NGS2012 Reflections: Part 2 "Review"

I am going to use the word "Review" a bit loosely here as I've only been to a handful of genealogy conferences, and NGS2012 was only my second NGS conference. However, once everyone returns home, there are always moments or features/events that stick out in your mind - both good and bad. Here are some of my observations about this year's NGS:

1. Syllabus on a Stick! Yes please! Love this current trend/move in a future direction! CDs are nice, but flash drives are just more practical these days, especially with so many people traveling the conference circuit with their tablets. Most smaller devices, either tablets or netbooks don't come with CD-ROM drives, so this move to the flash drive concept is very attendee friendly! As you can see from my photo above, I did actually opt for buying the print syllabus as an additional perk, but there was really only one reason I did this - ok, maybe two - First, it was my first conference as a speaker, and I wanted something to pass down in tangible form to remember the event by - and Second, Cincinnati is within driving distance of my home, so I DID NOT have to get it home on a plane! This is probably the only time I will ever opt for the print version. As for syllabus access prior to the start of the conference, I did hear some complaints from my tech-savy friends who were wanting to download the syllabus and open it up to take notes while sitting in the session. Since everything came as pdf, this was not possible - but I think they found some work-arounds. Personally, this was not a problem for me as I am a stream of consciousness note taker. I open a new note on the tablet (in Evernote), title it to match the session I'm in and jot down what I want to remember. Sadly, I am not organized enough to later match my notes to the syllabus page, but someday....

2. 1940 Census - I finally got one of those darned t-shirts!! Ever since RootsTech, the Family Search folks have been walking around, wearing these cute advertisements for the census release - just taunting us and not offering the ability to actually get one! They had even said they might offer us the opportunity to purchase one from their web site, but they never got around to that option....Grrrrr! So, finally, the t-shirts were free for the taking at NGS2012 - one catch though, you had to sit and index TWO batches of the census! Two was a great idea in theory, but after watching the backlog of people trying to use one of the computer terminals, ONE batch per t-shirt would have been a much better arrangement! Oh - one other amazing memory - I got to meet the 1940 Census lady from NARA - Connie Potter - she is one of my genealogy heroes, and she was just as sweet in person!

3. Overall session offerings - Very nicely done! I liked the local track that was implemented (otherwise I would not have spoken this year) which catered to those who might research in the area further. The hardcore certification and citation sessions were here plus a very nice technology track to balance everything out.

4. Exhibit Hall - The space itself was a bit dated with the enormous concrete arena from the 1970s, but the offerings seemed pretty well balanced. I did notice a strong representation from the local groups which was awesome! I also noticed some major vendor players who were missing this year. The freebie swag was greatly lacking, but with this economy, I'm not at all surprised. The demo areas seemed to have an abundance of space, but the acoustics were terrible, and almost everyone was drowned out by the microphone on that side of the hall. I did like the upper deck view from the second floor which allowed you to stand at a window and gaze upon the exhibit hall floor. Pretty neat and a great reminder to those hopping between sessions, that the floor of fun was just waiting below!

5. Yep, There's an App for That! - Ever since RootsTech's introduction of the conference app, folks have been a bit giddy over the convenience something like that provided! For the NGS2012, they opted to use a company that was already in existence instead of creating one from scratch. They chose "Guidebook", which is free to download via smartphones and tablets. Once you have this app downloaded, you just search for the applicable conference that is coming up and save it to your list. While no one considered the RootsTech app to be perfect, we suddenly appreciated it more after using Guidebook. The NGS2012 app was decent and easy to use, but it was not inclusive. For the "my schedule" portion, I was only allowed to add things that were from the official schedule. Sadly, the official schedule did not include any extra events, such as evening events or pre-conference events. I was disappointed in the lack of this feature. Especially since the extra events were listed in the conference literature as NGS organized events. The luncheons were also paid options, but they were included in the app schedules. Even if they didn't want to include these evening events, the option to manually add events in my schedule would have made up for the oversight. The conference experience is fluid. You may know which sessions you want to attend before you get there, but break-out sessions or special, small group events pop up, and the ability to change with the event flow is a must for conference apps. Also, I was not getting any notifications from this app about upcoming events on my schedule. I eventually just switched to using my calendar on the iPhone to keep up with what was coming up.

