Legacy News

Archives.com and National Archives Announce 1940 Census Website

More great news for the soon-to-be-released 1940 U.S. census. Today Archives.com announced the website where the census images will be available. In the video below, Connie Potter, Archivist, tells us to "please use this URL and no other because this one will direct you to the 1940 census. No other will."

1940census.archives.gov

Read their press release below:

Today Archives.com and the National Archives are revealing the website that will host the 1940 Census beginning April 2, 2012: 1940census.archives.gov. We encourage you to bookmark the website, and watch the video providing a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations made to publish the 1940 Census.

Please share this website and video with others!

There are only 40 days until April 2nd, a day eagerly anticipated by genealogists, historians, and academics alike. Archives.com and the National Archives are working diligently to bring you a website that makes it easy to explore the 1940 Census images. This will be the only website hosting the 1940 Census images on April 2nd.

To learn more about the 1940 Census and how you can prepare, visit Archives.com/1940census.

The U.S. Social Security Death Index is being threatened - how you can help

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was one of the very first resources I learned about when I began genealogy in the early 1990s. Today it is still one of the most valuable resources for the U.S. genealogist. Now the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security is proposing to completely shut down its use by genealogists and other industries. Please participating in preserving the use of this important database. The official announcement and instructions for signing the petition are below.

RPAC ANNOUNCES STOP ID THEFT NOW! CAMPAIGN WITH WHITE HOUSE PETITION

Genealogy Community Responds To Efforts To Remove Access to Social Security Death Index and Other Records

Instructions for signing up at WhiteHouse.gov and signing the petition can be found at http://fgs.org/pdf/rpac_petition.pdf. Frequently asked questions about signing the petition are available here.

February 7, 2012– Austin, TX: The Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC) – a joint coalition of international genealogical societies representing millions of genealogists and family historians – announces the launch of its Stop ID Theft NOW! campaign with its We The People petition posted at WhiteHouse.gov.

Call To Action For IRS To Do Its Job

Each year, fraudulent tax refund claims based upon identity theft from recently deceased infants and adults are filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The current target is the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) or Death Master File since this file, as found on numerous genealogy-oriented websites, could possibly be the source of identity thieves acquiring a deceased person’s Social Security number.

The IRS could close the door to this form of identity theft if, in fact, it were to use the Death Master File for the purpose for which it was created: to reduce fraud. If returns claiming a tax refund were screened against the Master Death File and matching cases identified for special processing, the thief should receive a rejection notice for the filing.

Tax Fraud and Identity Theft: Genealogists Are Not To Blame

The House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security is proposing to completely shut down use of the SSDI by genealogists as well as other industries such as banking and insurance that rely upon its information. Such an attempt is short-sighted and runs counter to the original purpose of the SSDI: to actually combat fraud.

Loss of Access to SSDI Affects More Than Genealogists

The SSDI is accessed by many different companies, non-profits and other entities besides individuals researching their family history. Forensic specialists utilize the SSDI when reuniting remains of military veterans with their next-of-kin and descendants. Law offices, banks and insurance companies utilize the SSDI to resolve probate cases and to locate heirs.

All of these entities would be required to spend more money and more time leveraging other resources of information when the SSDI has served this purpose, uninterrupted, for over a decade.

RPAC Petitions Obama Administration

The We the People petition, now posted at http://wh.gov/khE and accepting signatures, has a simple yet effective mission:

Take immediate steps that would curtail the filing of fraudulent tax refund claims based upon identity theft from recently deceased infants and adults.

[Note: Visitors to the WhiteHouse.gov website must log in to sign the petition, or click Create an Account to register. Once registered, return to http://wh.gov/khE to sign the petition.]

No need for lengthy hearings in front of a Congressional committee. No need for filing statements for or against any House action. No need to waste time and effort which could be directed to more pressing national issues. In fact, the National Taxpayer Advocate in 2011 issued suggestions which do not require additional legislation but can be implemented collaboratively between the IRS and Social Security Administration (SSA) almost immediately in time to impact the current tax filing season.

About Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC)

The Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC) was formed to advise the genealogical community on ensuring proper access to historical records of genealogical value in whatever media they are recorded, on means to affect legislation, and on supporting strong records preservation policies and practices.

