Fantastic Presenters for the WSGS 2009 Conference: Session C

There are some great choices to be had for Session C of Saturday's classes for the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 state conference to be held at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington on September 11 - 13, from 3:00 to 4:00 PM:

The Revolt of the Genealogist: Records, Records, Records by Jerry Handfield

RootsMagic Genealogy Program by Bruce Buzbee

Eugenics: The Misuse of Genealogy? by Barbara Brazington

Creating a Desktop Atlas by Carol Medeiros

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Here's some details about the presenters and their presentations to help you make your Session C choice:

Jerry Handfield is our Washington State Archivist, with over 25 years' experience in archives, history, and records management (read more about him here). He will be sharing the wealth of information available at our State Archives (physical records) and at our acclaimed Digital Archives (electronic records). If you've got Washington State ancestors, this is a must-attend session.

Bruce Buzbee is the creator and developer of the RootsMagic genealogy software. This program is described as "the easiest-to-use family tree software available for Windows Vista, XP, and 2000, yet is also one of the most powerful." Bruce will be highlighting the features of the newly-released version 4. If you are looking for a quality program, or are merely curious about this software, you'll be sure to want to attend and ask your questions. Bruce will also be exhibiting his program in the vendor area.

Barbara Brazington is an active member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society. This year's EWGS's Distinguished Service Member, she is the society's Assistant Librarian and Aquisitions chair. She explores how genealogy was mis-used during the rise of eugenics ("the self-direction of human evolution") in the early 20th century. Could this happen again? Come find out!

Carol Medeiros is a board member of the Washington State Genealogical Society. Wouldn't be fantastic if you could have a personal atlas of maps and gazetteers of all your ancestral locations at your very fingertips? Carole will explain exactly how to create a desktop atlas using your personal computer. Improve your technological skills and expand your genealogical resources through this presentation!

Decisions, decisions, decisions! Which one of these fantastic presentations will YOU choose to attend during Session C?

Click on the link below to register.

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline)

Fantastic Presenters for the WSGS 2009 Conference: Session B

Here's the lineup for Session B of Saturday's classes for the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 state conference to be held at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington on September 11 - 13, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM:

CCC in the Pacific Northwest by Dale Soden, Ph.D.

Traveling Light with an iPAC by Gordy Struve

Scandinavian Research in the Pacific Northwest by Lois Thomason

NEHGS Databases by Sue Richart

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Here's some details about the presenters and their presentations to help you make your Session B choice:

Dale Soden is a history professor at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington as well as an author of several books. The Civilian Conservation Corps was very active in the Pacific Northwest during the Great Depression, and Dr. Soden will be giving an informative presentation on this chapter of our history. Did you have an ancestor or relative who served in the CCC?

Gordy Struve is a member of the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society and the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society. He will be telling us all about his fun, new genealogical toy/tool, the iPAQ, a personal digital assistant and pocket PC! Come find out how it can be used to improve your genealogical life!

Lois Thomason is a member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society. Did you know that Washington State and other Pacific Northwest states were destinations for many immigrants from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark? Drawing on her own personal research experience, Lois will help you find out what genealogy resources are available for your Scandinavian ancestors and where to locate the records.

Sue Richart is another member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society, as well as a member of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. She will be doing her presentation on the wonderful databases available on the NEHGS subscription website. Founded in 1847, more and more of NEHGS's collection is going online.

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So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, four more terrific choices from four fantastic presenters to decide upon for Session B!

Click on the link below to register.

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline)

Donna's Fall Genealogy Classes Schedule

After our wonderful conference, if your head still has time for some learning, the Seniors' Program will be offering classes from Donna Potter Phillips at the Mirabeau Center. Here is the roster of her classes:

M215 - Sep 18: Tombstones & Cemeteries

M216 - Sep 25: Set Up Your Own Google Reader

M217 - Oct 2: Military Records Online: 1775 to Present

M218 - Oct 9: FamilySearch: Enlarged, Expanded & Wonderful

M219 - Oct 16 to Oct 30 (3 Friday classes): Genealogy: Starting New Or Starting Over

This last, a three-session class, will help you pick a research project and take you through some Internet resources to help solve the problem.

