Society General Meeting

Saturday, May 10, 2008 2:00 p.m.

Tyler Public Library Taylor Auditorium

Program: Genealogists’ Guide to Open Roads

Speaker: Pat Gordon

Using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain records we need for research in our genealogy applies only to Federal agencies. However, you will find that some local and state governments may have their own similar freedom of information or privacy acts. Some of the commonly requested records for genealogy purposes using the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will be covered in today’s topic, Genealogists’ Guide to Open Roads. Our May speaker, Pat Gordon, will introduce you to open records, both federal and state. She will also provide information you need about which records are open and which are closed. And most important, she will tell you how to gain access to them. Knowing your rights is often the first step in gaining access to public records necessary for your research.

Pat Gordon holds a master’s degree in journalism from Texas Christian University and is a former newspaper reporter who now teaches journalism at a Fort Worth area university. Grounded in a variety of family research techniques, she has developed an unrivalled skill in presenting the in’s and out’s, and why’s and how’s of preparing, printing and publishing the dedicated researcher’s family history. She is a freelance writer, involved in working on her family history as well as a county history. As a fifth-generation Texan, she likes to place her ancestors in the social setting in which they lived. Consequently, her research often leads her away from courthouses to newspapers and university archives.

She served two terms as president of the Fort Worth Genealogical Society and one term as vice president and editor of the monthly newsletter. She has conducted numerous classes and sessions in various areas of family history and research techniques, and joined the Angelina College genealogy lecture staff in 2002.

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Computer Interest Group

Steve Pope, the fabulous speaker we had last January, will educate us about Internet Security - and for sure that is something we can all use in this day and time. Come with a prepared list of questions he will have a handout!

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