The Albuquerque Genealogical Society’s First Fifty Years:
A Retrospective (1972 – 2022)
Compiled and edited by Lynda Engle Katonak, Michael A. Blackledge, Stuart E. Murray, Michael L. Wilson
Preface
In this book we capture and compile the history and individual efforts of the first fifty years of AGS. We look forward with eagerness and anticipation to what the future holds, and we know that all members and librarians, past, present, and future, will appreciate what has been accomplished by so many as documented here.
Chapter 1: History of the Albuquerque Genealogical Society
The story of the first fifty years of the Genealogy Club of the Albuquerque Public Library, Genealogy Club of Albuquerque, and then Albuquerque Genealogical Society. Profiles of several officers, volunteers, and genealogy librarians are included.
Chapter 2: AGS Contributions to the Genealogy Center
From its conception, a primary objective of the AGS mission has been to support what has become the Genealogy Center of the Albuquerque Public Library. Every quarter over forty books are added to the permanent collection due to the largesse of the Society. The collaboration and cooperation between the Society and the Library over the years is examined.
Chapter 3: Fifty Years of Genealogy Programs
The heart of the Society is its monthly programs. Within the Society are beginning genealogists, intermediate researchers, and advanced researchers. The primary task of the program committee is to provide competent speakers who present programs that are neither too narrow in scope nor too simplistic or advanced. The topics for the monthly programs are designed to appeal to general needs, while beginners’ classes and special interest groups provide help with the narrow interests.
Chapter 4: Genetic Genealogy, DNA, and Related AGS Activities
AGS was first exposed to the power of using DNA in genealogy by a presentation at our regular AGS monthly meeting in April 2004, when Nancy Greenberg gave a talk, “Red Hair & Heart Attacks—What Is in Your Family Genes.” Since then, DNA has become more and more important to genealogy and AGS has responded with numerous talks, seminars, and classes to help members learn more about how to use DNA for their family research.
Chapter 5: Special Interest Groups and Research Consultants
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are collections of folks with similar interests. Over the 50 years of its existence, there have been many SIGs at one time or another under the auspices of the AGS. Some lasted for a few meetings, some have continued on for years. The previous chapter introduced the DNA SIG. This chapter includes detailed discussion of several more SIGs; many others that have existed over the years are mentioned briefly. All of the SIGs have the underlying theme of people helping people.
Chapter 6: Projects
One of the ways the AGS has contributed to the library and the community has been through projects led and conducted by member volunteers. This chapter summarizes some of the major projects accomplished by AGS members over the years, including indexes for the 1885 and 1910 New Mexico territorial censuses, an index and database for New Mexico death certificates up through 1951, and over 1,000 books digitized and made available on the Genealogy Center local area network (LAN).
Chapter 7: Genealogy, Technology, and the AGS
When the Genealogy Club of the Albuquerque Public Library was started in January of 1972, it was little realized how the world of technology would burst forth and vastly change the pursuit of genealogy. If you were to think back to those days, you might claim that there wasn’t much technology for genealogists to take advantage of beyond the magic of SASEs (self-addressed stamped envelopes) and the Dewey Decimal system. But not so! This chapter reviews the technology as inherited in 1972, how it has evolved over these amazing 50 years, and what AGS has to look forward to.
Chapter 8: Stories of Early Albuquerque
In 2013, as editor of the Albuquerque Genealogical Society Quarterly, Rosemary McNerney Winkler decided to start a series of stories about early Albuquerque families. The family stories in the series capture local perspectives of people from around the country and around the world. The collection of 33 stories has been compiled in a separate book, Stories of Early Albuquerque: As told in the Albuquerque Genealogical Society Quarterly, which was published in April of 2021 as part of the celebration of AGS’s 50th anniversary.
Chapter 9: The Quarterly Newsletter (1976–2021)
The story of how the newsletter evolved from a page or two with short notices of library and club activities to a 20-page, quality newsletter containing information about club/society activities but also many fine articles about a variety of topics of interest to members. A selection of articles from the Quarterly over the years is included.
Appendix 1: Those Who Led and Served
A list of all of the officers of the club/society over its first fifty years.
Appendix 2: Publications
In past years, the AGS published over 100 books with information of value to genealogists researching family in New Mexico, especially in Albuquerque. This appendix has a list of the books, grouped by subject area. They are now available for free on the Internet Archive.
Index of Names
See what’s inside! You can see the index at this link.
