society consulted with the State Archives, Clark County Historical Museum, History Department at WSU Vancouver and the WSU Library – a true collaborative effort. This treasure trove of information is now available to the public and the original records are being turned over to the State Archives.

OGS members Dee Dee Simpson, Dick Moody, Nancy Cordell, seminar speaker David Allen Lambert, and Roger Newman celebrating their accomplishments

Olympia Gen Soc earned the Outstanding Communication Award for their new website. For 20 years, they used a popular web host that is currently unavailable. Understanding the importance and urgency of getting information out to their members and the public in this web-based world, they created a new website, using a web development company that specializes in genealogical societies (EasyNetSites — same as WSGS). Olympia’s site is attractive – and even better, it’s full of current information. Check out their website here. They also use their Facebook page to regularly post informational tidbits, newsy articles and promote their meetings and seminar.

Besides the Outstanding Communication Award, Olympia’s Ann Olsen was awarded the President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement while Rebel Romero received an Outstanding Volunteer award.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Change Is In the Air at WSGS

by Roxanne Lowe

Please join me in welcoming Heather Murphy as our new Web Manager. Heather is a WSGS member from the Tri-Cities area. She will be transitioning to the position in the next few weeks. Welcome, Heather!

A huge debt of gratitude goes to our outgoing Web Manager, Roxanne Lowe. She has made many improvements to the WSGS website over the past couple of years. We are sorry to see her go, but family obligations come first!

Please consider how you might contribute to our genealogical community. We are still looking for someone to take over the Recognition and Awards Program. If you are interested, please contact me.

Virginia Majewski, President

ginnym51@msn.com

Ann Olson Awarded President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement

by Roxanne Lowe

Ann Olson

In an announcement made at the WSGS Annual Meeting on 26 May 2018, Ann Olson from Olympia was awarded the WSGS President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. The award, made by WSGS President Virginia Majewski, is designed to single out that rare individual, society or organization that has demonstrated exemplary service above and beyond expectations.

Just a few of Ann’s accomplishments:

  • Founding member of the Olympia Genealogical Society 44 years ago.
  • Has served in every board position; more than once in many cases.
  • Organizes and teaches a beginning genealogy course at the local library.
  • Affectionately called the “lead-off batter and team captain” of the society.

Ann’s involvement in her community is broader than genealogy. For example, she is a docent at the Governor’s Mansion; member of the Daughters of the Pioneers (including being president of her local chapter); and registrar of the local DAR, where she’s been a member for more than 30 years. When her children were growing up, Ann was active in the PTA, including being state president and national vice-president.

Ann exemplifies what the President’s Award stands for: long-term, consistent service in genealogy and in the community. Congratulations to her!

WSGS Awards Announced in Vancouver

by Roxanne Lowe

Many thanks are extended to the Clark County Genealogical Society for hosting the WSGS Annual Meeting and Awards Event on Saturday, 26 May 2018. The annual meeting was held in conjunction with CCGS’s Spring Seminar featuring David Allen Lambert, chief genealogist with the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston.

During the annual meeting and awards lunch, 30 local society members  and 4 teams were recognized with Outstanding Volunteer and Team awards. The volunteers were praised for their commitment and energies to promote genealogy and family history in their local communities. For more about the Outstanding Volunteers, read this blog article.

Other awards presented included:

  • WSGS President Virginia Majewski presenting the Outstanding Communication Award to Nancy Cordell, president of the Olympia Genealogical Society

    Outstanding Communication – Olympia Genealogical Society for their new website. Check it out!!

  • Clark County Genealogical Society members Brian Runyan and Lois Boslund receiving the Outstanding Project award from President Virginia Majewski

    Outstanding Project — Clark County Genealogical Society for their dedication to digitizing, transcribing and indexing original tax ledgers for the City of Vancouver for the years 1886 and 1891.

