Summary Sunday – NERGC 2013 Day 3

I’m home from my trip to the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium 2013 conference.  Before I settle back into day to day life here at home, I wanted to take a few minutes to review my final day there.

Fortunately, I was feeling better yesterday than I had the day before, so I was able to attend the full day.  I started with David Ouimette, CG, going through a case-study of finding a woman’s parents in upstate New York in the 1850s.  His research led him from New York, to Vermont, Massachusetts and Canada.  It was interesting to listen to his process, and I learned a new term that I hadn’t heard before.  He considered the family he was researching to be a “sparrow”, or people who “flit from place to place”, leaving records in many places.  I have a sparrow of my own in post-revolutionary New Hampshire that I’d like to track down someday.

My next seminar was about records located in the VermontState Archives in Middlesex, Vermont.  The folks there have been helpful to me in the past when I’ve emailed requests to them, and it sounds like a visit to the facility would be no different.  Many Vermont records are already online, but it might be fun to spend a day there anyway.

In the afternoon I attended a similar session in regards to the New Hampshire Historical Society library’s collections.  I made a note to look into joining the Society.  With the amount of family that I have who migrated through New Hampshire, I’m not sure why I’d never thought of it before.

The next session was an interesting look at researching and setting up an online document repository for a community, presented by David Allen Lambert.  Lambert set up a website for his hometown of Stoughton, Massachusetts.  He spoke about the process of gathering material, posting it, and most importantly, selling the project to townspeople to help get them on board and volunteering time and information.  I chatted with him quickly after the presentation to see if posting material online had helped to create a snowball effect of more information coming to him.  He nodded and told me a quick story of how someone that had heard him speak about the site at another conference had found him at NERGC and given him some tintypes that she had found.  The important take-away from this seminar, for me, was to put your research online, even if it’s not “complete”.  It could help with future research.

My final seminar for the day was a presentation by DonnaWalcovy, PhD, who showed examples of gravestone art from the colonial period up to the present.  It was clear that she loved the subject, and she was fun-going and relaxed throughout the presentation.  My wife and I, a several years ago, had talked about putting together a book about gravestone art.  After attending this session, I may have to look into the project again, though I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to look at another flying-skull carving without thinking about “Light-bulb Head”.

Overall, I had a great time at NERGC 2013.  I’m definitely going to look into attending the conference again when it heads to Rhode Island in 2015.

First-Timers Friday Part II – Day 2 of NERGC

Unfortunately my second day at NERGC 2013 started out with a horrible migraine.  I did manage to make it to a few sessions, but my mid-afternoon I had to call it quits and head back to my room.  I was hoping to head back over to the Radisson to attend the bloggers SIG this evening, but after a nap and an attempt at food, my migraine is still winning.

Here’s a quick break-down of what I did get to see today.

First, I attended a session about records held at NARA in Waltham, MA.  While the record examples themselves were neat to see, I was hoping to learn more about actually visiting NARA.  There was some information that came out during the Q&A session, but most of the presentation was about using the NARA website to locate the offline records that you might want to see.

The second session that I attended was “Researching Your French and Indian War Ancestor in New England”, presented by Craig Scott,CG.  As I chose a spot to sit, people in the room were already laughing with the presenter.  Apparently he had to buy one of his own books in the exhibit hall, as he didn’t have a copy with him for his presentation.  The laughter and fun continued throughout the presentation, which I found very informative, as the French and Indian War is one of the colonial eras that I don’t know much about.  My favorite quote from the session: “Most forts are not original.  Like courthouses, they tend to burn down.”

After the second time-slot, there was “Unopposed Exhibitor Time” (an *excellent* idea, by the way), plus time for lunch.  I actually reversed the time and grabbed some fresh air, caught up on emails, grabbed a small bite to eat, then went to the exhibit hall.  Of course, the things that drew my attention were no surprise; maps and books.  I kept my promise to my wife, however, and didn’t buy anything new (“No books.  Read the ones you have first.”).  I wrapped up the free time by writing-up and posting yesterday’s experience.

My final session of the day was about using the Library of Congress website.  Unfortunately by this time, my migraine was getting the better of me, so I didn’t get as much out of it as I could have.  I did take a note to check out the digital preservation area of the site.  Directly after this session I headed back to my hotel, which meant skipping the last two sessions, but given how I was feeling, I think it was a wise choice.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow.  There are several session about local resources that I’m hoping to attend, in particular regarding Vermont and New Hampshire.  I texted my wife to thank her for letting me attend the conference.  The next step is to convince her to come along to NERGC in Rhode Island in 2015.

