FGS 2015 Program Spotlight: Methods and Standards

Learning methods, standards, and best practices will help you solve the toughest research problems. These FGS 2015 sessions will put on on the right track.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Tried and True Methods

• Researching extended family, friends, and neighbors is important. Using case studies, learn how timelines, techniques, and strategies will help you find those lost ancestors. Deborah Abbott, PhD, explores Cluster Genealogy: Finding Your Lost Ancestors.

• Researching the historical, geographic, and ethnic details surrounding an ancestor's family and time period can provide significant research dividends. Curt Witcher, MLS, FUGA, IGSF, demonstrates how Doing the History Eliminates the Mystery. 

• Dissected prize-winning family histories show attributes others can incorporate into their own writing. Thomas Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS, puts the emphasis on interest, structure, documentation, and standards in Writing a Prize-Winning Family History.

• Do you understand the Compiled Military Service Record and know how to locate records not found in one? Craig R. Scott, MA, CG, FUGA, has that covered in The Compiled Military Service Record. 

Standards and Practices

• Examples and explanations tell about newly revised genealogy standards and how to apply them to research, compiling, and writing. Join Thomas Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS, for New Standards or Old? Guidelines for Effective Research and Family Histories. 

• Hear about the process and preparation needed to become Board-certified, including useful tips and recommendations. Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL, and Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL, will present Certification: Measuring Yourself Against Standards in an interactive format encouraging audience questions. 

• Are you aware of the standards of genetic genealogy? These standards were developed by a committee under the guidance of Blaine Bettinger and CeCe Moore. Learn about those Genetic Genealogy Standards from CeCe Moore. 

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Records and Methods for Your Consideration

• Locate print and online indexes for local newspapers. Learn to take advantage of online resources, and utilize other tools that can assist you from Kris W. Krepczynski, MLS, MA, in Extra! Extra! Utilizing Newspapers to Locate Obituaries.

• Meet the six non-population census schedules taken during 1850–1880. Deena Coutant covers Agricultural Defective/Delinquent, Manufacturing/Industrial, Mortality, Slave & Social Statistics Schedules in Beyond the Census: The Non-Population Schedules. 

• Documents, museum holdings, and ephemera provide answers but only if you know how to locate them. Discover some of the riches to be garnered from materials at NARA, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian with Pamela Boyer Sayre, CG, CGL in Manuscripts and More.

• Ever noticed the patchwork quilt effect of the farms when flying over the Midwest? Discover why this is the case and how to decipher those legal descriptions in How the Public Land Survey System Shaped Our Country with Billie Fogarty, M.Ed.

Check out the full program for FGS 2015 scheduled for February 11–14 in Salt Lake City, Utah and register today.