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Aimee Newell, the new executive director of the Luzerne County Historical Society, is eager to help the area’s genealogists.
That commitment has her looking at some possible changes for the society’s Bishop Memorial Library on South Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre.
“Our resources are fixed on how many hours a week we can be open,” she said. “So, should we shut down for a couple of hours and maybe be open 2 to 6 p.m. if more people would be able to come here? We want to try to make our hours more user friendly.”
Newell, who holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Massachusetts, has been on the job here just a few months. Her last post was director of collections at the Scottish Rite Museum and Library in Lexington, Mass., where she was a curator of historical materials.
She has other goals as well, such as finding a way to make the library’s photo file, now stored in big boxes, more readily available.
Another — a big one — is reaching out to communities and organizations far and wide.
“I’m interested in collaborating with other area groups,” she said. “I’m hoping we can build that up. My vision is to be a true Luzerne County historical society, to embrace the entire county.”
There’s more. Recognizing the purpose for which so many visitors these days walk through the door, Newell’s planning a genealogy workshop for August at the library, with its huge repository of local-oriented materials that genealogists find indispensable.
“It will be for people who are already in it or want to get started or who have questions on resources,” she said. “It will introduce people to our resources. We’re really excited to help people learn more about their families.”
The workshop will take place from 10 a.m. to noon on Aug. 12, a Saturday. There will be a fee, and reservations will be necessary because the library can accommodate no more than 10 or 12 people, Newell said. Details will follow.
Genealogical Society News:
The Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society has extended its research library hours for the summer. The library will be open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays of the month, June through September. It will be open for the regular hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the other Thursdays. It’s also open noon to 4 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month. There will be no DNA testing this month, but the testing will resume in July.
The library is on the grounds of the Hanover Green Cemetery, Main Road, Hanover Township.
News Notes:
Is a big change in store for the old Wilkes-Barre City Cemetery, where so many of the community’s earliest residents are buried? In a recent Facebook post, City Councilman Tony Brooks says he’d like to see the burial ground, now supervised by the city, taken over by the adjacent Hollenback Cemetery. Brooks is a member of the Hollenback board.
Ancestry.com, which tests saliva samples to determine a person’s ancestral DNA, has announced that it will no longer reserve the right to hold DNA from its customers perpetually, the BBC recently reported. The company, which has tested millions of people worldwide in recent years, had been criticized for the policy and now will remove the “perpetuity” clause from the contract with a customer and will “delete or destroy their DNA sample if they request it,” the company told the BBC.