Society Gal?

Several bloggers have written about how wonderful their Genealogy Society is and why it is beneficial to join. My first experience with a Genealogical Society was when I visited Michigan in April 2008. I knew that Cheryl would be giving a presentation on blogging to the Berrien County Genealogical Society during the time I'd be there and set my itinerary to make sure I could attend. They were very welcoming to me and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

The nearest society to me is the Central New York Genealogical Society. They meet at a church just over a half hour away which is an easy enough drive however they meet on a very odd schedule. I've watched the calendar for a couple of years and they have had some very interesting topics and speakers but I always seemed to have a conflict. When I saw that Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D would be speaking at the May 9 meeting I somehow managed to clear my calendar for the day.

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of members in attendance. The ladies at the sign in table were helpful and I paid for a membership. The rest of the members were less than welcoming and I really felt a bit out of place.

The first speaker talked about the partnership between the New York State Archives and Ancestry.com. I really enjoyed Blaine's presentation and meeting afterward. The CNYGS has a quarterly publication, Tree Talks, which I now receive but otherwise I know very little about the society. I have no idea if they have an archive someplace or groups I might be interested in. I have a conflict for this month's meeting and the topic for November really doesn't interest me. So far I haven't found my membership to be personally beneficial. I'll probably continue my membership next year and hope to make more of the meetings.

I've seen the Wordless Wednesday pictures and and updates posted by Kathryn Doyle on the California Genealogical Society and Library blog and thought how great it would be to have access to the resources they have and be a member of what appears to be a great group. Being a state society I imagine they have many resources that a smaller, local society could not support. I have just a couple of California connections so they are probably not the society for me. The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society is located in New York City so I am quite unlikely to visit, at least in the foreseeable future. Their membership includes two quarterly publications, access to "Early American Newspapers, NewspaperArchives.com, the NYG&B eLibrary and the Bulletin Board." Access to NewspaperArchives.com alone would make the price of membership a value, if only I had that much money to spare right now. I will consider joining next year.

For right now Bill West is doing a great job researching our New England ancestors for me at West in New England. At some point though I will actually have to do some research for myself and will consider joining NEHGS. I know very little about NGS and hope that someone else writes about them and enlightens me.

Inspired by Elizabeth at Little Bytes of Life I will be pursuing membership in the Daughters of the American Revoluation. While technically a lineage society rather than a genealogical society I am very interested in their education, preservation and community programs. You can expect to read more about this here in the not too distant future.



This was written for the 82nd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: "What's your favorite genealogical society? Do you belong to a society? Tell us why! Or if not, why not." This edition will be hosted by Kathryn Doyle at California Genealogical Society and Library blog.

Thanks to footnote Maven for the CoG poster!