Let's Talk About Some Positive News

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of talking about negative things. And I imagine you're tired of reading about it. So, let's talk about some positive news from the Moultrie library.
Today we have long strings of little children walking our hallway, all the way from the parking lot to the Children's Library. Miss Norma is doing her children's programs again.
I must admit I'm very impressed with these little children. They walk with their hands held together behind their backs or their first fingers pressed against their lips. They are so quiet and polite and cute! Just makes a mother's heart melt. Makes our teacher's heart melt, too! The teachers need to be commended for caring so much for their children that the children return the caring right back to them.
Another event going on today is the taping of Veterans' interviews. Beau Sherman of South Georgia Governmental Services Authority has set up two interview stations in the Willcoxon Auditorium. Sam Hardin, a teacher with video and teleconferencing at the high school, brought the two interviewers, Dustianne Hall and Becca Evers. They have a list of prepared questions they are asking the Vets.
And speaking of the Vets, we have quite a nice list to interview. Several many of you know: Jack Bridwell, Hinton Reeves, Jim Kirk, Hoyt Whelchel, Jud McLean, Walter Harrison, Howard Hall, and a few others.
The interviewing is leading up to our Veterans' Coffee on Friday, November 13th, here at the library. But you should be able to watch the interviews on cablevision's CNS before then.
We have other events this month we're preparing for also. Like the genealogy workshop, "Tracing Your Roots," and the Genealogy Study Group. And don't forget, we've started a new Friends of the Library. They'll be meeting on Monday, October 26th, at 6 p.m. in the auditorium.
If we thought summer was busy, it wasn't. Fall is going to be much busier. Just watch us!!!

What Is A Life? Genealogy Tells!

We've been working on next month's displays and events, because next month is Family History Month. All this made me think how much it ties in with genealogy and digging up the past.
Lots of folks don't like to do that. However, there are many of us who do and because of that, October will be an interesting month here at the library.
But more about that later.
There is also a group of writers who meet here once a month. This month author Keith Taylor will talk to them about memoirs and how to write them. That's getting your past down in writing, even if you don't leave it for the whole wide world. But I bet your family will be interested in what you have to say. They'll be interested to see if it's the same as they remembered it.
If you need help in writing those memoirs, check out Writing Your Life Story by Bernard Selling (808.066S). We have a few other books along that line also.
I've always been interested in other people's lives, which make me a lover of biographies. If you check around in our bookshelves, you'll find a great many, such as these:
The Woman Said Yes: Encounters with Life and Death Memoirs by Jessamyn West (B West),
The Story of My Life by Clarence Darrow (B Darrow), and
Rebel Prince Memoirs by Louis Ferdinand (B Ferdinand).
Be sure you look in the Odom Genealogical Library also. There you'll find:
Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honorable Sir James MacKintosh (G16.4 MI, II) and
Memories by Robert Barr (G16.3B). And a great many more.
We have biographies of many famous people...Tennessee Williams, Gloria Vanderbilt, Liz Taylor, Norman Vincent Peale, Willie Mays, the Kennedys, Robert Frost, General Eisenhower, Martin Luther King, Jr., Princess Di, the Bush Family, and Alan Alda, to name a few.
We even have biographies of people just as interesting, but whose names you might not have heard of until you see them on our shelves. Interesting reading, all of them.
Maybe reading biographies will make you wonder if you should write your memoirs.
What is a life? Why not tell your loved ones about yours? Leave something for the genealogy buffs to enjoy.

Something Different For Valentine's Day

I know all those bloggers out there are writing about the upcoming Valentine's Day, and there will be plenty of blogs about hearts and flowers. But I'm going to tell you something different for this Valentine's Day.
There's a red-cover book highlighted on our February bulletin board. Valentine red. It's the book our genealogist, Irene, has selected as her book pick of the month. Just happened to have a red cover. But it has the longest title I believe I've ever seen.
The Directory of North American Railroads, Associations, Societies, Archives, Libraries, Museums and Their Collections. It has more than 1,600 listings. On the cover is a woodcut of a horse-drawn railroad car filled with people. Printed below the picture is "Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 1830."
So, my Valentine gift to you is to tell you a little about this book. And if you're a person who is interested in genealogy or trains or traveling, this just might be the book you're looking for.
The directory is a compilation of work by Holly T. Hansen, who received her BA in History at Weber State University. She's currently self-employed and serving the genealogical and historical community.
Ms. Hansen tells us that because of the tremendous love affair with trains and the wild frontier, we are able to enjoy a ride, dinner and entertainment on excursion trains, bringing the past to our
present.
The rail community preserved railroads and their records as best they could. But when many could no longer care for their treasures, they turned them over to libraries and archives or local
societies.
This directory will bring the rail community and its holdings to your fingertips. If you purchase one, it will make a nice travel companion. It is an incredible reference book.
Each listing is arranged alphabetically with a state/province index in the back of the book to help you locate resources geographically.
I took a trip on a train one time to see my brother. I traveled through four states in order to get to his home. That was one of the most pleasurable trips I've ever taken.
So, I'm inviting you to visit the Ellen Payne Odom Genealogical Library at 204 Fifth Street, Southeast, in Moultrie, Georgia. Ask our genealogist, Irene, if you can take a look at this book.
Tell her it has a red cover and was highlighted on the library's bulletin board as a February Valentine read.