Sunday, February 24, 2013

Report from SLIG

Hi all,
It's been a while since my last post. I'm now recovered from that miserable cold and cough that's been going around. I never thought I'd be coughing up a storm for a whole month! The good news is that I'm now past that. :)

The last time I posted I was heading to Salt Lake City for the Salt Lake Institute for Genealogy (SLIG) conference, hosted by the Utah Genealogy Association. Wow, what a conference!! The UGA really knows how to do a great conference. I participated in the German track--"Germany: Advanced Tools and Methods". Our primary instructor was.....Warren Bittner! Yes, that Warren Bittner who is so well known in our genealogy world. It was an incredible experience working with him for a whole week. Also on board were Baerbel Johnson who gave us many internet websites to search through, Roger Minert talking about surname and township names, Heidi Sugden talking about Austrian research, and Marek Koblanski on Polish research.

More about Roger Minert--many of you may already know his many worthwhile publications. One of my favorites is his "Deciphering Handwriting in German Documents". It's highly useful in reading the handwriting, but also helpful in reading Gothic Script. It's helped me get through the Gothic Script found in the Meyers-Ort Gazetteer.  Roger is also known for a series of books under the title of "Place Name Indexes", with each edition covering the different regions of Germany. He is also the co-author of "The German Research Companion". His co-authors are Shirley Riener and Jennifer Anderson. Shirley was one of my classmates in the German track.  She is a very down-to-earth and knowledable person. Both she and Roger were kind enough to autograph my copy of the book.  By the way--that book is in its 3rd edition.

Some of you may be familiar with Roger and Shirley's other book--"Researching in Germany: a Handbook for Your Visit to the Homeland of Your Ancestors".  Those of you who know the book recognize that parts of the book seem a bit dated now, right?  Well, folks, here's the good news: a new edition is forthcoming!! It's scheduled to be released in April of this year.  I had a chance to pre-order it at the SLIG conference. If you are planning a trip to Germany in the new future, you will want this new edition.  Both books--"the German Research Companion" and "Researching in Germany"--are available through Lorelei Press.

Now back to SLIG. The next SLIG conference is next January 13-17, 2014, at the Radisson hotel in Salt Lake City. The hotel is very nice, and about a 10-12 minute walk to the Family History Library. The line-up of tracks, so far, includes:

1. American Research and Records: Focus on Families, Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FUGA
2. New York Research, Karen Mauer Green, CG
3. Research in the South, J. Mark Lowe, CG
4. Scottish Research, Carolyn Barkley, MLS
5. Advanced Research Tools: Land Records, Richard G. Sayre, CG, Pamela Boyer Sayre, CG,     
6. Comprehensive Photo Detecting, Maureen Taylor, MA
7. Producing a Quality Family Narrative, John Philip Colletta Ph.D., FUGA
8. Researching in Eastern Europe, Kory Meyerink, AG
9. Advanced Genealogical Methods, Thomas Jones Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS
10. Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum, Angela McGhie and Kimberly Powell
11. Credentialing: Accreditation, Certification, or Both?, Apryl Cox, AG and Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL
12. Problem Solving, Judith Hansen, AG, MLS
 
Needless to say, I do highly recommend attending SLIG. The registration is a bit pricey ($350 for UGA members and $400 for non-members), but it's worth attending at least once. In fact, I met several people who attend every year. Of course, there are so many great conferences out there!
 
Hope you are having a great weekend.
Kathy

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