The Value of a Library Card - St. Louis

Post updated from 2015

I conduct a lot of genealogy research from the comfort of my home computer. One of the key resources I use is my St. Louis County Public Library Card. (Other library systems, as well as some genealogy societies, provide similar resources for their users.)

Here's a sampling of databases I can search/browse from the comfort of my home, for free (complete list) I have indicated the subscription price I'd have to pay without the library card

Databases I could subscribe to as an individual

• NewspaperArchive.com ($75/6 mos)
• AccessibleArchives: ($90/year)
• African American Newspapers 19th century
• A Newspaper Perspective
• Newspapers.com ($45/6 mos)
• I am assuming that the ProQuest library edition is similar to the Newspapers.com Basic subscription
• Fold3 ($80/year)

Databases only available to libraries and other institutions - not by individual subscription

• Fire Insurance Maps Online
• HeritageQuest Online
• Newsbank: St. Louis Post Dispatch (1981-Current) 
• Newsbank: Access World News (1978-current) 
• Newsbank: America's Obituaries
• ProQuest: Historical New York Times (1851-2011)
• ProQuest: Historical St. Louis Post Dispatch (1874-1922)
• ProQuest Digital Microfilm - St. Louis Post Dispatch 1989-Present
• Gale Group: Nineteenth Century US Newspapers
• EBSCOhost: Academic Search Elite (1985-current)
• EBSCOhost: AAS Historical Periodicals Collection (1684-1912)
• HistoryGeo (searchable database of 12.3 million names connected to land ownership maps covering the 29 public land states and Texas)

And while I can't access it from home, it is available to me at the library:

• Ancestry Library Edition ($99/6 mos)
• American Ancestors ($95/year)
• FindMyPast ($129/year)
• Archion (baptisms, confirmations, marriages and burials for Protestant churches in Germany. 16th-19th century) $200/year (at current Euro to $ rates)

So calculating only the databases which I could purchase access to as an individual, I am saving $1,127/year with my library card. Then there are the databases I can't purchase access to as an individual.

I know I am lucky to live in St. Louis, as not every library has equivalent resources. However, if you don't check, you won't know what your library has to offer.

Amanuensis Monday: Simon Cruvant breaks his leg - 1889

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

Today I transcribe a newspaper clipping describing a horse and wagon accident a brother of my second great grandfather was involved in. This clipping was found on Newspapers.com

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At 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, while Simon Cruvant, a Russian peddler, was driving a horse attached to a wagon on Broadway, near Koeln street, the shaft of the wagon broke, causing the horse to run away. Cruvant was thrown out of the wagon and had his right leg broken and received other injuries. He was sent to the City Hospital. Cruvant is a married man, and lives at 1122 North Seventh street.

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Horse-wagon accident involving Simon Cruvant Fri, Oct 25, 1889 – 5 · St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, Missouri) · Newspapers.com
Notes:

1. Samuel "Simon" Cruvand (1841-1895) would have been 48 years old at the time of this incident, with four children. His brother, Moshe Leyb Cruvant, was my second great grandfather. The family came from the town of Kruvandai in Lithuania, and different branches spelled the surname differently. At least five different phonetic spellings have been used by those who settled in the US: Cruvant, Cruvand, Kruvant, Kruvand, and Kroovand. I believe the 'Cruvand' spelling may no longer be in use. This is the second oldest newspaper article mentioning one of my paternal kin I have currently found.

Amanuensis Monday: Play Ball! - Junior Baseball League 1914

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

Today I transcribe a newspaper clipping listing the teams of a municipal junior baseball league from 1914. While I don't know any of the youth on the teams, one of the teams appears to have been sponsored by my second great grandfather, and/or a combination of his sons. This clipping was found on Newspapers.com

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St. Louis Globe Democrat
19 April 1914 Page 47

Junior League Will Meet Monday Night

The Junior Baseball League umpires, managers and captains of teams will meet in room 304 City Hall Monday evening at 8 o’clock. General instructions will be given in order that a thorough understanding between all will be had. The league is composed of ten teams: Day Ice Cream Company, Welsbach Company, H.N.’s, Lamoth Piano Company, Newmark Tailors, Claxton Juniors, Rock Islands, Majestic, A.C. Empires and American Steel and Foundry Company.

