The New York State Library announces its upcoming programming for June 2024, including webinars and events related to historical events, genealogical services, small business development assistance, and other exciting topics. The following upcoming free programming requires registration and is available either in person or online, as indicated in each listing.

The Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement (Webinar)

Friday, June 7, 2024 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

In Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement (NYU Press, 2022), Wendy Rouse highlights the alliances that queer suffragists built and the innovative strategies they developed to protect and preserve their most intimate relationships as they defied the gender and sexual norms of their day. In this talk, Rouse explores the important role of queerness and queer suffragists in the fight for the vote.

Wendy L. Rouse is a Professor of History at San Jose State University. Her scholarly research focuses on the history of women, gender, and sexuality during the Progressive Era. Rouse is also the author of Children of Chinatown: Growing Up Chinese American in San Francisco, 1880-1920, and Her Own Hero: The Origins of the Women’s Self-Defense Movement.

Register for The Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement

Trans Children in Today's Schools (Webinar)

Tuesday, June 11, 2024 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Join author Aidan Key as he explores the barriers encountered by schools as they attempt to create gender-inclusive environments, including the resistance of a society whose only framework of gender is rigidly set. The result is ensuring all children can count on a safe and welcoming learning environment. Speaker, author, and educator Aidan Key’s work centers on gender-diverse children. Key, founder of Gender Diversity, works nationally with hundreds of K-12 schools and youth-based agencies, providing professional development, strategic planning, policy development, athletics guidance, and education for parents and students. TransFamilies.org, also founded by Key, is a national organization providing support and resources for families of gender-diverse children.

Register for Trans Children in Today's Schools

Genealogy Research with Ancestry Library Edition

Thursday, June 13, 2024 | 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM

Senior Librarians Stephanie Barrett and Jane Bentley Turo will demonstrate the Ancestry Library online database, which is accessible at the New York State Library. Learn how to access census records, genealogy and history books, maps, and other resources included in this database, which are available to all New Yorkers.

Register for Genealogy Research with Ancestry Library Edition 

Onsite Walking Tour of the Local History and Genealogy Resources at the New York State Library

Friday, June 14, 2024 | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Friday, June 28, 2024 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

The New York State Library provides endless resources for those tracing their family histories. Join us for an onsite tour highlighting published genealogies, local histories, church records, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) records, United States and New York State Census records, newspapers on microfilm, city directories, and more. Associate Librarian Cara Janowsky and Senior Librarian Jane Bentley Turo will lead the tours.

Register for the June 14^th Onsite Walking Tour of the Local History and Genealogy Resources at the New York State Library

Register for the June 28^th Onsite Walking Tour of the Local History and Genealogy Resources at the New York State Library

Trademark Basics (Webinar)

Tuesday, June 18, 2024 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Join us for a discussion about what all entrepreneurs, small businesses, and start-ups should know about trademarks. We’ll discuss what trademarks are, the benefits of federal trademark registration, and the basics of the registration process. We’ll also talk about why it’s so important for any new business to select a trademark that is both federally registrable and legally protectable. We’ll close out the discussion with a question-and-answer session and direct you to free resources from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Christina Calloway is an attorney for Trademarks Customer Outreach with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She began her career at the USPTO as a trademark examining attorney, where she served on a team dedicated to reviewing sound and motion trademark applications. Ms. Calloway has collaborated with numerous local and national organizations, educational institutions, and businesses to educate small business owners and creators about intellectual property. Throughout her career, Ms. Calloway has sought to merge her personal passion for the arts and professional pursuits in public service. She has also been awarded recognition for her service and leadership, both professionally and personally. She is an executive board member of the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association and serves on the City of Alexandria’s Commission for the Arts. Ms. Calloway obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law. She also received both her master's in public administration and Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgia Southern University.

Register for Trademark Basics

Victoria Woodhull (Webinar)

Wednesday, June 26, 2024 | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

During Victoria Woodhull’s brief public career in the 1870s, she became a leader in the suffrage movement, the first woman to run for President, head of the American Spiritualism Association, an activist in labor circles, publisher of a successful newspaper, and a wildly popular lecturer. Toward the end of the decade, Woodhull outraged public opinion by publishing a tell-all article about the sexual misbehavior of the famous Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. In 1877, with legal and financial troubles mounting, Woodhull moved to England, where she married a wealthy Britisher and lived in relative retirement until her death in 1927.

Sandra Opdycke, Ph.D. has written books about the flu epidemic of 1918, the woman suffrage movement, the WPA of the 1930s, and Bellevue Hospital, as well as a biography of Jane Addams, an historical atlas of American women’s history, and several co-authored books and articles on social policy. She worked for a number of years at Hudson River Psychiatric Center and later taught American History and Urban History at Bard, Vassar, and Marist Colleges. She is an historian and serves as an occasional lecturer at the Center for Lifetime Studies in Poughkeepsie.

Register for Victoria Woodhull

Genealogy Research with FamilySearch

Thursday, June 27, 2024 | 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM

FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have onsite access to digital microfilm data that is not available to researchers using FamilySearch resources from their home computers. The New York State Library partnered with the New York State Archives to become a FamilySearch Affiliate Library. Senior Librarians Stephanie Barrett and Jane Bentley Turo will demonstrate how to access genealogical records and online books included in this database. They will also demonstrate how to print and save records.

Register for Genealogy Research with FamilySearch

Visit the State Library's website for a complete list of upcoming programs, including webinars, events, and onsite genealogy walking tours. Additional programs will be added to the website as they are confirmed. If you require any reasonable accommodation in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, please call 518-474-2274 at least one week prior to the program date.

The New York State Library is part of the Office of Cultural Education within the New York State Education Department and celebrated its bicentennial in 2018. The library serves the following three major constituencies. The Regent Joseph E. Bowman Jr. Research Library, established by law in 1818, collects, preserves, and makes available materials that support State government work. The library's collections, now numbering over 20 million items, may also be used by other researchers onsite, online, and via interlibrary loan. The Talking Book and Braille Library (TBBL) lends braille, audiobooks, magazines, and special playback equipment to residents of the 55 upstate counties of New York State who cannot read printed materials because of a visual or physical disability. The Division of Library Development works in partnership with 72 library systems to bring library services to millions of people who use New York's academic, public, school, and special libraries. Library Development also administers State and Federal grant programs that provide aid for library services.