The genealogical community works together through The Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC), which today includes The National Genealogical Society (NGS), the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) as voting members. The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), the American Society of Genealogists (ASG), ProQuest and Ancestry.com serve as participating members.To learn more visit http://www.fgs.org/rpac/

The 1940 Census - I'm In It video

In less than two months the United States 1940 census will be available - for free. Are you in it? Watch the 33 second video below and then make your way over to The1940Census.com site to sign up to help index it when it is released on April 2, 2012.

Find a Grave - I completed my first cemetery...what now?

Just under three months ago I compared FindAGrave.com to BillionGraves.com and announced that I would begin my cemetery picture-taking and transcribing efforts with Find A Grave. I really, really wanted to use BillionGraves, but because of Find A Grave's longevity and database size I would dedicate my volunteer efforts to it. Here are the two articles:

Find a Grave - the Internet's most valuable resource?

BillionGraves.com - big competition for Find a Grave

Yesterday, Dave (Legacy Family Tree's owner) and I completed our first cemetery - the Sunwest Cemetery in El Mirage, Arizona. We chose it because it was small and nearby. Little did we know when we started that we would take so many pictures and transcribe so many names. Here's the statistics:

• Combined, we took about 2,000 pictures of headstones which took us about 10 hours total.
• On average, it took about one minute per picture to upload to Find a Grave and transcribe it. 33 hours total.

We digitized and indexed the entire cemetery in 44 total hours. Wow, that really adds up - just over an entire work week for one person. And that's for a relatively small cemetery. I wonder how this would compare if we were to use the BillionGraves method? It would still take the same amount of time to take the pictures, but the longest part of the process was the uploading and transcribing the images. Had we used BillionGraves, as soon as the images were automatically uploaded from my smart phone, their indexing would begin immediately by volunteers around the world. So in the end, it might still take about the same amount of man hours, but the work would be spread around amongst other volunteers. Undoubtedly there are many who prefer to just index the images from their computer rather than digitize and upload them. I guess my conclusion is that I wish Find a Grave would incorporate the BillionGraves technology or that the two services would somehow work together. Regardless, researchers looking for ancestors in the Sunwest Cemetery in El Mirage, Arizona will have a much easier job now, and I am happy to have helped a little.

So what's my next step? I think Dave and I will choose another cemetery to photograph for Find a Grave but will probably try to enlist the help of others for the uploading/transcribing phase. Maybe we'll put all of our pictures in a public Dropbox folder, give you the link, and go from there. No, we wouldn't get official credit for managing the resulting memorial pages, but that's not what it's about for me. I would love to see every tombstone in every cemetery on earth included in the Find a Grave database AND I would like to see some kind of progress meter on how close we are to that goal. If a Find a Grave administrator reads this :) you would really enhance your service by adding such a tool.

In the meantime, let us continue to "pay it forward" by volunteering in a project like Find a Grave, FamilySearch Indexing, or others.

Silly Old Snapshot contest - enter your family photo

Photo Detective, and past Legacy webinar speaker, Maureen Taylor, has a way to beat the winter blahs without spending a dime. Enter your funny family photo in a contest. Your ancestral photo could be voted the S.O.S. or Silly Old Snapshot.

Here's how it works

Upload your photo to http://www.maureentaylor.com/photo-contests/silly_old_snapshots then get your friends and family to vote.

Prizes

You’ll be competing for a prize package that includes

• a free photo consult on the winning image sponsored by VoiceQuilt.com
• a set of Maureen’s Legacy Family Tree webinar CDs
• a download of Legacy 7.5 Deluxe software
• a copy of Maureen's book, Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats
• and more. 

 Sounds like a fun contest. See her website for the rules and more.

Your email correspondence - historical value or digital clutter?

I don't like throwing away anything. Everything has historical value to me - even my utility bills from when I was first married. My wife finally convinced me to get rid of them last year, but I scanned a few, just to keep the evidence of where we lived. One thing I won't part with is my archive of emails - I have them all (except for the spam of course) - from my first email sent on August 28, 1998 to the present. There's a lot of history in the 8GB of correspondence - I wish my ancestors would have started using email a lot sooner....

This week I decided to import my personal email account and all 13 1/2 years of emails (received and sent) into Gmail. Fortunately Gmail will still let me use my personal email address to send and receive emails, but I will also get the benefits that come along with Gmail. It's taken several days now to import everything, and it's got several more to go.

During the process I've had the chance to re-read some of the very first emails I sent. Naturally, many of them relate to genealogy. I even found emails about two genealogy-related job offers - one I declined and the other I accepted (and here I am today...). You might not find them as amuzing and memorable as I did, but I'm happy I kept them - it has helped to document my personal story. Here are a few of the early emails I sent.