6. Ribbons/Pins - Confession time - I am a blingy girly girl. I like colorful and shiny things, and I confess to liking the whole ribbon ensemble that goes with conference attendance. Not only is it fun to add more ribbons as you connect with your memberships and groups, but if you watch closely, you can make new friends within the groups you belong to! Plus, I confess to being just plain curious. I watch for the most recurrent ribbons to get a mental snapshot of some of the most popular member groups. There is even a ribbon for "librarians" and this made for a great connection on the professional level that I used more than once during the conference! As a side note, the pins are quite fun to watch as well! I usually buy the official pin for each conference that I attend, but alas, I have not been brave enough to wear any, nor have I really figured out how to wear them. I see all sorts of applications for this fashion perk, but, not yet ready to go out on that limb. Tip: Waiting in line for something? Use someone's ribbon as a conversation starter!

7. Complimentary wi-fi, provided by Family Search! This was such an amazing gift to conference goers! I remember the pain of the Charleston Conference when signals were blocked and even some cell phone services were blocked to the point of having to step outside to make a phone call! This 2012 change was wonderful and served to promote the whole idea of the social experience. Folks were able to tweet and blog to their hearts content without a stutter! I had heard the capacity was a bit small, but the connection issues were not that problematic, and most people were getting online in their turn. Bravo Family Search!

8. Wrap Up - Favorite Memories of NGS2012: Sharing the Barton Papers with my fellow researchers - and the wonderful Pendleton County Historical Society ladies that helped out with my lecture! (I hope to post about this lecture topic as it is a vital resource for Northern Kentucky researchers!) Meeting up with more bloggers - I seriously love this group of people, and am already excited about the next time we get to meet up! Getting to meet the 1940 census queen, Connie Potter (see #2). Having so many local groups as booth neighbors especially the fun Kentucky folks (KHS, KGS, KDLA, AAGGKY)! Meat and potatoes of sessions this year - lots to sink my teeth into, and still absorbing my notes! Having the whole family working the Pastology booth with Chris and I this year - and the moment my Dad was unceremoniously introduced to the "Cloud" - I had to explain it to him after someone asked him about our relation to said "Cloud" - priceless! Having some old friends make the trip and help out with the booth (and wander around buying cupcakes)- Thanks Peggy! Getting a glimpse into where some of the major vendor players are heading in our field! Sharing some of my hometown with the national community!
Toodles from the Queen City!

Changes and Noteworthies

I have a few news bits and updates to relate, so I figured a hodgepodge post would be the best method!

1. New Twitter account. Last year I wrote a post called Twittering Trees, that explored my impressions of Twitter and why my excitement was building for this communication trend - especially in the field of genealogy. Well, my feelings have not changed at all, and in fact, I spend more time on Twitter trying to keep up with current genealogy/historical news than I do with any other social media these days. In that last post I explained that it was just easier for me to tweet under @Pastology to keep things simple. While I will continue to tweet current events in genealogy/history land on the @Pastology account, I find life has become even more complicated career-wise, so I decided to end my issues of split personality, and create my own Twitter account. This new account (@Historiana) will have more personal impressions/tidbits from my research/genealogy encounters.....and probably a lot more fun! So, where did I get the name "Historiana", you ask? I've actually used this for years as an account name around the web, and always thought of it as a play on the word origin "Victoriana". Which means, it will be a playful feed on things historical/genealogical......with a spice of librarian sense....or nonsense! Plus, some things may be a bit more regional.....I am in Kentucky after all.....but I also travel and come across tidbits from all sorts of places. If I rant about anything non-historical.....be patient, it is only a momentary pause in the proceedings.

