Benefits of Membership

Meetings & Events

We welcome members and guests to our meetings and events. The first meeting of the year is the Annual Membership Meeting held in January. PGS-MN officers are elected during this annual meeting.

Program Meetings are held the first Saturday of the month in March, April, May, September, October, and November. Program meetings are held at the Minnesota Genealogy Center, streamed online, and recorded for members to watch anytime. We offer a variety of topics to meet the needs of our members.

Examples of topics include:

  • Areas of Poland where MN Poles primarily immigrated from
  • Areas in Minnesota where Poles settled 
  • Polish history
  • Polish culture
  • Genealogy tools
  • Family stories, travel stories

Hoffman Research Library

PGS-MN members receive free access to the Hoffman Research Library located at the Minnesota Genealogy Center in Mendota Heights. Non-members pay a fee of $10 per visit to use the Hoffman Research Library, so be sure to become a member if you plan to use the library.

Polish Resources in the library

While the library has collections for researchers of many ethnic groups, PGS-MN has a unique collection in the Polish section of the library. This includes:

  • A non-circulating Polish map and book collection
  • All records from the traditionally Polish parishes of the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas
  • Centennial and Anniversary documents from many traditionally Polish parishes across the state

In addition, a PGS-MN librarian, with extensive knowledge about Polish resources, is available at the Hoffman Research Library on the first Saturday of the month from 12:00 – 4:00 pm, and the second Thursday of the month from 4:00 – 8:00 pm.

  • Free wifi is available at the Minnesota Genealogy Center
  • The library version of Ancestry.com can be accessed
  • The library is an affiliate location of FamilySearch, so many of their records that are not available online from home can be accessed at the library

Quarterly Newsletter

Each member receives a subscription to our quarterly newsletter that provides information for those interested in Polish research, history, and culture. Newsletters are mailed to each member in March, June, September, and December.

Note: Our newsletter is sent out bulk rate; it is not forwarded. Only First Class Mail will be forwarded by USPS on an address change. If your new address is received in a timely manner, every effort will be made to mail the newsletter First Class to the new address. Please include the effective date of the new address.

Members Only Section

This section has an extensive amount of information to help you in your Polish Genealogy Research. It includes access to the following:

  • All Program Meeting recordings from 2020 to Present
  • PGS-MN Newsletters from 1993 – present
  • Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Polish Catholic Church birth, marriage and death Index
  • From Poland to MN, an extensive one-stop resource that covers the areas of Poland where MN Poles came from, as well as 28 counties in Minnesota where immigrants from Poland settled
  • Missing Branches – a way to connect with other PGS-MN members who have ancestors that came from the same area of Poland, or settled in the same Polish community in Minnesota, or have the same surname that you may be researching
  • PGS-MN members’ family Polish recipes
  • White Eagle Insurance Index