Organize Your Family History

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Free access to NGS Monthly archives for a limited time

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Here’s another free resource to explore during any extra time you may have during this pandemic. The National Genealogical Society is providing free access to five years of archives of the NGS Monthly, an online publication usually only available as a benefit to members. Access to the public started yesterday and will continue until July 31. The archive is housed here on the NGS website. It appears that each issue has two articles, so that means there are 120 articles now freely available. NGS encourages you to share this information with family and friends.

Issues are arranged in reverse chronological order, but there is a search bar at the top of the page that will allow you to search the archive. Individual articles are also tagged, so exploring tags of interest is another way to approach reading the archive.

NGS Monthly is currently written and edited by award-winning genealogist Aaron Goodwin and the articles are clear and easy to read. I’m a member of NGS but I have to admit that I haven’t paid close attention to the NGS Monthly. I am grateful to be reminded what a wealth of information is available there!

NGS moves to virtual for its May 2020 conference

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I feel so fortunate that the RootsTech conference was held in February, just prior to the COVID-19 crisis’s grip on the world. The National Genealogical Society wasn’t so lucky with its conference, which was to be held, like RootsTech, at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City. The NGS conference was scheduled for May 20 to 23, 2020.

Today, NGS announced that the 2020 conference will be virtual. The plan, as explained on their website, is for a full day of NGS Live! on May 20, from 11 am to 7 pm eastern. “In addition, streaming access to many more sessions will be available starting in July.” The conference organizers promise more updates as they become available.

To me, this seems like a smart approach and it’s better than canceling the conference. (RootsTech announced last month that its planned November 2020 conference in London is being postponed for a year. But that announcement came less than a month after the conference was announced, so the planning was in its early stages.) I’m sure it was a very difficult decision for the conference organizers and that it will be a logistical challenge.

I was to have attended the conference of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals in early April and that conference was canceled entirely. I’m happy for the NGS registrants that there will be some type of conference next month.

These are interesting times, aren’t they?

Highlights of the NGS conference

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I was so glad I attended last week’s family history conference from the National Genealogical Society. It was a terrific conference for me. I attended NGS four years ago, the last time it was in the St. Louis area, but I got more out of this year. I think that’s because I’m further along in my research so the more advanced classes were more helpful to me. Sometimes we hear talks that we need to hear just at the right time.

Over the course of four days, I attended 14 classes. My brain hurt a little at the end! I used the terrific NGS app to select my classes before the conference and I was so grateful that I didn’t have to make on-the-spot decisions. I did a great job of selecting because all the classes I took, except one, were very helpful.

One highlight of the conference was attending four classes taught by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Of course I was familiar with her work (Evidence Explained is legendary!) but I don’t think I’d ever actually listened to her speak, certainly not in person. Without exception, all of her classes were excellent, but her class on Context was mindset-shifting. She offered an explanation for why context is so important, along with specific suggestions for how to find context for our ancestors’ lives. I was so grateful for the opportunity to briefly chat with Elizabeth after that session and tell her how valuable I thought it was.

Elizabeth sets some impressively high standards but if I can strive to come close to them, I know I will be upping my game.

Another highlight of the conference was meeting up with some blog readers as well as talking with a podcast listener. And I met some really terrific folks just by sitting next to them in sessions.

I’m planning to take a research trip to Kentucky next month and many of the classes fed right into that. I took classes on planning a research trip, on Kentucky resources, on locating obscure and hidden resources, and of course the class on context. Also helpful will be the classes on breaking through brick walls (which Elizabeth Shown Mills prefers to call stone walls–more on that in a future post). I hope to do some thorough preparation so that I can make the best use of the local resources when I’m in Kentucky.

Next year’s NGS conference will be held in Salt Lake City from May 20 to 23, 2020. Based on the quality of this year’s conference, I’m planning to attend! If you’ve ever wondered whether going to a genealogy conference was worth the time, expense and effort, for me the answer is most assuredly yes.

Making the best use of time at a genealogy conference

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time management at genealogy conferencesI’m attending the NGS conference this week and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself. One great thing about going to a conference is having the opportunity to block out the other distactions and focus on the topic at hand. This year, the conference is in St. Charles, a half hour from my home in St. Louis. That sounds incredibly convenient, but in fact in means that I miss the full genealogy immersion that I get when I travel to a conference. I have to head home in rush hour traffic, walk my dog, and deal with day-to-day life. Today, in fact, is my husband’s birthday, so as soon as I get home from the conference I’ll be turning off the research side of my brain!

Within the conference itself, there are some time-management challenges. For example:

  • How early do I need to get there to register on the first day? (Turns out not as early as I thought.)
  • The exhibition hall is open throughout the day and, of course, it is more crowded during the breaks between sessions. Today I decided to skip a class session in favor of touring the exhibition hall when I could get the chance to really talk to exhibitors. That turned out to be a good choice (though I’m sure I missed a good session), because I had two really great conversations. (Keep an eye out on the blog for the fruits of those conversations!)
  • Fitting in time to blog can be hard during a conference. Skipping this morning’s class gave me the time to write this blog post!
  • Of course, deciding which class to attend is always challenging because there are so many good options. Yesterday I made great choices. Here are the sessions I attended, all of them excellent.
    • Judy Russell’s keynote address, “Journey of Discovery”
    • Elizabeth Shown Mills class, “Dissection & Analysis of Research Problems: Ten Steps to a Solution”
    • “Anatomy of a Case Study: Steps Used to Write for Yourself or for Publication,” presented by Melinda Daffin Henningfield. It actually reinforced some of things Elizabeth said, which was great.
    • Jen Baldwin’s, “PERSI: Spanning the Generations”
  • One way I use to determine which class to attend is to pay attention to which are available as live stream and/or audio recordings. If I can view/listen later (for a fee) I may choose a competing class that is only available live.
  • Figuring out the best use of time during breaks is another challenge. Some sessions are in small rooms that fill up, so taking an advance look at class locations can help you get into the class you want. On the other hand, my friend wasn’t able to get into her first-choice class and ended up joining me Elizabeth Shown Mills’ class in a larger room and was so happy she did.  (And, of course, sussing out the less-crowded bathrooms is helpful during breaks as well!)

Sometimes I find myself getting wrapped up in making sure I use my time in the best possible way at a conference. But I try to remind myself to leave myself open to serendipitous connections. If I over plan, I might miss out on spontaneity. You never know where your next great learning opportunity or next great connection with a genealogist will come at a conference like this.

In an environment like the NGS conference, no matter how I spend my time, I pretty much can’t lose.

Photo by Devon Janse van Rensburg on Unsplash.