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The 2007 NGS Conference in the States and Family History Fair wrapped up yesterday, May 19. I managed to survive all four days of this major event, although I think I'll be sleeping for the next three days to compensate for the sleep deprivation encountered.
The conference took place at the Greater Richmond Convention Center and at the adjacent Richmond Marriott Hotel in Richmond, Virginia. This year's conference was sponsored by the U.S. National Genealogical Society with much assistance from the Virginia Genealogical Society, the Fairfax Genealogical Society, and the Genealogical Research Institute of Virginia (GRIVA). Roughly 2,000 people attended this four-day event.
I took my digital camera along while attending the 2007 NGS Conference and Family History Fair. Since I spent most of my time in this newsletter's booth in the Exhibitors' Hall, a high percentage of the pictures are from that Hall. I think these pictures will give you a good idea of what a busy genealogy Exhibitors' Hall looks like.
One of my personal highlights of many genealogy conferences is when readers of this newsletter gather together over a meal. We normally do this on Saturday evenings, within an hour or two after the conference ends. This year, after a bit of confusion with participating restaurants, we ended up in the conference hotel's restaurant.
We talked loudly and probably disrupted several groups around us. In my mind, that's a good thing. We even sang a chorus of "Happy Birthday" to a surprised Sue Ellen Hoffman. We also played a "guess the bill" game near the end of the gathering, and the winner donated her free dinner to the birthday girl.
I think everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. For a full report, ask any of the 35 attendees.
The following is an announcement from the Southern California Genealogical Society:
The Southern California Genealogical Society announces a new service to help families connect with their cousins from around the world. The SCGS Virtual Surname Wall will be unveiled at the 38th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, June 8-10 in Burbank, CA.
The following announcement was written by the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies:
International researchers, experts and archivists will meet July 15-20 in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the never-ending quest for their Jewish roots. The intense learning experience offers more than 100 speakers and over 200 programs from early morning through evening.
Los Angeles, CA - May 16, 2007 -- To some, it's a hobby; to others, an obsession. For six days each year, international researchers, experts and archivists attend a multitude of sessions on researching Jewish family heritage and ethnic roots. The 27th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will meet July 15-20, in Salt Lake City, Utah, offering 100 speakers, more than 200 programs and special activities from early morning to evening.
If you use Microsoft Office, Outlook, OneNote or Publisher, you may be interested in the free trial version of the latest products. Microsoft has made the Office 2007 Beta 2 available for public users. You can download the beta version and use it online for 60 days at no charge.
Microsoft Office 2007 has a radical new interface, and quite a few other things have changed. Office now uses pulldown menus less often than before, abandoning that concept in favor of a new "ribbon" for frequently-used menu items.
The intro to the Family History Show is now available on Roots Television. You can watch this video on your computer right now.
The video shows excerpts the recent three-day National History Show in London, England with more than 12,000 attendees. I suspect you will be interested in viewing the largest genealogy, history and heritage show that I have ever attended. Thanks to the folks at Roots Television, you can see it now. To watch the video, click on the following link:
The following announcement was made today in Richmond, Virginia at the annual conference of the National Genealogical Society:
Quintin Publications to receive increased exposure and reach new audience from partnership with WorldVitalRecords.com.
Provo, UT, May 16, 2007 --- Quintin Publications announced a partnership with WorldVitalRecords.com today to provide access to thousands of genealogical and historical databases.
"We chose to partner with WorldVitalRecords.com because we have watched their solid pattern of growth and felt it would be an excellent venue for the material we have collected and enhanced during the past 30 years," said Phil Quintin, President, Quintin Publications.
The following announcement was made today in Richmond, Virginia at the annual conference of the National Genealogical Society:
Genealogists and family historians to benefit from global collaboration
Provo, UT, May 16, 2007 --- More than 4,500 FamilySearch Family History Centers throughout the world will now have free access to WorldVitalRecords.com's genealogical records and resources, as a result of an agreement signed between FamilySearch (TM) and WorldVitalRecords.com.
"We are looking for a new breed of genealogy websites that are willing to work with FamilySearch to meet the needs and interests of record custodians and our patrons. WorldVitalRecords.com was uniquely positioned because of its rapid growth in the industry and potential for success, along with additional genealogical providers to fill this void. We are certain this agreement with WorldVitalRecords.com will greatly benefit a worldwide audience of genealogists with this free service," said Paul Nauta, Manager of Public Affairs, FamilySearch (TM).
The following announcement was made today in Richmond, Virginia at the annual conference of the National Genealogical Society:
May 16, 2007 (Ellis Island, NY and Provo, UT) - The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., World Vital Records, Inc. and FamilySearch announced today at the National Genealogical Society Conference a partnership whereby the historic collection of Ellis Island passenger arrival records will now also be freely available to visitors of the www.worldvitalrecords.com and www.FamilySearch.org websites.
