• Saturday, April 14: Learn the Basics
• Saturday, April 21: Ancestors in the Census
• Saturday, April 28: Find New Resources

All sessions will be held from 10:30am – noon in the Hamon Room on the 5th floor of the Dallas Public Library downtown, 1515 Young Street. For more information, click here.

A syllabus for each session, plus other useful resources and web sites, will be posted to the DGS web site sometime closer to the dates.

Registration is required… attendance will be limited to 20 people, so register today by clicking here!

Of course, for as little as $35 a year you could have these sent directly to you as email… why not go to the Membership page and  join today to support this web site and all of the other activities of the DGS?

It has been added as a link on the National/International page in the Resources section on the DGS web site.

Serving on the Board is very rewarding, allowing you to work with a great group of motivated people to further the cause of this field that we love so much.

I know from personal experience, having served as Secretary for the current term.  I was a novice on two levels-I had never been secretary of an organization and was new to the field of genealogy research.  Serving on the DGS Board taught me many new things about both areas.  We are an organization of very talented people who are more than willing to share their knowledge and experience.

Do your interests coincide with one of the following positions? Can you recommend someone who would be a great fit for one of them?

President
VP of Fund Raising
VP of Education
VP of Membership
VP of Journal
VP of Newsletter
Treasurer
Secretary
VP of Publicity
Director of Sales
Director of Mailings
Director of Publications
Director of Volunteers

Please contact the DGS with your recommendations via email (secretary@dallasgenealogy.org), voice mail (1-866-YOU2DGS (866-968-2347), or USPS (PO Box 12446, Dallas, Texas 75225-0446).

The Committee appreciates your participation in the process of choosing people to lead our organization for the coming year.

Carolyn Davis, Chair, Nominating Committee
Alvin Harper
Jean Larson
Neal McEwen
Garland Vinyard

The board of directors is currently engaged in thinking seriously about the future direction of the Society. This will culminate in an all day planning conference that will be held on January 22.

Got an idea or a suggestion? Post a reply to this or contact any member of the board (you can compose email and send it to any board member using this link).

I was elected Secretary for 2010 just a few months after joining DGS.  I was very glad to allow my name to be nominated and looked forward to contributing to the Society.  What I didn’t totally appreciate, however, was the learning curve.  I had never served as secretary of an organization before so I didn’t know how much there was to know, if that makes sense.  The first couple of months were a little bewildering – I wanted to do a good job, but wasn’t really sure what a good job consisted of.  I had copies of the Bylaws and Operations Manual and advice from our President, all of which were valuable, but a mentor would definitely have helped to ease the transition.

Changing DGS’s operations year to a September-August cycle is, from my point of view, an excellent idea.  Being able to work with the outgoing Secretary for three months before taking full responsibility for the position would have helped me “hit the ground running” instead of my taking those first, hesitant baby-steps.

I ask the membership to consider fully the need to make these Bylaw changes.

Mayor Leppert made a few introductory remarks, reiterating his opinion that raising taxes at this particular time will result in Dallas’s losing its competitive edge; that we have to look long term at the bigger picture of economic development.

One of his points actually makes the argument for a fully-functioning Central Library.  He spoke about the importance of “nurturing” new and small businesses in Dallas as part of the city’s economic development plans.  I have also read that new business startups in general are on the rise because people who can’t find work are starting their own businesses in order to earn a living.

Where does a new/small business owner in Dallas go to learn about starting and operating a small business (such as home-based genealogy research, graphics/photo restoration, or writing and publishing)?   How does he/she find financing advice, utilize expensive research sources and tools, or learn how to market and advertise?  They go to floors 3 through 8 of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library.  The City Budget as proposed will restrict access to this vital small business resource at a time when people need it the most.

At the  Budget Town Hall, Assistant City Manager A. C. Gonzalez spent a few minutes reviewing the proposed new budget, but the majority of the meeting was devoted to remarks from audience members and Q&A with Angela and Sheffie.  Although Mayor Leppert spoke out against a tax increase, Council members Hunt and Kadane were more responsive to those in attendance who brought up the possibility of a tax increase.  Angela provided the following stats – Dallas’s current residential tax rate is 74.79 cents per hundred dollars of property valuation.  Each 1 cent increase in the tax rate would raise $8 million dollars in revenue.

At the end of the meeting, Angela and Sheffie polled the audience on their willingness to accept a tax increase.  The vote of hands appeared to be 2/3 for an increase and 1/3 opposed.  Quite a positive response, I think.

The City Manager and City Council have spent the last few years working to reduce the  expenses side of the ledger.  I believe that for the coming budget year they should look at the revenue side.

Topics included a primer on German history, German language and handwriting skills,  German-American newspapers, plus published sources and online archives.  A bonus is this list of links to web sites suggested by Mr. Humphrey in his seminar which DGS has posted to our web site:   2010 German Institute

For those who attended, DGS would like your feedback.   Did y’all enjoy the workshop?  What was the most interesting thing that you learned that you didn’t know before about German genealogy research?  Do you have any suggestions for the Society to improve future Institutes?

Thanks for talking…