Sac History Happenings: A family history writing contest

Sac History Happenings

News and developments in Sacramento and California history

March 18, 2011

A family history writing contest

Here's motivation for finishing that family chronicle you've been meaning to write. Enter Root Cellar's Family History Writing Contest.

The Sacramento Genealogical Society is looking for "factual articles about family or local history, character sketches, or memoirs. Submissions should relate the experiences of a family or individuals, revealing their character and personality. The best entries will display the human drama and historical or social situation of the subjects."

Entries should be 500 to 2,000 words in length and may include images or documents, though the judges consider only writing for this contest. See complete description of prizes and contest rules. The deadline for submissions is April 30. Winners will be announced by May 25. For more information, contact Ron Setzer, PreservesEditor@macnexus.org.

To help get you started, here are Ten Easy Steps to Writing Your Family History from Ancestry Magazine.

UPDATE: Winning essays announced (May 24, 2011)

* * *
Root Cellar is also sponsoring a 1-day class in which participants will learn a variety of online tools for researching ancestors. Guest instructor is Geoff Rasmussen, genealogist with Legacy Millennia Corp.

Root Cellar Spring Seminar
April 9, 2011. 9:00-3:45 p.m.
Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church
11427 Fair Oaks Blvd.
Pre-registration required (use this online form)
$22 - Root Cellar Members
$27 - Non-Members (application on website)
$32 - After March 31st
Lunch optional - pre-order only - with registration
For more information:
Sammie Hudgens (916) 481-4930
Billie Helms (916) 991-5971
www.rootcellar.org

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California and Sacramento have a long, rich, vibrant history. And our region is blessed with an abundance of historical resources maintained by museums, libraries, archives and societies. This blog aims to alert readers to the latest developments in local/state historical education and research.

Send tips concerning upcoming exhibits, tours, lectures and meetings, as well as new books, magazine articles and online collections to the blog's contributors.

The Contributors:

Michael Dolgushkin

Michael Dolgushkin is Manuscript Librarian at the California State Library History Section. He is co-author of San Francisco's California Street Cable Cars and is a frequent contributor to the California State Library Foundation Bulletin. Contact him at mdolgushkin@library.ca.gov.

Amanda Graham is a Certified Archivist working in the Sacramento Room of the Sacramento Public Library. She earned a BS in History from Southern Oregon University and a MS in Information Studies with an emphasis in archives from The University of Texas at Austin. Contact her at agraham@saclibrary.org.

Pete Basofin is Director of Editorial Research at The Sacramento Bee. He previously worked at The St. Petersburg Times and Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune. Contact him at pbasofin@sacbee.com.

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