NERGC 2013: Day 3

Saturday morning meant the end of NERGC was near.  I began with the New York track, starting with “But She Died in Upstate New York in the 1850s: How Can I Identify Her Parents?” By David Ouimette.  New York state is not the easiest to research in.  Vital records did not start until 1880, were not prevalent until the early 1900s and even though they are open to researchers, they are not available to browse, instead you have to fill out a form and hope.

This means that you need to use alternate records and get creative in your search.  David discussed the importance of cluster genealogy, looking at neighbors, checking neighboring localities and going forward in order to go back, since you never know what information a descendent might have that can help you.  My favorite thing he said, “the search for an individual is the search for the family” is one of the most important things to remember when conducting genealogical research.  Even professional genealogists do not know everything.  At the end of the session a woman in the audience asked if he had looked at a certain record set for his case study.  Hopefully this new resource will help him in his search.

The second part of the NY track was “Spanning the Great New York Abyss: Connecting Generations When No Vital Records Exist” by Laura Murphy DeGrazia.  Laura gave a lot of resources for NY researchers and I will write a post expanding on this later in the week.

After lunch (and another volunteer lunch ticket collection), I attended the workshop “Baker's Dozen Steps to Writing Research Reports Workshop” by Elissa Scalise Powell.  If you have the opportunity to take this workshop, do it.  I wish someone had explained research reports to me like this when I was still a baby genealogist.  Everyone should be writing research reports using the standards shown in the BCG manual.  Elissa recommends having a template for these reports that you can fill in throughout your research process.  This report should be the very first thing you do, prior to any research, for any question you have.  The way she explained it made it seem so easy that of course you will always write a research report.  My goal is to write and post these on my blog weekly, particularly showing the process of writing it throughout the next few weeks.

My last workshop of the conference was “My Grandmother was a Fascist: Alien Registration Files and Italian immigrant communities up to WWII” by Shellee A. Morehead.  This session was actually useful to anyone with immigrant ancestors who did not get naturalized until after 1940.  The Alien Registration Act of 1940 made every un-naturalized immigrant register on a yearly basis.  To see if your ancestor has a file, go here.

The next NERGC conference will be in 2015 in Providence, Rhode Island.  I can’t wait!

NERGC 2013: Day 2

Day 2 at NERGC began with the “Evidence Analysis” workshop by Barbara Mathews.  Barbara started by giving us a list of useful books, all of which I happily have in my genealogical library, that explain the terms used for evidence and sources.  We also got a sneak peak at the new terms Tom Jones has put in his new book out in just a few weeks (have you pre-ordered yours yet?).  She then discussed the importance of evaluating each source and the information found therein. 

Next came my favorite part, discussing case studies.  First we looked at one on straightforward information.  This would be something such as looking at the parentage of your parent, where all of the documents match.  Nice and simple, but you still want to write up a proof argument on it.  Next we looked at one involving conflicting evidence, involving inferred relationships on early census records and secondary information from a death certificate.  Worksheets such as census comparison charts helped us figure out who a person’s parents were.

Last she gave us a lot of documents to establish the correct parentage of Charles Goodrich.  This was published in multiple printed genealogies, with differing results.  We were put into groups and asked to come up with an answer and a reason why.  I am happy to say I came up with the correct answer!  It showed the importance of always going beyond printed genealogies to sources such as probate and vital records.  When writing out a proof argument it is important that we not hide these types of conflicts, but instead discuss them and why we reached our conclusion.  And as always, footnote, footnote, footnote.

After the workshop, I wandered to the blogger area in the expo center, which was sadly deserted.  I then looked around the exhibits a bit and finally purchased The Journey Takers after about three years of meaning to, and There's a Map on My Lap!: All About Maps (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library), which is a great introduction to maps for children.  I also got an amazing deal on the 2004 APG conference syllabus and the 2011 NGS conference syllabus.  I can’t wait to read through them.  Then I went to volunteer experience #1, collecting tickets for lunch. 