The first email I ever sent (August 28, 1998)

Drew - Will you let me know via email if you got this message. I sent it on the 28th. Thanks, Geoff Rasmussen

My first genealogy-related email ever sent (September 1, 1998)

Dear Bill, School has started up again here in Provo, so my genealogy time has dramatically decreased, however, I wanted to write you a quick note to express my appreciation for you posting your Smart genealogy on your web page. It is very clear, and easy to understand. Just a couple of months ago, I only knew of Sarah Smart as being born about 1830, nothing else. I have loved getting to know my ancestors and enjoy corresponding with distant cousins such as yourself. I do have a few dates that you didn't have, and when I get reorganized here I'll pass them along. Until next time, take care, Geoff Rasmussen

Realizing that email is way better than snail mail (September 6, 1998)

Aunt Jessie - All of the gedcoms worked perfectly!  Thank you so very much. I love email - it's so much faster!  Geoff and Tanya

Canceled my 1-month free Ancestry.com subscription (September 7, 1998)

I am writing to cancel my 1-month free subscription. When I was told that it was free, I didn't know that you would charge me for that month. Please cancel this and refund my money. Thank you. Geoffrey D. Rasmussen

I guess I asked for Family Tree Maker software for Christmas (October 25, 1998)

Mother, Tanya has come up with this Christmas list that you wanted. Geoff: Family Tree Maker, 2" white binders, 3" electrodes and battery charger.

My response to my very first spam email received (November 6, 1998)

Please stop sending me these kind of messages, and messages talking about the rat extermination problem. Geoff Rasmussen, BYU student.

I wonder where I would be today if I accepted this job offer (January 24, 1999)

[To Mom] I attended a national genealogy conference yesterday - my boss paid for it. I got to meet some of the BIG names from all over the country. An important person who works at Ancestry.Com wants me to work for him, being the head acquisitions manager, traveling all over the country to see what's available. I'm going to get graduated first, but they offered an internship for me. I'll be touring their place in the next few weeks.

My very first email about Asa Clark Brown (January 28, 1999)

Carol, It is true that Asa Brown and family were found in the 1850 Census of Neshannock, Lawrence, Pennsylvania. Doesn't give any clues about possible parents. I'll try to remember to send you a copy with the others. Geoff

My first genealogy business idea - I think someone else took my idea (February 9, 1999)

I'm thinking about starting my own business. Searching census records, digitizing them, and distributing them through a web site. Just a beginning thought.

Thinking about having our first child (February 9, 1999)

We've been reading baby books, and really are concentrating on what we eat.

My first email (a small portion of it) sent to Legacy and the resulting job offer from Dave Berdan to work for Legacy (March 5, 1999)

For your info, I am the computer specialist at the BYU Family History Center. Also, I am a genealogy major. You might understand my difficulties in finding just the right family history software program. I own just about every one there is, and must make a decision about which one to use. I am heavily experimenting with Legacy 2.0, which I enjoy very much…. [listed a couple of bugs I found, and sent a bunch of suggestions]

Dave’s response (March 9): Want a part time job demonstrating Legacy to all the bookstores in the Salt Lake / Provo valley???????

My response (March 10): Yes, I'd be very interested in demonstrating Legacy in the bookstores around here. Send me some information if you'd like.

And the rest is history....

What about you? What do you do with your emails - save 'em or keep 'em? Any suggestions for me on my new adventures with Gmail?

Ring in the New Year with Some Genealogy Goals

I'd like to welcome our new guest blogger, Marian Pierre-Louis. You know Marian from her webinars and her blog, and now you'll get to hear from her more often as she writes here for our Legacy News blog. Her first article below is a great one! Here's Marian....

The New Year is upon us and that's a time when people make resolutions. I don't bother with resolutions because they are usually related to things I don't want to do and which I will have a hard time achieving. Instead, I prefer to set goals for things which I love to do and want to become better at. My number one love? Family history and genealogy.

You've never considered setting goals for your genealogy? It's just a hobby after all, right? That's true but it's an important activity that can help you leave a wonderful legacy to your family members and descendents.

Following are some topics you can consider for your genealogy goal setting.  Choose from one or all of them depending on your time availability.

