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Thanksgiving in these parts used to mean high school football as much as turkey and cranberry sauce. Stadiums were filled for morning and afternoon games between traditional rivals for most of the 20th century up to the mid-1970s.
If you’re a genealogist, you can find out all about the old games in which your athlete ancestors played (or maybe relive your own exploits) by calling this play: Run into two local libraries that have good newspaper collections.
The Luzerne County Historical Society’s Bishop Memorial Library and the Osterhout Free Library, both on South Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre, have many decades of microfilm papers. The historical society is going digital for better preservation.
See their Facebook pages for the latest operating hours and score points for your genealogy.
Genealogical Society News: Because of the growing expenses of digitizing records and providing the public with information, the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society has instituted a fee of $5 per record for copies from its digital library. The change is effective immediately. Internet-sourced records may be printed for 25 cents per page. The society’s library in Hanover Township continues to expand and draw visitors, with its most recent acquisition being the records of all churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton. The society is the only source of records for the entire diocese, which covers 11 counties in Northeastern and north-central Pennsylvania.
The society’s library is in the caretaker building of the Hanover Green Cemetery, Main Road, Hanover Township. The library’s hours for the remainder of the year are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays, except for Thanksgiving, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 9 (open house). The society will close for winter break on Dec. 21 and reopen Jan. 13.
County Records Update: Luzerne County has moved all its old paper records into the Hanover Township building that will eventually be a records center open to the public. The building is at 85 Young St., in the Hanover Industrial Park. The county has spent $1.9 million so far, The Times Leader reported recently. Several companies have submitted bids to build the public research area. The records were stored in a downtown Wilkes-Barre warehouse, where more than 1,700 boxes of them sustained water damage during a fire there several weeks ago.
Genealogy on TV: Tomorrow’s edition of “Finding Your Roots” features actress Lupita Nyong’o, NBA star Carmelo Anthony and political commentator Ana Navarro in an episode entitled “Children of the Revolution.” Guided by historian Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., celebrities learn about their ancestry, often with surprising results. In this area, the show airs at 8 p.m. on WVIA-TV. Check the station’s website for times of reruns. Next week’s guests in an episode entitled “Relatives We Didn’t Know We Had” are actresses Tea Leoni and Gaby Hoffman.
News Notes: The Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society will co-sponsor a talk entitled “Andy Warhol and the Rusyns” at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Wilkes University Karembelas Center, 141 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre. The Pennsylvania artist was famed for his role in pop culture of the mid-20th century. Speaking will be Prof. Elaine Rusinko of the University of Maryland. The Carpatho-Rusyn Society promotes the history and genealogy of the Rusyns, a central European ethnic group.
The group will also sponsor “Tales of the Gubi,” a free program on Rusyn Christmas folklore, at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Penn State Schuylkill County Campus, Building C, Room C100.