SAWDUST CITY ROOTS
The official newsletter of the
Genealogical Research Society of Eau Claire
Wisconsin
Sept - Oct 2014 Volume 32 Number 1
We are an affiliate of the Wisconsin State
Genealogical Society
www.wsgs.org
Website: www.grsec.org
E-mail:
Chippewa Valley Learning in Retirement
Since 1962 there has been a growing interest within the American adult community in opportunities to continue learning into later life. This interest is a strong affirmation of the need for acquiring new knowledge and skills after or near the completion of a career. To provide older adults avenues for learning, over two hundred Learning in Retirement institutes have been organized all over the United States.
Of course, genealogy is probably a favorite topic of interest for those reading this newsletter. However, if you are retired, or nearing retirement, you might want to check out http://cvlr.org/ and see the array of topics CVLR has to offer. For $30 (one year September to September) Chippewa Valley Learning in Retirement will offer you educational courses, cultural experiences, and social activities for retired individuals in the Chippewa Valley.
Sanborn Maps
What are Sanborn Maps? Sanborn Maps is an American publisher of historical and current maps of U.S. cities and towns that were initially created to estimate fire insurance liabilities. The company's maps are frequently used for preservation and restoration efforts. The Sanborn Maps were originally created for assessing fire insurance liability in urbanized areas in the United States. The maps include detailed information regarding town and building information in approximately 12,000 U.S. towns and cities from 1867 to 2007. (Ask.com)
The public library has recently discontinued its online subscription to Sanborn Maps. Peter Rudrud, Reference Associate II, gives some reasons for doing this.
The L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library owns one microfilm reel of the maps (including Eau Claire County)
McIntyre Library has two reels available (The same one the public library owns, and another) offering even more maps of area counties. http://eaulib.wisconsin.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=215&recCount=50&recPointer=1&bibId=751626
The Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) offers “325 color-keyed Wisconsin Sanborn maps … arranged alphabetically by city in the Archives”. The WHS also has a complete set of all 27 reels of microfilm encompassing every Wisconsin county.
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/maps/sanborn.asp.
WHS also promotes the availability of 368 of their maps available online. Also according to the WHS website “Some Area Research Centers (ARCs) have obtained black-and-white microfilm map copies for their regions. Several ARCs have original Sanborn maps for at least one city in their respective regions.”
Yearbooks
The public library has a collection of local school yearbooks in Special Collections. The Periscope (UWEC), The Kodak (Memorial High School), Northern Hilites (North High School), and Chi-Rho (Regis High School). We don’t have complete sets and there may be gaps in some years if we couldn’t obtain a copy. Recently some of the more current yearbooks were sent out to be digitized. They will not be available from your home computer, but can be viewed at the library in the Lois Barland Research Room. We expect the digitized yearbooks to be available sometime in late January.
Earlier Kodak’s are available remotely from the 1890’s to 1923 and can be found on our history page. If you have yearbooks that we don’t and want to donate it/them please call or drop by the Reference desk. 715-839-5004. Needed years are: Kodak, 1971, 1982, 2007. Northern Hilites, 2003. Chi-Rho, 1966, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994.
Newsletter 2014 Sep-Oct
Bob Fraser presentation
Passenger Ship Lists as an aid in finding out how and when your ancestors got here. I also hope to show two illustrations; one from 1775 and one from 1807. Is this sufficient? Bob Fraser
The following link might be of value to anyone doing research in the United Kingdom:
Fire insurance maps and plans
The British Library holds a comprehensive collection of fire insurance plans produced by the firm Charles E. Goad Ltd. dating back to 1885. These maps were made for most important towns and cities of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. They are invaluable sources of detailed information about urban areas and town centers similar to Sanborn Maps of the United States.
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/firemaps/fireinsurancemaps.html Other collections at the British Library Online Gallery may be viewed at http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/index.html Thanks, Roger
My name is Michaela Walters and I am replacing Carol Steinmetz as the GRSEC web coordinator. I grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I didn’t go far for my undergraduate career. In December 2012, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a Bachelor of Arts in History (Public History emphasis) and minors in Library Science and American Indian Studies. Currently I am working at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire as Library Assistant I in Reference Services. I am about half way through my Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS). As web coordinator I will be working with Jeff Burns, LE Phillips Memorial Public Library’s webmaster, on the GRSEC website and databases, along with answering and forwarding queries that come in.