Organization
I watched the Legacy Family Tree webinar "FamilyRoots Organizer System" by Mary Hill a few months ago. Organization is an area where most of us need help. Mary has outlined an excellent system for organizing records and documents. The system can even extend to photos and electronic files. Getting organized allows you to easily and quickly find genealogy information. It also means your descendents will be able to embrace your life work quicker and preserve it better. Since not one organizational system works for everyone, get ideas from past articles in this Legacy News blog here.

Digitization
Do you have a pile of old photographs lying around in a box? Make 2012 the year to scan and digitize those photos. Digitizing photos is important for genealogical research. First, it helps preserve the photos. Second, it helps with your research because as you share, family members will provide you with new information. Don't have many photos of your own? Then hit the road and visit family members. A new portable Flip-Pal scanner will make capturing photos from relatives a breeze. I also see that Geoff is presenting a free webinar on "Organizing and Sharing Digital Images" on February 29. Sign up for this today (free) before you forget.

Genealogy Software
Learning how to use your Legacy Family Tree software is an important part of your genealogy research. The more you understand about the software and its features the easier it will become to use. Set a goal to learn how to enter citations, use the research guidance feature or color code your family tree. Sign up for one of the "Watch Geoff Live webinars" or read his new book, The Official Unofficial Guide to Using Legacy Family Tree. I will working right along with this year as I learn to use Legacy for the first time.

Research Trips
A great way to inject excitement into your genealogy research is to schedule a research trip. Plan a visit to a town where one of your ancestors lived. It can be close by to where you live or it can be a trip to the old country. Either way, seeing the land, houses and environment where your ancestors lived can be emotional, inspiration and fun!

Reaching Out
If you've done a lot of research on your own perhaps it's time to reach out to distant cousins. Make a goal that you will try to locate and share information with unknown relatives. If you've already met some of your distant cousins consider starting a collaborative project where you work together to solve family mysteries. Reaching out can provide just the encouragement you need to further your research.

Education
Don't forget that education should be a part of your goals too. Commit to watching a Legacy Family Tree webinar once or twice a month. Other ideas for education include going to a local genealogy society meeting, attending a regional or national conference or participating in an online study group.

Write Down Those Goals!
The fun thing about annual genealogy goals is that everyone's goals will be different. No one's goals are right or wrong because they are all unique. And what's even better is if you share your goals, other genealogists can encourage you over the course of the year. Some people actually choose a "genealogy buddy" to help them stick to their goals.

Would you like to see some examples of genealogy goals? I have posted mine on my Roots & Rambles blog. Another Legacy Webinar favorite, Lisa Alzo, has also posted her 2012 goals on her blog, The Accidental Genealogist. Here are some example goals from non-professional genealogists as well - Lorine McGinnis Schulze and Sharon Stevens Lighthouse.

What are your 2012 genealogy goals? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below.

Marian Pierre-Louis is a historical researcher who loves to share, encourage and inspire others on their genealogy research journey. You can see her upcoming webinars on Legacy Family Tree and read her blog, Marian's Roots and Rambles. She is the author of Brick Walls: Cracking the Case of Nathan Brown's Parents and Researching Your Connecticut Ancestors.

1940 U.S. census to be available free at Archives.com

The 1940 U.S. census won't be available until April 2, 2012 (just 136 more days!) but information released today explains that its 3.8 million images containing about 131 million names will be available at no charge at Archives.com. Initially the census will not be indexed. Researchers will be able to browse the images by enumeration district or address.

Read their exciting press release below.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Nov. 17, 2011 -- Archives.com, the website that makes discovering your family history simple and affordable, has joined in partnership with the National Archives of the United States to provide the public with free digital access to the 1940 Federal Population Census beginning on April 2, 2012. In close collaboration with the National Archives, Archives.com will build a website for researchers to browse, view, and download images from the 1940 Census, the most important collection of newly released U.S. genealogy records in a decade.

Archives.com is pleased to contribute to this momentous project, allowing researchers to digitally access the latest release of the U.S. Federal Population Census, the ultimate resource for family historians, at no cost. Census day occurred April 1, 1940 and due to the 72-year privacy restriction these records will be available to the public for the first time in 2012.

CEO Matthew Monahan said, "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in this historic moment and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the advancement of online genealogy research. Access to 1940 Census records will allow researchers to discover new family members and previously unknown connections to the past. We're happy to have the opportunity to facilitate the discovery of these records, which document over 130 million U.S. residents, more than any previous U.S. Census."

