Birmingham Public Library Genealogy Workshops Schedule for November 2017

Biddle Warren Cycle Company's Mardi Gras float, 1897
Henry Key Milner Scrapbook, Collection #426, Archives Department
Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

The Birmingham Public Library (BPL)’s Southern History Department is hosting a variety of genealogy classes during the month of November, including Ancestry.com and Family Tree DNA. Plus, the BPL Archives Department is hosting two great WWI programs on Sunday, November 12 and Tuesday, November 14.

Southern History is making one major change to its 2018 Beyond the Basics of Genealogy workshop schedule, switching all workshops to Sunday afternoons. Two well-known genealogists, Donna Cox Baker and Frazine K. Taylor, will be special guests, sharing the Beyond Kin project. Beyond Kin is featured in the November issue of Alabama Heritage.

Below is a listing of upcoming workshops hosted by the Southern History Department. Workshops are free of charge, but registration is requested. Register online through the BPL events calendar, or contact the Southern History Department of the Birmingham Public Library at 205-226-3665, or call the offsite workshop location.

Thursday, November 2, 6:00-7:00 p.m., Irondale Public Library
Ancestry.com – Participants will be introduced to the Ancestry.com Library Edition database in which you can research your family history as well as learn how to search this database to locate your ancestors. For more information or directions, please call the Irondale Public Library at 205-951-1415.

Monday, November 6, 10:00-11:00 a.m., Vestavia Hills Library
Ancestry.com – Participants will be introduced to the Ancestry.com Library Edition database in which you can research your family history as well as learn how to search this database to locate your ancestors. For more information or directions, please call the Vestavia Hills Library at 205-978-0155.

Sunday, November 12, 3:00 p.m., Central Library/Arrington Auditorium
World War I and the Making of the Modern Middle East – World War I transformed the region we know today as the Middle East, expanding some empires while others crumbled, creating new borders, and forging new political identities. Dr. Annalise J. K. DeVries of Samford University will examine accounts from Maadi-Tura, an Egyptian prisoner of war camp, to explain how the war experience created new points of conflict, particularly as the Ottoman Empire fell and the British and French looked to assert authority over the region.

Tuesday, November 14, 10:00-11:00 a.m., Bessemer Public Library
Family Tree DNA Services and Website – Explore the offerings of Family Tree DNA, a company that offers hundreds of different DNA tests and that supports them with the most detailed website in the industry. For more information or directions, please call the Bessemer Public Library at 205-428-7882.

Tuesday, November 14, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Central Library/Southern History Department
Introduction to Genealogy – Want to learn how to do genealogical research? Come to this introductory class that will help get you started on your genealogical journey.

Tuesday, November 14, 6:00 p.m., Central Library/Archives Department
Hearing a Different Drummer: William March's Novel Company K – Dr. Bert Hitchcock of Auburn University will discuss the often forgotten novel Company K. Written by Alabamian William March, a decorated Marine combat veteran, Company K is America's most powerful World War One novel. Courageously different in his outlook and strikingly innovative in technique, March has never received the full recognition he deserves. In its portrayal of the horrors and atrocities of war, Company K is among the best war fiction ever written

Sunday, November 19, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Central Library/Southern History Department
Introduction to Genealogy – Want to learn how to do genealogical research? Come to this introductory class that will help get you started on your genealogical journey.

Announcing our Beyond the Basics of Genealogy workshop schedule for 2018

February 25, 2:30-4:00 p.m., Central Library/Arrington Auditorium
The Beyond Kin Project: Making the Slave Connection – Project cofounders Donna Cox Baker and Frazine K. Taylor will teach a software method and research techniques for handling the unique complexities of plantation genealogy. Descendants of both slaveholders and enslaved persons will learn how to find and account for the under documented and often nameless plantation members using common genealogy tools.

March 25, 2:30-4:00 p.m., Central Library/Arrington Auditorium
Nosing Around in Newspapers – Newspapers can be a genealogist’s best friend with the wealth of information found within its pages, but also a frustrating source. Learn how to locate the newspapers you need and how to efficiently search them to discover everything from an obituary to a scandalous news story involving your ancestor.

April 15, 2:30-4:00 p.m., Central Library/Arrington Auditorium
Understanding DNA Ethnicity Test Results – Discover how DNA testing companies determine ethnicity percentages and what these estimates mean in terms of your genealogy.

May 20, 2:30-4:00 p.m., Central Library/Arrington Auditorium
“Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier”: Military Records in Family History Research – Did one of your ancestors go to war? Explore the major repositories and databases for military records and discover how they can contribute vital information for your family history research.

For more information about BPL’s Southern History Department, go to http://www.bplonline.org/locations/central/southern/ or like its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SouthernHistoryBPL.