If you BUILD it, they will come.

Our Iroquois County Genealogical Society office is in a 2-room vault in the old county courthouse, so we sometimes keep the doors (steel-reinforced?) nearly shut to better control the temperature. There is a sign, "Come In. Doors are shut to conserve the heat (or cool)."

One small section of original record books

A few days ago, the doors parted and I heard a first-time visitor say, "Wow! I've found the treasure chest right here!" We really do have an impressive collection, and we still have the record books used over 100 years ago all around us.

Would you like more people to know about your Society, your Historical Museum or your Family History journey? So many people spend time online researching or learning. If you have activities or resources that can answer someone's research needs, it helps to get the word out. You have to BUILD that online presence.

I will be speaking on this topic at the annual meeting of the Iroquois County Historical Society at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. The meeting is just outside those vault doors in the old Iroquois County Courthouse, 103 West Cherry Street, Watseka, IL.

We are the Iroquois County Genealogical Society. We are on Facebook. We have a Rootsweb page. Here are three more ways we are BUILDing our online presence.

• We are BUILDing an online library catalog of the family histories and reference books we have. Maybe we have something that will help in your research. You may come to visit. It is the ICGS.Illinois LibraryThing. Free to BUILD and use.
• We are BUILDing interest in the activities and resources we have in Genealogy with this blog,  Searching Genealogy in ... Iroquois County, Illinois, and we include helpful hints on researching your family history. Free to BUILD and use.
• I am BUILDing a Pinterest board entitled Genealogy-Iroquois County-Illinois where I pin items of genealogical interest for Iroquois County. Free to BUILD and use.

These are definitely works in progress, but that just means we are still BUILDing our following, and we are working to get more people through those vault doors.

If you BUILD it, they will come.