See you soon in Orange County, California?

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Upcoming Appearances  Leave a comment

Family History Month is coming upon us quickly. In mid-October I will be making two appearances in southern California.

Wednesday, 14 October, Yorba Linda, California
An evening presentation for the Genealogical Society of North Orange County California. The title is Research Rewards in County Courthouse and Town Hall Records. Click here for details on the society’s events for Family History Month.

Saturday, 17 October, Mission Viejo, California
I will be presenting an all -day seminar Locating those Illusive Ancestors for the South Orange County California Genealogical Society. For the full flyer and registration details click here. My four topics:

  • Untrodden Ground: Sources You May Not Have Encountered”
  • The U.S. Federal Government: 13 Underutilized Resources”
  • Genealogy On The Internet: Make It Work For You”
  • Organizing Your Genealogical Materials “

Illinois State Genealogical Society Conference September 24th

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences  Leave a comment

This press release was just received from Lois Hanley of the Illinois State Genealogical Society:

“The Illinois State Genealogical Society is holding its Annual Conference, *Piecing Together the Puzzle of Our Past*, on Saturday, October 24, at Elgin Community College in Elgin, IL. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and the day concludes at 4:30 p.m. Registration is $35.00 for ISGS members and $45.00 for non-members (after Sept. 26, registration is $50.00), which includes a buffet lunch. Membership in ISGS is $30.00 annually. You may register online using Paypal at [email protected] or send a check to ISGS, P.O. Box 10195, Springfield, IL 62791-0195. Please include your email address and contact information.

The featured speakers this year will be Michael John Neill, Dr. M.Catherine Bird, Craig Pfannkuche, Lesley Martin, and Ann Wells. They will be addressing topics such as searching online, digital restoration of photographs, using railroads in research, organizing genealogical materials, using maps in family history research, using Federal Census returns, preserving family heirlooms, and finding women ancestors who may have married more than once.”

9/11

Paula Stuart-Warren  9/11, Federation of Genealogical Societies, Quad Cities  Leave a comment

I visited Ground Zero in September 2004 and felt a special connection because of a large group of people who banded together to mourn and to celebrate life and the importance of family. We learned how quickly families can be changed forever.

That banding together was at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. The local host societies, the Scott County Genealogical Society and the Blackhawk Genealogical Society, along with genealogists from all over the U.S. and some from other countries, all banded together that week. We mourned, remembered, cried, hugged, laughed, wondered, and most of all learned that family comes in many forms.

At that conference and in the 8 years since I have learned how many of my friends have connections to 9/11 in some very sad and some even lucky ways. Just this past week at the FGS Conference in Little Rock there were conversations about the Quad Cities Conference. We will never forget on so many levels.

A couple years ago I did a post on the 9/11 week. You can read it here.

A week or more in Salt Lake City this January?

Paula Stuart-Warren  Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy  Leave a comment

Think about it. What else do you have on your calendar for January 2010? How about setting aside time for a whole lot of learning and networking in the genealogy capital of the world? The annual Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy is set for 11-15 January 2010. Online registration is easy!

You pick a course, sign up, and arrive at the Radisson Hotel to begin an entire week of learning. Choose from twelve courses and you attend sessions in that same course all week. Each course registrant receives a comprehensive syllabus for that course, an orientation breakfast and the Friday night banquet. Look over the evening classes that are extra. (You do not have to be registered for SLIG to register for an evening class.)

I coordinate and teach in Course I which is an intermediate level course on U.S. resources titled American Records and Research: Focusing on Families. This course assists researchers in learning about and using sources and methods. The 2010 classes focus on topics related to researching individuals and families in the 19th-21st centuries. Sixteen informative classroom hours on significant U.S. records and strategies take you beyond basic research tools. In addition, for this course only, 6.5 hours of help in the Family History Library during the Institute week provides hands-on assistance and guidance. This totals 22.5 hours for your one fee. Click here for the list of specific classes for this course.

