An 1890 Census Replacement Project could be your societies' next big thing!

The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) is pleased to announce the April 2018 webinar, “1890 Census Replacement Project: Creating a Genealogically Relevant Project for Your Society,” presented by Dina Carson.

Our 1890 census project yielded: a searchable list of 1890 residents, a county-wide research guide, every-name indices of original sources, and a book. Yours could too.

This webinar will be held on April 19, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. Central Time, and will be recorded for viewing on the FGS website shortly after its conclusion. Please register in advance.

About the Speaker

Dina Carson has been involved in genealogy for more than two decades and is currently the coordinator of the Boulder Pioneers Project, a comprehensive look at the original source documents for Boulder County during the Territorial period (1859-1876). She is the author of more than thirty annotated indexes of Boulder County source materials. She lectures frequently to genealogical societies throughout the state and is working with the Colorado State Archives on state-wide indexing projects. Although her formal education is in International Law and Economics, she owns Iron Gate Publishing, a publishing company, and is a partner in Imagination Technology, a graphic design and marketing firm working with small business clients.

Dina is the author of 10 books about publishing and genealogy including, Set Yourself Up to Self-Publish: A Genealogist's Guide and Publish Your Family History: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing the Stories of Your Ancestors. In early 2018, Dina was the coordinator and primary instructor for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy's course, “Writing and Publishing Family Histories in the Digital Age.” Dina brings her experience with all phases of book publishing to help first-time self-publishers create quality family or local histories that are both believable and achievable. When she's not at a computer working on a publishing project, you can find her photographing the pioneer cemeteries of Colorado.

Coming Up Next Time

In May, Jill Morelli will present “10 Hot Tips to Create Publications every Member Wants to Read.” Register early! 

About the Webinar Series

Each month, the FGS Webinar Series features a new and interesting topic, ranging from recruitment and volunteer management to technology, publications, and working with your local tourism board.

Webinars are held on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. The webinars are free to watch live, but advance registration is required. Regular updates will be shared via the FGS Voice blog, FGS Voice Newsletter, and social media.

Speakers interested in presenting topics should contact Jen Baldwin, Education Chair, at education@fgs.org.

Are you looking for a rewarding and beneficial way to volunteer? The Education Committee at FGS could use your expertise! Please contact Jen Baldwin at education@fgs.org

Latest FORUM Issue Is Out: Planning a Washington, D.C. research trip, meet the Next Generation, & more!

Dive in to FGS FORUM!

Rain or shine, it's time to kick back with this latest issue of FORUM which is bursting with helpful research hints, volunteer opportunities, society project ideas, and technology help for both today's researcher and today's genealogical society. Dive in!

Go Prepared

With so many repositories and libraries located in Washington, D.C., having some kind of research plan and knowing what to expect and what will be expected of you before you go is imperative. Easily get prepared with these insider tips from expert Darcie Hind Posz, CG, in "Planning a Research Trip to Washington, D.C.

Does a genealogical society hold the key to solving your research challenges? 

Or are you looking to find a project you can volunteer for to help give back to the genealogy community? Don't miss new FORUM column, "Spotlight on Member Projects" by FGS Vice-President of Membership Caroline Pointer. The column reveals what activities FGS Member Societies are involved in throughout the genealogy community and features great cemetery, indexing, digitization, and fundraising projects in the works as well as other types of activities. Plus, society leaders will enjoy being inspired to try a new type of project or activity for their own society!

Meet the Next Generation

What do they like? What do they not like? What do they expect? What makes them tick? How do they research? How do they volunteer? In her new column, Shannon Combs-Bennett begins this all-important dialogue that will unveil incredible insight into this huge demographic with takeaways for societies and their leadership which will help them understand how to reach — and even meet — the next generation where they are. Plus, she'll be sharing advice with the next generation of genealogists on how to get involved and to help them along with their research.

And that's not all. Take a peek inside:

Table of Contents

3......From the Editors

6......President's Message

8......Planning a Research Trip to Washington, D.C. by Darcie Hind Posz, CG

15.....10 Reasons to Use Wordpress for Your Society Website by Taneya Koonce

23.....Global Family Reunion, A Success by Randy Whited

26.....A Look Back at the FGS 2015 Conference by Linda McCauley

30.....FGS Regional Conference: New York State Family History Conference

33.....Spotlight on Member Projects: Indexing Projects, New Databases, and More by Caroline Pointer

37.....Next Generation: Who Are the NextGen of Genealogy? by Shannon Combs-Bennett

40.....Records Preservation and Access: Genealogists' Declaration of Rights, Preservation Projects, and More by Linda McCleary, MLS

42.....Reviews

How to access FORUM:

Current FGS Member Societies: Sign-in now to start reading immediately or download it to read on your desktop or mobile device. (After signing in, click on FGS FORUM – Latest Issue in the sidebar.) Don't forget to renew your membership in order for your society's leadership to continue to access FORUM and its archives.

Current FGS FORUM subscribers (individuals): sign-in now to start reading immediately or download it to read on your desktop or mobile device. (After signing in, scroll down and click on Vol. 27, No. 1, to read.)

Who can subscribe to FORUM? Anyone. You don't have to be a member of a genealogical society in order to subscribe.

Not already a subscriber? You can subscribe today to the FGS FORUM and start reading immediately or download it to read on your desktop or mobile device.

Genealogical Societies: If you are not a member society of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, become one today and let your society's leadership begin accessing FORUM and its 25+ year archives which is just one of the many benefits of FGS membership. Read more about how else FGS empowers Member Society Leaders to manage successful societies.

