Presentations
A variety of presentations are available and may be customized to fit your group's needs. Click here to request more information.
Advanced Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com is one of the most popular online tools for genealogists, but it’s also one of the more complex. This seminar covers advanced searching techniques, little-known and under-utilized features, and new options for collaboration. Whether you use Ancestry.com at the library or at home, this seminar will increase your chances of finding elusive ancestors. (A Newberry Library 3 session seminar)
Discovering the Past Block-by-Block: Using ChicagoAncestors.org
A presentation on the exciting website built by The Newberry Library - a site where you can find and share historical information about Chicago. Are you researching the history of a neighborhood? Looking for the church where your great-grandparents got married? Interested in mapping the places where your ancestors lived? Learn how to discover the past by address!
Cobbler, Tailor, Trunkmaker: How My Grandpappies Made a Living
Doing family history is more than collecting names and dates. Most of us want to "get to know" our ancestors as much as possible and to understand their lives. How we make a living is an important part of who we are and why we do things. Through the use of case studies, this talk will explain methods for discovering more details about our ancestors’ occupations. Even if we can't find specifics such as employment records, there are other ways to gain a better picture of how our ancestors lived and worked.
Finding Your Catholic Ancestors: Using Church Records in the Archdiocese of Chicago
Church records can provide many valuable details about our ancestors. This presentation covers the types of records available, the information they contain, and the way you can access the records.
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: the Search for Marriage Records
You've looked through civil records and you've looked through church records. What else should you do if you simply can't find your ancestor's marriage records? In the United States, the requirements for a valid marriage have changed over time and varied from state to state. Today couples in a hurry might rush off to Las Vegas. During the late 1800's and early 1900's, numerous towns across the nation were known as "marriage mills" or "Gretna Greens". Learn about some of these locations and find out why you might be looking for marriage records in the wrong place.
Mining the National Archives
What’s in the archives that I can’t find online? Why make the trip? This session will explore some of the lesser known holdings of the National Archives — at the Great Lakes Region and in Washington, D.C. Post Office records, Great Lakes Maritime records, passport applications and much more. Come learn about the ways you can find and access these genealogical gold mines.
Researching Pre-fire Chicago
Think there's no way to research Chicago before 1871? Think the Fire burned your chances for discovering what Chicago was like in its early days? All is not (and was not) lost. This presentation will introduce you to a gold mine of pre-Fire treasures in the Newberry Library's collections. Maps, diaries, church records, newspapers, and sheet music are just a few of the hot items you'll find out about. This talk is an abbreviated version of a seminar presented at the Newberry Library by Matt Rutherford and Ginger Frere.
Searching Electronic Databases
Controlled vocabulary isn't what your mother meant when she told you to watch your language. What does it mean and how does it help you find information online? Did you know you can browse library shelves remotely? Or that you can search for Johnny B. Goode's obituary in the ProQuest Historical Tribune database? We will cover using *?/!# effectively, and much more, in this lecture on using twenty-first century catalogs and databases. This is a short version of a 3 session seminar offered at the Newberry Library.
