A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Land Records and Genealogy Symposium in Beatrice, NE. I learned several interesting things, the first of which is that it's pronounced beATriss.
The symposium is a joint venture between the community college in Beatrice and the Homestead National Monument of America, which celebrates the Homestead Act of 1862. About 1/3 of the presentations focused on land records -- understanding the platting system, knowing what to look for in the deed index and deed book, etc. Three of the others were on technology -- Google, blogs, social media; I liked the one Thomas MacEntee did on Google the best. Possibly the most entertaining presentation was on identifying 19th century photographs; even the the event planners, who weren't genealogists, were fascinated. Gail Blankenou did a fabulous job.
This symposium is offered every two years. I've only been to one other genealogy conference, so I don't have much to compare it to, but I'd say that it was worth the extremely reasonable fee. And, when making your lunch choices, go with the lasagna...
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