08/18/2026
LIBRARY RESOURCES FOR THE GENEALOGIST and PASSENGER LIST RESEARCH
WHO: Milwaukee Personal Ancestral File Users Group
WHEN: Wednesday, August 19, 2026
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm (Doors open at 6 pm)
WHERE: New Berlin Public Library, Community Room
15105 Library Lane
New Berlin, Wisconsin 53151
“New Berlin Public Library Resources for the Genealogist” presented by Natalie Beacom, Director of the New Berlin Public Library. Natalie will discuss the many resources available at the library, including online databases that are available to help facilitate and simplify your family history research. She will review their “Library of Things” collection which includes useful tools that you can take home for a week, such as digital recorders, document scanners, portable scanners, negative and slide scanners, 8mm and super 8mm movie film digitizers, and video to digital converters.
“Passenger List Research” presented by Bob Heck. Prior to 1820, there was no legal requirement to have or keep a list of passengers, but ship captains and shipping companies used lists to meet their own needs. In 1820 the U.S. Government passed a law which required passenger lists and stated what information had to be included. U.S. printing companies quickly printed blank forms and sold them to shipping companies all over the world. Bob will show us search techniques for finding your ancestors on a passenger list arriving in the United States. That passenger list might lead you to the ancestral home of your family in Europe. Bob Heck, Director of MPAFUG, has been a popular and extremely knowledgeable speaker for many years at other genealogical societies’ functions, as well as a guiding force of MPAFUG. He volunteers at the local Family History Center to help others find information on their ancestors.
Come learn with us! Bring a friend! Guests are always welcome to attend the monthly meetings.
The Milwaukee Personal Ancestral File Users Group (MPAFUG) is a computer Genealogy group dedicated to teaching how to use the Internet, especially for researching your family history. We meet in January through November, on the third Wednesday of each month at the New Berlin Public Library, 15105 Library Lane, New Berlin, WI 53151.
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