Gen-Fed Registration Details

And another conference is getting ready for registration. Visit:
http://www.gen-fed.org/registration-details-for-gen-fed-2017-released/

...or see the announcement below. Gen-Fed, if you haven't heard of it is a week long festival of federal records. Held in Washington, D.C., you will be immersed in presentations about various federal records and be right there to dive into them! I understand there are field trips to not only the repositories in D.C., but also NARA in Maryland during the week.

Here is their announcement:

Registration Details for Gen-Fed 2017 Released

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Gen-Fed Administration

National Archives Archives, Constitution Avenue

The Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed) has announced details on registration, scheduled to open on Saturday, February 25, at 3:00 PM EST. Reservations will be taken online, via 123SignUp, and tuition payment will be due by check within 15 days of making a reservation. Complete instructions are posted here. Read them over and mark your calendars!
If you are wondering if Gen-Fed is a good choice for you, check out last year’s post entitled “Are You Ready for Gen-Fed?”  For other perspectives on how this institute fits in a genealogical education plan, read blog posts by Dave McDonald and DearMyrtle.
To learn more about this year’s program, visit Gen-Fed-2017.

Find My Past- Free Records Access for Veterans Day 2016

I just found out that Find My Past is offering some free records access this weekend. I know many of us don't have a long weekend for Veteran's Day, but perhaps you can still find time to take advantage of this and get a few extra records on your ancestors!

 

The pictures below are of my grandparents, Marion & Alice Wooster during the time they served in the Army during and just after WWI. 

Army Calvary

Army Nurse's Corp

FINDMYPAST GRANT FOUR DAYS OF FREE ACCESS TO ALL MILITARY RECORDS FOR VETERANS DAY 2016

Findmypast makes entire collection of more than 70 million world military records free for four days

All UK, Irish, Australian, Canadian and US military records free from the 10^th to the 13^thNovember 2016

Includes free access to over 43 million US and Canada military records

Leading family history website, Findmypast, has just announced that they will be making their entire collection of military records free for four days to coincide with Veterans Day 2016.

From 04:00 EST, 10^th November until 18:59 GMT, 13^th November 2016, all 70 million records within Findmypast’s “Military, Armed Forces and Conflict” category will be completely free to search and explore, providing family historians from around the globe the opportunity to uncover the stories of the military heroes within their own family.

This will include free access to:

·         Over 43 million US and Canada military records

·         Over 1.3 million United States Army enlistment records

·         Over 1.1 million United States Civil War Pension File Index records

·         Over 89,000 Revolutionary War Pensions

·         Millions of Civil War soldiers, sailors, veterans and medal records.

·         Millions of records covering US forces in Korea, Vietnam and WW2

·         Over 26.4 million British military Records including the most comprehensive 

collection of British Army service records both for WW1 and pre WW1 - these multiple page documents were released in partnership with The National Archives and are packed with fascinating biographical details such as the names and addresses of next of kin, physical descriptions and character references from commanding officers

·         The most comprehensive British Royal Nave and Royal Air Force collections available online

·         Over 2.6 million POW records in our exclusive Prisoners of War 1715-1945 collection.

·         Over 1.1 million WW2 casualty records

·         Soldiers Died In The Great War 1914-1919 records

·         Over 1.5 million medal index cards, memorial rolls and roll of honour records

·         Military tribunal records - the records of thousands of men who attempted to avoid conscription

·         Military Nurses 1856-1994 records

Free Live Webinar

On Friday November 11^th at 11:00 EST, Findmypast will be hosting a free Remembrance Day Webinar presented by in-house military expert, Paul Nixon. In “Unpicking the past: revealing secrets in old military photographs”, Mr Nixon will demonstrate how anyone can turn detective using old military photographs, military records and historic newspapers to uncover clues which in turn open up further avenues of research.

Learn more at:  http://www.findmypast.com/military-records   

Places Visited

One of the latest things going around on Facebook has been about putting symbols beside where you have visited or lived. My symbols look a bit different, as I had to find ones on the keyboard as the Facebook ones wouldn’t copy over.

 

I loved these bears at a rest stop in Maine

How do you count if you’ve visited a state? I agree that sitting in an airport shouldn’t count. However, I’ve counted states where I mostly sat in the car. Some states, such as Maryland, and West Virginia, I have done little more than looked out the window as we went down the highway. We might have stopped to eat somewhere along the way, but they were mostly pushing through to get to someplace else. I have counted them as I’ve always tried to make the best of those travels and see what the landscape looked like beyond the interstate and watch to see what attractions might be around. I’ve gathered the brochures at the rest areas (remember when there were all kinds of brochures to gather?) and read through them as we went by.

