Monthly Programs

Exploring US Military Records: Celebrating Veterans and America250
Date: November 05, 2026 Time: 06:30 PM to 08:30 PM

Exploring US Military Records: Celebrating Veterans and America250

To celebrate Veterans’ Day and continue our celebration of America250, come and explore U.S. military records.  This talk will illustrate the genealogical value of several types of military records, showing examples including draft records, service cards, headstone applications, and transport lists.  It will include a demonstration of how to find military records in major databases including Fold3, Ancestry and FamilySearch, which are available in the SVGS library.  

Genealogy Interest Group
Date: November 07, 2026 Time: 09:30 AM

Genealogy Interest Group

An informal gathering to connect with other researchers, share genealogy experiences and research strategies, discover new resources, and help each other tackle brickwalls.

Members Social and Genealogy Roundtable
Date: December 03, 2026 Time: 06:00 PM to 08:00 PM

Members Social and Genealogy Roundtable

6:00 - Potluck and Social Time
7:00 - Genealogists Around the Table - Tips, Tricks, and Triumphs

 

Upcoming Meetings

Exploring US Military Records: Celebrating Veterans and America250

Old Courthouse Museum - 2nd Floor

To celebrate Veterans’ Day and continue our celebration of America250, come and explore U.S. military records.  This talk will illustrate the genealogical value of several types of military records, showing examples including draft records, service cards, headstone applications, and transport lists.  It will include a demonstration of how to find military records in major databases including Fold3, Ancestry and FamilySearch, which are available in the SVGS library.  

Members Social and Genealogy Roundtable

Old Courthouse Museum - 2nd Floor Law Library

6:00 - Potluck and Social Time
7:00 - Genealogists Around the Table - Tips, Tricks, and Triumphs

 

From a Box in the Closet to a Treasured Family Heirloom

Virtual Meeting via Zoom. A link will be sent out prior to the program. Members will have access to a recording of the program and the handout after the Zoom meeting. Nonmembers may attend the Zoom session but will not have the recording or handout.

If you're overwhelmed by the collection of photos your family has accumulated, you're not alone!  After a brief history of photography, we look at organizing techniques, digitization basics, and options/ideas on what to do with your photos so they can be enjoyed by generations to come instead of collecting dust in a box.

Our speaker, Sara Cochran, is a full-time professional genealogist with more than 30 years of research experience.  Her research has taken her to nearly every state in the USA and Ireland.  She especially enjoys breaking down brick walls, discovering the stories of black sheep ancestors, and helping individuals preserve their photographic legacy.

Sara holds a Boston University Genealogical Research Certificate and a Bachelor's Degree in Library Science.  She is an alum of the ProGen Study Group.  She is a member of DAR and other lineage societies, the Association of Professional Genealogists, and ther Genealogical Speakers Guild.

Learn more about Sara at https://theskeletonwhisperer.com/.

SVGS Genealogy Seminar

SVGS Genealogy Seminar 2027

Faith Lutheran Church, 601 N. Cliff Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57103 Registration begins at 4:30pm on Friday, April 9. Programming concludes on Saturday at 4:30.

Over the course of Friday evening and all day Saturday, Sara Cochran, the “Skeleton Whisperer”, will help us develop strategies to trace our family “from ship to farm.”

Friday, April 9
4:30pm - registration and social time
5:30 - 7:30 Presentation
Saturday, April 10
8:00am - registration
9:00 - 4:30 Presentations