PROJECT TEAM UPDATE
by Rick Brown, MGS #1815
Summer is traditionally a slow time for MGS in some areas (no meetings) and busy in other areas (cemetery reviews, project team activity).
CURRENT MGS PROJECTS
- Cummin’s Map Indexing
- Member Submitted Genealogies and Pedigree Charts
- Indexing Local History Books
- Guardians of All Cemeteries Project
- Cemetery Transcript Updating
- KOHA transfer and upgrade
- WINPAP (Winnipeg Newspapers) indexing 1953 – 1968
- Resource Centre Upgrades
RESOURCE CENTRE UPGRADES: These have been ongoing with a number of the upgrades already completed. In particular, we have had the walls painted, the TV installed and being used to promote MGS services as well as for meetings, the picture hanging system is up and being used so we no longer will have walls with pins and tape on them, the high quality scanner has been purchased, installed and in use, and the MGS sign has been ordered and paid for—we are waiting for installation. The new sign will have our logo on it instead of the words MGS Family History. This should be helpful for new people who can never find us because they are looking for the Manitoba Genealogical Society and don’t know what MGS is! The last item on this upgrade list is new flooring.
EXISTING SIGN……………………………………………………………………………NEW SIGN……………………
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The Henderson Directory Alphabetical Index, and Municipalities data collection have been completed this summer. We will give you more details when they become available to MGS members which will be discussed in our September 16, 2023, MGS Council Meeting which is held from 10 am to noon. If anyone wants to attend as a “fly on the wall”, please contact vptechnology@mbgenealogy.com and request to attend the September Council Meeting as a visitor. You will be sent a ZOOM link. MGS members may make comments and recommendations at the meeting, but do not have voting rights.
HOW YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE
CEMETERIES: For those that enjoy getting out, there is still time to review and update our cemetery transcripts before the snow flies. Those small, rural cemeteries that only you know about are a great place to start. Make a picnic lunch, invite a friend, and get some sun and fresh air—with some quality genealogy time!
Our next Cemetery Committee Meeting will take place on September 13, 2023 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm. All MGS members are welcome to attend. Contact Shaun Hobson at cemetery@mbgenealogy.com to get the invite to the meeting, or to volunteer to review cemetery transcripts.
INDEXING: We always have indexing to do. This is when MGS volunteers take source documents, and index the the names to include in MANI. This can be done from the comfort of your home, or come in on a Wednesday from 10 am to 3 pm. That is when the Project Team “mans” the MGS Resource Centre, and works on MGS projects. It is a fun group and we have some experienced volunteers to guide you.
IT SKILLS: We need some volunteers to take the Project data and enter it into our Manitoba Name Index (MANI) database. This can be done from home or at MGS. Our non-techie volunteers know how to add new data to existing databases, but we need to create new databases for the new data that the project team has created. We have very limited volunteer-power for this type of task, so if you have some skills to help set up some new databases (we can upload the data), please contact vptechnology@mbgenealogy.com