Five local societies were awarded Innovative Grant Awards. Congratulations to:

  • Eastside Genealogical Society – help paying for “The Photo Detective” Maureen Taylor at a workshop to celebrate the society’s 40th Ms. Taylor will present “Finding Family History in Your Picture Mysteries” on September 15 in Bellevue. Society members will get to attend for free while the public will pay a small fee.
  • Lower Columbia Genealogical Society– to purchase genealogical books to donate to the Longview Public Library for public use. Lower Columbia has generously donated books for a number of years, using money from membership dues and their coffee stops.
  • Okanogan Genealogical Society – help purchasing supplies to repair and preserve books holding the “Tonasket Times” newspaper from 1913 – 1952. They use a special archival document repair tape. Each book uses a whole roll of tape. This grant will buy a few rolls of tape to stop the destruction of the collection.
  • Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society – help publishing a book on “Early Stillaguamish Valley Schools” in the Arlington Area. It’s taken years to gather historical documents and photographs for this project from the 1800s to the early 1940s and now they’re ready to publish.
  • Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society – For the 4th consecutive year, WAGS has applied for an Innovative Grant to promote genealogy in their area. This year, they’re focusing on the digital preservation of family records, library holdings and archival documents. They plan to preserve family histories and archival materials of their society, its members and the community.

The President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement was presented to Ann Olson of the Olympia Genealogical Society. See separate blog feature.

For more photos of the seminar and annual meeting, visit our Facebook page.

Register Now for Clark County Spring Seminar and WSGS Recognition Event

by Roxanne Lowe

The WSGS Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony, which includes the announcement of the Outstanding Volunteer and Team awards, Outstanding Communication and Project awards,  WSGS President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement and Innovative Grant winners, will be Saturday, May 26, 2018 during the lunch period of Clark County Genealogical Society‘s Spring Seminar. The seminar and awards event will be held at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver.

David Allen Lambert

The seminar’s featured speaker will be David Allen Lambert, New England Historic Genealogical Society‘s chief genealogist. His seminar topics include:

  • World War 1 Military
  • Great Migration Era settler research
  • Probate & Deed Records research

CCGS has planned other events during the weekend, including:

  • Hudson Bay Company Gala Reception on Friday night. David will be the honored guest and will share his genealogical gems: seemingly small finds that led to amazing stories.
  • A guided Cemetery Tour is proposed for Sunday. There will also be brochures for other local self-guided tours available at the CCGS Library.
  • For the five days before and during Memorial Weekend, The Fort Vancouver Tapestry will be displayed at the CCGS Library. Completed in 2005, this historic community project required 57 skilled stitchery workers contributing 100,000 hours over more than five years.  For more information, visit http://www.fortvancouvertapestry.com.

For out-of-towners, the Hilton Hotel is offering special rates.  The Hilton’s web access page is:  http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/P/PDXVAHH-CCG-20180525/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG. Be sure to  mention the CCGS group reservation code CCG.

The CCGS Spring Seminar flyer, including a registration form, can be downloaded by clicking on REGISTRATION FORM seminar 2018 or visit the CCGS website.

President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement Nominations Due April 15

by Roxanne Lowe

Does your society have a member who has exhibited long-term, consistent service in the field of genealogy, family or local history, the genealogical community, records preservation or made an important single contribution in those areas that will endure into the future? That person (or persons) may be deserving of the Washington State Genealogical Society President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. The award is designed to single out that rare individual, society or organization who has demonstrated exemplary service above and beyond expectations. The person(s) does not have to be a past president of your society.

Previous honorees include:

2016 – Margie Wilson, Skagit Valley Genealogical Society. Read more about Margie’s accomplishments here.

2017 – Joanne Calhoun, Wenatchee Valley Genealogical Society. Read more about Joanne’s accomplishments here.

The deadline for this esteemed, competitive honor is 11:59 p.m., Sunday, April 15.  Details, including the nomination form and other requirements, are available HERE.

Communication and Project Awards Closing SOON

by Roxanne Lowe

You still have a few days to sneak in your society’s nomination for the Washington State Genealogical Society’s Outstanding Communication Award and Outstanding Project Award! The deadline for both awards was April 1, 2018, but Spring Break caused a delay in my schedule, so I’m keeping the  nomination process open until Tuesday, April 10.

It’s super easy to apply for either/both of these awards:

Outstanding Communication: This award honors the society that makes the best use of any form of communication, including websites, social media, newsletters, lectures, videos, podcasts, etc. to convey valuable information and/or training to its members or the public. More information, including the nomination form for the Outstanding Communication Award, is available HERE.

Outstanding Project Award: The award is given to local genealogical society that completes an exceptional genealogical or historical project in the past year. The project may be either one-time or ongoing, a single program or a series of programs, but must have been completed by December 31, 2017. More information, including the Nomination Form, for the Outstanding Project Award is available HERE.

