OK, I am dating myself. As a child I spent a lot of time borrowing books from the Highland Park Library in St. Paul and my Grandma Toots made sure I had plenty of Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins books to read. One other series I liked was Maud Hart Lovelace’s series about Betsy and […]
My very first national level genealogy conference was 1987 and the place was the NGS Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. NGS is back there this year. In 1989 the NGS Conference was held in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was part of the working committee for that conference. In 1990 I attended my first Federation of […]
In the last few weeks, some important conference news has been posted on the FGS Conference Blog. This is place to keep updated on conference events, news, special details, speakers, vendors, tourism, and just about everything else. View the blog here. Watch the blog for some upcoming exciting news on door prizes, special events, and […]
Sam Weller’s is a bookstore in downtown Salt Lake City that is frequented by many genealogists visiting that city to locate good, used books. This bookstore began operating in 1929. Quite a few historical books on my shelves came from Weller’s. At least for now, we won’t be able to make a trek to this […]
Ancestry.com has updated and expanded their obituaries. Part of the announcement said “Improved Obituary Collection (Twice as many obituaries now added regularly and more fields available for improved search results.).” I immediately did a search and found the new fields to be what I needed! For a community study, I needed to do some searches […]
This press release just arrived from the U.S. National Archives. The budget reflects a 12% increase over the last fiscal year. In light of the many libraries, archives, and historical societies that are shutting down completely or partially due to budget inadequacies, this is a good budget growth. I do hope those in charge at […]
It was back in 1983, June 24-25 to be exact. I still had a six year old at home. The place was Charleston, Illinois and the event was sponsored by the Illinois State Genealogical Society and Eastern Illinois University. The local host was the Coles County Genealogical Society. I enjoyed the conference and have not […]
The following is part of a press release received from the National Genealogical Society: “Millions of Americans hunger to connect with their roots, and there’s no better way to start than by attending a four-day event packed with experts and family history hobbyists with the same goal. The National Genealogical Society, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, […]
Before each Conference, The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) receives requests inquiring if there are other conference registrants looking for a roommate. It’s a great way to share costs. The 2009 Conference is in Little Rock, Arkansas from September 2-5 and the local host is the Arkansas Genealogical Society. FGS will provide contact information (via […]
When I got home from work today, I read the news headlines that I receive each day via Google. A headline from Spiegel Online International chilled me: “History in Ruins: Archive Collapse Disaster for Historians.” The building housing the city archive of Cologne, Germany literally collapsed. This archive is the largest municipal archive in Germany […]