2. AAGGKY. It is official! The African American Genealogy Group of Kentucky (AAGGKY), also known as "The Group" - has their web site live, their Twitter feed live and their blog up and running! They have been in existence for almost a year, but need your support! So please consider following them and promoting their efforts! They need all the help they can get, but they are already making quite an impact, even nationally! This organization fills such a need in this area of Kentucky research! Way to go guys! Their web site is: http://www.aaggky.org/ Their blog: http://www.aaggky.blogspot.com/ and their Twitter: @aaggky

3. KHS. Ok, so, as some have caught on, I have a new connection to the Kentucky Historical Society.....but after being able to attend their genealogy programs, I wanted to make some of you locals more aware of the quality programming they regularly offer. The KHS and the KGS (Kentucky Genealogical Society) jointly host a genealogy program every second Saturday of the month. It is free and open to the public at the History Center in Frankfort.....you only need to call ahead and register so we can have a head count. They do have lunch available at $6 per person, but the lunches available are only based on those who pre-regsitered, so make sure you call ahead. Anyway, this program is in a wonderful facility, and they invite guest speakers in for an almost day-long session (~10:30-2:30). This is not your run-of-the-mill genealogy meeting. After attending so many national conferences....I can safely say this feels like attending a conference session....even the facility and speaker list feels like a mini-conference. Last month was a rep from Family Search (all day), next year we will be having other national speakers....including Dick Eastman! Last summer, for their full conference (not free), they had Elizabeth Shown Mills! Seriously! So anyone within driving distance, should mark these on their calendar.....what a great genealogy resource for the region! Here is the calendar link: http://history.ky.gov/events.php?pageid=900&sectionid=5&cat=all (Btw, they already had the 2nd Saturday event yesterday due to a Holiday event conflict, but take a look at the December offerings & follow their Twitter account for reminders: @KyHistSoc) Also, check out their Thursday night schedules: http://bit.ly/obiuRx

Tis all for now!
C

Lincoln Park Legacy - A New Journey

Telling the story of the Lincoln Park Baptist Church will require many voices. My voice, encased in my personal experiences with this institution will be here at my blog. However, the new Lincoln Park Legacy blog will be the newsfeed for the many voices I hope to restore to our collective memory. After my first segment of the Lincoln Park story told here, I encourage you to visit the new and official blog of the project to learn more and follow along as we uncover historical gems and past identities.

My introduction to Lincoln Park Baptist Church in Cincinnati Ohio came through my parents and grandparents. My grandparents were members of this church between the span of the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. My parents were married here, yet they did not belong to this congregation as they made their own family. Actually, many of my family members were married here: My aunts and uncles, and a few cousins.

Among my personal memories, I can relate a few: visiting many times with the grandparents, attending Sunday school on occasion with my cousin, attending weddings, and two favorite memories that my family love retelling when they need a good laugh. The time when I was 3 years old and had an accident that made my grandmother think her water pills were playing tricks on her, and the only time I was ever asked to be a flower girl in a wedding – I fainted dead away while standing so long, and hit my head on the seat of the hard wooden pew. This was my cousin’s wedding, and my aunt supposedly has an audio tape of the horrible, loud “bong” that my hard head made as it hit the pew. Have no fear, there were no lasting mental effects – at least that is what they continued to tell me over the years.

Back in 2007, my Aunt, who was still a member of this church, invited my parents and I up to visit during the “homecoming” celebration. This yearly event was special in 2007 for a couple of reasons. 1. The Church was celebrating 165 years of being a congregation. 2. This would probably be their last celebration because the building was about to be sold and the congregation had voted to merge with another in order to survive in any capacity. There was a third reason I was called up – due to the anniversary, all of the historical items of the church’s long history would be on display, and with my Special Collections training/history degree/genealogy experience, they could use an expert pair of eyes. At this point, the congregation knew they had a unique collection, but had no idea what to do with it once they merged with another church.

My visit in 2007 was thrilling. I instantly fell in love with this collection. It was rich and fairly well preserved. There were stories of women missionaries to China, immigrant congregations, healing ministries, hardships through the decades of American history, and just plain adorable social tidbits. After snapping some initial photos of the collection, I recommended some options if they intended to keep the collection, or if they planned on donating it to another entity.

