Los Angeles area resources

In my wanderings around the Internet, I occasionally find a really helpful web site that I save to my Favorites and use frequently. The other day, I wondered what resources there might be in the Los Angeles area besides the LA Public Library and the Southern California Genealogical Society in Burbank.

I found a link to the Los Angeles Regional Family History Center web site at http://www.larfhc.org/. This is a really great site - with lots of information about activities at the LARFHC in Santa Monica. Besides the summary information on the main page, there are links to many pages with information on specific topics. The webmaster, Jon Schweitzer, has done a wonderful job of collecting information and posting it and keeping it up-to-date.

The important pages, for me at least, include:

* LARFHC Online Genealogy Classes at http://www.larfhc.org/onlineclasses.htm. I checked out several, including the Land Research, Beginning Genealogy, Finding Birthplaces and Dates, and Genealogy Research on the Web.

* A comprehensive list of the Online Databases available at the LARFHC at http://www.larfhc.org/onlinedatabases.htm. This includes descriptions of the commercial databases that are FREE to use at this location.

* Book Holdings (http://www.larfhc.org/books.htm) and Microfilm/Fiche Holdings (http://www.larfhc.org/microsearch.html) at the LAR FHC.

* Southern California Libraries, Genealogical and Historical Societies at http://www.larfhc.org/resource.htm.

* Genealogy Resources on the Internet at http://www.larfhc.org/internet.htm.

There are many more useful and helpful pages.

I emailed Jon the other day to ask him to add the Chula Vista Genealogical Society to the list of Southern California societies and to add my blog to his Internet resources. He did these immediately, and has also provided some comments about the CVGS web page design!

I really appreciate all of the hard work that Jon and others have put into this web site to help Los Angeles area researchers do their genealogy work, and by extension the rest of us by making information freely available. The Los Angeles Regional FHC educational programs and holdings have excellent publicity through this site. I can hardly wait to visit this Regional FHC!!!