Wednesday, January 5, 2011

SDGS Seminar on 8 January Features Marcia Melnyk

The San Diego Genealogical Society Annual Seminar and Luncheon is on Saturday, 8 January from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Mission Valley (2270 Camino del Rio North).  Advance reservations were required   The $40 member fee includes a seated luncheon.  The seminar announcement is here.

The Seminar features Marcia Iannizzi Melnyk whose four presentations include:

Don't Reinvent the Wheel -- Tapping into the Knowledge of Others.  Somewhere there is an individual, ore a group, who can assist and teach you how to access or use a new database, record, or foreign records.  Tap into their knowledge and further your research.

Investigation the Dash (1842-1929): An Ancestor from Cradle to Grave --  Through a case study of one individual's lifetime, you will learn how to rearrange and review the data you have, and determine the holes in your information.  What records can be used to fill in those blanks?  What data might you have missed?  Can you follow them from cradle to grave using a timeline of their lives?  This presentation will change the way you look at records, new and old, and provide a more thorough life story of your ancestor.

Illustrating Your Family Heritage --   When you share your genealogical research with relatives, do you get that blank stare from some of them?  How can you tell the family story in a more engaging way?  Using images, photographs, and artful presentation can transform a boring list of names and dates into a mini-history lesson telling how your ancestors fit into their world.  This can be done in a scrapbook format or simply added to your documents outlining their lives.  I guarantee that you will engage them the next time you share!

Immigrant Research Strategies --  Researching a new ancestor or locale can be difficult.  Knowing where to search for existing data, other researchers, and books can make your search more successful!

About the speaker:

Marcia Iannizzi Melnyk  is a professional genealogist and author who has taught beginning and advanced genealogy courses for more than 18 years all over the United States and Canada.  She is a former reference librarian for the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston and the creator and teacher of their popular Genealogy 101 program.

About SDGS:

The San Diego Genealogical Society will unveil their new website at www.casdgs.org at the meeting.  There will be a Salt Lake city Trip drawing (need not be present to win) and other door prizes.

I look forward to this meeting - I've never heard Marcia speak, but I'm sure that I will learn quite a bit from her four topics.

1 comment:

Heather Wilkinson Rojo said...

Marcia is a great speaker and you will enjoy this very much. I took her Genealogy 101 classes at NEHGS about 12 years ago, and learned quite a bit. I have her New England handbook, and I use it nearly everyday, although I'm waiting for her to do an update.