The 1940 Census will be available to the public April 2, 2012 at 9:00 AM (Eastern Daylight Time) on a new website created in collaboration between Archives.com and the National Archives. The collection will consist of 3.8 million images that the National Archives scanned from over four thousand rolls of microfilm. Public access to the images will not require payment or registration, and will be available to any person with internet access. The name and web address of the website will be announced at a later date.

Chief Digital Access Strategist for the National Archives Pamela Wright notes, "The importance of the 1940 Census cannot be underestimated. At the National Archives, we have been preparing for the launch of these records for years. We are working closely with Inflection to ensure researchers will be able to search the 1940 Census when it opens next year." At launch, researchers will be able to search the 1940 Census by address, Enumeration District (ED), and geographic location. Researchers will be able to browse images by ED number directly, or use address or geographic information to locate the appropriate census schedule. 

To learn more about Archives.com and the National Archives bringing the 1940 Census online, please visit www.archives.com/1940census. The National Archives also has published a number of helpful resources available to researchers on their website, which can help you to prepare to most effectively search the 1940 Census on April 2nd. As the project progresses, updates and additional information will be posted at www.archives.com/blog. Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #1940Census.

About Archives.com

Archives.com is the website that makes family history simple and affordable. Archives.com is owned and operated by Inflection a data commerce company headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley. It has proven its leadership in the family history industry through its commitment to building powerful, easy to use tools, and helping researchers discover new family connections with its growing database of over 1.5 billion records. Archives.com parent company Inflection was chosen by the National Archives to host the 1940 Census. Learn more about the project at www.archives.com/1940census.

About the National Archives

The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent Federal agency that preserves and shares with the public records that trace the story of our nation, government, and the American people. From the Declaration of Independence to accounts of ordinary Americans, the holdings of the National Archives directly touch the lives of millions of people. The National Archives is a public trust upon which our democracy depends, ensuring access to essential evidence that protects the rights of American citizens, documents the actions of the government, and reveals the evolving national experience. Visit www.archives.gov.

Find a Grave - the Internet's most valuable resource?

Imagine a world-wide index to every marker/stone/etc. for every cemetery on earth - fully transcribed - with pictures - and free. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Find A Grave appears to have this potential.

From the founder's perspective, Find A Grave's:

• primary purpose is a graves registration website
• secondary purpose is a memorialization/remembrance site
• tertiary purpose is a genealogical resource

They state that "Find A Grave is a resource for finding the final resting place of family, friends, and 'famous' individuals."

I don't know if they know it, but I believe Find A Grave has the potential of being the most valuable website for genealogists. Let me explain. I've been searching for Dorothy Alice GEKELER (my 1st cousin 3 times removed):

• born June 27, 1904
• died January 9, 1919

I first searched for Dorothy Gekeler with a birth year of 1904 and did not find anything. Since Gekeler isn't that common of a surname, I then did a search for all Gekelers born in 1904.

It found one possible match:

Here is her memorial page:

Thanks to volunteers Cathy Osburn and Charlie Horn, I now know the final resting place for Dorothy AND I have a picture of her stone.

Before finding Dorothy, I searched for 15 other ancestors where all I knew was their birth date. Find A Grave returned no matches. After their childhood years, I lost them. Sound familiar? Too many of my ancestors were "movers" - they were born and then just couldn't stay put. My ancestor Asa Brown was born in Connecticut, moved to Massachusetts, then to Pennsylvania, and died in Minnesota. His children and grandchildren have been difficult to trace for the same reason. If Find A Grave were more complete, I should be able to search for nearly any ancestor and learn where they ended up.

Thank you to all the volunteers

Don't get me wrong - Find A Grave is off to a great start. In its 16 years of existence, volunteers (over 800,000 of them) have published over 71 million memorials and I'm certain it has helped thousands of researchers break down their brick walls.

How complete is Find A Grave?

But it begs the question - what percentage of Earth's cemeteries are included, and how complete is it? If it were complete, we could find any ancestor throughout the entire world whose marker exists in a cemetery. Think of how much easier research could be!

