From the August 1997 issue--
The Albuquerque Genealogical Society Celebrates 25 Years
On January 12, 1972, the Genealogy Club of the Albuquerque Public Library (APL) was formed with Mary Reeder as chairperson. Nineteen charter members then elected Mary Reeder President along with Virginia Robinson, VP, Barbara Eklund, Secretary, and Ethel Harwood, Treasurer.
The club has grown from the nineteen charter members to over 225 members as of June 1997. The stated purposes of the Club have always been the promotion of genealogy, educational assistance for researchers, and
support for the Special Collections Branch of the Albuquerque Public Library. Our members have been extremely generous in all these areas, having donated books, microfilms, CD-ROMs and many hours volunteering to help beginning genealogists, as well as assisting those who need help researching via computers.
In 1988, President Austin Nauert began the Volunteer Assistance program to help beginning researchers and take some of the load off our very busy Librarians. Ella Kirkpatrick was the first Chairperson and now charter member, Florence Wengerd, is in charge. It was also under Austin Nauerts term that the $90 in 1990 cash prize for microfilm purchase was begun. The Clubs 15th anniversary and the citys 75th were combined for the $90 to commemorate both occasions. Since that time, the Club has included CD-ROMs, as well. Each year the prize is increased to equal the year (ie. $91 in 1991, etc.). This has been a great way for the club members to add to the Special Collections and be rewarded for their generosity, as well.
An annual Club fund raiser was a Garage Sale under the leadership of Jeanne & Fred Trauger. They graciously loaned their home (garage that is) to the Club to put on the sale. Fred was also in charge of the Flea Market fund raiser for several years. Another generous gift for the Traugers was the annual Pot Luck Social each summer. This project has recently been taken over by Lynda and Tom Katonak.
Dot Drake edited the early Newsletters; Bob Plisek was the first to bring the Newsletter into the computer age. Under the Presidency of Carolyn Marice, Jone Chappell and Lynda Katonak took over the job and have consistently worked to keep up the high quality that Bob began. It is now called the Genealogy Club of Albuquerque Quarterly. We exchange newsletters with 15-20 other clubs around the country.
Meetings are held every second Wednesday of the month in Botts Hall of the Special Collections Library Branch. The first meetings were often held in homes of the charter members. The loaned collections of the club members, individuals, and organizations were housed at the Erna Fergusen Branch of the Albuquerque Public Library until the new building downtown was completed. At that time the Library Director decided that anything on library shelves must belong to APL, so that marked the end of this practice. The original library on Edith and Central was in disrepair, and the heirs of the original donors of the property went to court, claiming that the stipulated purpose of the gift was not met when it had been abandoned as a library. The Genealogy Club, in late 1974, sent a resolution to the city asking that the building be rededicated to the Special Collection. In 1977, the collection was moved to Botts Hall, and finally, when the old building was restored in 1979, it became the site for the Club meetings, as well as the APL genealogical collection.
Over the years, many new innovations have been introduced into the club. With the increased use of home computers, a Computer Committee was formed with Don Pierce as Chairman. This committee supports several different genealogy computer users groups. Personal Ancestral File (PAF) Users Group, Roots Users Group, Brothers Keeper, MAC, and others have been instrumental in setting up and keeping the Club computers in working order. The Special Collections Library itself has computers with CD-ROM reading capabilities, and that is another spot where Volunteers are used.
Howard Henry is in charge of another major fund raiser for the club. He and his volunteer group are busy indexing the old Albuquerque newspapers and have published about 30 index books with several more in various stages of completion. Other methods of raising funds include the sale of T-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, and coffee mugs, all with the Club logo printed on them. These, along with donated genealogy magazines, books, and other genealogical items are on sale during the monthly meetings.
Members of the Club have been sponsoring a trip to Salt Lake City for research at the LDS Family History Library for the past fifteen years or so. These trips take a full year of pre-planning and so a new committee was formed to handle the details: flight, room accommodations, and pre-trip research orientation sessions. This SLC trip is open to all members, and both beginners and old timers enjoy the experience.
From the November 1997 issue--
City of Albuquerque, Executive Order
Whereas, the Genealogy Club of Albuquerque was organized in February, 1972 for the purpose of promoting genealogy, providing educational aid for genealogical researchers and supporting the genealogical collection and services of the Albuquerque Public Library; and
Whereas, club members generously contribute to Special Collections Library for the purchase of census film, books, and CD-ROMs and encourge all patrons of the library to contribute; and
Whereas, members are also generous with their time presenting educational programs at meetings, helping in the training of library assistants, working with computer user groups to provide various genealogy software; and
Whereas, club volunteers participate in beginning and intermediate workshops, the indexing of old Albuquerque newspapers, and the shelving and mending of books.
Now, therefore, I, Martin J. Chavez, Mayor of the City of Albuquerque, do hereby proclaim the month of August, 1997, as a time to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Genealogy Club of Albuquerque and encourage all citizens to join me in commemorating its observance.
(signed) Martin J. Chavez, Mayor
(signed) Millie Santillanes, City Clerk
This page was last updated on: April 24, 2008.
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