Dear Genealogist: The next meeting of the Mount Vernon Genealogical Society in Alexandria, Virginia will be on Tuesday, August 21st, at 1:00 p.m. We will meet in our usual location at the Hollin Hall Senior Center, 1500 Shenandoah Road, Alexandria, Virginia. The program will be on immigration and naturalization. The title of the talk is "The Universe of U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Records" and will be presented by Marian L. Smith. I believe this will be one of those meetings that you will enjoy attending. First of all Marian is an excellent speaker. I recently heard her speak to the National Institute on Genealogical Research Alumni Association on the people who created "Morton Allan Directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals." She took a topic that could easily be rather dull and turned it into an interesting and informative talk. Also, Claire Kluskens has provided us with handout material for researching immigration and naturalization records at the National Archives. This talk will provide a broad overview of all surviving immigration and naturalization records of the United States, today housed at or available from local courthouses, state archives, the National Archives, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the internet. Also discussed will be the history of how these records were and are used by genealogical researchers, and how changes in population, access policy, and technology have affected that use. Afterward, there will be plenty of time for questions and answers. Marian L. Smith is the Senior Historian at US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service). She regularly lectures at national and international genealogy conferences on the history and uses of immigration and naturalization records. Her articles appear in the National Archives journal Prologue, the FGS Forum, and other publications. Her research focus primarily involves official immigration agency records held in the National Archives in downtown Washington, D.C. If you have friends who has indicated an interest in genealogy, I would encourage you to invite them to attend this meeting. I believe they will enjoy the program and might be encouraged to take the next step in researching their family. In order to assure that you get the most out of this topic, I encourage you to make a visit to the MVGS Research Center located in the Hollin Hall Senior Center. The Research Center is open from 10-2 on every Tuesday and Thursday. On the Tuesday of our meeting, the Research Center will be open from 10-12 and after the meeting. Listed below are just some of the books on immigration and naturalization that you will find in the MVGS Research Center: American Naturalization Records (CS65.5 .N38 N49) Ancestry's Red Book (CS47 .A53) American Passenger Arrival Records (CS65.5 .P37 T473) Beginner's Guide To Family History Research (CS16 .A45) The Complete Book of Emigrants (CS431 .E46 C65) Early New York Naturalizations (F123.3 .S36) Finding Your Roots (CS16 .W47) The Genealogist's Companion & Sourcebook (CS16 .C763) Guide to Naturalization Records of the United States (CS65.5 .N38 S33) Guide to Genealogical Research at the National Archives (CS67 .N383 G854) Handbooks for Foreign Genealogical Research (CS67 .L133 W66) The How Book For Genealogists (CS16 .S87) Immigrant and Passenger Arrivals (CS65.5 .P37 I46) Locating Your Immigrant Ancestor (CS65.5 .N38 N43) Migration, Emigration, Immigration (CS65.5 .E46 M55) The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy (CS47 .G74) Searching for Your Ancestors (CS16 .D63) The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy (CS47 .S68) They Came in Ships (CS65.5 .P37 C65) Tracing Immigrant Origins (CS35.5 .E46 F36) Please let me know if you have any questions. Harold McClendon MVGS Publicity Chairman