New England Regional Genealogical Conference

I attended NERGC in Springfield, MA this weekend.  Unfortunately, my hotel did not have internet, so I have been slowly writing up posts on all the session I attended.

I cannot say enough about how wonderful the conference was.  This was my first genealogical conference and if others are this amazing, I picked the right hobby.  I was planning on attending the next conference (in 2013) even before this one was finished.  I was lucky enough to come home to an email that I won a free registration for 2013!  I cannot wait!  My biggest problem with the conference is that it's not annual.

The expo was a little bit too great... I ended up buying 4 books (all of which I, of course, needed;-)).  It was fun to see all the societies and genealogical resource companies.  Since I do not have ancestors from New England, many of these did not apply to me, but I have enjoyed reading through the society newsletters that were given away.

I will post one or two session/workshop summaries a day for the next couple weeks, linking back to this original post.

Workshops attended:

Thursday: Librarians' and Teachers' Day

• Strategies for Making Archival Records Accessible to Genealogists: Kathleen M. Reilly


• Kids & Collections: Making Meaningful Connections: Liz Shapiro


• ProQuest Information and Learning: William Forsyth


• Bringing the Civil War to Life through Library Program and Curriculum Development: Donna E. Walcovy, Ph.D.


• Illustrating the Past: Digital Images at the National Archives: Jean Nudd Elliott

Friday:

• Two Chairs & A Pair of Spectacles: Discovering Your Ancestors in Probate Records: Marian Pierre-Louis


• The Road Less Traveled: Polish & Ukrainian Research: Jonathon Shea, AG & Matthew Bielawa


• Business Secrets of Professional Genealogists: We're Human Too!: Laura Prescott


• Erie Canal Genealogy: The Peopling of Upstate NY & the Midwest: John Philip Colletta, Ph.D.


• Effective Editing & Writing: Pamela Boyer Saytr, CG, CGL

Saturday:

• Using Zotero, the Free Citation & Note Manager: Connie Reik


• Italian Clusters & Chains for Genealogical Success: Shellee A. Morehead, Ph.D.


• Where is Great-Grandma Hiding? Finding Forgotten Females: Sandra MacLean Clunies, CG


• Workshop: Solving Genealogy Problems Using Deeds: An Advanced Deeds Workshop: Carol McCoy, Ph.D.