Saturday, September 20, 2008

What You Missed: The August 2008 Computer Class

"WorldVitalRecords.com" was the topic of the August 2008 EWGS computer class held Saturday, August 16th in the Gates Computer Lab of the downtown branch of the Spokane Public Library. This free for-members-only class was presented by yours truly, Miriam Robbins Midkiff. We took a look at the genesis of this subscription website, the philosophy of founder Paul Allen (formerly of Ancestry.com), and the growth of database offerings that has occurred since the site's founding, many of which are available because of WVR's terrific partnering with other genealogy database websites and resource publishers, such as Everton Publishers, Simmons Historical Publications, and Godfrey Memorial Library, to name just a few. The free social-networking, online family-tree-building, and lookup service of WorldVitalRecords, FamilyHistoryLink, was reviewed as well. Attendees were encouraged to sign up for WVR's free weekly e-newsletter, which lists newly-added databases that are free-to-access for the first seven days they are online. They were also urged to try out WorldVitalRecords one of the local Family History Centers, which have free access to this database-rich genealogy subscription website.

If you would like a copy of the syllabus that was used for this presentation, please e-mail Miriam here.

The next computer class will be presented by Barbara Brazington on "Historical Societies & Museums Online" on Saturday, October 18th (September's class has been cancelled). If you are interested in signing up, please contact me, Miriam Robbins Midkiff, at the e-mail address listed in the previous paragraph, or see our member directory for my telephone number. Currently, there are some spots available during the 10:15 -11:15 AM and the 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM sessions. We no longer offer a 1:30 - 2:30 PM session. You must be a current EWGS member to attend. If you are interested in joining EWGS, please go to our website here and download the membership application.

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