My vision of Find A Grave's future

I'm pretty new to working with Find A Grave and so I do not claim to know everything about it. But here is where I think Find A Grave could be improved to match my vision:

1. Let it be the one central repository for information about any cemetery - anywhere - a master cemetery registry. As this gets developed, provide a progress meter of how complete the cemetery registry is for any location. For example, in my home state of Arizona, does Find A Grave have a separate listing for every cemetery, or 50%, 75%, or 100% of all cemeteries?
   1. Upgrade the ability for other countries to browse by smaller jurisdictions just like we can for the United States. Trying to browse the Canadian cemeteries returns a message that there are too many records - I'd like to browse by Province and even smaller jurisdictions.
2. When the registry is complete, volunteers (genealogy societies, individuals, etc.) work with each cemetery to identify the total number of known burials in the cemetery and visually compare this with the total number of entries in the Find A Grave database for that cemetery. Display an active progress meter.
3. For any cemetery not already at 100% complete, volunteers work to photograph, transcribe, and publish the missing memorials.

When these steps are complete (which will take many more years) Find A Grave then becomes the single most valuable resource online. Maybe the developers already have this in mind and I've missed it somewhere. Maybe this is outside the realm of their vision for their site. If not, I'd love to figure out how to help make it happen.

Get started today

My recent serendipitous experiences in the Maine cemeteries have enthused me about supporting and volunteering to help contribute to Find A Grave. I've noticed that thousands of volunteers have dedicated their lives to doing the same thing. I've now taken my first "volunteer photograph," have uploaded 10 others, and manage 4 memorials. And later today, Dave Berdan (my boss and Legacy Family Tree's president) and I will begin photographing our very first cemetery. I think we're catching a new bug - the cemetery bug.

What do you think?

So what do you think? What ideas do you have? Am I wrong, or could this really provide us with a world-wide index to cemeteries and their existing tombstones/markers/etc.? Should we pursue this together? I'd especially love to hear from current Find A Grave volunteers. I'd also love to schedule a webinar on the topic - has anyone heard anyone speak about Find A Grave that we could invite?

The next time you're at the cemetery, just be sure that you are the one taking the picture...

RootsTech 2012 in Salt Lake City

Last year's inaugural RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City was one of the most exciting genealogy conferences I've ever attended. I'm excited to participate once again in 2012, both as a speaker and Legacy Family Tree vendor. I will be presenting a brand new class, RootsTech Genealogy Idol:

Attend the first-ever RootsTech Genealogy Idol competition as four contestants - 2 live and 2 online - compete for your votes. In the three rounds of competition, contestants will demonstration their gen-tech expertise and try to woo you with their favorite gen-tech secrets. Everyone will learn – but only one will leave with the title of RootsTech Genealogy Idol. The competition will also be broadcast to a live webinar audience who will cast their votes for the winner.

I'll publish more information soon and also invite you, our Legacy News audience, to submit proposals to participate in this class. Below is more information about the conference.

Don’t Miss the $129 Early Bird Registration for RootsTech 2012 in Salt Lake City!
A new family history and technology conference to shape the future of genealogy

• Innovating genealogy by bringing together users and creators of technology
• February 2-4, 2012
• Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, Utah—Walking distance from the Family History Library
• Early bird registration ends November 30, 2011

If you were one of the thousands of people to attend the inaugural RootsTech Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2011, you already know it is an event you do not want to miss in 2012! From groundbreaking topics, “unconferencing discussions”, to the RootsTech Playground, this conference will continue to deliver in its uniqueness.

Think major technology creators (Dell, Microsoft, Oracle, FamilySearch, brightsolid, Ancestry.com, Archives) and technology users (genealogists and family history buffs) coming together in a fun, collaborative environment for three days to learn new, technology-based skills and help influence the future of family history through technology!

Be one of the thousands of RootsTech 2012 attendees to:

• Discover emerging technologies and devices to improve your research
• Learn from hands-on workshops and interactive presentations
• Collaborate with technology creators to advance family history through technology
• Educate technology providers about your needs

There will be sessions of interest to novice, intermediate, and advanced users of technology. Sessions will include:

• Hands-on workshops
• Interactive presentations
• Sneak peek demonstrations of upcoming new products and services
• Panel discussions
• Common interest gatherings
• Unconferencing discussions (last minute, on-the-fly sessions requested by attendees)

Go to RootsTech.org now to see the full list of topics and sessions.

Register Now at RootsTech.org

• $129 before November 30, 2011
• $189 beginning December 1, 2011
• $35 student rate (Must show a current student ID at admission).

The RootsTech conference is sponsored by Oracle, Microsoft, Dell, FamilySearch, Brigham Young University, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, brightsolid, Archives.com, Ancestry.com, the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Federation of Genealogical Societies, and the National Genealogical Society.