Monday, September 3, 2007

"New tools let families dig deeper for roots"

My local daily newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune finally printed today the New York Times News Service article by Ellen Rosen that appeared back on 18 August in many other newspapers. In the Union-Tribune, the article was titled "New tools let families dig deeper for roots."

The lead paragraph in the article is about Katherine Holden of Connecticut who had a family tradition that a great-grandmother was a Native American, and she had a DNA test for $250 that told her that she was 12% Native American.

All in all, it is a pretty complete and fair article, striking the right balance between traditional and online resources and mentioning DNA research but not going overboard with it. After reviewing some of the online sites, with several paragraphs devoted to OneGreatFamily and Geni, the article moves on to traditional resources. Thomas W. Jones and Kathleen W. Hinckley have several quotes, and the FHL, FGS, BCG and APG are mentioned.

The article quotes Tim Sullivan, the CEO of Ancestry.com, saying that they have 800,000 subscribers and 14 million registered users.

Family History Month is in October, and CVGS is planning an all-day seminar titled "Genealogy Online." Our quandary is how to get the local newspapers to give us a little publicity - the Union-Tribune has not been receptive in the past but the Chula Vista Star-News has been somewhat receptive, having interviewed me about my research last year.

What methods have other societies used to get some publicity other than sending out a press release and hoping for attention?

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