Thursday, June 3, 2021

Looking for my babies: Freedmen searching for Family

 Ari Wilkins recently gave the program Looking for my babies: Freedmen searching for Family, about African Americans desperately searching for their missing family members in the wake of Emancipation by using resources such as the Freedmen's Bureau and newspapers. Excerpts from her handout are below.

The Freedmen's Bureau worked to reunite families by writing letters and inquiring within communities. They also helped to arrange transportation to reunite relatives. 

For decades following the Civil War, newspapers had specialized columns for former slaves searching for family. Rich in genealogical detail, these ads describe the missing relative and applicant, aliases, where and when the relative was last seen, a history of slave ownership, and migration patterns.

South Carolina Leader (Charleston, SC), 8 December 1866. Digital image http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov : accessed 3 June 2021.


Look for columns like "Information Wanted," "Lost Friends," and "Last Seen." While they may be in mainstream newspapers, also search in African American newspapers like Black Republican (New Orleans), Colored Tennessean (Nashville), South Carolina Leader (Charleston), Free Man's Press (Galveston), Colored American (Augusta), and Colored Citizen (Cincinnati), as well as church newspapers like Christian Recorder (Philadelphia), Southwestern Christian Advocate (New Orleans), and Star of Zion (Charlotte).

Supplemental genealogical resources include the Slave Narratives, census records, vital records and the Periodical Source Index (PERSI).

JO

Thursday, May 27, 2021

 


Staff Meeting Notes

 May 27 2021

Meeting Attendance: Irene Walters, Rodney Sam, Rebecca Grimes

Meeting Leader:  Irene Walters

Note taker:  Rebecca Grimes


  • Badges - submit electronically to badging office by 15 JUNE.  See form for information 


  • Daily Schedules – filling in hours with activities 


  • Job Duties – Due 15 June email sent 25 MAY from Sue with instructions.  If there are any questions, please see Sue 


  • Wellness connection email $25 in Healthy Awards funds for reporting your COVID-19 vaccine (email 25 MAY from Wellness Connection).


  • There is a survey that was sent by email for Covid-19 vaccination shots, filling out is encouraged. 

  •  

  • Creating Creative Displays training due Friday 28 MAY.  Sign in sheet on the table in the lunch room (email 24 / 25 MAY from Roberto Zapata) Make sure to enter in Teams  Professional Development Folder


  • Masks - follow AP 3-39 Masks are strongly encouraged, but not required for customers and staff.  We will allow access to individuals who are not wearing masks, and not say anything to them.  If asked, we say “strongly encouraged”  to customers.  Staff can make personal decisions. New signage has been sent via email from the Mayors office saying “strongly encouraged for non-vaccinated individuals” and indicating that temperatures are still being taken .

  • Library requires that if customers are in the building and you are on the public floor of the library that we wear mask.  If you are in the staff workroom or lounge, mask are a personal preference.


       When you are assigned to reference/welcome desk, please make sure to walk around library to see if tables         need to be cleaned that have yellow cards on them and place books on cart if needed and also put cart in             holding area if they are full.

        





Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Staff Meeting Notes for May 20, 2021

Staff Meeting Notes for May 20, 2021

Run by Sue

In attendance: Sue, Melissa, Irene, Joy, Rodney, Becky, Steven, Angela


Meeting Rooms:

  • No meeting room bookings at CLA
  • Use our meeting room for customer dialog that might need to be at a higher volume
  • See FAQ in Agenda for booking interview rooms at other locations

Budget Presentation:
  • flat budget for FY22
  • 58% front line staff, 29% materials, 12% admin
  • 1.4 million cardholders

Badges:
  • new badge required if your badge does not have 5-digit number on the back side (lower right)
  • blank badge forms on table in lounge

Displays (JO):
  • new display each month (put up on 1st day of month)
  • some months will follow traditional monthly celebrations (eg. African American History Month)
  • each staff member should pick a month and put their display title and initials in document linked in email from Joy about staff displays
  • use: honeycomb pedestals
  • include: a few relevant books, a sign, and possibly some extras (handouts/bibliographies/etc)
  • HPL Required Display Training - complete training by Fri. May 28 and sign sheet in workroom

HEAR Cycle:
  • supervisors are creating plans
  • employee plans effective July 1
  • create a document pertaining to your job duties - daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/etc (see email from Sue) - document due to Sue by Tue. June 15

Mask Wearing / Temp Checking Policy Update:
  • customers and staff are now strongly encouraged (but not required) to wear a mask
  • temperature checking remains in effect

Reports:
  • JO - Program: Indigenous People of Northern Mexico
  • RS - AAHGS Presentation: Louisiana Soldiers
  • SK - New Zoom Programming Account for CLA 

Friday, May 14, 2021

Staff meeting notes for May 13, 2021

 

