This event is for all people interested in Czech and Slovak history, culture and family history research. The Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International is hosting its 13th biennial Genealogical and Cultural Conference in St. Louis, Missouri this October 26-29. The Conference’s major sponsors are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and CSA Fraternal Life Association of Oak Brook, IL.
There are 4 great International Speakers coming in Miroslav Koudelka, professional genealogist and tour guide from Olomouc; Jan Dus, professional genealogist and tour guide from Policka; Michal Razus, professional genealogist and tour guide from Presov, Slovak Republic and Rebekka Geitner, historian from the Ballinstadt Emigration Museum in Hamburg, Germany.
Attached is a copy of the Registration booklet, minus the front and back covers which are very large color files (so they are omitted to save space). Included in the booklet are the on-site activities at the Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel, including Thursday, Friday and Saturday presentations. There are 3 tours planned, two of them are of the old Czech and Slovak settlement areas in St. Louis.
St. Louis is the birthplace of America’s Fraternal Benefit Societies, with the C.S.P.S. founded in 1854. St. John Nepomuk, the oldest Czech Catholic parish in America was also founded in 1854, with its frame church dedicated in 1855. Monsignor Josef Hessoun (1830-1906) of St. John’s was a leader among Czech Catholics and in 1873 began Hlas (“Voice”) Publishing Company. American SOKOL fitness and cultural organization’s first unit was started in St. Louis in 1865. Most Holy Trinity Slovak Catholic (founded in 1890s, but now extinct) and St. Lucas Evangelical Lutheran church (organized 1905) were center-pieces of the St. Louis Slovak community near the turn of the 20th century. Today many Czech activities take place at the American-Czech Educational Center at 4690 Lansdowne Avenue and Slovak activities at St. Lucas’ church at 7100 Morganford Road.
Please consider attending this conference (many of these conferences are held on either coast, therefore more expensive). Also, consider supporting the CGSI organization whose mission is educating people on the lives and history of those with ancestry from the Czech and Slovak lands.
Thank you,
Sharon Valasek
For more information and to register, go to http://www.cgsi.org/news/2010/11/01/cgsi-conference-planned-oct-2011.
Registration booklet here.
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