Report for Dauphin Branch of MGS – February 14, 2024
Submitted by Virginia Fox, President, Dauphin Branch
Dauphin Branch of MGS is working at the moment on a display that will be part of the Dauphin Heritage Fair. This fair is held each year in the Dauphin Mall and there is a very large display of various points of interest which folks come to see and to learn from. Our area here in North Western Manitoba is chock full of families who have descended from early pioneers, encompassing businesses of all description that kept the early settlers supplied, many of whom had very little money, but very likely learned to work together and to trade, in order to survive, as well as to progress.
Our group has participated in this annual “show case” for several years and has always come away with greater understanding of why we work on genealogy.
We, as part of a genealogical society, can utilize our study and research that we have ready access to as members of the Provincial group known as the Manitoba Genealogical Society. Because of what we do in assisting people who wish to organize their own records of their family descendants, we are able to work into any theme that the Heritage Society chooses each year. This year they are recognizing the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
This is a great theme to work on for us, because it is directly related to family history and stories that people treasure within their own records. We are so pleased to be able to put together a display this year of Canadian men and women who dedicated their lives during the war years, and specifically World War II , as that is the focus that we chose to work with.
Sometimes it is difficult for people to grasp what we do as a society and we hope to help visitors to our display to recognize that there are no wrong ways to do their own records. We just want to illustrate to them the power of stories, backed up by accurate records of birth, marriage, and death dates and places, including places of burial and where their homes were. The most important thing for folks to learn is that they must start with themselves.
There are many displays every year and sometimes there is not quite enough space on a single table to be able to sit down and talk with people as we would like to do and also to help them in the initial stages of their work. However, this initial contact with people can lead to workshop topics of interest for our group.
Many people are much more expert than we are, but always come to pay us a visit and to encourage us to keep up this work. We look forward every year to this winter fair at the mall and hope that we can help many people to keep working to capture the stories of their own families.
We have members who will be taking part in the quilting and some with the farm machinery and even some who work to help set up and keep this event running every year for the Heritage Society. “There is power in working together” in order to make a great impression for the future. We have school children who come to visit and write us notes of thanks.
The dates for the Heritage Fair are February 16th and 17th.