SVGS Library Closed December 20-December 31

We’re Still Here! We are happy to announce that while the library has received damage from the fire and the entire contents are out for cleaning, we are still here.   Many of you have been following us through personal connections, phone calls, connections with some of the library volunteers or the latest newsletter.  We wanted everyone to…

Thursday, April 13, 2023 the public is invited to a free Zoom presentation by Maggie Cogswell on School Records, presented by the Lower Columbia Genealogical Society. Ms. Cogswell is a Washington State archivist from the office of the Secretary of State, Olympia. The meeting will open at 6:30 pm for announcements and greeting visitors. The…

If your ancestor lived in the Washington Territory before it became the nation’s 42nd state on November 11, 1889, you may be eligible for a Washington Pioneer certificate. Or if your ancestors arrived a little later — before December 31, 1900 — you can get a First Citizen certificate. What a great gift for yourself and…

We do tend to head straight to the “big” libraries in the big cities and so easily overlook what the smaller town libraries might have for us. Case in point, the Appleton, Wisconsin, Public Library in Appleton, Wisconsin, located northeast of Madison, the state capitol.  This town of about 75,000 citizens, has just opened a…

Saturday, May 6 Researching Kansas Ancestors   12:30 pm to 3:00 pm Hybrid (join us in person or by Zoom)  Meeting at Shadle Park Library, Spokane, WA KANSAS Guest Speaker Lauri Jean Swett Whether your ancestors came to Kansas to stay, they spent a generation or two, or were just passing through, their footprints can be found…

by Donna Phillips The above iconic image is from the Civil War. But clear up to today, it’s the same: In war, young men die.  (Col. Blake, M*A*S*H, “and rule #2, doctors can’t change rule #1.”) Many, if not most, of us have ancestors that participated in a war. Have you searched out all you’d like…