This Letter to the Editor is from George White. Letters to the Editor represent the writers’ opinions and not necessarily those of Daily North Shore.
Letter to the Editor from George White: Late in the 1960s early 70s, genealogy was suddenly the most popular adult education course at New Trier High School having as many as 100 persons. Teaching the course were several local ladies, neighbors who had become friends while visiting the Newberry Library and archives in their ancestral New England. Margaret Falley published her book about researching in Ireland. Virginia Hunt and Betty White spoke at Detroit and Madison.
The teachers union for NTHS demanded that lecturers about genealogy be licensed and union members. But, these certified genealogists were high school ladies during the 1930s Depression. Their husbands and children were university graduate/professionals. Genealogists had by experience learned about documentation from original
records and the limits to libraries. Genealogists to pay union dues? Mrs. Fredricks, being a college graduate and school teacher, continued the adult education class until attendance dropped beneath school board requirements.
Meanwhile, Chicago was burning. Newberry Library was an island surrounded by spent needles tossed over their iron fence. C&NW commuter trains were shot at. North shore genealogists now car-pooled once a week to the Newberry.
Winnetka Public Library rescued the volunteer genealogy interest group. Classes. Cemetery inscription trips. Translating/indexing German Catholic church records (pre-first world war German manuscript). Name index for Andreas’ History of Chicago. Research from original documents for the Mayflower Society “5 Generations Project”.
During forty years the genealogy collection accumulated, based upon user inquiries, a superior set of texts (books, microfilm, micro filch …) and by heavy use has worn-out a fair number of reading machines. Thirty or more volunteers became NGS Certified Genealogists, qualified for undertaking professional tasks.
Trustees goal is for an All Digital library employing information technology professionals. Thus there shall be no genealogy volunteers. Present trustees will themselves be gone when some future board discovers that serious errors were made during 2014 – 2016.
Discard from the Winnetka Library is an undeserved end for a useful genealogy collection and its knowledgeable volunteers.