My first afternoon workshop was “Should you believe your eyes? Sizing up Sources & Information” by Laura Murphy DeGrazia.  The answer to this, of course, is no.  It is important to look at who the informant is, the condition of the material, the purpose of the document, the context and procedure it was created with, the completeness of the information and the creator’s conventions, aka always read the introductory material, for each source you find.  Once you have done this, you can compare and contrast all of the data you have and reconsider the relevance of each piece.  I also volunteered for this session to check name badges and collect evaluation sheets.  I highly recommend this very easy volunteer position, as you help conference organizers by doing a little extra work at a session you would attend anyway and you get entered to win some awesome prizes.

In what turned out to be my last workshop of the day, I went to “Digging Up the Dirt on Your Farmer” by Lori Thornton.  Here I met Madaleine Laird, a new blogger who you should definitely check out!  Lori gave us a multitude of sources to find information on your farmer.  She is the one person who has more farmers in her family tree than I do (my ancestry has a random gardener and day laborers in it).  Always look at the agricultural census if it is available, as well as tax, land and patent records.

After this I was pretty fried.  I was going to go to the poster sessions, but an hour of standing wasn’t looking so good, so instead I came back to the hotel for a quick nap, which turned into my waking up halfway through the blogging special interest group I had planned to attend.  At that point my husband and I went to grab dinner and then came back to relax and watch HGTV.  Only one more day left at the conference!

NERGC 2013: Day 1

At the end of the NERGC conference in 2011 I was fortunate enough to win a free registration to the 2013 conference in Manchester, New Hampshire, which began today.  I unfortunately missed the opening session this morning as we arrived at our hotel at 3am this morning, but I attended 3 sessions today, as well as visiting the exhibition hall.

The first session was Colleen Fitzpatrick’s “The Dead Horse Investigation: Not Just the Facts, Ma'am.”  Colleen showed how much information you can find to identify a photograph by looking at all the little details and using other sources, such as city directories and census records.

Next I went to “What Exactly is a "Reasonably Exhaustive Search"?” by Laura Murphy DeGrazia.  While many genealogists know they are supposed to complete a reasonably exhaustive search, most do not know what that entails.  Since each circumstance is different, there is no checklists or shortcuts, instead, we all need to learn how to conduct a reasonably exhaustive search from experience.  She recommended reading as many journal articles as possible and studying the footnotes and sources used, as well as showing your work to experts at events such as the Ancestor Road Show at NERGC to learn more.  Laura was a great speaker and one I will be adding to my “must see at conferences” list.

My last session today was by one of my favorite speakers, F. Warren Bittner, on “Complex Evidence: What it is, How it works, and Why it matters? (An example from NYC)”.  According to Warren “the goal of family history is to establish identity” and if we cannot do this, all of our other goals are a waste.  In order to truly establish identity you need to use complex evidence and analyze and compare all of your sources to create a written proof summary.  The problem many genealogists have is that family tree software and charts make it seem that filling in dates and sources of each person is enough, when really that isn’t the point of genealogical research at all.  You can have a birth, marriage and death date for John Smith, but they may be three different John Smiths, which is why the analysis is necessary.  The presentation reminded me once again of the work I have to do with my research beyond proper sourcing and putting it in Legacy.

The society fair began at 5:15, followed by the exhibit hall opening at 6pm.  Not having New England ancestry, there were not any societies I was interested in joining, although I was impressed by and interested in the Maine Old Cemetery Association and the work they do to preserve cemeteries.  The exhibit hall was very full and it was a bit difficult to look at the booths.  I bought New York State Censuses & Substitutes by William Dollarhide, which I am very excited to add to my genealogy library.

Tomorrow is a long day starting with a workshop on evidence analysis in the morning and ending with a blogging special interest group at night. 

NERGC: Bringing the Civil War to Life through Library Programs & Curriculum Development

After a wonderful lunch sponsored by ProQuest, we moved on to presentation number 4 for Librarians’ & Teachers’ Day: “Bringing the Civil War to Life through Library Programs & Curriculum Development” by Donna E. Walcovy, Ph.D..  12 April 2011 is the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War and librarians, teachers and genealogists will be celebrating with a multitude of programing.  This was a great presentation.  Donna is a very exuberant speaker and brings cool props!

The presentation begun with Donna showing us a sword from Civil War that began to her cousin, President William McKinley – too cool!  She then told a story of buying one neighborhood boy a Civil War Union outfit and play guns.  She then bought the boy across the street the same items for Confederates.  The boys would then play Civil War in the back yard.  What a great way to get children interested in history.

