Swedish Genealogy Workshop in Lindsborg, KS

Gotta sign up for this workshop!  Swedish Genealogy in Lindsborg, KS just seems so appropriate, especially since my Swedes settled right around there.

Native American Genealogy Class

In my inbox today from the Indian Center in Wichita:

Tracing Indian Genealogy

The Mid-America All-Indian Center is pleased to offer two free lectures by Choctaw Indian Jason Felihkatubbe on Saturday, Aug. 18. The public is invited. 

From noon-1 p.m., he will speak on the "History of the Choctaw." It will be followed by a "Genealogy" presentation at 1:15 p.m. that emphasizes the Five Civilized Tribes, ways to trace ancestry through Indian records and enrollment policies/procedures.        

Felihkatubbe is a project director at Wichita State University and instructor at Butler Community College.  

MHGS Jubilee Oct 22

Yesterday, while playing genealogy librarian (do you ever get to feeling like you know enough about a library to be a legitimate librarian?), I volunteered to help with the Family History Month Jubilee on October 22.  It sounds like it's going to be cool -- hot dogs, antique bicycles, a trolley between the MHGS, the Wichita Public Library, the Sedgwick Co Historical Museum and the African American History museum.  If you're in the Wichita area, you should come check it out!  I'll be the one playing sheepdog to get people on and off the trolley at the MHGS stop.

Land Records and Genealogy Symposium, Nebraska

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...