First-Timers Friday - NERGC, Manchester, NH

I was too tired yesterday to write about my first day at NERGC.  In a word (or three) it was awesome!

I left my house later than expected, and stopped for breakfast somewhere along the three-hour trek, but I still managed to arrive in Manchester in time to find parking and to grab my registration packet before things got started.  I spotted Heather Rojo in the lobby, but didn’t get a chance to introduce myself.

My first stop was the First-timer’s session.  The purpose of the session was to orient newbies to the convention.  I didn’t really learn anything that I couldn’t have learned from reading the paperwork in my registration packet, but it was nice to have some time to adjust to being in conference-mode.

The next stop was the opening session in which SandraMacLean Clunies, CG, spoke about mill workers in the Lawrence and Lowell, Massachusetts areas.  Using three specific individuals that had been researched, she was able to bring the time-period to life easily, providing a bit of humor to go with it.  Looking around the room at my fellow attendees (850+ was the count that I heard), I could see that I was clearly among people like myself.  We weren’t learning about history like it was taught to us in school.  We were getting to know individuals as clearly as if they were standing in front of us, being introduced by a mutual friend.  The side-affect was learning a bit about the history of millwork during the early to middle 19^th century.  My take-away, actually, was to check if millwork may be why my Charles Jenkins may have ended up in Massachusetts before the Civil War.

In between the opening session and the next session I remembered something about conventions and conferences.  People don’t walk as fast as I do.  It’s not that I hurry, but I have long legs.  I had to keep reminding myself to take smaller steps while negotiating the lobbies.

In the afternoon I was able to follow the “Photographs” track of the agenda.  While I’m not sure that I learned anything that hadn’t been covered in the reading that I’ve been doing.  It was fun to listen to the speakers, and how passionate they are about what they do.  Especially entertaining was Michael Strauss,AG (“…and my son Levi. -pause-  Yes, Levi Strauss…”).  I loved his stories about finding old photographs of his hometown and family.

The last session of the day almost literally left me with my mouth open in amazement.  ColleenFitzpatrick, PhD, walked through the processes she had used to identify a few photos.  First, she talks quickly (at least for this New England boy).  Next, the amount of information that she gave was staggering, and the logic that she used to solve the mystery of a bar photo was more than a little impressive.  I left with a mental note to check out her books when I get a chance.

So, my first day plans of immersing myself in conference culture and learning about photographs were both successful.  I did notice, though, that none of the speakers talked about photos much past the turn of the 20^th century.  I’ve also noticed this in my reading.  That leaves about a hundred year span of photography that doesn’t seem to be covered much.  I wonder if there’s an opportunity there, or if I just haven’t come across anything authoritative yet.

Waiting Wednesday – NERGC 2013

At this time tomorrow, I’ll be sitting in the First Timers Session of the New England Regional GenealogicalConsortium’s 2013 conference.  Today is waiting day.  The day where I look forward to the conference, and where I begin to reflect on what needs to be done before I leave.

I should mention that I’m not a very organized traveler.  In fact, I don’t really like traveling.  I like being places, but not traveling to, or preparing for them.  My usual mode of preparation is to look at a map to make sure I know how to get to my destination, then pack some clothing last minute when I remember that I’m staying overnight.

In this case, I’ve been to the location where NERGC is being held on a few occasions, so I already know how to get there.  You’d think I’d be ahead of the game, but no.  As I dressed for work this morning, I realized that I need to pack for the weekend.  Fortunately, I’m only driving a few hours, and not flying cross-country, so packing should be light.

So, what have I done to prepare for the conference?

I’ve read through my agenda and the syllabus papers that were emailed to me in the last few days.  For me, it breaks down like this:

Thursday Morning: Get oriented and immersed in the conference culture.

Most conferences have similarities on the surface, but they are all different in their own way.  After registration, I’ll attend the seminar for newbies like myself, then the main opening session.

Thursday Afternoon: Photos photos photos!

All of my afternoon sessions revolve around old-photos, which is a big interest of mine.  Some of the information may overlap, but I’m looking forward to seeing what I can learn.