Questions should be directed to Roxanne Lowe, Interim Chair, WSGS Recognition Committee.

Innovative Grant Deadline Extended

by Roxanne Lowe

We don’t want your society to miss the opportunity to fund a special project or purchase, so the deadline to apply for a WSGS Innovative Grant has been extended to April 1, 2018.

Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society’s mascot coyote

The grants, up to $100, are designed to support the inventive and creative efforts of WSGS-member societies and organizations. The awards do not have to be repaid — they’re FREE MONEY to support worthy projects. Up to five grants will be awarded at the WSGS Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony on Saturday, May 26, 2018, in conjunction with the Clark County Genealogical Society’s Spring Seminar.

Created in 2015, the Innovative Grants have provided full and partial funding for a wide variety of projects:

  • Support the scanning and preservation of the society’s historical records for posting on their website.
  • Labeling equipment to provide labels for more than 3,000 books in local society’s research library.
  • Support of promotional community events with genealogy-related themes.
  • Upgrade office equipment in society’s research library.
  • Purchase of gravestones for Civil War veterans in the local historic cemetery.
  • Upgrade software designed to index and preserve more than 400,000 local records.
  • Promotion of adoption of society mascot. See photo on right.
  • Assist in purchase of new society computer, 22” monitor and portable hard drive to ensure back-up of files.
  • Assist in purchase of a computer for genealogical research at local library.
  •  Removal of trees that are endangering the safety of people and protection of grave markers at local cemetery.
  • Purchase of a new laptop computer to be used for society presentations and transcription of documents.
  • Purchase prizes for society’s writing contest.
  • Purchase specialized computer software to enable more than one volunteer to enter data related to local obituaries, cemetery records, World War I records and more.

The simple application is only ONE page and is available here, as well as additional guidance on the program. For more information, visit the Innovative Grant page on our website

For more information, contact Roxanne Lowe, Interim Chair, WSGS Recognition Committee, at Roxanne@thekeeffes.com.

Societies: We Want to Hear From You

by Roxanne Lowe

Local genealogical societies and organizations, we’d love to publicize your events and meetings on the WSGS website and Blog.

Here are a few reasons to share information about your upcoming society meeting, workshop, seminar or special event:

  • Gets the word out to your target audience in order to increase attendance or participation.
  • Helps other local societies looking for program ideas.
  • Promotes what great programs you’re providing your members. (Bragging is totally acceptable in this case!)

Web site: The “Meetings and Events” tab of the website lists upcoming events chronologically. You can also search for a key word or filter by category. The three most immediate events are highlighted on the right navigation bar on every web page.

Blog: Every Thursday, more than 700 WSGS Blog subscribers receive a weekly digest listing all the blog posts from the previous seven days. That’s right…more than 700 people interested in area meetings, events, tips, and special features!

WSGS wants to help promote your activities. Just send your meeting notice, workshop/seminar flyer or event news to WebManager@wasgs.org and WSGSBlog@wasgs.org and we’ll do the rest. We hope to hear from you!

Blog Banner Photos Wanted

by Roxanne Lowe

In case you haven’t heard, PyeongChang, South Korea will host the Winter Olympics Feb. 9 through 25. To celebrate, we’re looking for photos that evoke the Olympic spirit for the rotating photo gallery on the blog banner. Examples include: sports (how about curling and the skeleton — my favorites!), snow, ice, winter, outdoors, etc. Or think about the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius (Latin for “Faster, Higher, Stronger”). Really…the clear blue sky’s the limit — we welcome creativity!

Guidelines for the photos are few:
•Landscapes, landmarks, and scenery photos are preferred. If, however, you have a perfect photo that includes people, please obtain their permission to post the photo.
•Photo must have been taken in Washington State (this is the Washington State Genealogical Society blog, after all!).
•Photo will be cropped to 1100 x 250 pixels, so keep that in mind.
•You may submit as many photos as you want.
•Final decisions on suitable photos will be made by the awesome WSGS Blog Team.
•There’s no firm deadline to submit photos, just keep ‘em coming. We want to rotate lots of photos to keep the blog fresh.

To submit your photo, please email the image (jpg only, please); what, where, when, and by whom the photo was taken to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.

Got questions? Email the blog team at WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.