SGGS HISTORY

MEMBERSHIP

CALENDAR

SPRING WORKSHOP

PUBLICATIONS

DER BLUMENBAUM

LIBRARY

RESEARCH and RESOURCES

CONTACT US

HOME

Publications and Research

Der Blumenbaum - a 48-page award winning quarterly journal that is the sole reason that so many members who live outside the Sacramento area join SGGS. (More than half of SGGS' membership live so far from Sacramento that they cannot attend meetings - but they are eager to join so that they can receive Der Blumenbaum.) It is mailed (bulk mail unless other arrangements are made) to all members. Back issues are available for sale while the supply lasts. Photocopies of articles from back issues that are no longer available are also sold.

Der Blumenbaum offers SGGS members useful facts about German research, resource ideas, how-to instructions, down-to-earth tips, surname indexes, free queries, research techniques, translator lists, mentor contacts, German cultural background pieces and vignettes, many old German engravings and prints as appropriate, archive tips and information, historical facts relative to German family history research.

We hear these two comments frequently from SGGS member-subscribers: 1) "I learn something useful from every issue," and 2) "I read each issue from cover to cover as soon as it arrives."

Descriptive Catalog of German Research Resources - a 120 page catalog of the German research materials located at the Sacramento (Eastern Avenue) Family History Center. The Descriptive Catalog lists all books relative to German research (including related topics in other European countries), as many of the German subject films and microfiche as could be discovered, and pertinent materials on American research relative to discovery of the ancestral place of origin in European German-speaking locations.

It does not list films or microfiche with too narrow a focus to be of use to more than a very few researchers. Such resources can be searched for on the FHLC locality fiche, and ordered from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Each entry is located by subject (one entry may be repeated under more than one subject). The title (and translation if the title is in a foreign language); the author(s); the Dewey Decimal and the Cutter Numbers (if books), or film or fiche number (if microform); and a description of the contents of the resource are given for each entry. The Descriptive Catalog includes:

• A map to locate the Sacramento Family History Center (FHC)
• A diagram of the FHC floor plan
• 111 pages of German Research materials in over 70 subject
• An author index
• And is an incredible bargain at just $16.50

This publication can only be purchased in person at SGGS's monthly meeting. We are currently working to list it online at www.Lulu.com. We will activate a link here when it becomes available.

The German Card - a pocket research aid. The German Card, exclusively available from the Sacramento German Genealogy Society, is a handy new German research aid used to simplify German research in libraries and archives. It is a best seller around America since its introduction in the spring of 1995. It is intended to be carried in the German researcher's wallet at all times.

The SGGS German Card is a four-panel card, hinged and laminated, that folds up to the size of a credit card. Around the outside edges of the panels are the old script and Fraktur alphabets, showing both upper and lower case, arranged so that you can hold each letter directly under the German word you are trying to decipher.

The German Card is easy to order from the United States, Canada or overseas. You don't even need an order form. Just send

From a U.S. address:

1. a check for US$5.00, PAYABLE TO "SGGS,"
2. a stamped self-addressed business size envelope (SASE), and
3. your name and address (if your name and address are printed on your check, just write "German Card" on the memo line of your check and you won't need to include a note giving your name and address)

When ordering two or three cards from a U.S. address, please affix 55 cents in postage to your SASE. From a Canadian or overseas address: Please enclose a large self addressed envelope (SAE) and two International Postal Reply Coupons (IRC's) for the first card and one additional IRC for every additional set of two cards ordered.

Please send your SASE with a check (or an SAE and IRC's with payment in $US funds) to:

SGGS German Card
c/o Milt Kelly
210 San Carlos Way
Novato, CA 94945

Please don't forget: Keep the German Card in your wallet at all times!

The German Handshake Packet - letters of introduction to German speaking acquaintances from non-German speaking society members. SGGS has received many glowing reports from happy users ofthe German Handshake Packet following their return from researching theirancestors in German-speaking areas.

This packet is prepared by SGGS for SGGS members who are planninga trip to a German-speaking county, but who do not speak fluent German. The Packet's main features consist of two letters of introduction (travelers carry several copies of each), both written entirely in German. The first is a letter signed by the SGGS president, asking the letter's recipient towelcome the bearer as a valued member of the Sacramento German GenealogySociety. The other letter, signed by the SGGS member, introduces themember and relates that he/she is searching for ancestral information and willappreciate any suggestions or other assistance which the recipient of the letter might wish to offer.

Attached to this second letter is a personalized sheet of specific information about the ancestor whom the member is seeking, completewith their names, birth dates, birth places, places of residence in their homelands, and dates of emigration. Additionally, the packet includes an English translationof both letters for the traveler's sole use, and a list of instructions for using the Packet.

SGGS must receive all applications for German Handshake
Packets at least 30 days before departure.

To order the packet, click this link, SGGS Handshake Packet, and print a copy of the form for each immigrant ancestor and enter all information in block letters. Include your check, made payable to "SGGS," in the amount of $6.00 for the first immigrant ancestor. Add $4.00 for each additional immigrant ancestor. If you are not an SGGS member, you will need to add the appropriate membership fee as the letter signed by the SGGS President identifies you as an SGGS member.

Send your check and application at least 30 days before departure to

SGGS Handshake Packet
c/o Milt Kelly
210 San Carlos Way
Novato, CA 94945

Please send any questions or comments to sales