Speaker: Sara Cochran

Grandma Said What? Gathering and Verifying Your Family's Oral History

Define what oral history is, talk about strategies to conduct family interviews and walk through the process of verifying a family story.

Speaker: Tom Steman

Tour and Exploration of SCSU’s Creativity Commons Digitization Equipment (Member's Only)

Have you been searching for a way to digitize your treasure trove of family documents, pictures, slides, movies, maps, and other genealogy materials? Or agonizing over what equipment to purchase? If so, you will be thrilled to learn about St. Cloud State University (SCSU) Creativity Commons that houses digitization equipment available to all SCSU staff, faculty, students, and all members of the central Minnesota community (that means you!). Use of this facility is free. It is located in the James W. Miller Learning Resources Center, 2nd floor west on the SCSU campus.

Join us for a tour! SCSU’s archivist, Tom Steman, will lead us on a tour of the equipment available for use. He will demonstrate how each machine is used. After the tour is complete, you will be able to try out the equipment. Bring one small project with you to get acquainted with the facility and the equipment. Once you get a taste of what you can do in this amazing facility, you will likely want to plan a follow up trip on your own.

When choosing the one small project to bring with you the day of the tour, keep the following things in mind and prepare properly to make it the best experience possible:

• Bring your laptop
  • The library has one laptop to loan out, but you can’t assume it will be available for you to use. SCSU staff, faculty, and students can use their STAR ID.
• Bring your own storage device
  • Base what type of storage device on the equipment you plan to use. Some of the equipment requires an SD card and others require a USB device. Refer to this link for equipment requirements: Digitization and Preservation - Creativity Commons - Research Guides at St. Cloud State University. Note that the equipment has a maximum size limitation for SD cards!
• Length of time to digitize
  • Keep in mind that some of the digitization takes a long time. For example, the VHS tape converter is in real time, so if you have a 3-hour movie, it will take 3 hours to digitize.
• Backup Plan
  • Some digitization equipment may be more popular than others, so consider having a backup project with you in the event that the machine you want is already in use.
• This is your project
  • Staff is available to demonstrate how to use the equipment, but then you complete your project on your own. Staff does not do digitization for you.
• Efficiencies
  • The FastFoto scanner digitizes stacks of photos, postcards and panoramas up to 8”x10”. To be most efficient, have your photos organized by size ahead of time to easily load each stack of same-sized photos in the hopper.

Registration is required for this special event and is open to SCAG membership only.

For additional information on the Creativity Commons, click on this link: Get Started - Creativity Commons - Research Guides at St. Cloud State University

For additional information specific to the Digitization labs within the Creativity Commons, click on this link: Digitization and Preservation - Creativity Commons - Research Guides at St. Cloud State University

Registration Deadline: Register no later than March 21, 2026.

Parking Options: The parking lot in front of the library is a pay lot. $1.50 per hour with pay stations that accept credit cards, paper money and coins. Suggested alternatives that have a set price of $5 on Sundays are: Miller Pay Lot, 400 6th St. S. 4th Avenue Parking Ramp, 516 4th Ave. S. There is also free parking on city streets several blocks awa.

Donation: The Creativity Commons accepts donations of materials. Please bring an item or items as a thank you for this special tour and use of their digitization equipment. Suggested items are: glue bottles, glue sticks, scissors, tape (all types), paper (all types), stickers, yarn, knitting supplies, thread, magazines, markers, pipe cleaners, crayons, colored pencils, Legos, adult coloring books, Sharpies, beading supplies, poster board, handheld vacuum, sewing machines.

Regiser at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creativity-commons-and-digitization-labs-tour-scsu-for-scag-members-tickets-1983229374446?aff=eemailordconf&ref=eemailordconf&utm_campaign=order_confirm&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eventbrite&utm_term=viewevent 

Speaker: Joel Dhein

Thousands of Minnesotans have Slovenian roots but know very little about their heritage. The first immigrants from Slovenia, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in South Central Europe, came to Central Minnesota in the 1860s. One local man will share his journey of finding his own Central Minnesota ancestors in Slovenia.

Joel Dhein will present “Tracing Slovenian Roots: The Andrejas Šimnič  Story” for the St. Cloud Area Genealogists in-person on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 at 7 p.m. at Stearns History Museum (235 33rd Ave. S., St. Cloud). The presentation will be available synchronously online and will be recorded for members of SCAG and registered guests. Dhein will share more about the life of Andrejas Šimnič  (AKA Andrew Schimnich), a Slovenian settler in northeast Stearns County about 1866, the unanswered questions about his life, and a journey to his homeland to find answers.

Joel Dhein was born and raised in St. Cloud and became interested in genealogy from the stories his grandmother told of her family. A retired city manager, Joel is a long-time member of SCAG and currently serves as treasurer. He lives in Mora with his wife and a cat.

Have you eer wondered why women's names can be so hard to find in historical records? This program explores the hidden and evolving presence of women in archival materials

The Upper Midwest Genealogy Institute returns to MGS 7-8 August 2026. Popularly known as UMGI—pronounced like “bungee”— it is a small, but intense, two-day institute-style program geared to experienced researchers who want to advance their skills. UMGI 2026 will focus on resources and strategies for 19th and early 20th century family history research—with an emphasis on families moving to or through the Midwest. This year’s program will blend lectures with small group student exercises that give attendees an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned. UMGI 2026 instructors include are J. H. Fonkert, CG, Jessica Fontana, and Elizabeth Williams Gomoll, CG. Registration is expected to open 15 March. Watch the March MGS newsletter and the MGS website for more information.

Hold the dates of 30-31 October on your calendar and plan to attend this year's conference at the Eagan Community Center.