All classes are on Fridays, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Cost is minimal. Watch for these classes listed in the Seniors' Program brochure which will arrive in your mailbox shortly. Then call to register or register online. Hope to see you there!

Some Words of Advice from a Young Genealogist

Elyse Doerflinger is a 19-year-old genealogy enthusiast from California who has been making how-to genealogy videos on YouTube for several years and just started a genealogy blog last year. This past week, she wrote an interesting post on her blog, entitled Genealogy Societies Need to Look Toward the Future. She received so many comments that she had to write a follow-up post. Elyse makes some very valid points about the need for societies to embrace and welcome young people, to mentor them in research skills and to learn technology skills from them.

I don't know about you, but this 42-year-old genealogist expects to keep on researching for another 40 or 50 years. However...I certainly hope that EWGS and all the other societies I belong to are still around in the year 2051 or later, and that they will not die off with this generation of members. I hope that I will learn to accept new things as they come in the future to keep this society alive and vibrant.

Did you realize that we have a member of our very own society who is in elementary school? If you haven't met Terri Rehmann's daughter, Elizabeth, you're in for a treat! For the sake of all the Elyses and Elizabeths out there, I hope you'll read Elyse's posts (and the comments) and take them to heart. What can we learn from this? What are we doing well? Where can we improve? Please leave your comments below.

Fantastic Presenters for the WSGS 2009 Conference: Session A

If you take a look at Saturday's schedule for the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 state conference to be held at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington on September 11 - 13, you'll see the following four presentations are available for Session A, which will be held from 9:45 to 10:45 AM:

Scenes from Washington by Dale Soden, Ph.D.

FamilySearch Just Got Better by Margie Beldin

Black Research in the Pacific Northwest by Pat Bayonne-Johnson

Online Query Databases by Jerri McCoy

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So who are these presenters, and what more can you find out about their presentations?

Dale Soden is a history professor at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington as well as an author of several books. His personal page on Whitworth's website gives his educational background as well as a description of his writings. His insight into the background of Washington will be fascinating.

Margie Beldin is a vital member of the Tri-City Genealogical Society in Richland, Washington who is well-known in the Inland Northwest for her variety of genealogical presentations. She'll be delving into the goodies at FamilySearch with Wikis, Labs, and Resources, Oh My!

Pat Bayonne-Johnson has been researching her African roots for many years. She is an board member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society and has served on the board of the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California. Her presentation will inform the audience of what resources are available for Black genealogy in the Pacific Northwest, and where they can be found.

Jerri McCoy is a board member of the Washington State Genealogical Society, the WSGS website webmaster, and the coordinator of the Thurston County, Washington GenWeb website. Her vast experience with Internet genealogical research will come in handy as she explains how to find and use online query databases.

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With such fantastic presenters and topics, it makes it kind of hard to choose, doesn't it! Better be quick...these sessions will fill up fast!

Click on the link below to register.

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline)

Legacy Users Group Usurped!

The Shadle Library needs their room on Wednesday afternoon, July 15th, so the Legacy Users Group gathering has been cancelled. We voted not to gather in August but to resume on September 16th. Mark your calendars and see you then! Donna

Spokane Interstate Fair..... for the Non-Genealogists

The theme of this year's Spokane Interstate Fair is "We Have Something to Crow About," and they certainly do. Besides the you-will-have-to-walk-miles-to-see-it-all exhibits and animals, there will be a huge amusement carnival and a low-calorie (so I'm told) food fair. (Are elephant ears edible? Do they have calories?) The fair runs from September 11th through the entire next week but for the non-genealogist-companions of the WSGS conference goers, this will be a really fun thing to do. On both Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:00 PM (September 11 and 12) there will be the N.P.R.C. Rodeo to attend!!!

In a previous post, Charles Hansen outlined some of the other things non-genealogist-companions (NGCs ??) can do...like visit Spokane's many antique shops, ride the historic Looff Carousel, feed the ducks in Riverfront Park or just plain go shopping at Auntie's Bookstore.

So you dedicated genealogists, bring these NGCs along in September when YOU come to the WSGS conference. They will be happily out of your hair while you're indulging in your thing.

Click on the link below to register.

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline)