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As part of executing its educational mission year-round, MGC offers programs on open records and other topics of interest to genealogists 4 to 5 times a year. To avoid conflicting with regularly scheduled meetings of other societies and organizations, M:O.R.E. presentations will occur during the 5th week of a month.  

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Click here to see the presentations of those speakers who have allowed us to record their talks and make them available to everyone.

 

The presentations are free, but registration is required.​​​​

An Evening with

Linda MacIver

 

Demystifying the Three Big Free Digital Sites for
Massachusetts Genealogists: 

The Internet Archive and Beyond

 

Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 7:00 PM ET via Zoom

​As you grumble about the ever-increasing costs of the commercial databases, do you sometimes admit to yourself that you don’t value free sites as much as you should?  Has it been at least a year with a whole truckload of formerly copyright protected, now freely available, materials out there since you stopped to search I.A. or the Digital Commonwealth or the Digital Public Library of America?  Let’s revisit these three and a few additional favorites of mine, old and new, to add to your list of:

“When did I last go mining for a free golden discovery in …?!”


Linda MacIver is an educator, lecturer, librarian and genealogy researcher. She is retired from a 27-year career at the Boston Public Library where she inaugurated the BPL patron genealogy classes. Linda is the past Secretary and Civil Records Director for Federal Records for the Massachusetts Genealogical Council (MGC), a

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member of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MSOG) and the Essex (MA) Society of Genealogists (ESOG). She also serves as the New England Representative for the Essex (England!) Record Office.

 

This presentation is free, but registration is required!

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Co-sponsors: Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, New England Chapter (AAHGS-NE), Essex Society of Genealogists (ESOG), Falmouth Genealogical Society (FGS), Friends of Irish Research (FIR), Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston (JGSGB), Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MSOG), New Bedford Historical Society (NBHS), New England Chapter-Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG), The Irish Ancestral Research Society (TIARA), Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society (WMGS).

Upcoming 2026 Schedule​

Linda MacIver - Demystifying the Three Big Free Digital Sites for Massachusetts Genealogists:  The Internet Archive and Beyond! (29 Jan. 2026) - REGISTER NOW

Margaret Fortier - Bay State Bonanza:  4 Centuries of vital Records (30 March 2026)

Stephen Hartwell - The Maritime Records of Essex County, Massachusetts (29 April 2026)

Panel Discussion of Town Clerks (June 2026)

Bonnie Wade-Mucia - Uncovering Pre-1900 New England Church Records (Sept.  2026)​

Mark your calendars to keep these dates free. 

Registration instructions will follow closer to the presentation dates.

Registration

Previous M:O.R.E. Presentations

  • Bonnie Wade Mucia: Decoding the Silver books:  Mastering Mayflower Genealogy Research (29 Sept. 2025)

  • Sybil J. Gilchrist: Camarades of War I (30 Jan. 2025)

  • Miriam Weiner: You Are Invited to a Meeting with the KGB (10 Nov. 2024)

  • Jenifer Kahn Bakkala: Writing a Compelling Family History (30 Sept. 2024)

  • Sara E. Campbell:  What's in My Vault--Confessions of a DPW Engineer (29 April 2024)

  • Jill Marie Snyder: Dear Mary, Dear Luther:  A Courtship in Letters (29 Feb. 2024)

  • Anne Hanson, Buried Secrets:  Looking for Frank and Ida (30 Jan. 2024)

  • John D. Warner: Archivist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (30 Nov. 2023)

  • Kate Kelley, Meet the Photo Angel (30 Nov. 2022)

  • Kenvi Phillips, PhD: Sounds like Sounds Like Family:  The Oral Tradition in Researching Family History (29 Sept. 2022)

  • Paul Joseph Fronczak: The Foundling, True Identity (31 Jan. 2022)

  • David J. Silverman: This Land Is Their Land (30 Nov. 2021)

  • Nicka Sewell-Smith: The Trask 500 (30 Sept. 2021)

  • John D. Warner: Archivist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (30 June 2021)

  • Amy Whorf McGuiggan: Finding Emma (31 March 2021)

  • Brooke Schreier Ganz: Reclaim the Records (27 Jan. 2021)

  • Judy Bambrough-Billingsley: Too Brown to Keep (29 Oct. 2020)

Recorded M:O.R.E. Presentations

We are grateful to these presenters who allowed us to record their talks and make them available to you.

Sara E. Campbell Handout

Sybil J. Gilchrist Handout

Recorded Presentations
Town Clerks Panel Discussion

Bonnie Wade Mucia Handout
This presentation and handout will be available until 15 Jan. 2026.

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