Augusta Public Library Local History and Genealogy

Join Aiken State Park (Windsor, SC) on March 23, 2013 at 2 p.m. for a special program devoted to park’s African-American legacy. The program will talk about the African-American detachment of the Civilian Conservation Corps and tour some of the buildings built by the group.

Aiken State Park is Redcliffe Plantation SHS’s sister park in Aiken County, South Carolina. The program will be presented by Redcliffe Park Interpreter Elizabeth Laney and Aiken Park Manager Robert Mahoney.

Thank you to Elizabeth Laney for providing this information!

We look forward to seeing you at our March regular meeting at 6:30 in the Conference room of the Burke County library. We are very excited to have Christine Miller-Betts, Executive Director of the Lucy Craft Laney Museum, as our guest speaker! We hope to see you there!

Burke County Genealogical and Historical Society

The Paine College History Club students will present free tours at Cedar Grove Cemetery this Saturday, March 9, at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Each tour will have historical re-enactments of famous African Americans buried at Cedar Grove. For more information, please call 706-821-8371.

March 11, 2013 Monday, 7 p.m.

The fifth event in the Augusta Viewpoints: Understanding the Civil War reading and discussion series is scheduled for Monday, March 11, at 7 pm in Washington Hall on the Summerville campus.

Dr. Debra van Tuyll, Professor at Georgia Regents University, will moderate discussion of James M. McPherson’s “For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War.”

This event and all others in the series are free and open to the public.  Information can be found online athttp://guides.aug.edu/augustaviewpoint orhttp://augustaviewpoint.wordpress.com/.

The series is an eight month reading and discussion series which includes six book titles that reflect on the multiple experiences and perspectives and experiences of Augustans during the American Civil War.

The project is a collaborative effort led by Carol Waggoner-Angleton, Special Collections Librarian, with special grant-funding from the Georgia Humanities Council.

Books in the series are available at Reese Library, Collins-Callaway Library at Paine College, the Augusta Public Library, and the Columbia County Library.  They are also available for purchase at the ASU Bookstore.

Location Information: Summerville Campus – Washington Hall, 4th floor The Towers room

The Friends of the National Archives-Southeast Region will be hosting a monthly webinar on Tuesday, March 12^th at 2pm. The webinar is titled, “loc.gov: Using Our Nation’s Library Online.”  According to the website, webinar attendees will “explore one of the most rewarding, yet overlooked online resources: The Library of Congress, loc.gov. Laura will show you hidden treasures like maps, diaries, books, manuscripts, and photos. Learn effective search and navigation techniques and add a dimension of social history to your research.”  The webinar is free and easy to use and you can sign up here: http://www.friendsnas.org/webinarSch.htm

by Aspasia Luster

Just a reminder that the Georgia Room is hosting a Civil War tour at Magnolia Cemetery this Saturday, March 9 at 2pm. We will meet at the main entrance and the tour will be conducted by Russell Liner, our in-house Civil War buff and Reference Department staff member. We will tour the Civil War section and General’s Row and talk about the people who are buried there. Please call the Georgia Room at 706-826-1511 to pre-register. Wear comfortable walking shoes and bring a camera to take pictures!

by Aspasia Luster

In preparation for a class later this spring, I’ve been searching out hair and eye color, length of life and any other physical tidbits I can find. I’m putting this information on an ancestry chart. The results have been very interesting. Now I know the red hair that my brother and daughters have didn’t come just from my mom. My dad’s dad also had red hair. My daughter’s blonde hair came from my dad, as it turns out. Like my daughter, my dad’s hair didn’t turn dark until he was thirty.

These personal genealogy discoveries flesh out my ancestors. I hope when you are researching your family, you remember to look for traits to trace through the generations.

Dr. Leslie J. Pollard, retired Calloway Distinguished Professor of History from Paine College, will be speaking  on his manuscript on African American doctors in Augusta in the late 19th/early 20th century tonight at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 2230 Walton Way, Augusta. The meeting starts at 7pm and the public is welcome to attend.

Dottie Demarest, of the Georgia Heritage Room at the Augusta-Richmond County Public Library was featured with Gloria Lucas and Corey Rogers on a Channel 6 program about African American Funeral Programs. Watch it here:

http://www2.wjbf.com/news/2013/feb/13/2/local-african-american-funeral-program-collection-ar-5586500/

Fold3 is offering free access to their Black History Records in honor of Black History Month. I don’t know how long this will last so hop to it!

http://go.fold3.com/blackhistory/?xid=1577

Augusta Genealogical Society is holding an all day workshop on Saturday, March 2, 2013. This workshop is for people who would like to learn how to search for their ancestors. It will last from 8:45 to 3:15 at the Covenant Presbyterian Church on Walton Way.

The cost of the workshop is $25 for members and $30 for non-members. The fee includes a box lunch and a “how-to” genealogy book. Deadline for registration is Wednesday February 27th.

Call 706-722-4073 or email AugustaGenSociety@comcast.net to reserve your place or for more information.