Within the next year, I was invited back to take a closer look, give even more detailed preservation advice, and this time, advise on packing. By now, the church building had sold, and the moving had already begun. Knowing the long history of this church, I was saddened by these turn of events.

There were many in the congregation that understood the scope and value of this collection, but they were not ready to part with it. They had the foresight to plan for preserving the material, but were unsure how to go about this properly. They set aside some money to purchase preservation material and to house the items in an environmentally controlled space. However, after a few years of debating, a mold outbreak, lack of space, and re-allocation of some of the money, plans were altered by necessity. This is where I came back into the picture within the capacity of Pastology.

Under our normal operating procedures, we advise on how to set up digitization efforts in-house, in the hopes of preserving and digitizing items on a long term basis. With the Lincoln Park remnants, circumstances were changing fast, and it was evident that a long-term digitization/preservation effort was not possible with the few volunteers they had on hand. Also, their new facilities were not conducive to maintaining the items securely. Extra help was needed, and due to our unique relationship, Pastology agreed to digitize off-site, with each newly digitized batch of documents being donated to a local historical society, for longterm preservation of the original material. Another reason for this choice was the desire for quick and full access of these documents for the remaining members who are aging fast. Part of this new project will also include a portion devoted to oral history. Hopefully we can add to the collection with some oral history interviews in the near future.

That is about it for my personal connection to this collection. When I say Pastology will be digitizing the collection, that means, me, myself and I. This one is near and dear to me, so I’m taking this one on all by my lonesome. Disclaimer: Pastology is under contract and is being paid for the digitization efforts…..we are NOT however, being paid to wallow in how much fun wading through all of this content has already proven to be! What is it they say about a pig wallowing in mud? Sometimes it feels like that with the dust, and yes, a bit of mold from time to time, but I am as happy as that proverbial pig!

To follow along on the journey and keep tabs on the wonderful historical gems we uncover, please consider following our newest blog Lincoln Park Legacy. We also have a new twitter account: @oldlincolnpark. Once the newly digitized documents are entered into Pastology, they will be free to access. For any of you with Cincinnati relatives/ancestors…..you will want to keep tabs on this collection. The congregation was downtown for over a hundred years with as many as 1000 members at the turn of the century. One of the most fantastic things we have to digitize is a large number of completed member cards, some as far back as the 1920s. Many new Romanian and Hungarian immigrants attended this church for sometime as well…..and that is just the tip of the iceberg!

So far, my favorite serendipity moment:

I was allowed to come take charge of a few document tubs at a time. Nothing is in any order anymore, so I did poke through some of the collection to create a tub with some of the oldest things first – they will need the quickest preservation care. As soon as I arrived home with the tubs, I grabbed a few files to look through. One photo in a clear sleeve slipped out on top of the others – the subject: an adult Sunday school class from the 1950s – in the front row – my grandparents - well at least Grandpa and half of Grandma.....but still a fun moment!

Twittering Trees

Within my circle of influence lately, Twitter has risen as a questionable issue. Be it work, other blogs (French Essence) or my own Twitter account, people have been discussing the merits or detriments of this format. I felt it was my turn to give my two cents on the matter - specifically because I think those holding out may be missing quite a genealogical treat - or tweet - whatever.

Ironically, as a 2.0 junkie, my fascination with all things social media, which began two years ago, did NOT include Twitter. Until recently, I was completely anti-Twitter...in fact, when the news mentioned anything about this subject, or God forbid, someone used one of those hash-tags (#) in everyday use, I really wanted to go bird hunting. I viewed it as a colossal waste of time, and an ego-centric outlet for those who just loved to hear themselves talk - ignore the ironic presence of blogs behind that green curtain. In fact, "Twit" was such a great word for them....until....

