September is National Museum Month, so for week 38 of our Kansas sesquicentennial video series we’re focusing on our collections management system, Museum Plus.

Remember library card catalogs? These wooden cabinets, which contained records for every library book, video or magazine on a 4″x5″ card, are virtually obsolete and have been replaced with searchable online databases. Many museums, including the library’s collection of fine art and artifacts, are outgrowing these paper systems and converting years of collection records to digital database files. This will take time, but eventually you’ll be able to browse our art collection online.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7hX2Q1JzDI

About 52 for 150

Every object has a story, and stories build history. To celebrate 150 years of Kansas statehood we’re featuring 52 objects (or collections of related objects)—something new each week throughout the year—from the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library’s 130-year-old special, and permanent collections, that represent our collective state history and cultural diversity.

Our collections are available for teachers, students, researchers and general interest, and we hope this online video program will provide insight into what’s so “special” about Special Collections. Your library’s commitment to collecting art and preserving local history makes it possible for users today and in the future to have immediate access to invaluable research material and cultural artifacts.

Our Special Collections database is in development. For more information about its implementation progress, contact our Museum Plus coordinators Zan Popp, Collections Manager (785-4586 / zpopp@tscpl.org) or Brea Black, Special Collections Librarian (785-4512 / bblack@tscpl.org).

These are just a few of the stories Dianne Elrichs has uncovered while researching her family tree. She’s turned to the library’s print and online resources to narrow her search through what can be at times an overwhelming amount of information.

Dianne’s quest is made easier with specialized databases, like Ancestory.com and Heritage Quest, available for free with a library card. Read our Genealogy and Local History blog. Many of these sites can be accessed from home or wherever you are, while others, like Ancestry.com, are only accessible in the library.

Located on the second floor of the library is the Topeka Room, where librarians await questions from people tracing their families’ roots.

“Each day we help people find everything from local obituaries to historic happenings in Topeka to tracking down ancestors from across the globe,” said Charity Rouse, Public Service Specialist, Topeka Room and Genealogy.

From the pro to the novice, genealogists like Dianne benefit from the myriad of resources available at your library.

Dianne’s interest in genealogy started when she was in her teens. She learned that her grandfather went by Ehrichs – intentionally – for most of his life. It may have started in the Army and have been permanently adopted later to evade law enforcement during prohibition; Grandpa Ehrichs was likely a bootlegger (as speculated within the family), she said.

Today, with so much genealogical information available online, Dianne’s pursuit to find out more about her family has been reignited.

“I learned that you don’t stop looking for ancestors just because you’re not seeing someone with the right last name,” Dianne said, adding that Ancestory.com has a sound-a-like feature called Soundex, which accounts for typos and other mismatches – accidental or intentional.

She also said to crosscheck official records, which can sometimes be wrong especially back when everything was handwritten.

Of course it doesn’t help if one of your grandfathers went by a false identity.

In the 1980s, Grandpa Elrichs’ health started to fail.  A family reunion allowed him to see his long-lost sisters-in-law and other relatives, many of whom were descendants from his immediate family who had already passed. He had been estranged from his family for about 60 years.

“We found his family. When they said ‘we do miss you,’ all he could do was blink.”

Genealogical research has also turned up relatives who were imprisoned for being German spies but were not. They ran a flourmill in Logan, Kan. German immigrants who came to America in the 1880s, they refused to sign a loyalty oath to the U.S. So, the men of the house served time in Leavenworth.

The advent of the Internet also made it possible for Dianne to correct the facts about a dark moment in family history. Her great aunt Edith had a second husband who killed three of her children from her first marriage, whose names are omitted on some of the family’s historical documents.

Find your own way back through your family tree with help from librarians and the library’s collection of databases, periodicals and books.

Here’s a few books that helped Dianne with her genealogical search:

1. GENEALOGY FOR DUMMIES DEWEY- 929.1 HEL
2. CYNDI’S LIST VO1 1 AND 2 929.1 HOW
3. THE FAMILY TREE GUIDE BOOK TO EUROPE 929.1 FAM
4 THE SLEUTH BOOK FOR GENEALOGISTS 929.1 CRO.

All you need is your library card and a computer with internet access.

Here are a few reasons why someone might need to access Consumer Reports:

You and your spouse are talking about updating your kitchen appliances to more energy-efficient ones. Consumer Reports can help you identify which brands sell “green” products and how they stack up against the competition in price and quality.

Your wife wants you home more often. So, you decide your living room should have a TV on par with your favorite sports bar. Read about HDTVs in Consumer Reports before you go shopping. The knowledge you gain will help get you in and out of the store quickly before your wife changes her mind.

Your daughter is going off to college and you want her to have reliable transportation. Consumer Reports publishes credible reviews on the most reliable used cars – or new cars if you’re feeling especially generous.

It’s time for your business to update its computer technology. From iPads to desktop computers and everything in between, Consumer Reports has you covered.

Find reviews of home and garden and baby products too.

Try out the online version of Consumer Reports and see for yourself how easy it is to use. Go to the Digital Branch Library, www.tscpl.org. And, click on Research. There you will find a link to Consumer Reports. If you don’t see it, click on Databases A-Z and scroll down until you find the periodical.

Bookmark this resource for when you need to make the next big decision.

Don’t have internet? Don’t worry. Your library card lets you surf on the library computers in two-hour increments. Or we have the physical copy of Consumer Reports in our periodicals room.