This course helps extend your research skills with light homework assignments to immediately apply the classroom information to research on your own families. Class work is in the morning on five of the days, one afternoon, with hands-on library assistance on three afternoons from three of the instructors. There is ample time for open research in the afternoon and evening. This course alternates every other year with another Institute course with resources related more directly to localities.

The top-notch instructors represent a wide variety of states, credentials, education, and expertise: Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, , Cath Madden Trindle, CG, D. Joshua Taylor, Debra Mieszala, CG, Kory Meyerink, AG, Craig R. Scott, CG, and Elissa Scalise Powell, CG.

Participants in this course should have advanced beyond the “bare bones” beginner. We suggest rereading one or more basic genealogy guidebooks and being familiar with the Family History Library Catalog. (Online at www.familysearch.org). It will help if you have taken a basic level genealogical class or two and attended at least one genealogical seminar. Students should bring along some of their own family research materials including ancestor charts and family group sheets (computer or paper) to use in immediately applying what they learn in class. These will also be helpful during scheduled one-on-one consultations.

Minnesota Historical Society Library Hour Changes

Paula Stuart-Warren  Minnesota Historical Society  1 Comment

From the September 9, 2009 MHS Local History News:

“New Library Hours at MHS
To serve visitors better in the midst of a reduction in the Minnesota Historical Society‘s operating budget, hours for the library will change to reflect highest demand visitation times. Effective Tuesday September 8, 2009, new hours will be Tuesdays, noon to 8; Wednesdays through Fridays, noon to 5; Saturdays, 9 to 4; and Sundays, noon to 4. Closed Mondays and holidays.”

This is truly sad news for researchers. Many long-time library staff have had their jobs terminated or changed. Hours have been continually cut over the years. By the time you get checked in, put your things in a locker, order a box of records or some books . . . and actually receive the material, it’s almost time to leave. The history of Minnesota is truly being put on the back burner. It’s now a chore to visit MHS. This library is the access place for hundreds of years of books, monographs, historical publications, as well as city, county and state records. Staff that remains is overworked and the knowledge of lost staff is a horrific loss.

For someone who lives a distance from the Minnesota Historical Society, the urge to drive for a day or two of research is lessened. Why drive 3 hours or plan to stay in a motel and research for a few full days only to find that the now few hours the place is open on a given day is a joke.

It’s not the only locality or state doing this. The current state of historical research nationwide is getting sadder by the day. So much of what we need is not online and won’t be in our lifetime. Those thousands upon thousands of boxes of original records are treasure troves for doing genealogy, community history, military history, biographies, school history, and newspaper articles. Those boxes hold first-hand accounts, true history, family treasures, and so much more. All these staff and access losses are truly tragic.

The expense that went into the building of the Minnesota History Center may be for naught when people can no longer visit the exhibits, research history, or sit next to each other and see the excitement of finding that court record full of history. “To serve visitors better” is a phrase that makes no sense. Researchers don’t just visit. Researchers don’t want to be “served” only during the highest demand times. Research takes time —

I can now see myself lecturing — please come to Minnesota to research your Minnesota family history. But only during the hours of 12-5. And by the way, the materials are in closed stacks so that you need to order items , have them brought out to your table, and then the library will close.

Wanna make a bet that if some clerk in a county somewhere in Minnesota needs a copy of a county record that is housed in the state archives at MHS they can get it whenever it is needed — not just from noon-5? A legislator requesting a record at 9:00 a.m. will be served. A funeral home needing a copy of a DD214 will be served. But the taxpayers can get access only from noon-5.

Come on economy!

Where have I been?

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Federation of Genealogical Societies  Leave a comment

I just returned from a week in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was a great week at the Federation of Genealogical Societies annual conference. Talk about wonderful! FGS and the Arkansas Genealogical Society did a bang-up job. I had the best room monitors I have ever experienced as a speaker.

