Don’t let 2017 slip away and miss out on your tax write-off.

Because GFO is a 501(c)(3) organization, your donations are tax deductible.

Give now by visiting our Annual Appeal page HERE.

Remember GFO is a 100% volunteer-reliant organization. That’s right! We have no paid staff.

So every gift goes directly to keeping the lights on, the doors open, and to providing the best resources possible for family history researchers!

The simple truth is: GFO relies on donations for our continued existence.

If you prefer to send a check or money order, you can use our paper form HERE and mail it with your gift to: Genealogical Forum of Oregon, 2505 S.E. 11th Ave., Suite B-18, Portland, OR 97202.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Psst! GFO belongs to the Oregon Cultural Trust (now easier to find as “Genealogical Forum of Oregon”) and has attained a silver-star rating on GuideStar.

African American Special Interest Group – Jan 27th

Come here Stephen Hanks talk about his book Akee Tree!

Stephen Hanks is a legal process server in the state of Oregon, and a specialist in African American genealogy, volunteering his time in helping to promote African American genealogy through his network, Genealogical Networking Services. In 2006 Hanks was a contributor to the PBS special “African American Lives—Oprah’s Roots” which examined the genealogy of Oprah Winfrey. He lives in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Akee Tree: A Descendant’s Search for His Slave Ancestors on the Eskridge Plantations. He will discuss – helpful hints to African descent genealogy; overcoming roadblocks in your research; and share his personal family research.

Special Saturday Schedules – January, March, May, September 2018

Due to all the wonderful Special Interest Groups (SIG’s) at the GFO that we’ve been trying to squeeze in for the benefit of our patrons, our library will close to researchers at 12:45pm on the last Saturday of the four months listed above. We ask that you kindly plan accordingly.

See our online CALENDAR for more info.

Remember, all our SIG’s are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

The fourth and final volume of the Oregon State Divorces from 1925 – 1945 has been published!

The volume is number four covering 1940-1945. There are 32,822 divorces; a few divorces were recorded by the counties outside of 1940-1945 timeframe.

This volume is a PDF file available in three formats for $10.00 each; a CD, a USB drive, or as a PDF file sent by email.

All volumes of the Oregon State Divorces 1925-1945 and Oregon State Marriages 1925-1945 may be purchased at our library or on our website. Click on “Oregon Marriage & Divorce Records”.

Come here Stephen Hanks talk about his book Akee Tree!

Stephen Hanks is a legal process server in the state of Oregon, and a specialist in African American genealogy, volunteering his time in helping to promote African American genealogy through his network, Genealogical Networking Services. In 2006 Hanks was a contributor to the PBS special “African American Lives—Oprah’s Roots” which examined the genealogy of Oprah Winfrey. He lives in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Akee Tree: A Descendant’s Search for His Slave Ancestors on the Eskridge Plantations. He will discuss – helpful hints to African descent genealogy; overcoming roadblocks in your research; and share his personal family research.

All of our Special Interest Groups are Free and Open to the Public!

We wanted to say thank you again for helping us get ALL CAUGHT UP on our labeling project this last week.

This project’s success couldn’t have come at a better time, with the holidays around the corner!

We’re happy to announce we have reached our labeling goals for this year.

Now it’s time to go out and play and rest with all our friends and family. We hope you all have a very very merry holiday season!!

Many hands have sure made the recataloging and relabeling much much lighter! Thank you again everyone!

Yesterday, on #givingTuesday, we had 55 people come help with our ongoing book labeling project!

Here are the grand totals of what we all accomplished:

Thank you again for all you do for the GFO! If you’d like to stop by and help again, please please don’t hesitate. There is usually a cart by the Library’s Workroom full of books waiting patiently for their labels as part of this ongoing project.

Many hands have sure made the recataloging and relabeling much much lighter! Thank you again everyone!

Saturday, December 16th, 2 – 3pm

Presenter: LauraDenise White, GFO’s resident archival consultant.

Get ready for the holidays with Personal Papers & Archiving! Learn how to not only preserve some of those family heirloom papers and photographs you know are just sitting in the attic and basement, but also see how you can put together wonderful family history gifts with these fabulous relics of the past. Learn how to weave the fabric of your family history into inspiring and lasting treasures.

Attendees are encouraged to bring in a sample of items of their very own to work on during this interactive session. Photographs and letters and diaries, oh my! Bring them on in! We’ll work on them together while discussing ways to keep them safe AND ways to share them with family and friends both far and near.

Remember! All our GenTalks are FREE events, completely open to the public. Help us get the word out! CLICK HERE for FLYERS

The GFO Library Closes at 1pm Today!

We hope this will allow more time for you to go be festive with your friends and family.

The library will also be closed all day tomorrow, Thursday, November 23th to observe Thanksgiving.

We wish you a very merry holiday with lots of food and fun this season!

We look forward to seeing you again at 9:30am on Friday, November 24th.

GFO’s GPS Group Has A Treat For You This Saturday!! Nov 18th, 9:30 – 11:30am

GFO’s Genealogy Problem Solvers

FINDING VITAL STATISTIC DATA

At this meeting, come learn about research tools that can help you locate obscure documentation of life’s major events.

While many vital statistic records are open to the public, others have restricted access under state law. Share in the GPS’s research tips about searching for one particularly elusive divorce document.

Genealogy Problem Solvers is led by Harold Hinds Jr., Duane Funk, and Tom O’Brien.

All of our special interest groups are free and open to the public. Bring a friend, or seven of them!

Ever wonder at GFO’s membership fee? $44 per year seems like it may be more than other similar societies ask, but here’s how GFO stands out:

Maybe you’d like to learn more? Give our new promotional video a spin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80c8hIMQtuA.

We hope you’ll consider becoming a member if you aren’t already or if you’ve been on the fence about it. It’s our membership support that has kept us going strong for 71 years!

We recently learned about the following changes and wanted to give you all a heads-up:

Please note, these changes have been implemented by the Ford Building Management.