Wow, today seemed to go on forever but I’ll try to give a quick recap before going to bed so that I can be back at the conference hotel in less than six hours. Exhausting but totally worth it! I’m not used to burning the candle on both ends like this but it’s not everyday that I get to see old friends and make new ones. Please overlook typos tonight because proof-reading is simply not going to happen!
This morning I was slated to volunteer at Registration starting at 7 A.M. I was able to have a very nice conversation with Beth Mariotti, Director of Godfrey Memorial Library. I am on the board of the Friends of Godfrey. If you have not checked out Godfrey Memorial Library and the Godfrey Scholar website, you should! Stephen Morse recently redesigned the site and it’s wonderful.
Beth Mariotti, Director of the Godfrey Library, with Stephen Morse and his lovely wife, Anita
Around 8 A.M. I received a message asking me to help with the mayor’s visit. I was happy to be able to help by taking the photos during his visit. I posted a few of those here earlier today.
I finished taking photos just in time to get to Colleen Fitzpatrick’s talk, “The Secrets of Abraham Lincoln’s DNA.” This talk was filled with many interesting facts. Of course, I like anything that involves genetic genealogy so it certainly wasn’t a hard sell for me.
Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD
After this talk, there was some unopposed exhibitor time. GeneaBloggers took this opportunity to go to the designated area in the conference hall and have a meet and greet and get some blog posts published. How fun to meet so many of our fellow bloggers, many of whom had only met previously via Facebook. It’s nice to put a live face to the Facebook face!
GeneaBloggers Unite!
A few of us went to lunch together and then it was straight on to the next session!
For the first afternoon session, I did the introduction for Jolene Mullen. I requested this because Jolene’s books are so valuable to me as a Connecticut Researcher. Her talk, “Town Meeting Records of Connecticut and Rhode Island During the American Revolution,” provided wonderful insight into life during the Revolution. If you have ancestors living in Connecticut or Massachusetts between 1774-1783 and you have not checked for them in Jolene’s books, it is something you MUST do. There are two volumes, each covering one half of the towns, arranged in alphabetical order by town. I have had my copies since they came hot off the press in 2011 and they are very well-loved.
Jolene Mullen
Connie Reik, MSL, presented “Researching Your War of 1812 Veteran in Federal Publications and Documents.” I had the chance to go to a DNA session at this time but I’m very happy with my choice. This is definitely a weak area of source utilization for me, so it was sorely needed. I have ancestors that may very well show up in some of the record sets that Connie shared, so I need to reread all of my notes from this session and definitely put some time into this.
Connie Reik, Research and Instruction Librarian
This evening was the time to gather with my fellow Boston University Alumni. I was able to get a wonderful photo of some of the teaching staff. A big thank you to all of them for their hard work and dedication to teach and also to grade all of that work!
Elissa Scalise Powell, Rob Stanhope, Michael Leclerc, and Julie Michutka
Finally, it was time for the Special Interest Groups. I hosted DNA Research. About 35 people total showed up, with many staying the whole time. There seemed to be a nice variety of experience, with some beginner, intermediate, and more advanced topics being discussed. I was able to educate some people and correct a few misconceptions, which is always great. Most importantly, I made a couple of wonderful new friends. Many people stayed until the conference hall staff literally moved the chairs around us. We took it to the hall until it got much too late and now I fear I will be very sleepy at ProGen breakfast in the morning but that’s ok. It was totally worth it. I really like my new buddies!
For those who said that I would remember the word I had forgotten as soon as we left, you were absolutely right. HETEROPLASMY!