Catoctin State Park that we passed in Maryland meant looking to see if I could see signs for Camp David or maybe even a presidential helicopter going over! In Kentucky this year, I realized that the hotel we made an overnight in was only a few miles from Fort Knox and we saw the Corvette Museum just off the highway as we went through Bowling Green. Tennessee meant seeing as much of Nashville as we could from I-65 as we drove through-- one trip getting some good views as traffic jams meant we took an hour to inch through there. So, even though some of the states are drive-through ones, I feel as though I did catch a glimpse of some of their features.

Other states I’ve been privileged to stay longer and see more things in. Some, like Alabama, have been for institutes or conferences. Others, such as Florida, I was able to spend about 3 weeks traveling around and exploring with my parents when I was a child. In fact, we did that 3 different times while I was growing up and for a couple weeks again while I was in college. The states in the northeast, of course, have been multiple trips. Virginia and Washington, DC, I got to visit several times as my oldest brother lived in Fairfax county with his family for many years.

In Washington with my niece, Heather

 

Albany, Of course from the state library window!

Put a  by the states you have visited. Sitting in an airport doesn't count. The average is 8. How do you match up? Put a ∆ where you have lived.

* Alabama 
* Alaska
* Arizona
* Arkansas
* California
* Colorado
* Connecticut 
* Delaware
* District of Columbia 
* Florida 
* Georgia 
* Hawaii
* Idaho
* Illinois 
* Indiana 
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Maine 
* Maryland 
* Massachusetts 
* Michigan 
* Minnesota
* Mississippi
* Missouri 
* Montana
* Nebraska
* Nevada
* New Hampshire 
* New Jersey 
* New Mexico
* New York ∆
* North Carolina 
* North Dakota
* Ohio 
* Oklahoma
* Oregon
* Pennsylvania 
* Rhode Island 
* South Carolina 
* South Dakota
* Tennessee 
* Texas
* Utah 
* Vermont
* Virginia 
* Washington
* West Virginia 
* Wisconsin
* Wyoming
Canada 
Mexico

National Archives Virtual Fair

 With fall comes the National Archives hosting a Virtual Genealogy Fair. This fair is not one you attend in person, but rather through the Internet- so no travel expenses! No need to go to Washington, DC. Of course, you won't have easy access to the archives, while attending, but that's the trade off. And what's more, the whole event is free courtesy of the National Archives. Below is their announcement of this year's fair:

 

Save the dates October 26th and October 27th 

https://www.archives.gov/calendar/genealogy-fair/

National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair

Save the date!

October 26 & 27, 2016

2016 Virtual Genealogy Fair

On October 26 & 27, 2016 (Wednesday & Thursday), the National Archives will host a two-day, virtual Genealogy Fair via webcast. Viewers have the opportunity to participate with the presenters and other family historians during the live event on YouTube. All of the session videos and handouts will be available from this web page free of charge. Registration is not required.
We are currently in the planning stages to select a wide variety of topics for different skill levels from beginners to advanced. Please check this page later for more details.

Presenters

This year’s program will include genealogy experts from National Archives locations across the nation.

Lecture Sessions

The lecture sessions will offer family history research tools for all skill levels on Federal records dealing with immigration, military and civilian personnel, and bankruptcy. Learn how to do genealogical research using traditional and electronic records.

Day 1: Wednesday, October 26

Watch entire day on YouTube

Day 2: Thursday, October 27

Watch entire day on YouTube
You can watch the sessions and download the materials at your convenience. See previous Virtual Genealogy Fair sessions and presentation materials for the years 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Captioning

Live captioning will be available online. If you require an alternative or additional accommodation for an event, please send an email to: KYR@nara.gov or call 202-357-5260 in advance.

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Background:  The National Archives holds the permanently valuable records of the Federal government. These include records of interest to genealogists, such as pension files, ship passenger lists, census and Freedmen’s Bureau materials. For information on National Archives holdings see www.archives.gov.
Regarding links outside of the National Archives Website (Archives.gov): We have provided a link to this site because it has information that may interest you. This link is not an endorsement by the National Archives of the opinions, products, or services presented on this site, or any sites linked to it. The National Archives is not responsible for the legality or accuracy of information on this site, the policies, or for any costs incurred while using this site.

Education Opportunities

For those that are looking for more educational opportunities, here are three onsite institutes to look into:

1-the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIPitt) registration opens today:
There are two different weeks of instruction on various courses in July.

2-A scholarship is available for GenFed. This is the week long institute in Washington D.C. on federal records.


3-Registration is still open for IGHR at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama in June.
Three courses have wait lists, but the other courses are still available for registration. Also, this is the last year at Samford before moving to Athens, Georgia, so if you always wanted to visit this campus, now is the time!