Program Meeting Archives 2024
We hold six Program Meetings each year, with a varied mix of topics to meet our members’ needs. Below are links to recordings to 2024 programs. Email questions or suggestions for future topics to:
pgsminnesota@gmail.com
2024
May 11, 2024
Wieczorek Family Tree
Speaker: Peggy Larson
PGS-MN Past President
Peggy Larson shares the Wieczorek branch of her family tree. The presentation focuses on questions she encountered on her genealogical journey. Peggy explains how she answered some of those questions, and seeks advice on solving some of the remaining unsolved mysteries.
September 7, 2024
My Grandfather, John Polenik, and His Story
Speaker: Marge Runakko
PGS-MN Member
Learn how unexpected helpers and information led to a story:
– A retired professor
– A talented lifetime friend
– Saved yearbooks and some other telling documents
– A godmother who saved everything
– A few collaborating cousins
– A DNA test
– One yellow pillowcase and a matching one in Poland
– Connections through the Galicia Family History Page on FaceBook
– A Beekeeper who knew of the Polenik family that remained in Poland
The speaker reveals results she never anticipated and how the story grew.
April 13, 2024
Using Maps and Gazetteers for Polish Genealogy
Speaker: Ryan Mattke
John R. Borchert Library
This program was held at the John R. Borchert Library on the University of MN campus. It consisted of a PowerPoint presentation as well as a tour of the library. While the program was not recorded, the speaker has provided his slides.
The speaker demonstrated how to use print and online resources, in conjunction with maps, to locate historical place-names. The presentation also highlighted resources related to genealogy, as well as other historical cartographic materials, available at the John R. Borchert Map Library in Minneapolis.
Poland resources included in the presentation:
- Digitized maps from the Map Library Collection
- Topographic map sets including Topographische Karte 1:25,000; Poland 1:100,000; Karte des Deutschen Reiches 1:100,000; and others.
March 2, 2024
From Mieszko to Millennium: Tracing the Footprints of Religion in Polish History here
Professor Gordon Pueschner – MFA
Century College, White Bear Lake, MN
The speaker covers the following time periods in this presentation:
- Pre-Catholic Times to King Mieszko I Baptism
– A Brief history of the early ancient Slavic paganism to Poland’s early years as a Christian state. - The Warsaw Confederation of 1573
– Religious persecution inside Poland and the positive effects of the Warsaw Confederation. - Religion in Poland under Communism
– The importance of John Paul becoming Pope and the hardships of being Christian under Communism.