Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

First keynote speakers announced for RootsTech 2025

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The first four keynote speakers have been announced for RootsTech 2025, the giant genealogy conference sponsored by FamilySearch. It will be held March 6-8, 2025, both in-person in St. Lake City and virtually. Those four speakers are:

  • Author Ndaba Mandela (grandson of Nelson Mandela)
  • Prominent artist Dana Tanamachi
  • Olympic Gold Medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall and her husband, Paralympic Gold Medalist Hunter Woodhall

To learn more about these speakers, check out this page of the RootsTech website.

My experience attending four (I think) RootsTech conferences in person is that the keynotes are outstanding. Even if I didn’t think I had an interest in the speaker (I’m looking at you, Donny Osmond), I always ended up enjoying the talk and gaining something from it. I’m sure these keynoters, and all the rest they’ll announce in the coming months, will be great.

Registration is now open for the conference. The fee to attend in person is $129 for a three-day pass or $79 for a one-day pass. The virtual conference is free of charge (but requires registration). Here’s a preview of the class lineup with a schedule promised soon.

Both options for attending the conference are terrific. I’ve attended both in-person and virtual RootsTech conferences and speaking for myself, I get a lot more out of attending in person. When I’m there I can forget about family responsibilities and focus on my genealogy. I can meet fellow genealogists and see the latest products and services in the Expo Hall. I also would come in a little early so I could spend some time at the Family History Library.

The virtual conference has the advantage of being less expensive and less effort. However, when I register for the virtual conference, I always have the best of intentions but I have a hard time prioritizing it. The result is I’m seldom able to devote the time I want to the conference since I’m juggling home and work responsibilities at the same time. I’m definitely less focused on my genealogy if I’m attending virtually.

If you’d like to whet your appetite for the 2025 conference or get a feel for what you might learn, visit the on-demand library of past RootsTech keynotes and classes.

I won’t be attending the 2025 conference but if you’re tempted, I encourage you to give some serious consideration. It’s a great way to deepen your research!

 

Quick Tip #45: Have a genealogy email address

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Here’s the next in my occasional series of bite-size Quick Tips. Click on the Quick Tips tag for my other Quick Tips. Because I tend to write longer posts, I wanted to provide a quick-to-read (and quick-to-write) post every now and then on a small topic that pops into my head. This one could turn into a time saver!

Create an email address for genealogy

Keeping track of email is a challenge for the best of us. (You do not want to see how many emails I have in my inbox right now!) One way you can make genealogy life a little easier is to create a dedicated email address specifically for emails related to your research. So if you are reaching out to cousins, repositories, or DNA matches you send your inquiries from that address and use that address on any contact forms. How you create a new email address and filter the responses depends on your email client, so I won’t go into that here. I just want to plant the seed that having an email address dedicated to genealogy might make your life a little bit easier!.

Genealogy resources at new St. Louis County Public Library headquarters

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I’ve been a little out of touch with life outside my apartment and the hospital but I’m finally focusing on email and was delighted to learn that the renovation of the St. Louis County Public Library’s headquarters has been completed and that the building, complete with its new genealogy room, has been re-opened. I drove by recently and it’s a lovely building!

Genealogy classes are being offered at the Emerson History and Genealogy Center in new headquarters in September (and beyond), including classes on doing newspaper research, beginner genealogy and interpreting DNA results and more. Click on the link above to see a list of the upcoming genealogy classes, including some offered at other branches. The library system also offers virtual programs and digital archives.

The new library branch, known as the Clark Family Branch, has a Memory Lab where you can bring photos or other documents to be digitized. The library also has a Library of Things that includes two kits that can help genealogists. One is a scanning kit with a Chromebook and flatbed scanner that can be borrowed for 21 days. The other is an oral history kit that includes a portable recorder and a lavalier microphone, as well as a memory card and adapter and a folder with instructions on conducting oral history interviews.

A St. Louis County Library card is required to access some of the genealogy sources, though there is a “register as a guest” button for the classes. So you may be able to register for virtual classes that interest you, even if you don’t live in the St. Louis area.

All residents of St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and St. Charles County are eligible for free St. Louis County Library cards. Residents of neighboring counties can receive a card for a $50 annual fee.

Once my life settles down, I look forward to exploring the Emerson History and Genealogy Center at the new Clark Family Branch!

BCGS presentation on Presentism

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I have to admit that “Presentism” isn’t a term I had been familiar with when I received an email from Donna Cox Baker about her upcoming virtual presentation on presentism in genealogy for the Bucks County Genealogical Society. (The title of the talk is Our Founding Fathers Would What? Presentism in Genealogical and Historical Research.) When I clicked for more details I learned that “Presentism is a type of historical bias in which our understanding of the present influences or clouds how we evaluate and interpret the past. Historians take great pains to avoid presentism—and genealogists should be on guard for it also.”

This topic is so intriguing to me when seen through the lens of genealogist. I think this presentation from Donna, who is a history scholar and professor (and friend of this blog!) will be fascinating. It will be held on May 4 from 10 to noon eastern time. Registration opens on April 29.

I’m participating in a neighborhood yard sale on May 4 so won’t be able to attend live but the topic sounds so interesting that I’m tempted to sign up so I can watch the recording. The fee for the program is $5 for members and $10 for non-members. Membership is $20 a year and only members have access to a recording of the program, which is available for 30 days.

To learn a little more about Donna Cox Baker, you can read her How They Do It interview on this blog as well as her guest post on organizing genealogy research with Zotero.

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