The initial meeting of the Founders of CSAGSI convened in Brookfield, IL on March 9, 1996, at the home of Richard, Catherine and Joseph Hartzel. The Founders, for the most part, had previously been members of the Czech & Slovak Interest Group of the Chicago Genealogical Society. Several of the Interest Group members realized that there was a need for an independent Czech & Slovak Genealogy Society in the Chicago area. At that time, the Articles of Incorporation were finalized, approved and signed by Joseph Hartzel, Charles Vlk, Paul Valasek, Dolores Benes Duy, Richard Hartzel, Robert Baumruk and Evelyn Krenek Fergle.

Other Founders who were part of the first organizational meetings were Catherine Hartzel, Barbara Vlk, Chris Miksanek, Paul Nemecek, George and Louise Rokos, Ronald Tallurico and Andrea Valasek.

On March 23, 1996, our first general membership meeting and program was held at Tabor Hills Retirement Community in Naperville, Illinois. The program featured seven residents, ages 77 to 103, who shared what it was like to have grown up in a Czech-American household. Fifty people attended this meeting. On March 25, 1996, Joseph Hartzel sent a letter and membership flyers to the Interest Group members informing them of our new Genealogy Society. By September 1, 1996, we expanded rapidly and grew to 324 Charter Memberships.

The first officers were President, Joseph Hartzel; Vice President, Charles Vlk; Treasurer, Paul Valasek; and Secretary, Dolores Benes Duy. The Directors were Richard Hartzel, Robert Baumruk, Evelyn Krenek Fergle, Chris Miksanek and George Rokos. Plans were made for a quarterly journal entitled KORENY (which means “Roots”). Our logo, featuring the map of Illinois, surrounded by the heraldic shields of Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Ruthenia and Silesia was developed. A website was created by Chris Miksanek.

During the period of growth of the society, meetings were held at Beacon Hill Retirement Center, Helen Plum Memorial Library, Brookfield Village Hall, the Riverside Township Hall, Downers Grove Public Library and at First Presbyterian Church of La Grange, IL. Twenty years after our first meeting, we can proudly look at a membership of individuals currently residing in many states and the Czech Republic.

Through the years, we have presented a variety of cultural, historical and genealogical programs with an average attendance between 80 and 180 persons per meeting. Workshops and conferences have been held throughout the years and were very successful. Major projects included the printing of the Denni Hlasatel Obituary Index, Index to the Records of Linhart Funeral Home (Cicero, 1913-1954), Index to the 1872-1889 and 1890-1915 Death Records of St. Procopius Church, Index to the Eulogy Notes of Frank Kostka, revised version of Jack Bochar’s Locations of Chicago Roman Catholic Churches 1850-1990, Czech & Slovak Personal Names, and the translation into English of the Dejiny Cechu v Chicagu (A History of the Czechs in Chicago) by Rudolf Bubenicek. Our publications have proven to be significant genealogical and historical resources to the Czech/Slovak community. Our most recent contribution to the community was the countless hours spent by 100 volunteers who indexed the Bohemian National Cemetery burial records.

Our journal, KORENY, has continued to be published quarterly with interesting articles pertaining to genealogy and our culture. Editors from 1996 to the present have been: Paul Valasek, Charles Vlk, Shirley Farano, Jill Spealman, Ron Davis, Joseph Hartzel, Faith Hudacek Anderson and Elizabeth Stigler and Louise Svehla.

One of our finest assets is the CSAGSI Paul M. Nemecek Genealogy Collection, which was located in the T. G. Masaryk School in Cicero until we relocated to the Riverside Public Library, Riverside, IL in 2015. The library holdings are available to anyone for researching our immigrants who lived or passed through the Chicago land area.

We have had the dedicated leadership of six presidents since the beginning of our society: Joseph Hartzel, William Hosna, Paul Nemecek, Ray Capek, Glenn Spachman and Sue Pomazal Rolsky, and Joseph Hartzel, son of our first president.   In addition, through countless hours of hard work, many member volunteers have contributed the devotion and perseverance necessary to accomplish all our achievements.

All who have served as officers, directors, committee chairpersons, and workers, without exception, embody the motto of our Society….”Preserving our Bohemian, Moravian, Slovakian, Ruthenian and Silesian Heritage” to the utmost. CSAGSI is and always will be dedicated to our past, present and most importantly to our future.

With the onset of COVID, CSAGSI has not had an in person or online membership meeting or presentation.  It is our goal to have one or both beginning in 2023.

We maintain a Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2087105394887086), a public group page, which is active and updated often.