Learn to Be a Historical Sleuth
Want to find military heroes in your family’s past? Maybe a prince or princess? What about pilgrims or Native Americans or gunslingers from the Wild West? There are literally millions of clues out there just waiting for you to piece them together.
How? It’s elementary, my dear Watson. You only need to dive into your family tree to find amazing clues and stories. History buffs and those who barely remember their 5th grade history class, unite! Grab your magnifying glass (or just your plain spectacles, if need be) and meet at Haggard Library on October 21st for the 6th Annual Genealogy Lock-In.
No, you don’t need a sleeping bag but pen and paper might be helpful. So what is this historical hoopla all about? The Plano Library system is fortunate enough to have a Genealogy Center located at the Haggard branch. What people don’t realize is that the center is not just for folks with roots in Plano.
Full time genealogy librarian Cheryl Smith and her assistants Tom Turner (who specializes in historical events and research) and Doug Fugate (who specializes in military records and DNA) are at your service anytime for free to help with any genealogical query or search. They have access to all types of records from across the country. If they can’t access it, they can point you toward someone who can.
The Genealogy Lock-In is on a day where 22 different libraries across Texas collaborate and provide a series of webinars and guest speakers. You can get a crash course on how to start your sleuthing. And if you are a genealogy pro you can still learn something new and interesting about research methods or DNA.
This year’s topics include webinars on researching slave ancestors, records from the Texas Land Office and Hispanic genealogy. There will also be special groups on hand to talk about membership in historical societies such as the Daughters of the American Revolution or the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.
Most importantly, this is one day a year where inter-library loan rules are thrown out the window, and all participating libraries will copy and send you any document you need that they may happen to have tucked away in their collection.
So make haste! While there is no registration or fee associated with this annual event, you need to know that it runs from noon to 11pm. The doors will “lock” at 6pm when the library closes. They are quite flexible though, so if you need to run out and return shortly, they will make concessions to let you back in.
Let the game commence! Remember, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, “Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man can invent.” Get to sleuthing and uncover your family’s mysteries.
Genealogy Lock-in Schedule > [codepeople-post-map]