Engaging Offsite Members: Volunteer Opportunities

For many societies, Offsite Members represent the majority of their possible volunteer base. While these folks may not be able to act as board members or bring snacks, they can contribute more to their societies than just dues. While it might be obvious that Offsite Members are those people who support your society from another state. A less obvious group includes those members who are in your own back yard, but don’t attend meetings. Check out these project ideas to get your creative juices flowing. By tailoring a few volunteer opportunities to engage this large pool of supporters, you’ll build a more vibrant society experience for all.

Conversion Projects

Last week, Amy Johnson Crow wrote a great article on how to mine your old newsletters and publications for blog content. You can read here if you haven’t already. Accessing that older content can pose a challenge though. Let your Offsite Members help you solve it.

Scanning old newsletters and publications converts your physical content into a more usable digital form. In most instances, those scanned documents will now also be search-able. For those few projects where a scan won’t make an adequately search-able document, volunteers can transcribe that material into a new usable format. Hosting this now searchable content on your members only section of your website or converting it to sellable e-books breathes new life into old content and has the potential to increase your revenue streams.

Indexing projects are always a great way to convert existing content into a more usable form. Your own collections are a wonderful place to start but aren’t the only options. Free sites like FamilySearch.org and BillionGraves.com have specific programs for indexing the digital material on their site. Subscription services like Fold3.com allow users to annotate their collections. Those annotations then become part of the searches returned for a name. Your local library’s genealogical section is full of unindexed material they could use your help with.

Enlisting Offsite Members for these kinds of projects offers your society a much larger pool of volunteers to work with. This, in turn, means each volunteer can be assigned a small, manageable part of the project. (I’ll be writing more on Micro-volunteering later in the year.) Add a level of competition or reward for project completion and you’ll see these types of projects really work for your society.

Publications

Your newsletter editor is laboring every month to find enough content. Yet many members write for their own blogs. All society members represent a great source of written content. Most of them though, will need encouragement to write the kind of full-length articles required for blogs and newsletters alike. Instead of asking just one or a few members to produce content for your publications, reach out to a variety of members for a commitment of one article per year of membership. Out of state Offsite Members have just as much genealogical information to share as the member who makes every meeting. There are plenty of general interest topics that can be covered regardless of where someone is located. But for the creative, those Offsite Members have valuable information to share with your Onsite members as well. My home state of South Carolina is a great example. It has experienced several major out-migrations. I’d love to read an article from my fellow SCGS members from Mississippi on how to find my South Carolina ancestors there.

Social Genealogy

Speaking of out-migration: your Offsite Members live in the places your Onsite Members need research. The opportunity exists for creating reciprocal look-ups that allow Offsite Members to contribute research where they are located in return for research where you are located. Or even contribute on a Random Acts basis. Instead of the usual inbound Query in your newsletter, consider creating an outbound Query or “Can You Help” section focused on locals seeking the assistance of the larger membership pool.

Ready to take on a larger project? We are genealogists so naturally we love to do genealogy! With the proliferation of both free and subscription genealogy on the web it is now easier than ever to work together on genealogical problems from a variety of locations. The founding fathers of your community came from somewhere, and likely left for somewhere as well. Take the "mug book" idea to the next level with society projects based on the research talents of all your members.

And So Much More

These are but a few ideas of projects you can use to engage with your Offsite Members. They are a part of your community and deserve your consideration. By creatively engaging their talents and energy the whole society benefits.

Roundtable Programs for Your Genealogy Society

While you're working on your program schedule for the new year, consider this: with a little pre-planning, you can provide a unique interactive educational opportunity for your members without having to wait for a conference or webinar. 

Join guest John Sabol, author and lecturer on Slovak genealogy, as he discusses what he calls "speed dating for genealogists." These are roundtable programs that allows your society members to connect with an experienced researcher for a specific record group, locality, ethnic group, or any other topic.

These discussions can be spread out over an entire day or just for a couple of hours. It all depends on how many people are participating. There are so many different ways to facilitate this type of program, the possibilities are endless!

(Not to mention that discovering which topics have the most interest can help your program chair provide more relevant speakers and topics for your regular society programs AND your newsletter or journal editors to provide more relevant articles for your members).

Listen to the archived broadcast of "Roundtable Programs for Your Genealogy Society" on the blogtalkradio My Society channel by FGS, or you can listen below:

Check Out History Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with mysociety on BlogTalkRadio

For more information, check out these articles from our Society Strategy Series:

Seasonal Program Ideas
Multi-Track Programs
Perfecting the Art of Planning a Local Seminar

Scan It and Share It: Digitization Projects for Your Society

Scan It & Share It: Digitization Projects for Your Society

October is American Archives Month and Family History Month. In keeping with these themes, here is one way your society can celebrate!

Digitizing isn't only being done by the "big" societies, and it doesn't take a huge financial commitment.

Gary Ward, President of the Lockport Area Genealogical & Historical Society, an FGS Member Society, shares how his small society became a beta tester for the Ancestry digitization project. But you don't have to be part of the project to get your society's collections digitized and indexed.

All you really need: a laptop, a digital camera with a tripod (or a scanner), some volunteers, and material that has some genealogical or historical value.

Not every digitized collection needs to be large, either. Your society may hold the key to breaking down someone's brick wall in its tiny collection! There may be school records, town council records, or other local records in danger of destruction (either by man-made or natural forces) that are just begging to be digitized.

Listen to the archived broadcast of "Scan It and Share It: Digitization Projects for Your Society" on the blogtalkradio My Society channel by FGS, or you can listen below:

Check Out History Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with mysociety on BlogTalkRadio