San Antonio Genealogical & Historical Society

OPERATES AND MAINTAINS A GENEALOGICAL REFERENCE LIBRARY; PUBLISHED NEWSLETTERS AND UPDATES THE WEBSITE WITH NEW, RELEVANT INFORMATION; PRESENTS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND CLASSES IN PERSON AND OVER VARIOUS MEDIA; PUBLISHES BOOKS AND JOURNAL ON GENEALOGY; OPERATES AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM CENTER.

OPERATE AND MAINTAIN A GENEALOGICAL LIBRARY, OPEN 4 DAYS A WEEK, (25 HRS/WK; 1300 HRS/YR), /WK; 1300 HRS/YR), STAFFED BY 62 VOLUNTEERS. 369 RESEARCH VISITS BY MEMBERS AND NONMEMBERS. THE 62 VOLUNTEERS MADE A TOTAL OF 1712 VOLUNTEER VISITS LOGGING 5393 HRS OF VOLUNTEER WORK. DURING THE OPEN HOURS, VOLUNTEERS SERVED AS DUTY LIBRARIANS AND RESEARCH AIDES, ASSISTING LIBRARY USERS WITH THEIR SEARCHES OF LIBRARY BOOKS, DATABASES, AND LIBRARY FILES AS WELL AS ASSISTING THEIR RESEARCH WITH THE ONLINE TOOLS AND LEASED DATABASES. THE VOLUNTEERS PERFORMED A WIDE VARIETY OF TASKS DURING HOURS THE SOCIETY WAS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC, INCLUDING RECEIVING AND CATALOGING DONATED AND NEWLY PURCHASED BOOKS; SCANNING GENEALOGICAL MATERIALS; CREATING INDEXES; SHELVING BOOKS AND MATERIALS; MAINTAINING THE BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS; MAINTAINING THE COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS AS WELL AS THE WIFI SYSTEM; AND PROVIDING AND PARTICIPATING IN VOLUNTEER TRAINING. THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19 CAUSED A MUCH LOWER VOLUNTEER PARTICIPATION THAN PREVIOUS YEARS.

PRESENTED EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS WITH VISITING GUEST LECTURERS AND WITH EXPERT VOLUNTEERS AT SIX WHICH WERE DISTRIBUTED TO OUR MEMBERS WITH ADDITIONAL COPIES BEING SOLD TO NONMEMBERS. OFFERED OUR GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS WITH A TOTAL ATTENDANCE OF 237 PEOPLE (IN PERSON OR VIA ZOOM). TAUGHT MORE THAN 47 EDUCATIONAL GENEALOGY CLASSES DESIGNED TO ASSIST ATTENDEES IN LEARNING METHODS, TECHNIQUES, AND RESOURCE AVAILABILITY. TOTAL ATTENDANCE AT THE CLASSES WERE MORE THAN 300 PERSONS, BOTH MEMBERS AND NONMEMBERS. PRESENTED AN ANNUAL FULL DAY SEMINAR ATTENDED IN PERSON OR VIRTUALLY BY MORE THAN 82 INDIVIDUALS (BOTH MEMBERS & NONMEMBERS). HELD AN ANNUAL FOUNDERS DAY LUNCHEON TO HONOR DESCENDANTS OF FOUNDING BEXAR COUNTY FAMILIES. PROVIDED MEETING SPACE FOR SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS FOR MEMBERS & NONMEMBERS.

COMPILED AND DISTRIBUTED 10 NEWSLETTERS TO MEMBERS. PUBLISHED TWO OUR HERITAGE JOURNALS WHICH WERE DISTRIBUTED TO OUR MEMBERS WITH ADDITIONAL COPIES BEING SOLD TO NONMEMBERS. OFFERED OUR PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED BOOKS FOR SALE. CONTINUED WORK ON TRANSCRIPTIONS OF VARIOUS BEXAR COUNTY HISTORIC CIVIL RECORDS FOR FUTURE PUBLICATIONS. MAINTAINED A SOCIETY WEBSITE TO NOTIFY MEMBERS AND NONMEMBERS OF UPCOMING EVENTS SUCH AS SEMINARS, TRAINING SESSIONS, AND MEETINGS.