The following announcement was written by ProQuest CSA:
Agreement Increases Access to Government Documents for Genealogical Research at Public Libraries
Ann Arbor, Mich. – May 15, 2007 – ProQuest CSA and LexisNexis, a leading provider of information and services solutions, are working together to add valuable genealogical data from the LexisNexis® U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection to HeritageQuest™ Online. The addition of the Private Relief Actions and Memorials and Petitions from the LexisNexis Serial Set collection serves the growing genealogy and local history segment of the public library market.
On Sunday I wrote, "This should be a very interesting week for anyone who uses online genealogy resources!" Indeed, the announcement from FamilySearch yesterday is a blockbuster.
Now Footnote.com, the sponsor of this newsletter, has added another major announcement: for the first time, three million U.S. Revolutionary War Pension files will be available online in their entirety through a partnership with FamilySearch. This is only the first of several such collaborative efforts expected in the future between Footnote.com and FamilySearch.
I'll be off this week to the annual conference of the National Genealogical Society in Richmond, Virginia. The conference is being held Wednesday through Saturday, May 16 to 19. If everything goes according to plan, I will be posting articles and possibly pictures on the newsletter's web site daily from the conference.
This year's event is shaping up to be a good one, as always. If you can be in Richmond this week, I suspect you will enjoy the conference. If you cannot be there in person, hopefully you can obtain a peek at what goes on by reading this newsletter.
If you are at the conference, please stop by Booth #72 and say "Hello."
I'll be there much of the time for all four days, and newsletter editor
Pam Cerutti will be joining me on Friday and Saturday. We hope to meet
as many newsletter subscribers as possible.
I had a great day this past Saturday. I flew to San Diego on Friday and attended a joint meeting of the The Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego and The San Diego Genealogical Society. I gave several talks to the 186 attendees. I also managed to find a couple of good Mexican meals, something that is difficult to find where I live. I then grabbed a red-eye flight home on Saturday evening.
This is perhaps the most important genealogy announcement of the past few years. The following announcement was written by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
FamilySearch Unveils Program to Increase Access to World's Genealogical Records
Tidal Wave of Online Databases Will Result
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH-FamilySearch announced today its Records Access program to increase public access to massive genealogy collections worldwide. For the first time ever, FamilySearch will provide free services to archives and other records custodians who wish to digitize, index, publish, and preserve their collections. The program expands FamiliySearch's previously announced decision to digitize and provide online access to over 2 million rolls of copyrighted microfilm preserved in the Granite Mountain Records Vault. A key component of the program allows FamilySearch and archives to team with genealogy websites to provide unprecedented access to microfilm in the vault. The combined results ensure a flood of new record indexes and images online at www.FamilySearch.org and affiliated websites.
I published an article yesterday entitled, Rumor Mill: LDS Family History Centers to Offer Additional Online Resources. I must admit that even I was surprised when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made an announcement only a few hours later, early on Monday morning. The announcement is everything that I had predicted and a lot more.
In fact, I believe this is perhaps the most important genealogy announcement of the past few years.
Anyone can use the extensive online resources of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) without leaving home. Simply point your web browser to http://www.familysearch.org. However, anyone who visits any of the more than 4,500 Family History Centers around the world can also access additional online databases at no charge, databases that normally are either not available to private individuals or else available only for a fee. Thousands of people access these databases by using computers at nearby Family History Centers or at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
The Church offered access to Ancestry.com from each of its Family History Centers and from the Family History Library until recently. That agreement was terminated a few weeks ago, as described in an earlier article in this newsletter at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/03/ancestrycom_ter.htm. However, the Church now is moving rapidly to offer new online content. The rumor mill says that several new online services will soon be made available through the Family History Centers as well as to anyone who visits the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
The Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, Connecticut, has long been a valuable resource for genealogists. This private library houses thousands of genealogy books and also has an extensive collection of hand-written material, much of which is not available elsewhere. In addition, the Godfrey Library produces the American Genealogical-Biographical Index, or AGBI, which is the equivalent of more than 200 printed volumes. This database contains millions of records of people whose names have appeared in printed genealogical records and family histories.
The Godfrey Library has been digitizing much of their information and is now accelerating that effort. Even better, visitors to LDS FamilySearch Centers around the world will now have free access to the digitized material.
The 2007 National Genealogical Society Conference in the States and Family History Fair will be held this week at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia. The conference opens on Wednesday, May 16 and will continue through Saturday, May 19. This is one of the major genealogy conferences of the year. If you can be there, I suspect you will enjoy it. If you cannot attend, you can read about some of the events in this newsletter.
It seems that I am traveling a lot these days. I have a "quick trip" scheduled this time: out to San Diego and back over the weekend. It is a mere 6,000 mile round-trip. I'll be presenting at the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego and the San Diego Genealogical Society at an all-day seminar on Saturday. I hope to meet lots of newsletter readers there.
I'll be back shortly thereafter but will be in the air much of the time. Don't look for too many new articles for a couple of days, OK?
The 2007 NGS Conference in the States and Family History Fair wrapped up yesterday, May 19. I managed to survive all four days of this major event, although I think I'll be sleeping for the next three days to compensate for the sleep deprivation encountered. 
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