Growing Up in Worcester and Around the World

This coming Sunday, November 16th, local author and movie reviewer for the Telegram and Gazette, Jeffrey E. Long, will present a talk entitled "Growing Up in Worcester and Around the World: Reading Memoirs for Pleasure, Bibliotherapy and Cultural Insight" at 2:00 p.m. in the Saxe Room at the main branch of the Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem Square. Jeff is the author of "Remembered Childhoods: A Guide to Autobiography and Memoirs of Childhood and Youth" which was published by Scarecrow Press in 2007. He has also been an active participant in the Worcester County Writers Project that I've discussed in previous postings.

This entertaining and informative event should be of interest to all readers, from the mildly curious to those who, like myself, are addicted to the coming-of -age memoir, particularly in this post-James Frey world.

The program is free and open to all. Hope to see you there.

Joy

Finding Inexpensive and Fun Activities in Worcester

Spring is in the air and with the trees blooming and the weather growing warmer, more and more patrons are coming in to ask about our museum pass availability. This is great! Our community is taking advantage of this wonderful service. But what happens when you find that all the passes are booked for the date the patron wants to go? You give them lots of suggestions for inexpensive and fun activities to do in Worcester and beyond. For example, if a patron would like to spend the day outside taking a walk, a hike, a bike ride, etc…you can direct them to the National Parks of Massachusetts homepage: http://home.nps.gov/applications/state/ma/. This site gives information on location, price, directions and more. Many of these parks are free!

Looking for some indoor activity on a rainy day? On Saturdays from 10am to noon admission is free for everybody at the Worcester Art Museum. Check out their website and learn about their collection at http://www.worcesterart.org/Information/.

There’s something for everyone at the website Worcester-Right Place. Right Time: http://www.worcestermass.org/. Here a patron can get information on music, theatre & dance, literature & poetry, history & heritage, art service organizations and much more, all right here in wonderful Worcester!

Local Info- Hanover Theatre

The Hanover Theatre re-opened its doors this past Friday, March 14th with the music of Bernadette Peters. On Sunday The Hanover welcomed The Saw Doctors (just in time for St. Patrick's Day) and excited fans actually go up and started dancing in the aisles during the show. Hanover Theatre is located on 554 Main Street, only a few blocks from the Main Library. It has a number of exciting performers lined up for the Spring and Summer including, Joy Behar, B.B King and Jim Brickman, just to name a few. Visit their website at http://www.thehanovertheatre.org/ to learn all about the original Hanover Theatre and its history. Enjoy the show!

New Year Greetings

I recently received a mailing from the organization responsible for collecting and maintaining the papers of Emma Goldman, radical political figure, who operated an ice cream parlor in Worcester in the early 1890s. In it they included the following quote:

" I wish you more for the New Year than words can express, Peace of mind and rest of your body, supreme satisfaction in your personal life, and in your work. Much joy and some happyness snatched from a mad and bloodthirsty world".

Emma Goldman, 1939

Misspellings and bad punctuation notwithstanding, these words are as appropriate today as they were in 1939.

Workforce Central Career Centers

When I was in my early twenties (a long time ago) and I lost my job, I walked into the nearest unemployment office and filed a claim. I could also get some leads on potential jobs from the folks who worked there or I could strike out on my own to find a job. Every two weeks I brought back proof to the unemployment office that I was actively seeking employement in order to receive my check. Things have changed! First, the unemployment office is now called a Career Center. Second, while you can still walk into a Career Center to file a claim the government strongly encourages the newly unemployed to file a claim by phone.
File by phone
Call the TeleClaim Center at 1-877-626-6800 if you are calling from the following area codes: 351, 413, 508, 774, and 978.
Call the TeleClaim Center at 617-626-6800 if you are calling from any other area code.

Career Centers now focus mainly on connecting employers with job seekers. Before we list the resources available at a Career Center it's important to know where the Career Centers are located and the cities and towns that are serviced by the individual centers. The Office of Labor has a directory of the Career Centers closest to you with an overview of services, hours and contact information. I have taken a tour of the Worcester Career Center and I'm hoping that there is uniformity throughout the state. In any event, the only requirement for those wishing to use the resources at a Career Center is attendance at a one hour orientation. They have tried to make this as painless as possible by scheduling two orientations each day Monday through Thursday. Once you have completed the orientation here are some of the services and resources available:

• Use of their computers for two hours each day.
• A weekly job list of vacancies and salaries.
• In-house use of a software database called EmployOn which promises to be the largest jobs database in the industry.
• One on one job matching with a Career Center staff person.
• The possibility of a $5000 training grant (must meet eligibility requirements).
• These are some of the free workshops:
  -Resume writing taught by certified resume writers.
  -An introduction to the personal computer.
  -Interviewing techniques.
  -Job searching on the Internet.
  -Myers Briggs testing of personality type.
  -Mock interviews.
  -CORI issues and job searching.
  -Networking how to.

Fee based service:
For a $40 fee there are self-paced and computer based software training services that require 16-24 hours to complete: Outlook 2000; Word 2000; Access; Power Point 2000; and Excel 2000.

Worcester Data Records

The Office of the City Clerk of Worcester has made some data record searches available online. It is for some birth dates, marriage dates, death dates, business certificates and dog licenses.

Go to the City of Worcester homepage http://www.ci.worcester.ma.us/ and click on "City Clerk" on the left. Then click on "Data Records Search."

Birth Records Search has dates for any birth that occurred within the city limits of Worcester, MA between 1899 and the present time. Enter only the first and last name. It will not work if you put in a middle initial. If there is more than one person with that name it will list their full names to make it easier to find your person.

Marriage Record Search will show dates of marriages that took place on an intention of Marriage filed at Worcester City Hall since February, 1980. You only need one person's name, but read the instructions because which name in which field makes a difference.

Death Records Search will get dates for any person whose death occurred within the city limits of Worcester, MA and for any Worcester resident who passed away in any other Massachusetts community between 1978 and the present. Only last name and first name needed.

Business Certificate Record Search is for any active DBA.

Dog License Record Search is for any active dog license. You may search with license number, street name and house number, or owner's last name.

This may come in handy when patrons are doing genealogy or want an obituary but do not have exact date of death.

Invaluable Reference Resource

Worcester Public Library
Worcester Clipping File

The Pamphlet File is where we house the large newspaper clipping files on Worcester area subjects. Almost all the items are from the Worcester Telegram and Evening Gazette and cover the time period from about 1960 to the present. While there are clippings from before 1960, the coverage is somewhat sparse. All items should be dated and indicated which newspaper they were taken from.
The number of items in each folder varies widely. Some may have only one clipping while others may fill 2 or 3 folders. The only entry to the files is by subject. Where possible, the most direct heading is used, i.e., a company name, a college, an organization. Some subjects work better with indirect headings, such as, Congregational Churches--church name; Schools--Elementary--school name.
The collection contains materials that were judged to be of lasting interest but this is subjective and may not reflect what is needed in the future. It is a best guess for the period of the newspaper that is not indexed.
From 1989 to the present, the newspaper is available, fully indexed for locally produced stories, as part of the "Newsbank Collection". Coverage in the Pamphlet Files is consequently less complete from that date on.

Worcester Clipping File Subject Headings:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Z