It sounds rather dull to say we are setting into a routine here at GRIP, so instead I’ll suggest that we are moving toward Genealogy Zen. We wake, we eat, we listen, talk, and think genealogy. We move from dorm room, to classroom, to cafeteria, back and forth and KGEN plays continually on the radio without interruption.
Today the Intermediate class heard sessions on citing sources and finding information through NUCMUC, NARA, and JSTOR, with a two-hour after-dinner presentation on using Google Earth and map overlays for genealogy projects. Paula and Josh have so many tips and tricks for effective searches and little-known repositories that I’m keeping a running ToDo List for my own research.
Collaboration is clearly a keyword this week, and hearing ideas from classmates points out the experience and expertise of so many researchers. The trick is connecting and sharing so we can help one another. Paula made a good case in class for enlisting help and hiring local researchers to expedite a project or as guides to help you become acclimated in a new repository or locality. I had never thought about it before, but it really makes a lot of sense to seek out an expert at times.
Genealogy bloggers tend to read about each others interests and specialities on their blogs making it fairly easy to connect online, but it takes just a bit of conversation to figure out the same information in person.
The Getting a GRIP daily newsletter listed attendees from 28 states and Italy. Just imagine the wealth of experience —
Pennsylvania: 26
Ohio: 17
Maryland: 10
Virginia: 7
New York: 6
New Jersey, West Virginia: 5 each
California: 4
Colorado, Minnesota, Washington: 3 each
Maine, Michigan: 2 each
One each from: Italy, Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin
Tomorrow the Intermediate course moves on to Land and Tax Records, Court Records, Military Records, and Research in “New” Localities. It promises to be a long and interesting day concluding after dinner with a two hour session on Pennsylvania Research.
Time for Lights Out!