The Schedule Committee will meet Tuesday to arrange schedule and all necessary details for the opening of the season, which will be Sunday afternoon April 26, as follows: Preliminary games on grounds No. 8, Forest Park; grounds 2 and 4 at fair grounds and a double header at O’Fallon Park grounds No. 1. The double-umpire system will be in use at all games. All teams have strong line-ups and the public should witness some of the most interesting games in the Muney League on Sunday afternoon during the season.

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Notes:

1) My second great grandfather, Samuel Newmark and his family immigrated to St Louis 1908-1909. Samuel and his sons Sol, Barney, and Max were all tailors. I can’t imagine they had any experience with baseball as a sport in Poland or England (where they lived for 15 years before immigrating to St. Louis.). However, they were sponsoring a team, not playing. From other articles I know  the players were age 14-16, and there were no Newmarks of that age in 1914.

Amanuensis Monday: The Education of Herman Feinstein

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

Today I transcribe a newspaper clipping mentioning a great grandfather's schooling. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat has recently been added to the digitized holdings at Newspapers.com. Born in 1886, my great grandfather Herman Feinstein was 15 years old in 1901.

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St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 17 April 1901, page 9. 
JEWISH ALLIANCE SCHOOL
Closing Exercises Held Last Night at Jefferson Building.

The closing exercises of the Jewish Alliance night schools, at the Jefferson school building, at Ninth and Wash streets, were held last night under the direction of Prof. Emil Mayer, the principal. An attractive program was presented. It was opened by a song, “The Flag of the Free,” sung by the school. Recitations were presented by Ida Gellman, Louis Lambrakis, Ralph Goldman, Simon Shipper, Fannie Brenholz, Beckie Herman, Jacob Frelich, Annie Hall, Ike Stern and Mary Fridkin; orations by Sam Shor and Sam Shipper; dialogue by Esther Sherman, Sadie Greenspan, Carrie Dubinsky, Jenny Mason, Herman Feinstein and Jacob Rosenblatt; debate on “Resolved, That education should be compulsory,” by Emil Goldstein on the affirmative and Simon Ludwig on the negative; a song, “The Linden Tree,” by Fannie Brenholz, Rose Alberstein, Jennie Mason and Sam Shor; essay by Harry Singman, and the song, “Good Night,” by the school. A number of prizes were distributed by Rabbi Samuel Sale, and short addresses were made by Rabbis H. J. Messing and Moritz Spitz.

The enrollment for the term, which began in October, was about 350. Six assistant teachers were employed, Misses Sophie Barron, Rose and Minnie Kahn and Fishell, Isaacs and Goldberg. The school is maintained by the Associated Jewish Charities for purpose of affording opportunities for acquiring an education to the younger Jewish element of that locality who are employed in the daytime. It is under the management of a board of directors, the officers of which are Elias Michael, president; Louis Bry, Vice President; Albert Loth, secretary, and Isaac Schwab, treasurer. The next term of the school will begin in the new building that is being erected by the Jewish Charitable and Educational Association at Ninth and Carr streets. The new building is a three-story structure, 150x50 feet in area, and will cost upward of $40,000.

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Notes:

1) Closing exercises doesn't necessarily mean graduation. From the description it appears all students at the night school participated, and there is no indication which students would be returning the following term. From this article I know my great grandfather in 1901 at age 15 had a job during the day and was receiving the equivalent of a secondary education at night. I also have insight into the type of education he was receiving.

2) I wonder if the presentation category of "Dialogue" was similar to the "Dramatic Interpretation" or "Duo Interpretation" categories in modern Speech and Debate competitions.