Staff meeting for May 13, 2021

Run by Sue

In attendance: Sue, Melissa, Irene, Joy, Rodney, Becky, Angela

Reopening

From Sue – 

  • Reminder for everyone to wear their badges, and that since most of the staff need new ones, CLA Admin will work something out.
  • Policies – mask wearing is required of 100% of staff and 100% of customers.  If customer does not have a mask or it appears too loose to staff up properly, we can offer them a mask.  They are in the box on the temperature taking table.
  • Security – position is as a visual deterrent only, not as temperature takers, so security will be in the lobby from now on.
  • Statistics sheets – don’t forget we have sheets for Ref Desk 1 & Ref Desk 2 to put your statistics on.  Also, through the end of FY21 we can think of the MPD statistics sheet as “My Phone Duty” and use it to record the telephone questions.  If this changes we will let everyone know.
  • Library Cards – we may need a refresher from Becky.  
    • Becky’s reply - there is SIRSI training on the Intranet, she will look for it and find it for us.

From Irene –

  • Customer asked about trashcans on the floor, where have they all gone?
  • Scheduling – 
    • Sometimes, especially Saturdays, there may not be a backup phone person scheduled, if so Reference Desk staff will help answer phones.  Will try to at least have one person scheduled as Phone 1 each hour.
    • Sue and I are looking into Microprint Desk Scheduling.  Sometimes it is too busy for 2nd Reference Desk person to go upstairs

Staff go around

  • Sue – FamilySearch has 4.5 billion images online and 1.5 billion of those are indexed.  It has taken them 14 years to get to this point.
  • Joy –
    • This week’s speaker is Jennie Milgrom on Crypto-Jews.
    • FamilySearch consultations not as robust in some sections as others, but are worth looking into.
    • Sue reply – she can forward your name to FamilySearch if you would like to be a consultant.
  • Irene – Website is coming along
  • Becky – she is on the “P” section of family Histories.
  • Melissa – she sent 2 lists of E-Books to order to Chris Hu (downtown acquisitions)


Monday, April 26, 2021

 

April 1, 2021 Meeting Minutes

Attendees; Sue Kaufman, Melissa Hayes, Irene Walters, Becky Grimes, Joy Ora, Rodney Sam, and Mitch Clendening.

Note Taker: Melissa Hayes

(SK) Reopening. Sue did not attend the Reopening meeting for Neighborhood Libraries. Nothing has been changed with regards to Special Collections opening.  Angela Kent will be coming to Clayton on Thursdays. She is our special collections advocate and the special collections manager. Take the time to re-introduce yourselves and talk to her.

(SK) Statistics. Please add the number of people/patrons who “Ask when we are opening question” to the sheet in the lounge. Metrics are important, the sheet is on a weekly basis. Mark each day or at end of week. Ms. Kent is project and numbers driven.  Remember to check books we used on reference calls and reference questions in the “Mark item used” section of Sirsi, so we have the statistics.

(SK)Training. Everyone was sent an email about the AP-30 training. Watch the video and sign the sheet. Use Blue ink, as required from signing forms. Give signed forms to Sue.

Discussion all staff:

(MC) Sue asked about the opening of Apple. Mitch said that security is stationed at the door to allow persons in who have appointments. Browsing the store is not allowed. Access is controlled by customers going into the store via one door and out another. Staff member keeps a tally of number of people in the store. Social distancing and masks are enforced. Security responds to incidents.  Shopping appointments can be made.

(RS) Rodney mentioned customer who wanted to come in with him when he was entering our building. Person was not happy and was vocal.  Asked to send email to Sue and Melissa about incident.  Sue suggested we add a page to our stats about interaction with people wanting to come into the library. Add numbers to stat sheet.

(MC) He is working in Tennessee. He is learning about the collection while doing his conversion duties. Next stop Texas.  He has cool source for our cool source meeting, April 15th.

(SK) if you have any additions to the DNA program bibliography staff sheet, add the info by noon today.

(RS) Bindery has restarted. This week he processed 210 books.

(BG) Catalogued/ pre-catalogued 270 books from the Friends. Working on the letter “N” in the Family history section.

(IBW) Planning for the International Section Conversion project. Worked on more books this month than last month. 136 book back-log. Processed 134 books. We received more books this month. Sue asked Irene to sent her a report of the number of books received and processed since March of 2020.  Some of the books ordered with city money in 2021 have started to come in.

(JO) Reminded all of us about the big program scheduled for Friday and the emails she sent us to send to customers who might call with problems.  She will send out the link in a new email with the handout links.  Sue and Joy are working on Facebook and Zoom meeting links for large groups.

(SK) Supplies are arriving. Do not take the supplies of the table until all of the supplies have arrived. Sue will let us know.  TX Rex and unicorn costume have arrived.

IBW note taker next meeting.

 

Submitted: MH. 