It takes a lot of volunteer power to put on such events. This year’s folks made it a smooth event. I tip my baseball cap to Jan Davenport and Suzanne Jackson and their crew. I also have to rave about the Night at the Ballpark where we watched the Arkansas Travelers beat their in-state rival, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, 9-3. Members of the FGS Board of Directors were everywhere, too. Everyone made it a great week.

Every session was full of folks talking. They did stop for the presentations to begin but the discussions taking place among the audiences really hit me as the best in genealogy networking. I think a lot of new friendships were made at this conference.

I have been doing the National Publicity for this conference for the past 18 months and doing the Conference News Blog for the past year. I am retiring from this volunteer work for the next conference to catch up on my own family and business. I may even be able to concentrate on my own blog more! BUT you must still add the next FGS conference to your calendar. Knoxville, Tennessee, August 18-21. The local hosts are the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Kentucky Historcal Society. Those folks are already working hard to bring you another great week of education, networking, and fun. See you in Knoxville!

Watch the FGS website over the next 11 months for evolving details. www.fgs.org

Minnesota Genealogical Society Conference Deadlines

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Minnesota Genealogical Society  Leave a comment

Don’t forget to register for the Minnesota Genealogical Society’s Northstar Genealogy Conference that is taking place September 18-19 in South St. Paul. Full details may be found by clicking here. Don’t be left out — this is a great event.

The featured speaker is Claire Mire Bettag, CG,who is a well-known speaker based in Washington, DC. She is knowledgeable and an outstanding speaker. The Conference also includes nine breakout sessions presented by other great speakers that represent Minnesota.

Claire’s topics are:
* Genealogical Assumptions: Your own Worst Enemy
* Government Documents: Untapped Genealogical Treasures
* Introduction to Federal Land Records
* National Archives Records at Your Finger Tips

Online registrations close September 15th and reservations for a Friday evening banquet and a Saturday box lunch close September 13th. Of course, you may register for the conference at the door but planners of these events truly appreciate advance registrations that help them in planning.

“Longtime volunteer leaves $25,000 to Newfields Public Library”

Paula Stuart-Warren  Libraries  Leave a comment

That is the headline from an article that tells how Barbara Bechtold Byrne (Bobbie) willed that $25,000 to the library in Newfields, New Hampshire. As the article on the Seacoastonline.com states:

“The library was also a place where Byrne could delve into the books and historical records dedicated to two of her favorite topics — Revolutionary history and genealogies.

‘Her goal was to promote this area — the history and genealogy of the town — going back to Colonial days,” Chris said. “She wanted to make sure we kept that history from the very early days alive.’ “

Read the full story here. What a wonderful legacy in this time when so many libraries, archives, and historical societies are struggling to preserve history with diminishing town, county and state funding.

Don’t let it get away

Paula Stuart-Warren  Research  Leave a comment

You just received an email with an attachment. That attachment is a copy of your great grandparents marriage certificate. Maybe tomorrow you will find an online obituary that has some neat family details.

As you look at the item your mind fills with ideas on research possibilities that flow from the details on the record. Maybe you have 3 questions based on what you just read. The dryer buzzes and you are off to hang up those permanent press shirts. Then off to the hardware store or to choir rehearsal. By the next time you have the time to look at those documents again, those first research ideas or questions to ask may not pop back into your mind. You remember that you had a wonderful idea on what to look for but it just won’t come back into your thoughts.

Put it in writing
We have all been at that place and hopefully learned a lesson. Immediately jot down the ideas and questions that pop into your mind. Those first impressions are important. That’s why I have paper and pencils/pens in many places in my home. It’s much easier to write down my first thoughts. In some ways, this is the beginning of your research plan.

This can also be the start of a list of questions to ask Aunt Mary the next time the two of you have a cup of coffee and talk about the family.

Don’t lose these notes — keep them with the document or in a folder or computer file with your other “to do” items.

These may be the best impressions
Often those ideas that first appear are among the best ones. Get them down in writing, but don’t let that be the end of your analyzing and planning process.