March Meeting Presentation Will Focus on Use of University and Local Archives

At our March 20 meeting Joanne Riley, Archivist at the Joseph P. Healey Library, UMass Boston, will highlight the wealth of archived genealogical information that is open to the public for research. In her presentation entitled "Mining Family History Gold in University and Local Archives", Joanne will share examples of the archival collections at UMass Boston that are goldmines for family and neighborhood historians, including records from nineteenth-century social welfare organizations, mortuary records from the Massachusetts Catholic Association of Foresters, and the "Saturday Evening Girls" collection, which documents the young women in the North End in the early 1900's who helped create the highly valued "Paul Revere Pottery" style. In addition, Joanne will provide practical pointers for gaining access to the abundance of information preserved at other local and university libraries.



Joanne Riley

As UMass Boston's University Archivist and Curator of Special Collections, Joanne Riley initiated projects such as the "Massachusetts Memories Road Show", which works with local communities to collect and preserve residents' images and stories, including those of Brewster in 2008 and the "1919 Boston Police Strike Project", which invites community volunteers to help research the lives of the 1,100+ policemen who participated in that historic event. Joanne holds Master's degrees in ethnomusicology, academic technology and library and information science. She is deeply interested in family and local histories, from both a personal and professional perspective.

Our CCGS meeting will be held at the Brewster Ladies' Library, Rte. 6A, Brewster, on Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 10 a.m. Please consider arriving early for socializing and refreshments at 9:30.