Genealogy
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Retreat
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Mid-Continent Public
Library Branch Manager, Retired
Biography
Biography Mary Celeste retired from Mid-Continent Public Library in May of 2007 after twenty years of service there, most recently as the Branch Manager of the Boardwalk Branch (Platte Co, Missouri). She holds an MLIS (Masters Degree in Library and Information Science) from the University of Missouri/Columbia. Her BA is in education and she is a former elementary teacher, with many years of experience in volunteering with youth programs.
Mary currently serves as: registrar for two local lineage society chapters; Chair of the Missouri State Genealogical Association’s "First Families" Program; past member, American Library Association’s Local History (chair) and Genealogy Committees; past president, Northland Genealogy Society; member recruitment chair, Heartland Chapter, Association of Professional Genealogists; member, Genealogical Speakers Guild, and numerous genealogical and historical societies. She is chair of the History, Education, and Archives Committee for the Banneker School Restoration Foundation, organized as an effort to restore a segregated elementary school built in 1885 in Parkville, Missouri and to create an opportunity for visitors to learn about segregated education in the American South. She served as a member, National Genealogy Society’s 2008 Conference Local Arrangements Committee and co-chair, Local Events Committee. She is an active advocate for passing our passion for heritage on to our youngsters, and currently serves as a Genealogy and American Heritage Merit Badge Counselor for the area Boy Scouts and has led an intergenerational family history group project for the local 4-H. She is a 2003 alumna of the National Institute for Genealogical Research at the National Archives in Washington , D.C. She presented at the National Genealogical Society’s annual conference in May 2008 and the Federation of Genealogical Society’s “Librarians Day” in August of 2006, as well as numerous other state and local venues.
Web Information
Session Information: Hats Off to Our Ancestors!: A Light-Hearted Salute to Lineage Societies In this presentation, the speaker uses a variety of hats to pay tongue-in-cheek tribute to our ancestors and the lineage societies they inspired. The program is organized in rough chronological order of the development of the United States. Societies are grouped by nobility, colonial, patriotic, pioneer, witchcraft, "saintly", etc. Participants should plan to be entertained and enlightened, but will be disappointed if they are expecting a scholarly presentation. The speaker has compiled a list of hundreds of societies, certificate programs (more commonly known as "first families"), and lineage research projects. While not intending to publish this list at this point, the speaker will be happy to provide participants with an electronic response outlining possible societies which correspond to locations or events in which their ancestors participated. Hanging Out the Dirty Linens – Learning to Love Your Less-Than-Perfect Ancestor If your “family history” consists of names, dates, and places only, you may have missed out on really getting to know some interesting characters. This presentation is meant to inspire you to roll up your sleeves, dust off your resources, call your cousins, and get back in the research mode. Don’t be disappointed if your ancestors weren’t all as ideal as you had imagined - it’s a lot more fun to find “colorful” ancestors, and I expect you’ll find many whose lives, if not famous, were at least remarkable. Making Plans for a Successful Genealogy Research Trip Weeks and months before you hit the road for that long-anticipated genealogy research trip, you've got a lot of preparations to make to insure that you will have a successful experience. This program gives you tips and tricks so that you'll arrive bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to work, with no regrets for the essential tools you left behind. Whether you plan to go alone or with a group, on a plane, on a train, or in a car, and to a major family-history mecca or the little town where your great-grandfather was born, you'll have everything you need to grow your family tree. |
