It’s hard to believe the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) 2013 Conference is just a little over two months away! I’m really looking forward to spending a week in Forth Wayne, Indiana, where I can visit with all my genealogy friends (and hopefully meet some new ones!!), explore the exhibit hall, take in some wonderful lectures, and of course, spend some time at the Allen County Public Library.
I’m a planner by nature. I like to know what I’m doing and when…I don’t like surprises. So the minute the conference schedule was announced, I immediately added to my calendar the session I wanted to attend. There are a few in particular that I think will help me with my genealogy research, especially in places and records that I’m unfamiliar with. Here are some of those sessions:
| Day/Time | Session | Speaker |
| Thursday 5pm |
Research Reports for Ourselves: More Than a Research Log | Paula Stuart-Warren |
| Friday 8am |
Research in the Hawkeye State: Records and Repositories of Iowa | Jill Crandell |
| Friday 11am |
Discovering the Past Block-by-Block: Using ChicagoAncestors.org | Ginger Frere |
| Friday 2pm |
German Marriage Laws and Customs | Warren Bittner |
| Friday 3:30pm |
He Took Her Name: Understanding German Farm Names | Teresa McMillin |
| Friday 5pm |
Methods For Identifying the German Origins of American Immigrants | Michael Lacopo |
| Saturday 9:30am |
Finding Catholic Church, Cemetery, School and Religious Order Records | Lou Szucs |
| Saturday 2pm |
Organizing Evidence to Overcome Record Shortages | Thomas Jones |
| Saturday 3:30pm |
Overlooked and Undervalued: Local Government Records in New York State | Karen Mauer Green |
And of course I have added a few days to the trip so I can spend some time at the Allen County Public Library. I’ve never been to ACPL so I’m really looking forward to my first visit. I’m still working on my plan of attack, but fortunately, I had previously added plenty of to-do items to my Legacy database, so a quick filter on ACPL showed a lot of resources I need to check out. I’ve also been perusing the ACPL card catalog and the Genealogy page for guidance. Not sure if I’ll break down any brick walls, but you never know what you’ll find until you look!
The FGS 2013 Conference is being held August 21-24 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, there is still plenty of time to do so and still get the early-bird rate of $190 (ends July 1, after that, the rate increases to $240). Hope to see you there!!
This post was written for the May/June Ambassador Blogging Prompt as part of the FGS 2013 Conference Ambassador Program.
If you’d like to be an Ambassador, you can sign up here.
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