Pember Presents: The Storycrafters

Join us at the Pember Library at 6 PM on Wednesday, August 26, when Barry Marshall, and Jeri Burns, PhD, will present stories and songs from the history of NY State. “The Storycrafters” will bring us tales ranging from Native American origins through Dutch and English colonization, Henry Hudson’s exploration, and the NY State tall tale tradition. Other stories may include: Abenaki stories, ghost stories, tall tales, NY State folktales, more!

Jeri and Barry believe in the time-tested wisdom of traditional stories, and share that wisdom with today’s audiences. They strive to honor world cultures by telling the old stories in respectful ways, often integrating the musical instruments, songs or dances indigenous to that region.

Well, I admit it; it’s all my fault.

I got busy with library inventory (Yay!!!, it’s done) and took a few vacation days. Not really a good excuse for not putting information out about a program.

Tonight we will be talking about Iroquois Indians in New York State. Margaret Tison will be joining us to tell us a bit about the Iroquois. We have a learning kit on loan from the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, NY.

There are several books on display in the library. As you can see, I thought about it a lot and got a bunch of stuff together. I just forgot to let everyone know when and where we would be doing the program.

Please join us this evening if you are able.

Aaron Gabriel, Extension Resource Educator for Crops and Soils from Cornell Cooperative Extension will present a program about composting.

The discussion will focus on home composting, with information on other composting systems (animal manure, food wastes, carcasses) as well.  He will cover how the composting process works, what can and can not be composted, how to set up bin system or home composting system, how to evaluate compost quality, how to use compost.  There will be a power point presentation and probably some samples of compost.

Where does your American past begin? HeritageQuest Online provides libraries with a unique and growing collection of research materials for genealogists and historians.

Join us at the Pember Library on August 12 at 6PM for a program on using Heritage Quest. This online database is available to the Pember Library through the generosity of the Friends of the Pember Library. Beginning and professional genealogists can use this powerful online resource to trace family histories and American culture from the convenience of their home or at the library.

Many distinctive and invaluable sources of information can be found within HeritageQuest Online. This is a growing collection which at this time includes:

Genealogy & Local History Collection (Books) of over 20,000 book titles, including nearly 8,000 family histories and over 12,000 local histories, in addition to more than 250 primary source documents such as tax lists, city directories, church and probate records, and more.

1790-1930 U.S. Federal Census with complete original images, plus many head-of-household name indexes;

Periodical Source Index (PERSI), a comprehensive searchable subject index covering more than 6,300 genealogy and local history periodicals written in English and French (Canada) since 1800; and

the Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files,

the Freedman’s Bank records (1865-1874) and

the Lexis Nexis® U.S. Serial Set contains House and Senate documents, such as Private Relief Actions, Memorials and Petitions from 1789-1969.

HeritageQuest Online gives us the opportunity to tap into one of the largest collections of genealogy material in the country. We will show sample searches from each of these collections to give you an idea how it works and take some questions from the audience as time allows.

Story Time on Thursday nights will feature Tall Tales and flannel board stories. All children welcome with their caregivers.