'The WPA Era: Free Records Boon from the Government'

Our October 13 meeting features the presentation, ‘The WPA Era: Free Records Boon from the Government’ by Paula Stuart-Warren, CG

During tough economic times in the 1930s and 1940s, government programs put many people to work. The Works Progress/Projects Administration created a goldmine of records that are useful for today’s genealogists. WPA record transcrip- tions, courthouse and manuscript inventories, indexes, city/county histories, and histories of businesses and families may exist for your ancestral locale. We will discuss many of those WPA creations, some of which you already use regularly, and where others may be found today. We will also discuss the online explosion of WPA materials.

Paula is an internationally recognized genealogical educator, researcher, and consultant who focuses on unusual resources, manuscripts, methodology, and analyzing records. She also specializes in Native American research, the WPA, and railroad records. She is a long-time course coordinator and instructor for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) and the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). She has her own educational website and blog at http://genealogybypaula.com. Paula is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, of the Minnesota Genealogical Society, a former officer of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and a former president of the Northland Chapter of APG. She has been a Board-Certified Genealogist since 1988.

PPGS members should receive an email invitation to the Zoom meeting by the day before the meeting. If you don’t receive it, check your spam folder, then message the webmaster.

Guests are welcome to attend the meeting via Zoom. Please request an invitation from PPGS President@PPGS.org