Meetings

SPECIAL EVENT - APRIL WORKSHOP SERIES - 4 SESSIONS

~Thursday, April 2, 2026 – Old Courthouse Museum – 2nd floor law library

Social hour beginning at 6:00 p.m. until 6:45 p.m. with desserts and beverages
Livestreamed beginning at 7:00 p.m. until approximately to 8:15 p.m.

• Registration cost is $30 for non-members (includes a 1-yr single membership with emailed newsletters) or $10 for existing members. This will include all 4 sessions.
• You may join remotely, but must be pre-registered. You will be provided a Zoom link prior to the presentation.

SESSION 1: A Baker’s Dozen: Easy Ways to Begin Writing Your Family History by Paula Stuart-Warren, Certified Genealogist, FMGS, FUGA.

Paula is a professional genealogist from St. Paul and delivers lively presentations tailored to the specific region and audience.

This presentation will focus on sharing and preserving family histories–the good times and the tough times. Beginning researchers will be inspired and motivated to discover and share stories that can help a future family member. Experienced researchers will discover strategies to package their research for future generations.

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~Thursday, April 9th – Old Courthouse Museum – 2nd floor law library

SESSION 2: FamilySearch – Navigating the largest genealogy database and guided research

SVGS is now a FamilySearch affiliate library! At our library, you will be able to search FamilySearch databases and access thousands of documents not available to you from home. Bring your laptop to explore FamilySearch and see how to dig deeper into the FamilySearch database. The Full-Text search is a gamechanger!

• Presentation from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Volunteers available from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. to assist researching also using SVGS collections and resources.

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~Saturday, April 18th – Siouxland Downtown Library (Sioux Falls)

SESSION 3: Getting the most out of Ancestry.com and uncovering your connection to the American Revolution

• 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 Noon

Have you subscribed to Ancestry.com but found yourself struggling to use it efficiently? Are you wondering if a subscription would be worthwhile? How can you find out if you have an ancestor who supported the American Revolution? Are there resources that you’re missing if you only do your research using online resources? This presentation will share strategies to effectively use Ancestry.com and other resources for exploring your personal connection to the American Revolution. *If you have an Ancestry subscription, please bring your laptop to try out the tips. There will also be a tour of print collections available to genealogists at 10:15 a.m.

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~Thursday, April 23rd – Old Courthouse Museum – 2nd floor law library

SESSION 4: Diamonds in the rough-the SVGS collections

• Presentation from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on how to use AI to transcribe handwritten and old newspaper documents

SVGS has compiled several unique collections to facilitate research in our region. Tours of the collections will show you where and how to search and access obituaries, cemetery records, Calvary Episcopal Church records, funeral home records, Dakota Territory Census and Marriage Records, Minnehaha County Probate Index, and more! You will also have access to specialized tools–such as a vertical scanner for scanning books and a microfilm reader/scanner to save images stored on microfilm.

 

 

 

Thursday, May 7th, 2026 – Old Courthouse Museum – 2nd floor law library

Social hour beginning at 6:30 p.m.  Presentation starts at 7:00 p.m.

From Russia to Dakota: The Amish, Hutterite, and Mennonite Journey

Presenters are Joan Mueller Peters and Lisa Mueller Howard of the Heritage Hall Museum & Archives in Freeman, SD.