#genfair2013 Fabulous

What can I say, as a first time attendee, other than I thoroughly enjoyed last week’s NARA Virtual Genealogy Fair? It truly was a fun, informative experience.

Several sessions warrant special mention:

Zack Wilske’s “Citizenship Matters: Bureau of Naturalization Files at the National Archives” was particularly informative.  As was Damani Davis’s “Genealogy and the Freedman’s Bank: Records of the Freedman’s Savings & Trust Company,” a record group I’ve not yet had the pleasure of working in. But it was Jake Ersland’s presentation on “Federal Penitentiary Records” which stood out most for me. He’ll make you wish you had criminals in your family!

If you missed the fair fear not, the lecture schedule and handouts are still available.

http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/know-your-records/genealogy-fair/

The session videos are available directly via streaming.

http://www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives

A note about the videos; It appears day one is not broken out into the individual sessions. Rather, one large session is available. You’ll need to scroll through the down periods to get to the content you are looking for. Day two has individual videos broken out but the labeling is non-existent. You’ll have to click into each video to know what session it represents. A little cumbersome, I agree, but still better than missing out on this amazing content.

Enjoy the fair!
Rorey Cathcart