The Jim Dan Hill Library at the University of Wisconsin-Superior now has a unique collection. The university won a $50,000 National Maritime Heritage Grant to preserve thousands of documents from Fraser Shipyards, Inc. of Superior.

According to the Duluth [MN] News Tribune, among the “3,000 technical drawings, 8,500 aperture card negatives and several boxes of correspondences and reports” are the “working design documents and blueprints of such well-known vessels as the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

Don’t get too excited yet. The collection will take about 18 month to fully catalog the entire collection that spans 125 years of the company.

Interested in more information? Read the full story in the August 16, 2015 Duluth News Tribune.

The University has more history of the company and details of some available material here.

Every so often I have updated my business card and recently did so in order to publicize my business. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have completed a large project and now have open hours for client consultations, research, and even for seminars the next couple of years.

Two days of superb learning, talking with others interested in family history, door prizes, and more. David Rencher, Chief Genealogical Officer of FamilySearch is the keynote speaker. Other speakers are presenting workshops and lectures during the two days.

Full details are on the Minnesota Genealogical Society website. Register soon to guarantee your spot. Click on the Register button and you will see a link to the full brochure.

Later in September, all registrants will receive the link to the online syllabus of handouts for each session. Don’t forget to print out the ones for the sessions you plan to attend.

I will see on September 25-26 right here in the Twin Cities. I am presenting 3 sessions.

Your Society Can’t Afford to Do A Seminar? Here’s How!

Education is the core of our societies. A seminar could bring new members, volunteers, and funding for projects. In this webinar, I will share ways be successful financially once guidelines are established and followed. It could bring recognition from the community if done correctly. Most groups can truly afford to bring in a well-known and knowledgeable speaker and plan a great seminar. We’ll cover these and other angles in this presentation. Do the job carefully, make notes, learn from issues, and be ready for a profitable sell-out event. It’s ok to make a profit to support the society’s education efforts and to pay your speakers adequately for their hard work. The webinar and handout include many practical tips.

The Federation of Genealogical Societies offers free webinars. I am presenting the one mentioned above on Wednesday. August 12, 2015 at 8:00 pm EDT, 7 CDT, 6 MDT, 5 PDT. This presentation also includes a free four page detailed handout for those joining the webinar that evening.  Registration information is on the FGS blog The Voice at http://goo.gl/IisBor

FGS also offers these webinars for free a few weeks after the date. Then the webinars are archived as a special benefit for FGS member societies to view anytime on the FGS website

I just finished a big project and now have some open hours for genealogical consultations. Due to the project, I had to turn down several people I met at conferences and seminars. A consultation can be done in-person, by email, regular mail, or by Skype or Google Hangout. You don’t have to live in the St. Paul and Minneapolis metropolitan area.

The open hours are in the last half of both August and September. The later fall and winter months have hours, too. I also enjoy working side-by-side to guide clients in a library, historical society, archive, or courthouse.

It’s a good way to have another set of eyes help you plan further research, figure out ways to solve a research problem, or to get some professional advice that you are going along the right path.  Maybe you don’t know where to find specific records or that they even exist at all. Perhaps you are having difficulty figuring out Great Grandma Annie’s maiden name. I also provide advice on organizing, becoming a professional genealogist or lecturer, and even just listen to frustrations in name changes.

You get to say how the two-hour consultation is framed. We can even do a bit of online searching and help plan your trips to various libraries, archives, and historical societies.

Email me at PaulaStuartWarren at gmail dot com if you wish more details.

The Church of St. Peter in Mendota was the first Catholic parish in Minnesota and the first church building was a log cabin. The “historic church” that still stands was built in 1853 and it overlooks the Minnesota River. My late in-laws were married in the historic church on June 6, 1943. It’s a really neat building that has been restored. A newer and larger church now serves the parish. In the 1970s and beyond, I attended many family funerals and weddings at St. Peter’s, but most were in the new church.

This weekend the parish is celebrating its 175th anniversary.  It began in 1840, which is 18 years before Minnesota became a state!

The history written for the 150th anniversary has this paragraph:

By the year 1900, names and photos of parishioners who became synonymous with the history of St. Peter’s began to appear in the annals of the parish. The names included: Auge, Bernier, Burns, Callahan, Corrigan, Fee, Kennedy, Lebey, Perron, Rowan, St. Martin, Slater and Walsh.

This page has links to a few histories of the parish and church buildings.

The historic church is open for free tours each Sunday from noon -2:00 p.m. through Labor Day.