1924: The Colorado Genealogical Society was organized years 10 before the opening of the National Archives and Records Administration opened in Washington, D.C., giving researchers their first access to census records.
1976: Publication of Roots: The Saga of An American Family reignited interest in genealogy and family history research. Several local genealogical societies including Columbine, Larimer County, Foothills and the Black Genealogy Research Group were organized.
2002: The 1930 U.S. census was released on microfilm and was available only at the 14 NARA archival research facilities across the U.S. Denver was among those NARA facilities.
2010: Experts wondered whether online services such as Ancestry. com and FamilySearch.org would replace genealogy societies. It turned out that genealogy groups could offer their members classes to use these resources successfully.
2012: The 1940 U.S. census was released online at Archives.gov, Ancestry.com, and FamilySearch.org but was not every-name indexed until January 2013.
2015: Some commentators noted that genealogy societies were losing members and questioned whether societies had outlived their usefulness. Societies would need to attract younger members to survive.
2018: The advent of DNA testing attracted younger people but they soon became discouraged with the results that listed hundreds of unknown cousins but no direct answers. Genealogy societies stepped in to explain the science and clarify the results.
2020: The pandemic forced in-person meeting places to close. Could societies survive if we could not meet in person? Survive and thrive they did, thanks to electronic Zoom meetings that allowed us not only to hear a speaker’s presentation but to socialize with other attendees.
You can be part of the future if you are willing to join a local genealogical society and support that organization by paying your dues and volunteering your talent to build a stronger organization.
Carol Cooke Darrow teaches Beginning Genealogy and facilitates the Write NOW family history writing group on Zoom. Register for classes at cogensoc.us.