Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

NARA 2019 Virtual Genealogy Fair is tomorrow!

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This one really snuck up on me.

The 2019 Virtual Genealogy Fair is being offered (free of charge) by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) tomorrow, Wednesday, October 23, 2019. This is the seventh year for the conference, offered by webcast on YouTube. It’s a wonderful resource.

You can read the lineup, with detailed descriptions of the sessions and links to handouts, here. Just click on each session title to access the handouts. There will be six one-hour sessions, bookended by opening and closing remarks. The event starts at 10 am eastern and ends at 4.

I’m traveling tomorrow, so I was thrilled to read that I don’t have to watch live. The webcast will be available on YouTube to watch later. You can even request transcripts of the sessions, taken from the closed captioning.

While you’re on the 2019 Virtual Fair webpage, scroll down to access links to prior Virtual Genealogy Fairs sponsored by NARA. Those are available to watch as well!

What Facebook genealogy groups do you belong to?

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I think Facebook groups are a great way to gain knowledge, ask specific questions, and stay connected. I don’t belong to any genealogy-related family Facebook groups, but I know it can be a great to meet cousins.

I’d love to hear from readers of this blog what Facebook groups you recommend. I’m hoping to learn about groups that I didn’t know about–and I’m hoping this post will help OYFH readers as well.

Here are the Facebook groups I belong to, listed in the order of frequency of my reading. (However, since Facebook puts in front of me those groups that I interact with, the order is always changing and not particularly relevant.)

  • Genealogy Research Loggers (that’s the group I run, specifically about genealogy logs)
  • The Genealogy Squad
  • The Organized Genealogist
  • Genealogy! Just Ask!
  • Genealogy Organizers (specifically for professional organizers)
  • Evernote Genealogists
  • Technology for Genealogy
  • Ancestral DNA for Dummies
  • Genealogy – Cite Your Sources
  • Geneabloggers Tribe
  • Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness
  • Washington State Genealogy Network
  • Kentucky Genealogy Network
  • St. Louis Genealogical Society

You can find any of these groups by typing their name in the Facebook search box. Some require approval.

Please let me know what groups you love and which ones I need to make sure I check out!

Talking about downsizing on Generations Cafe

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I was so happy to be interviewed once again for Amy Johnson Crow’s  podcast, Generations Cafe. It’s a great podcast and I look forward to each new episode.

This week, Amy kicks off a series on downsizing, based on her recent experience in moving her parents from their home of many decades into a smaller space. In this week’s episode, called Downsizing and Family History, we talked at length about how it can be tricky for genealogists to decide what to let go of when they recognize the potential genealogical value of items for future generations.

The intersection of my work as an organizer and my passion as a genealogist is one of my favorite places to spend time, so I really enjoyed this opportunity to talk with Amy. (If you want to learn a little about how Amy organizes her own family history research, check out her How They Do It interview on this blog from July 2017.)

If you’re not already listening to Generations Cafe, I urge you to subscribe. If you’re new to podcasts, Generations Cafe is a great first genealogy podcast to subscribe to! The podcast showcases Amy’s clear-eyed view of genealogy and her excellent communications skills.

So glad to be a tiny part of it!

Registration for RootsTech 2020 is open!

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Registration has opened for RootsTech 2020, to be held in Salt Lake City February 26 to 29! As I mentioned, I will be speaking at this conference. Right now, my talk, The Imperfect Genealogist, is scheduled for Friday afternoon, February 28, but that’s subject to change. (You can see the current schedule here.) In a communication to speakers, we learned that 600 people signed up within the first few hours of registration opening on Wednesday. That bodes well for a well-attended conference as usual!

You can purchase a RootsTech pass for all four days ($169), or a one-day pass for a particular day ($99). And, if you’re feeling flush, you can also purchase an Ultimate Experience Pass (for $799) that gives you reserved seating, and behind-the-scenes opportunities, including a main stage rehearsal opportunity. You can check out this comparison chart of the various pass options.

RootsTech also offers Family Discovery Day on Saturday, February 29, for members of the LDS church. It’s free, but registration is required.

If you know you’ll attend, I urge you to register now (the early bird pricing above ends until October 11) and book a hotel room at the same time. The RootsTech block of rooms at the conference hotels are already selling out. You might consider booking a hotel room even if you’re still on the fence, since you can cancel it later if you decide not to attend. But be sure and make a note of it. Last year, I didn’t attend RootsTech, but I did book a hotel room months before–and promptly forgot. Imagine how shocked I was when I received an email suggesting I could check in for my Salt Lake City room online just a couple of days before the conference. Thankfully, I was able to cancel without penalty.

In addition to the the over 300 breakout sessions and daily general sessions with keynote speakers, RootsTech also features a giant Expo Hall where you can see the latest and greatest products and services for genealogists and talk with representatives from those companies. The conference is sponsored by Family Search, which typically has a huge booth staffed by their personnel to help you learn to take full of advantage of Family Search. Exhibitors also offer talks in the Expo Hall.

If you need more convincing, check out 10 Reasons to Attend RootsTech. And here’s an 11th reason. If you go, you can meet me! If you decide to attend, please let me know in the comments, if you haven’t already in a previous post, and we’ll arrange to meet up.