Saturday, May 14, 2011

Live at NGS Charleston: Day 3

Today's report is truncated because I spent most of the day involved with the Association of Professional Genealogists -- meeting, luncheon, and booth duty. Strategic planning is the order of the day there, and the process is NOT intended or expected to last forever, or to languish unimplemented.

I was able to attend Richard Sayre's lecture on the various systems of veterans' homes, mainly established once it became apparent that Civil War amputations and other injuries were overwhelming both private resources and the pension system. Aside from the many underlying individual tragedies of the war, he also noted the destruction of many case files in 1930, although samples do remain, as do indexes to register books that Ancestry.com has digitized. The records of these homes remain a remarkable resource.

I did finally break down and purchased the second edition of Gordon Remington's book on New York state probates, and the Jamb Inc. CD of Tom Jones's afternoon talk on the Genealogical Proof Standard. The talk reportedly succeeded in addressing both those who have barely heard of this kind of GPS and those who know it by heart. The late line at the Jamb table included folks on their way home who were ordering CDs for Saturday talks not yet delivered, as the exodus from Conference World begins.

In informal conversation I learned where and how to look for information on the Holland Land Company -- a must-know for those with interest in early western New York.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for the daily NGS Reports, I feel like I was there with you in spirit! I did get to meet several people who were at the conference Tuesday evening as I ventured into Second Life for the APG SL Chapter meeting. That was...different!

Kerry Scott said...

I'm glad to hear about the strategic planning that APG is doing. I've been through that in companies, and while it's not always the most fun activity on earth, it really can be worth the effort.

As a member, I appreciate knowing that you all are putting in that effort to make the organization stronger and more effective.

Harold Henderson said...

Kerry, your comment inspired a thought. Did you get my email?