Events

Years of history and tradition are contained in the food we eat every day. Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with food, community, and conversation. Enjoy a selection of small plates created by Daisy Chuskul, chef and owner of Bangkok Inn, a family-owned restaurant serving Dallas since 1982.

With Memorial Day fast approaching, it's time to research your ancestors who served in the military. Fold3 is a database specializing in historical military records and is available to use from home with your Dallas Public Library card. During this program, our genealogy specialist will show you how to effectively navigate the database (including how to find all the amazing non-military sources), how to use the search tools, and how to memorialize your military veteran ancestor.

Camcorder tapes, VHS, VHS-C, 8 mm film - the opportunities to make home movies in the 20th century seem endless. Now, it ends up being hard to find the equipment to view your forgotten treasures and harder still to digitize it for free. Join Genealogy & History Manager Stephanie Bennett to learn about the ins and outs of family movie digitization and how the Heritage Lab.

Are you wanting to learn more about your Hispanic heritage? Members of the Hispanic Organization for Genealogy and Research (HOGAR) de Dallas will be on hand to help you with your research.

Ephemera is a fancy word for items that were intended to have a temporary nature, often hand-written and disposable, that have persisted through the years. This could include postcards, ticket stubs, and other items you might find in a scrapbook. Utilizing ephemera can help deepen our family histories, provide visual and/or other context to a location or culture, and make tangible memories we might not have lived ourselves. See real-life examples of how ephemera helped bring a family history story back to life.

The sound of a loved one's voice = irreplaceable family memories. Learn how to digitize and preserve your audio recordings stored on cassette tapes, microcassette tapes and LPs. Hear from one of Dallas Public Library's librarians on how to edit your audio, and share your precious family memories using the Heritage Lab located on the 8th floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library.

Jeanette Sheliga will speak at the next Genealogical Society meeting about “Creating a Locality Guide.”

Even the best researchers struggle to stay organized—whether its records you can’t remember the origin of, forgetting which sites you have already checked, or keeping track of those minute details about individual ancestors and relatives, organization is key.

If you've never taken the plunge to look into your family's history, this program will help you know how to get started! Genealogy & History staff take you back to the beginning with step-by-step instructions on how to get started researching YOUR family's history. Learn how to set reasonable goals for your research, how to create an online tree and how to navigate popular genealogical websites.

The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is the premier subject index for genealogy and local history periodicals and is searchable by name, locality and subject. In 2022, the PERSI database moved and is now FREE and indexed through Allen County Public Library's world-class Genealogy Center. Learn how to search this family history treasure trove and how it can enhance your genealogy research.

Learn to develop and follow a research plan, keep a research log, cite your sources, and write up your conclusion. You'll be amazed how this can improve you efficiency and effectiveness.