Donations

Please support the educational goals of St. Clair County Genealogical Society, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. We are grateful for our volunteers’ donations of time and talent, and your monetary donations in any amount. Read about acquisitions and accomplishments made possible by donors and members at large.

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DONATE TIME OR TALENT

Donate time or talent

Volunteer

Our long-distance members can share time and talents with “the locals.” Projects can be tailored to match your needs.

Some areas you can help: word processing and/or spreadsheet software knowledge, indexing, transcribing, scheduling lectures, project oversight, tombstone readings, provide photocopies, translate German into English, or volunteer to serve on our Board or as an assistant.  Contact us.

Write

Articles for our Quarterly or a short quip for our eNews are welcome. Not a writer? Leave the editing to us. The member site posts examples and guidelines. Not a member yet? Contact our editors here.

DONATE USED GENEALOGY BOOKS

Donate used genealogy books

We thank you for considering SCCGS as the recipient of a genealogy collection. All of SCCGS’s holdings are at the Belleville Public Library (BPL) Archives which limits what SCCGS can accept and disperse. While none of us wants a genealogy “gem” forgotten, SCCGS has only a limited number of volunteers able to pick up, inventory, store, and oversee placement of donated books. With your help, SCCGS will be able to accept the books under the following guidelines (effective November 2020).

  • Periodicals are not accepted. Only soft cover or hardcover books are accepted.
  • The family or donor must
    • Type and email a list specifying each book title/ author/ year published, and general condition to
      the sccgsoffice@stclair-ilgs.org (so that the library can adequately identify each book)
    • Email a letter of donation specifically stating that the family “grants SCCGS the authority
      to use and/or dispose of the materials as the Society deems best.”
    • Please note that this process might take 2 to 4 weeks before SCCGS is ready to accept the books.
    • Note also that duplicates of books already on the BPL shelves will be dispersed as SCCGS sees fit.

Once the above two (2) emails are received, the SCCGS Publications Distribution volunteer will coordinate a time for the family/donor to deliver books to SCCGS at the storage unit in Belleville at a prearranged time. The Publications Distribution manager will verify the books received are those on the list.

PUBLISH YOUR FAMILY HISTORY

Publish your family history

Your family history research deserves to be compiled, printed, and bound  in book form for SCCGS’s holdings at the library. Length is of no concern and your word processing or genealogy software are great tools to help you accomplish this labor of love.

Compiled genealogy donation recommendations

Family histories and genealogies may be donated to the St. Clair County Genealogical Society (SCCGS) holdings at the Belleville Public Library. Retention is based on the following SCCGS guidelines.

SCCGS recommends genealogists follow the Guidelines for Sharing Information with Others set forth by NGS (the National Genealogical Society).

IMPORTANT:
For accession into the SCCGS holdings, compiled genealogies, pedigrees, or lineage charts which identify living people will be accepted only when accompanied by written permission of each living person represented. (Most software programs have tools to omit living people from exported files.) The Belleville Public Library Archives accession policy may be different.

Acceptable formats

  • Printed and bound compilations of any length with supporting documents or sources of the facts presented are preferred.
  • Electronic files when these include your genealogy software program’s viewer, or, when exported into the latest version of Word or portable document format (pdf).

    Be aware that CD-Rom or other electronic files are not updated or migrated to more modern software, thereby rendering the longevity of files in this format very short-lived. In addition, CDs are not catalogued at the library- ask at their desk. Electronic files may only be viewed on computers in the library’s genealogy department,

Your cover letter to SCCGS should include

  1. Your contact information so that the Board may send a thank you.
  2. Your stated permission allowing SCCGS to share an announcement and/or summary of your compiled genealogy donation with the public in any medium deemed suitable, e.g., SCCGS publications (eNews, Quarterly), social media, and member website.
  3. The number of generations covered.
  4. Names of the earliest St Clair County or earliest Illinois ancestor(s).
  5. Years covered in the compilation.
  6. A typewritten or electronic list of St. Clair County surnames mentioned in the compilation.

Alternate means of sharing

Write a short history of the family or one family group for publication in the SCCGS Quarterly. Contact the Quarterly Editor for guidelines or read these on our member website.

If you have questions, contact us.

REMEMBER SCCGS IN YOUR WILL

Remember SCCGS in your will

The Society was fortunate to be one of the recipients from two bequests: Martha Mae Schmidt, and Shirley White Kunz.

  • Our non-profit EIN number is (37-1063435). To verify our tax exempt status, visit the IRS website Tax Exempt Organizations Search.  Select the Search Tool
    • Search by: Choose by Organization
    • Type exactly (or copy/paste) our name, St. Clair County Genealogical Society
    • Scroll down to see our status.

Contact the SCCGS President.

St. Clair County Genealogical Society, PO Box 431, Belleville, IL 62222-0431.
E-mail: sccgsoffice@stclair-ilgs.org  Privacy policy and Use Agreement.
©1997, 2018, the St. Clair County Genealogical Society. All rights reserved.
Information may be linked to but not copied. Authorized by SCCGS Board of Directors. Contact Us.