Friday, March 19, 2021

Staff Meeting Notes 17 March 2021

(SK) - Meeting Recordings:  Per Rick Peralez (DDCE), meetings are no longer being recorded.  Notes are the approved way to record meeting discussions.  Meeting note taking will be rotated around the team.  The person taking the notes will post them on the blog.  Additionally, we are going to move our staff meeting to Thursdays at 10am so Mitch can attend them.  As services begin to open up, we will revisit our meeting time.

Virtual Appointments: Please remember to offer virtual appointments to customers.  This can be either a consultation with a subject matter expert, a deeper dive into what the customer is asking about at another dedicated hour time slot.  This can also be for identified materials from the catalog gone over with the customer at the time of the appointment. 

The way we have been doing things is great.  You can still get books or other sources to answer an incoming reference question via email / phone as we have been doing.  The point of appointments is to offer our community that more involved personal research that we do as if they were in the building.  We know that most of our customers would rather just browse the collection, but at least offering this service to them is a way to show that we are trying to provide service to our community.

3rd Party Storage: Email from HITS 16 MAR 2021  - Effective immediately, COH employees must utilize Microsoft OneDrive as the COH approved and supported storage repository. Employees are also encouraged to transfer all COH data and information from unapproved solutions (e.g., Dropbox, Box, etc.), to Microsoft OneDrive. To manage and minimize risks and liabilities to COH, employees and citizens which could result from theft, damage, loss and improper or unauthorized use or disclosure of COH data and information, these sites will no longer be accessible from the COH network infrastructure effective 4/16/21.   Action required: Transfer all COH data and information from unapproved solutions (e.g., Dropbox, Box, etc.), to Microsoft OneDrive by 4/16/21.

(JO) Food Drive:  A reminder that Joy is collecting food during our pandemic party for the Houston Food Bank.

Cool Sources: For full information on these sources please see the March Cool Sources Document in the TEAMS folder

Joy: Filipino genealogy and naming patterns

Melissa: Hints for using unindexed sources

Sue: The psychology behind doing family history research

Becky: Quebec, Canada area research

Irene: Identification of words in German handwriting and variant scripts

Steven: Family Service Community Groups and the advantages of joining one of the online communities

Rodney: Overview of a way of visual representation of DNA matches

(SK 19 MAR 2021)






 

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Quickstart to Freedmen's Bureau Records

Recent guest speaker Shamele Jordan laid out a five-step process for finding ancestors in the Freedmen's Bureau Records:

STEP 1: Determine an ancestor and 1870 location

STEP 2: Learn about the Bureau

STEP 3: Learn about the records

STEP 4: Create a research plan

STEP 5: Research using the tools

Essential to accessing and understanding these records are the Descriptive Pamphlets. Links to each state are: 

STATE FIELD OFFICE Descriptive Pamphlets

 

Alabama 

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1900.pdf

 

Arkansas

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1901.pdf

 

District of Columbia

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1902.pdf

 

Florida

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1869.pdf

 

Georgia

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1903.pdf

 

Kentucky

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1904.pdf

 

Louisiana

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1905.pdf

 

Maryland/Delaware

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1906.pdf

 

Mississippi

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1907.pdf

 

Missouri

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1908.pdf

 

North Carolina

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1909.pdf

 

South Carolina

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1910.pdf

 

Tennessee

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1911.pdf

Texas

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1912.pdf

 

Virginia

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1913.pdf

 JO

Thursday, February 4, 2021

Surname Distribution Maps

 FamilySearch has a wiki page for surname distribution maps. These maps show where different surnames have appeared. If a customer is grasping at straws for an ancestor's place of origin, these maps may be helpful, particularly for less common names. But mostly these maps are fun to play around on!




Thursday, January 14, 2021

Digitized NARA records

Much of the "low hanging" fruit and some of the more advanced sources of the National Archives and Records Administration records have been digitized by digitization partners.  A full list of sources digitized by Ancestry, Fold3, FamilySearch and other partners is available. 

This list might help if you are working with a customer whos ancestor or family member came in contact with the Federal Government in some way.  These digital records include NARA microfilm publications and original records.  The list is updated periodically and can be downloaded to sort.

You will find title of the publication, links to images (some sites are subscription sites), original record group and a few other identifiers as columns on the list.  

https://www.archives.gov/digitization/digitized-by-partners

SK





Friday, December 11, 2020

Houston Police Department Records

 If a customer is interested in obtaining Houston Police Department records, try using this website for guidance: https://www.houstontx.gov/police/public_information.htm

It gives very specific information on what information can be released and how to obtain it. There is a lengthy list of record types, such as accident report, mug shots, citations, etc, and you can click on each type to find out who is the record holder, their contact info, and the criteria for record release.  The most common request type would probably be for Report - Police / Incident / Offense. A great deal seems to depend upon if the case was closed by conviction. 


JO

Staff Meeting Notes

  Staff Meeting 20 DEC 2022 notes Agenda and notes can be found here: CLATeam>FY23>Agendas>Rolling Agenda