Saturday, September 10, 2011

Day 3 (Friday) at the FGS Conference

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It seems like blogging has taken a back seat to attending sessions, and talking to vendors and friends at the FGS Conference in Springfield, Illinois.  My Friday (Day 3) activities included:

*  I started my day at Linda Geiger's talk on "U.S. Territorial Papers, 1789-1873: Records of the Frontiersmen."  This presentation highlighted, for me, just how many records are not yet online.  The National Archives have so many records "hiding" in their repositories that this talk was very useful for me.  Linda's main point was to track the different jurisdictions from first settlement through territorial status to state status.  She mentioned resources created by the Departments of State, Justice, Agriculture and Interior.  There are also collections of territorial censuses, papers of Congresse Papers of US Presidents, US District Courts, Territorial courts and the US Post Office.   Her web page with finding aids is http://woodward-geiger.com/US_Territories/

*  In the Blogger Cage, I hooked up my computer (they were working on the direct wired connection) to the wireless, and I read my mail, blogs and wrote the Thursday summary post.  Then it was off to wander the exhibit hall and learn more about some of the products and vendors.  Two of the interesting, and new, vendors are HistoryGeo.com (with Arphax maps online for a fee) and Genealogy Records Solution (Catalyst Consulting Group) which creates websites for counties to market their vital records certificates.

*  Lunch was at the exhibit hall, and then it was back to the Bloggers Cage for awhile.  At 2 p.m. I attended James Hansen talk on "The Draper Papers: Research in This (In)Famous Manuscript Collection."  Unfortunately, I was in the back row and this was a lecture, not a presentation (no slides).  There are 491 volumes of these materials Also on 130 microfilm reels at several repositories) featuring the "trans-Allegheny West" states, which include some original material, and Lyman Draper's research notes and correspondence.  I sat next to Chris who works with the Wisconsin Historical Society, and she encouraged me to visit their booth for answers to my questions about cemeteries, manuscripts, newspapers and vertical files.

*  Back at the Bloggers Cage, the Geneabloggers Radio Show started at 3 p.m., and I heard Thomas's end of the conversation.  I spent the whole hour trying to make the blasted wireless connection show the online chat - it never did.  The perils of genea-blogging at a conference, I guess.  I should have used the direct connection.

*  I went out vendor stalking again and saw Janet Hovorka at Family ChartMasters and Ed Zapletal and Rick Cree at Family Chronicle Magazine.

*  Ruth Blair (The Passionate Genealogist) came by for my audio interview in the RootsTech Lounge and that went well.  Watch her blog for the audio segment.

*  I went back to the hotel to get ready for the FGS 35th Anniversary Banquet.  We walked across the street to the Hilton Hotel and waited for the doors to open.  We sat with The Ancestry Insider and Mrs. Insider and had a great time chatting.  The FGS History skit, written after the Geneabloggers Radio show, was a smash hit with the audience - the best bit was Josh Taylor noting that he missed most of the events because FGS is older than he is.  After a nice dinner, Harold Holzer, a Lincoln scholar, described the photos in the Abraham Lincoln family photograph album. 

One more day - what will I find on Saturday?

One lowlight from Friday:  Lorel at http://www.sortyourstory.com/ lost her Mac laptop yesterday - apparently stolen from her booth.  If anyone knows something, please contact Lorel through her website.

1 comment:

Ruth Blair said...

I appreciate the mention Randy. Thank you.