Augusta Public Library Local History and Genealogy

Deck the Halls!

On December 7, Greg Boulus of Charleston Street Fine Flowers and Events will demonstrate how to adorn your home with seasonal flora. Each participant will create a beautiful evergreen arrangement to take home. The program will start at 10:30am and again at 5:30pm at Historic Augusta and costs $30 per person.

Christmas During the Civil War in Augusta

December 11th at 2:00pm, Historic Augusta invites you to attend a lecture by Dr. Lee Ann Caldwell, who is the Director of the Center for the Study of Georgia History at Ausgusta State University, on Christmas During the Civil WAr in Augusta. Tickets cost $10.00 and include a tour of the Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson.

President Wilson’s Boyhood Home is displaying the holiday spirit during December with festive evergreen decorations designed by Charleston Street Fine Flowers and Events. The students from C. T. Walker Elementary school created period decorations for the Christmas Tree. Tours of the house cost $5.00 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for students K-12. Children under 5 are free.

The African American Historical Committee of Augusta will dedicate a marker to Reverend Samuel Butler Wallace and Mrs. Etta V. Wallace on Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 1:00 PM in front of the Wallace Branch Library.

The Wallace Branch Library was the dream and vision of Reverend Samuel Wallace Jr. He embarked on a crusade to create a library for the Black children of Augusta. His letter writing campaign and community efforts helped to establish Augusta’s first African American Library Branch in 1937. The library’s first home was the old abandoned firehouse at 1237 Gwinnett Street. The library occupied this site until the opening of its current location at 1237 Laney Walker Blvd. in April 1958.

On Saturday November 19, 2011 at 1:00 pm the African American Historical Association will honor Rev. S. B Wallace and Judson W. Lyons with plaques at the Wallace Library as part of the Laney Walker History Walk.

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The 3rd and final panel discussion in the Hamburg series will take place on Thursday, November 10th, from 7-9 p.m. at the William Miller Bouknight Theatre at the Joanne T. Rainsford Discovery Center in Edgefield. There is no charge to attend.

These discussions have been concerned with the history of Hamburg, SC and the local, state and national impact that this history has had. Panelists for the event on November 10th will include Dr. Jim Farmer, Bettis Rainsford, Wayne O’Bryant and Robert Scott.

Panel is subject to change. For more information, please contact Brenda at 803-642-2015.

Thank you to Travis Hollaway for notifying the Georgia Room of this event!

Ah, the holidays are coming! And with them, family get togethers, which offer unique opportunites to gather more information about your family and to disperse it too. A little bit of preparation will be of enormous help.

First of all, unearth the family photos and label the people you know. Take note of the ones of people you don’t know. Put those photos in a special pile ready to show to your relatives in the hopes that someone will recognize who they are.

Ask your relatives to bring photos of the family with them to share. Pictures can be wonderful icebreakers. Most people enjoy seeing them and it can spark discussions about relatives, supplying you with more information, genealogy leads and family stories about your ancestors.

If you have the equipment, why not scan the pictures of your ancestors and burn copies of them to cds for relatives? It is a priceless gift. Also be ready to scan any photos that you do not have or ask if you can take them to a local copy store where they can be scanned or copied. Family pictures that are shared have less of a chance of being lost or accidentally destroyed.

Be sure to bring your camera to family get togethers. Not only will you be able to take pictures of the family and ancestral homes but you can use your camera to take pictures of their  pictures of ancestors and unique documents, too. A good digital camera is quite handy to have along.

Enjoy the coming holidays!

Did you know that the Friends of the National Archives-Southeast Region host monthly webinars? These webinars are free and open to the public. Registration is easy and can be completed at www.friendsnas.org. All webinars start at 7pm and last for one hour.

Upcoming Webinars:

November 14, 2011: Military Records

December 12, 2011: Searching the NARA Website

January 9, 2012: 1940 Census

February 13, 2012: African-American Genealogy

March 12, 2012: Irish Research

April 9, 2012: Civil War Records

May 14, 2012: Social Networking: New Horizons for Genealogists

June 11, 2012: Railroad Retirement Records

by Aspasia Luster

In 156 days the 1940 census will be released on April 2, 2012, for the public to view. You will be able to view the 1940 census for free on the NARA (National Archives and Record Administration) website starting at 9am.

The 1940 census will not be indexed so you will have to locate your ancestors by the enumeration district in which they lived. Maps of the 1940 census enumeration districts and other 1940 census research tips are available at www.archives.gov/research/census/1940. You can also email the National Archives with any 1940 census questions you may have: 1940census@nara.gov.

Information for this post was provided by the “The Civil History,” The Regional Newsletter of the Friends of the National Archives-Southeast Region and the National Archives at Atlanta, October 2011, page 1.

You can also sign up through the Family Search website to be a volunteer indexer for the 1940 census!

https://familysearch.org/1940Census

by Aspasia Luster