When my own business was born, it was decided that we would begin a Twitter account, since all major companies had one. Of course, I drew the short straw on that one. So, back in August of this year, our Pastology Twitter account was born. For awhile, I was truly at a loss as to how to make this useful. I tweeted a few random historical thoughts, such as antiquing, or attending the FGS conference in Knoxville, but I knew if I didn't learn more and throw myself into this, I was not going to create anything of use, and I feared it would quickly fade from my daily to-do list. And they say, one of the keys to a successful Twitter account is frequent tweets, at least daily....or you become boring really quickly.

However, for those Twitter virgins out there....here is the amazing lesson I learned:

In the genealogy field, Twitter is the news feed made just for us!

That's right, as I searched for historic and genealogical groups to follow, I was amazed at the wealth of information out there. I was hooked....not for my own tweeting, but for the tweets of others!

Which brings up another lesson for the anti-Twitter people who think they have nothing to tweet about:

You don't have to tweet at all if you don't want to!

To keep your finger on the pulse of genealogical events as they happen, just create an account and follow your favorites. Even local favorites are in there....museums, historical societies, libraries, etc. Trust me, if something happens in the genealogical world, you will hear about it FIRST on Twitter. With the apps on smartphones these days, I read Twitter feeds while out and about, almost as much as I read my RSS feed reader. And who knows, once you get an account and keep up with the other fascinating, genealogical/historical worthy tweets out there, you may begin to see great stories online, and gravitate toward that "Share this" button that allows you to share your link find as a tweet! There's quite the slippery slope!

To get you started, or to learn more:

Twitter: Main site

Twitter cheat sheet created by Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers

Twitter for Beginners

Top 10 Twitter Tips for Beginners

Hashtags: Search for #genealogy and quickly see who has tweeted about this subject within the past few minutes.

And I just had to include this adorable desktop background that teaches about Twitter shortcuts, all in a family tree style....too cute!

Happy Tweeting!

CD aka @Pastology (For now, I am Pastology. Perhaps someday, if the company grows larger, I may separate into my own Tweetdom, but for now, I tweet from the home base.....generally historical/genealogical links and comments - you can see my feed on the upper right column of the blog) 11/20/10

My Ancestor Doppelganger for Family History Month

As most of you know, October has been the official month designated as Family History Month since 2001. It also has the recognition of being named American Archives Month. In honor of both, my parent company, Pastology, has announced a new way to celebrate both. You can see their (my) original blog post about the event by clicking here: Ancestor Doppelganger.

But as I participate, I thought you might want to see who I chose as the ancestor I most resemble:
" So…….who is my Ancestor Doppelganger? That would be my great great Grandmother Oleva Ellen Mockbee Cox. Grandma Ollie, as people used to call her, was born and died well before I was a gleam in my parents’ eyes. She was born in Pendleton County Kentucky on February 9th, 1862, to William Lanson Mockbee and Jane Allender Mockbee. Oleva grew up to marry Lavega Cox on April 22nd, 1880. She had three children: Leonard, Nellie and Lanson. She departed this life June 20th, 1953 at the age of 91. I don’t know much about her as a person. My Mother only has brief memories of her being a strong woman who was quiet and enjoyed receiving her great grandchildren’s Sunday school papers that they would bring to her when they arrived for Sunday dinners after Church. Her obituary says she belonged to Pine Grove Methodist Church…..but that is all I know about her…..Sure wish I could have met her; I think we would have had a lot to talk about! "

I would love to see some of your doppelgangers out there! As the instructions state, you can participate in a couple different ways: A post on your blog or changing out your Facebook profile photo. If you decide to write a blog post about this, we'd love to hear about it! Comment here, or anywhere we can find it: our Facebook fan page you see on the right, our main blog, or the event page in Facebook.

Knotes from Knoxville!

So we're back! What a wonderful conference the FGS 2010 turned out to be! We met so many wonderfully sweet and helpful people! The sessions and booths were amazing, and the food was off the charts....well, more on that later. I do have a small announcement to make with this blog post. I did not travel down to the conference as solely an attendee. I also went as a vendor, which means sitting with a booth for four of the five days, unless I could sneak away - which I did quite frequently, according to my business partner. As any of my regulars might have noticed, my main Journeys Past web site link is gone and below my little bio is a Facebook link for Pastology. This new venture was the biggest reason behind my FGS adventure!

