Be Sure to Visit my new 1900 Galveston Storm Website at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootseb.com/~barnette 

CLAYTON LIBRARY COMPLETES SOUNDEX

 Clayton Library Friends library liaison, John Dorroh, reports Clayton Library has completed the acquisition of all Soundex microfilm to the United States Census. This is a major feather in the hat of Clayton Library, said Dorroh. It makes Clayton one of the most important libraries anywhere.

 According to Dorroh, Clayton Library is the only public library in State of Texas with a complete set of the United States Census from 1790 through 1920, including Soundex. Only two other local public libraries in the United States are known to have similar complete sets, those of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne Indiana and the Cincinnati Public Library in Cincinnati, Ohio.

 Soundex census records were created  in the 1930's as a government finding aid to locate proof of age for persons applying for Social Security. The Soundex system was created as an elaborate tool to index the United States census of 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920. The system uses numbers representing sounds for letters in the surnames of the people on the census. The system allows researchers to locate similar sounding, or, misspelled surnames with little or no effort.

 Clayton Library has also completed the purchase of all available passenger lists for all existing American ports for the Nineteenth Century and  much of the Twentieth Century. Included in this collection is 755 rolls of microfilm to the Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, July 1, 1902-December 31, 1943.

 With completion of the acquisition of the complete United States Census 1790-1920 and all the available ship passenger records, Clayton Library definitely deserves her ranking as one of the top genealogical libraries in the United States

ARKANSAS HISTORY COMMISSION MOVE AVERTED

 Recently Dr. John L. Ferguson, Director of the Arkansas History Commission, was informed by the State Building Services the AHC would be moved to an older structure. The Department of Information Systems was scheduled to replace them in the current location.

 Ferguson asked for the support and help of the citizens of Arkansas and particularly the patrons and friends of the AHC, including genealogists and historians. He has now been informed by the Governor's office that the archives will remain in its present location. He further asks that "no more communications be sent" to government agencies in support of the AHC.

 One of the oldest existing state agencies in Arkansas, the Arkansas History Commission was created in 1905 by the General Assembly. As Arkansas' state archives, the AHC is the official agency and repository for the collection and preservation of historical and source materials for the State of Arkansas.

 The AHC moved to it's present quarters at One Capitol Mall Building  in 1979 culminating an effort of twenty years looking for an appropriate site. The current 31,402 square foot building features two large reinforced fire resistant storage vaults with temperature and humidity controls for documents, books and microfilm. It houses a forty by eighty foot public research room with microfilm readers, printers and photocopying equipment while another area contains a conservation laboratory for the repair and reclamation of historic documents and photographs.

GENEALOGICAL SEMINAR

 Most people with colonial Southern ancestry have ancestors from Virginia. On June 24 the place to be for those interested in Virginiana is the all day Montgomery County Genealogical and Historical Society seminar. The seminar will be held from 8:300 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. at Montgomery College, 3200 College Park Drive in Conroe.

 Dr. Robert Clay, Librarian of the State of Virginia, will address the audience and tell them of the vast holdings of the Library of Virginia and of their wonder databases on the Internet. His topics will include Virginia County Records and Research Techniques, Colonial and Revolutionary Records and Four Things They Never Tell you: Misconceptions, Abbreviations, Strange Quirks in Records and  Equivalent Records.

 For more information on the seminar visit the MCGHS website at http://rootsweb.com/~web.com/~txmcghs/index.h tm, call the Montgomery County Genealogical Library at 936-788-8363 or email plmartin55@mscc.net.

NEWS FROM THE BOOK SHELF

 Composed by Houstonian Emily Ann Croom, an exciting new book, THE SLEUTH BOOK FOR GENEALOGISTS: Strategies For More Successful Family History Research is now available for $17.99, plus postage, from F&W Books at 1507 Dana Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45207.

 In her earlier books, UNPUZZLING YOUR PAST  and THE GENEALOGIST'S COMPANION and SOURCEBOOK Croom emphasized basic sources and techniques.  In THE SLEUTH BOOK she concentrates on  methods and strategies.

 Major topics in THE SLEUTH BOOK  include organizing one's research, focusing on a specific research question, planning the research, practicing cluster genealogy, gathering and documenting evidence, analyzing data, evaluating the big picture, arranging ideas into progress reports, and sharing success in case studies.

 Featured throughout the book are highlighted entertaining and meaningful  "fun" quotes from famous whodunit sleuths such as Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.