Friday: High-level research

The Friday sessions that I selected are of a high-level interest to me.  That is, I don’t have an immediate need, but the sessions look like they might hold some information for future research.  I have a fascination with the colonial era of America, to the session “Researching Your French and Indian War Ancestor in New England” is appealing.  “Digging Up the Dirt on Your Farmer” is another that I’m looking forward to, as I’m descended from long lines of farmers on both sides of my family.

Saturday: Local research

Saturday is the day for focusing on “my” states.  That is, states that my immediate ancestors hail from.  In particular, I’ll be attending sessions regard research in Vermont, upstate New York, and New Hampshire.  The day will be wrapped up with a session on gravestone symbolism, because, let’s face it; old gravestones are cool to look at.

Motivation Monday - Q1 Goal Update

Back in January I outlined my three big genealogical goals for the year.  In short they were:

• Continue my genealogical education.
• Attend a genealogy event.
• Write more.

 With the first quarter of 2013 behind me, I thought I'd take a look at my goal progress.

Goal 1: Continue my genealogical eduction.

This one hasn't gone so well.  After a couple of tries, I received a passing grade on Lesson 5 of the NGS Home Study Course.  I still need to finish writing up the Lesson 6 assignments and get those turned in.  I did attend one online seminar about DNA testing, which I found interesting.  It took some of the mystery out of using DNA for genealogical research.  I'm still not sold on having a test done myself, but it was neat to learn about.

Goal 2: Attend a genealogy event.

This goal will be completed two weeks from now.  I registered for the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium conference in Manchester, New Hampshire.  I'll be spending three days among fellow genealogists at my first convention.  If I'm not too tired at the end of each day, expect blog updates about my experience.  It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Goal 3: Write more.

Done.  While I haven't been able to write every couple of days like I had hoped, I'm still writing more than I have in the past few years.  Sticking with short targeted posts has helped.  In addition, the blog has put me in touch with a couple of contacts, and led me to read other blogs, which are helping me stay motivated.

Overall, I'm attaining my 2013 goals.  The one area that I need to focus more on is education.  The NERGC conference will help with that, but I really need to buckle down and work more on the NGS course.

Monday Meditation – Preparing for NERGC

I’ve been quiet here for the past couple of weeks.  This morning it hit me as to why I’ve been so quiet.

I’ve been mentally preparing.

I’m a naturally introverted person. I sometimes forget that we introverts not only need time to recover from an event, we also need time to prepare for an event.  In my case, I have several events coming up in the next several weeks, with some of them being back to back.  The introvert in me is already mentally saying “All those people and place and things and schedules and meals and driving and hotels….  This is going to be exhausting.”

That’s not to say that I don’t want to attend these events.  I’m actually very excited about going.  NERGC especially is going to be interesting.  There are several photograph-related seminars that I’m planning to attend, and, being my first genealogy conference, I expect that I’ll be meeting some people in person that I currently know by name only.  It’s going to be fun, but I realized this morning that it’s going to take some mental preparation, which my lizard brain apparently realized a week or two ago as it quietly started shutting down some external stimulations, like blogging.

Amma Marfo over at The Student Affairs Feature offers a good explanation for the non-introverted of what the introverted go through at conferences, as well as some suggestions for helping the introverted to not become overwhelmed.  For NERGC, I’ve already planned some “recharge” periods.  Even though they are great networking opportunities, and the discussions seem interesting, I purposely didn’t sign up for any of the meals offered at the conference.  Instead, I’ll grab a bite to eat by myself, or with a smaller group.  This will let me recover from the stimulation of crowds of people, and signs, and literature, and so on.

What I wasn’t able to do, unfortunately, was book a room in the same hotel as the conference.  This is my normal preference, and what I’d recommend as my #1 tip for convention-going introverts.  Staying right in the hotel gives you almost instant access to quiet and decompression in the event that everything starts to become too exhausting.  Unlike Amma above, you won’t have to fall asleep in the lobby, you can recharge in the comfort of your own room.  For NERGC, I’m staying at a nearby hotel that appears to be about a 10 minute walk away, so if you are attending the conference, and see me sitting in a corner somewhere reading a book, I’m likely just recharging between sessions.

Aside from mental preparation, I need to start physical preparations.  Never having attended a genealogy conference before, I’m not sure exactly what to bring.  My laptop will be going with me, but I’m not sure what else.  A notebook is a must, and possibly a sketchbook.  Someone suggested mailing labels for quickly filling out forms, and of course business cards for handing out to new contacts.

What else should I bring?