My business partner from Massachusetts and I have begun a new genealogy/history company called Pastology. At the FGS conference, we only gave sneak peaks of the online web resource as we haven't officially launched to the public just yet. Now that we are back home, we are working frantically to move that launch date up as quickly as possible. I will fill you in later on some of the features and announce a launch date when that gets closer, but I mention it here to allow for a little explanation. This is the main reason my Journeys Past web site has went the way of the dodo. After 9 years of a fairly stagnant website that only offered snippets of my own family history, I had the opportunity to move my content to Pastology, and have done so. It isn't quite ready for viewing, but will be very soon. However, this blog is NOT changing. It will remain my playground of the past, and will rarely mention Pastology as anything I write for them will probably be relegated to the official web site blog.

Anyway, long story short, stay tuned as I will announce the launch here in case anyone is interested, and one of our serendipitous meetings at the conference was with the Family Search people who are interested in affiliating with us already. So, the future looks bright, but I wanted everyone to be aware of what happened to my old site. Now for some general conference reporting.

The networking and truly useful information gleaned from this year's conference was invaluable. Talking with the seasoned experts and giving support to the fledglings were priceless experiences, and I was reminded again and again what a warm and helpful atmosphere the genealogical set strive to achieve and easily accomplish. I had years of experience within Kentucky and Ohio, but seeing the warmth and support exhibited by representatives of every state, reminded me of why I've been so passionate about this field for so many years! Any question you had, someone was lightning quick to answer it and help you develop your areas of weakness or inexperience. The sessions, as I mentioned, were fantastic! The shopping in the vendor area was also amazing - and I have to give a shout out to Maia's Books of Columbus Ohio. Their booth was across from ours and those ladies were a wealth of information, wisecracks and overall helpful fun! I spent WAY too much money in their booth!BTW, if you see them listed as an exhibitor at a future conference, plan on spending a lot of time and money shopping there. They had the most complete collection of family research books I have ever seen. Unique titles that you usually have to order online as the standard bookstore would never carry them. However, according to their bookmark, they now have a physical store in Columbus, so if you are in the area, you must give them a try!

Despite multiple trips to the general Knoxville area over the years, I had always traveled that direction for the mountains and intentionally ALWAYS by-passed the city thinking they had nothing worthwhile to offer - sorry Knoxville. As a Kentucky Wildcat, both by multiple degrees and ten years as staff, perhaps my blue blood would just not allow me anyways near that orange campus! However, this trip to the FGS Conference changed my mind completely. Granted, Knoxville isn't a huge city, or known nationally as a unique destination, but before I left, I became enchanted and thought the city planners of Lexington should take a closer look at Knoxville's downtown life!

I fell in love with their Market Square. About 20 unique restaurants, with AMAZING food and live music! An authentic Spanish tapas restaurant called Sangrias.....the couch booths and three nationalities of cuisine at Cocoa Moon....the Lobster Macaroni and Cheese (and bakery) at Cafe 4.....my mouth is still watering! Plus, the entrance to the Market Square is made complete with the addition of a sculpture/water garden. The atmosphere here is priceless as everyone just wanders around mingling - families and college groups - beautiful! Oh - and about another street or two over is a wonderful cultural/art district, that we missed, but was hopping and appeared to be very hip! I would have loved to try all of the restaurants, and had time to explore the museums and theatres, but we had to head home and dissect all the lovely treasures we brought home....books, freebies, instructional material.....definitely a trip worth taking! Our next conference should be in Charleston for the NGS, but we will most certainly be back to the FGS when they arrive in Springfield Illinois next year.

So on to the next conference! Lots of work to do before next May, and if you wanted to see some of the highlights of the conference, check out the Facebook page of Afrigeneas. They did a remarkable job of documenting the proceedings - 4 albums worth!

Ciao for now!

C

8/28/10