From Attic to Archives: 4 Week Workshop

Join Stephanie Zimble and Cameron Smith for a 4-week workshop on personal history, genealogy, and preservation.

• Week 1 Personal History-- What to Save: Stephanie will provide a basic overview of personal archives and memory boxes. How do we decide what to keep? How should we begin to gather, protect, and preserve our family history for future generations? We'll talk about the pros and cons of digitization, how to make items accessible, and why we shouldn't keep our important papers in the attic. We'll also have a show and tell with neat local history objects and items!
• Week 2 Genealogy-- How to Use Ancestry.com and Other Resources to Find What You're Missing: Stephanie will share her personal story as an adoptee who used Ancestry.com DNA testing to find her biological family - and how you can use Ancestry.com and other online resources to gather up information that you can't find in your attic.  
• Week 3 Preservation-- How to Save It: Now that we've gathered the documents we found in our attic and we did our online research into our family tree, how can we preserve this information for genealogists of the future? We'll talk about best practices in archival preservation, reliable resources to get archival supplies, and how places like DIY labs can help you get started.  
• Week 4 In the DIY Lab with Cameron Smith: Join Cameron at the Cooper-Siegel D.I.Y lab and learn about the resources your library has to help you finish your personal archive project.  

When you register, you're registering for all 4 sessions. 

Stephanie is the head of technical services at the Oakmont Carnegie Library, where she has worked for 17 years. She has her MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh. When she's not at the library, you can find her selling vintage jewelry or reading tarot cards at pop-ups all over the city.