Fall Seminar

Federal Records plus Mapping the West

More info: www.smcgs.org/programs/seminars

 

Pamela Boyer Sayre,CG, CGL, FUGA
& Richard G. (Rick) Sayre,CG, CGL, FUGA

Saturday, November 4, 2017, 9 am - 3 pm

Early Bird & Online Registration is closed. Walk-ins welcome! Price: $55.  See you Nov 4!

Topics:

      • Mapping the West: Lewis & Clark to railroad surveys

      • Rivers & Canals: Finding federal records

      • Capital Treasure: Case studies featuring federal records
 

Pam & Rick Sayre are among the best instructors in genealogy. Federal records, including maps and land records, are their specialty. You are invited to join them for an engaging day exploring records from the National Archives to the BLM.

For a PDF of the seminar flyer click here.

For more information see our Seminar page.

Also at the seminar:

 

Special Door Prize!  

A FREE registration to Jamboree 2018 will be awarded to a lucky attendee. 

The Southern California Genealogical Society holds the West Coast's largest genealogical conference May 31-Jun 2, 2018.

 

Book Sale

We've received loads of new donations of genealogical research books that will be available!

 

Silent Auction - Some great donations from the following companies:

From Ancestry.com

2 semi-annual World Explorer individual memberships to Ancestry

1 annual Fold3.com subscription

1 annual Newspapers.com Basic subscription

1 AncestryDNA kit

 

From MyHeritage.com:  

1 year subscription to My Heritage

1 My Heritage DNA kit

 

From FindMyPast.com:  1 year premium subscription to FindMyPast

 

From Genealogy Bank:   1 year subscription to Genealogy Bank

 

Home-baked Cookies - SMCGS bakers will be mixing up their usual hard-to-resist homemade cookies and bars.

FDR’s Alphabet Soup

Records from the Great Depression

Cath Madden Trindle

MAPS

University of SouthernCalifornia – Digital Library – WPA Land Use Collection

Among the collections at University of Southern California are the WPA Land use survey maps for the City of Los Angeles, 1933-1939.   

This collection of 345 maps covering 460 square miles tracked land usage including: residential, commercial, industrial, manufacturing, agricultural and vacant.  Each of these was broken down further.  For example agricultural land was shown as mixed, livestock, field crops, row crops, bush fruits, orchard, nursery, woodland, or farming.

This is one example of individualized projects that took place around the country.  Read newspapers of the time for clues on what might have been happening where your family lived.  Search the special collections of Universities, Historical Societies, County Archives, Libraries, etc. for materials created by those projects.

This series of articles and blogs is intended to point you in the right direction to do your own research.  There is a  wealth of records providing background material on the places where our families lived and perhaps on the programs in which they participated.  Some of the records at the National Archives which were not previously covered include:

69.8 Cartographic Records 1933-1940  Mostly published and blueprint city and county transportation, land, and census study maps resulting from various WPA projects

69.11 Still Pictures documenting the programs and activities of the Alphabet Soup Era 1922-44.  This collection of thousand of pictures includes aerial photos among its other treasures.

69.4.3 Records of the Division of Information. Collections include over 43000 photographs, more than 100 films, press releases, clippings and much more.  These include publications of the other Alphabet Soup Agencies.

69.4.4 Records of the Division of Engineering and Construction History: Created in December 1935 with the responsibility of planning and supervising construction projects for highways, airports, dams, and sanitation works.

69.5.7 Survey of the Federal Archives (RG 69.5.7)  Organized in January 1936 as Federal Project No. 4, with the National Archives as cooperating sponsor. Became part of Historical Records Survey, on a reduced basis, in June 1937. Terminated June 30, 1942. Along with correspondence and reports there are over 3000 photographs in the NARA collections. 

69.5.9 Records of the National Research Project (NRP) This project was set up to study industrial techniques and their effect on employment.  The collection includes photographs of workers and some housing situations.