The next meeting of the Genealogy Club of Newtown is scheduled for Wednesday, April 12, at 7 pm via Zoom.

In a lecture entitled “Reclaim the Records: Who We Are and What We Are Doing — An Update,” Alec Ferretti will present an update on the mission of Reclaim the Records and the progress they have made since Ferretti lectured for the Newtown group in October 2020.

He will include some of their successes in freeing public records, and the many projects they have been working on recently.

Ferretti is a New York City-based professional genealogist who works for the Wells Fargo Family & Business History Center, researching family histories for high-net-worth clients. He is a graduate of NYU and LIU’s dual master’s program, with degrees in archives and library science.

Ferretti specializes in the genealogy of 20th Century immigrants to the United States. He is a regular lecturer at genealogical societies and conferences.

He also serves as president of the New York Genealogy & Technology Group, serves actively on the board of directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and on the board of Reclaim the Records, a nonprofit dedicated to wrangling public records from obstinate government agencies.

Reclaim the Records is a group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and open government advocates who identify important genealogical record sets that should be in the public domain. They then file freedom of information and open data requests to get that public data released back to the public.

They started their work in New York City in 2015, expanded to three new jurisdictions in 2016, and became a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2017.

Programs of the Genealogy Club of Newtown are co-sponsored by C.H. Booth Library, and they are free and open to the public. Everyone interested in genealogy is welcome to attend, and encouraged to join the club and hear excellent speakers who work with all aspects of genealogical research.

Registration is required for the Zoom meetings. For the April 12 program, registration is due by April 10.

Send an email request with name and contact information to genclubnewtownct.secretary@gmail.com. An email with a link to the meeting will serve as confirmation.

Those planning to attend are asked to sign in starting at 6:45 to that everyone will be admitted before the program begins at 7 pm.