The annual conference of the U.S. Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) continued today on Austin, Texas. The day seemed to me a bit quieter than the first two days as attendees settled down into a routine. Presentations were made, luncheons were held and the Exhibitors’ Hall continued in operation. I had a chance to wander around a bit more today than on previous days. Some of the pictures that I took today can be found at http://eogn.typepad.com/photos/fgs2004day3/. Click on any of the thumbnail-sized images to see the full size picture.
I did find a few new items of interest:
Pearl Street Software, producers of Family Tree Legends for Windows and also a frequent advertiser in this newsletter, has announced an upgrade of their popular program. I expect to review the latest version in the near future in this newsletter. In the meantime, you can read about Family Tree Legends at http://www.FamilyTreeLegends.com.The big business news from Pearl Street Software is that Family Tree Legends will soon be available on the shelves of hundreds of computer and department stores across the country. Pearl Street Software has signed an agreement with Individual Software, a company that has many titles already on the shelves at retail outlets. Family Tree Legends will become Individual Software’s genealogy program of choice. Until now, Family Tree Legends has been available only by download or directly from Pearl Street Software. Now that it will be available on retail store shelves, sales should increase dramatically.
The Poorhouse Lady (Linda Crannell) is about to release a new video DVD disk called “The Poorhouse Story.” This story tells the story of poorhouses in history and explains how poorhouse records can provide valuable information of interest to genealogists. The project is so new that it is not yet listed on Linda’s Web site. However, I suspect it will soon appear at http://www.poorhousestory.com.
The Artistic Calligraphy & Design Group has some excellent genealogy charts that will look great on your wall. These are prints made by a high quality process with blank spaces for names. However, instead of entering names by hand, the end user uses a computer to print names on Avery clear gummed labels which are available at most any local office supply store. The printed labels are then placed on the charts. The labels are transparent so the result is a high-quality chart with lettering that looks as if it was professionally printed. These high-quality charts are modestly priced at $15.00 each at the FGS conference. It is difficult to describe these beautiful prints in words. I would suggest that you look at the Wedb site of Artistic Calligraphy & Design Group for sample images at http://www.calligraphydesign.com. (The Web site is down at this moment but I suspect it will be back in operation soon after this conference ends.)
Finally, a major U.S. genealogy magazine disappeared a short time ago but will soon return. Stay tuned for an announcement in the near future.
Pictures taken today in the Exhibitors’ Hall can be found at http://eogn.typepad.com/photos/fgs2004day3/. Click on any of the thumbnail-sized images to see the full size picture.
