May 2013

NGS Conference Las Vegas – The Final Day

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The last day of conference is always a busy one as you are trying to attend the lectures you want to see, going to the Marketplace to get your final purchases, ordering the audio recordings for the lectures you were not able to attend and saying a final good bye to your genealogy pals until the next conference.

My day started early with a breakfast meeting with MyHertiage. The Official Bloggers were invited to learn more about the new offerings on their website. We were greeted by “The Record Detective” complete with spy glass. They escorted us to the conference room where we caught up with the other bloggers and learned more about the changes to MyHertiage. I will write more about this in another post.

Then it was off to the first lecture of the day at 8 am. I decided to attend “Research Tools in RootsMagic” which provided me with some good information but he spent so much time on some items he missed some of the ones that I really wanted to learn more about.

The lecture I was really interested in attending today was “Landlords and Tenants: Land and Estate Records for Irish Family History” presented by Brian Donovan of Eneclann. He provided so much wonderful information and also told us about some new releases for Irish research coming later this year.

The next lecture was “The Elements of Genealogical Analysis” and it examined a different way to look at the Genealogical Proof Standard.

The last lecture of the conference and the day that I attended was “Visual Aids: Enhancements to the Presentation, NOT Show & Tell.” This lecture provided some good suggestions on creating presentations.

I had lunch in the area outside the Marketplace and met up with some ladies who were attending the Ancestry Day stream. There was a Youth Camp being held as well and they had room for 40 children but 77 attended so that is a good sign. There were 1981 attendees at the 2013 National Genealogical Society Conference and a good time was had by all.

The water show at the Bellagio
©2013 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

On Saturday evening my friend and I went to the Las Vegas Strip and saw the sights. We had dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant in the MGM Grand and had a lovely meal. When you go to conferences it is important to get out and see the sights of the city where the conference is being held. It is fun to get out and you never know you might learn and/or see something new.

The conservatory at the Bellagio
©2013 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

This post is a little late because after the conference we traveled to Salt Lake City to do a little research. We got home a couple of days ago and it is a long weekend in Canada so I am catching up.

Now we look forward to the 2014 NGS Conference which will be held in Richmond Virginia 7-10 May 2014. See you all there!

©2013 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

New Irish records to be released later this year

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This morning I attended Brian Donovan’s lecture entitled “Landlords and Tenants: Irish Land and Estate Records for Irish Family History Research.” As usual Brian did not disappoint. The lecture was great and very informative. He also provided some good background information into the records.

He did announce that some new records are going to be put on Findmypast and on the National Archives of Ireland website.

It looks like we can look forward to seeing records relating to church records, original wills, workhouse registers, school pupil rolls and all pre 1901 census survivors and search forms should be available in the next 12 months. The pre 1901 census suvivors and search forms and the will indexes will be available for free on the National Archives of Ireland website.

In the next six months the Field & House books will be availalbe for free from the National Archives of Ireland.

These records will help Irish researchers to find out more about their family history. The land records in particular can be invaluable.

©2013 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

Press Release: National Genealogical Society Presents Shirley Langdon Wilcox Award for Exemplary Volunteerism to Julie Miller, CG

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ARLINGTON, VA, 10 May 2013: The National Genealogical Society presented the Shirley Langdon Wilcox Award to Julie Potter Miller, cg, at its annual banquet on Friday evening, 10 May, at the NGS 2013 Family History Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Established in 2011, the Shirley Langdon Wilcox Award for Exemplary Volunteerism recognizes long-term volunteer service to NGS and the genealogical community at large. Julie has served on the NGS Board of Directors since October 2006 and has been vice president since October 2010. She served as conference chair for the NGS 2010 Family History Conference in Salt Lake City and for the NGS 2012 Family History Conference in Cincinnati. This year she continued to serve on the conference committee overseeing the conference blog and social media publicity and provided knowledgeable guidance whenever asked.

“Julie is consistently out in front, leading the charge,” said NGS President Jordan Jones. “She is knowledgeable, fair, and thinks about the long term, consistently pushing the board to explore new and innovative ways to use technology to better serve NGS members.” Stefani Evans, 2013 NGS conference chair added, “Julie has freely shared her experience and project management skills while serving on the conference committee again this year. In every interaction, she has been kind, thoughtful, and patient.”

In addition to her service to NGS, Julie has served as president of the Colorado Genealogical Society, Colorado Chapter of APG, and the Bloomfield Genealogical Society. She served on the board of directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors and volunteers at the National Archives Rocky Mountain Regional Branch.

Founded in 1903, the National Genealogical Society is dedicated to genealogy education, high research standards, and the preservation of genealogical records. The Arlington, Virginia, based nonprofit is the premier national society for everyone, from the beginner to the most advanced family historian, seeking excellence in publications, educational offerings, research guidance, and opportunities to interact with other genealogists. Please visit the NGS Pressroom for further information.