How else can we introduce children and adults to history?  Journals from the time, Civil War paper dolls, CDs and books with songs from the era, create guides to the Civil War in your area (such as road trips or walking tours), literature, computer games, “You Are There: The Fall of Fort Sumter” CD, and, of course, articles in magazines and websites (particularly the NPS site & the Smithsonian).

Imagine being a young girl reading about the Civil War.  Would you rather read a boring text book about the War or a book such as An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Pvt. Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers, 1862-1864, about a woman who dressed up as a man and fought in the Civil War?  I know what I would prefer, even to this day.  This is one way to “transport” students back to the time period and showing the relationship between what happened in history and the student.

One recommendation which continues on the theme of access is to let Eagle Scouts use your materials for their projects.

Looking for gravesites of your Civil War soldier?  Check Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War gravesite registration.

The presentation ended with my winning the Ancestry.com cds” Military Records: Civil War Service Records”.  It was a lucky weekend for me!

NERGC: Strategies for Making Archival Records Accessible to Genealogists

On Thursday at NERGC I attended the Librarians' and Teachers' Day.  These types of events are always very useful to me both as a genealogist and as a librarian/archivist.  It also counted as 5 hours of continuing education credit.

The first session was Kathleen M. Reilly of the Berkshire Athenaeum's Local History Department, discussing Strategies for Making Archival Records Accessible to Genealogists.

Accessibility is one of my main issues as a librarian and archivist.  As a researcher in Western New York, I understand the problems faced by low to no accessibility of records.

The Berkshire Athenaeum's Local History Department was able to make their records easily accessible during a recent remodel.  One of my favorite changes they made were putting all vital records together, rather than by location.  Considering the constant change of towns and counties, this makes research much easier.  They also have movable stacks and put the vital records and cemetery records on the ends, so that they are always available.

The overall message was to find ways to preserve your collection while making it more available.  This includes microfilming many of their collections, in addition to some digitization.  They also photocopy items such as scrapbooks, to make them available for use.  There are also many indexing projects and finding aid creation in progress.

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.

NERGC: Kids & Collections: Making Meaningful Connections

Liz Shapiro, executive director of the Sharon Historical Society, was the second speaker for the NERGC Librarians’ and Teachers’ Day.  Her presentation was titles “Kids & Collections: Making Meaningful Connections”.  This was an awesome presentation and if you get the chance to here Ms. Shapiro present, I highly recommend it.

Our of our jobs, as librarians,  is to figure out what we have, how it can help teachers and bring families in.  We have to look for that “cool” factor.  Her motto is “Making it real!”

Making  your collection accessible:

• Their website is “content-rich, designed to emphasize the sharing of our historic collections, including documents, photographs, and other archival materials.”


• They have great social media (in my opinion): Flickr, wordpress, twitter, fb, google maps, youtube: http://sharonhist.org/interactive-fun-with-shs.htm.


• All cemetery info online.

Create programs, both in school and on-site for children/families.  In school “Goal: to connect students in a personal way with their town.”  On-site “Goal: What you can learn from the “real thing”.  Reach out to home schoolers and  home school networks.  Creating these partnerships doesn’t have to be much more than “show-and-tell” and the give new uses for non-book collections (maps, photographs, primary documents, local history collections, etc.).  In relation to students they:

• Create programs with teachers/school media specialists.  They go in to the schools and do these for free as part of their civic responsibility.


• Use glogster, to make posters.


• Use online primary documents.  By using primary source documents, the students become the scholars, come to their own conclusions.


• Train kids on proper tombstone cleaning & bring into cemeteries.


• “With very little prep work, and NO money, the ability to enhance a student’s learning, connect them to their communities in new ways, and build a better citizen for life, are at your fingertips.”  Become the local Mister Roger’s.  Teach children who their neighbors are.  We aren’t doing a good job at this, but should be.

Other cool projects:

• Local art gallery – ask for 20% donation of items sold.  Only $20 for 4-color postcards (price to artist).  Creates steady stream of changing exhibits.


• “Culture café” with wireless access, couches, meetings, can eat, hands-on history room for kids.


• People can sign up to do their own exhibit with the HS collections.