Oh My Gosh, I Won a Scholarship!

As an avid family historian with a lifetime of experience in the public education system, I firmly believe in lifelong education. Since beginning ProGen 25 in 2015 one of my personal genealogy goals has been to attend one genealogy institute per year. I’ve been very fortunate to have done just that once a year from June 2015 - January 2019.

I was able to extend that goal by attending virtual institutes presented by Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) in the fall of 2017 and 2018. All were wonderful learning experiences. The opportunity to learn from the best and network with other budding and professional genealogists is very valuable to me.

Last November I decided to fill out an application for one of the AncestryProGenealogist scholarships. I had applied for this and other scholarships over the past few years without success. I updated my resume to reflect some volunteer work I had completed last summer and the genealogy institutes I had recently attended.

I also wrote an essay briefly explaining “my genealogy career up to this point, where I see myself in the future as a professional genealogist, and how attending my top-choice institute would benefit my career.”

I filled out the application and rated the four genealogy institutes based on my preference. This was probably the toughest part as I have experienced two of the four institutes and heard only wonderful things about the remaining two. 

So, since I had attended the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) twice and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) three times, I decided to rate Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) and Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (GedFed) as the top two.

At the end of January, I received an email that said, “CONGRATULATIONS! You have been selected as a GRAND PRIZE Winner in our Contest.”  I had to read it a few times to let it sink in. I won one of the grand prizes which included the flight, hotel and course fee to the Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)! 

I am so grateful for the opportunity and truly appreciate the scholarship program that AncestryProGenealogists sponsor.

More Genealogy Education Goals and My Progress, Part I

After writing my educational goals last January, it became apparent that while they were OK goals, they were't specific enough.

This table below shows the specific skill areas that I feel I need to grow. I'm very comfortable with many record types but recognize that I need to learn more about many others.

There are also some research skill areas I need to improve on. I've been searching on the Internet for over twenty years, now I need to research on the Internet. That is, I need to make my searches more concentrated toward a specific task rather than blind searches for whatever may pop up. Sources and citations will be an area that I need to continually work on.

The geographic locations are areas that apply to my personal research and that may change and grow as either new information in uncovered or as I help others in their research.

And the writing skills are the areas I would like to improve in before I publish my ancestors' stories.

Record Types	Research Skills	Geographic Locations	Writing Skills
Land and property	Sources and citations	Northeast: New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts	Beyond the family tree
Wills and probate	Maps and plat books	Midwest: Ohio, Illinois	Using historical context
Historical law	Online searches	Europe: Czech Republic	Editing
DNA	Finding female ancestors	Scandinavia: Iceland, Norway	Copyright
Federal records			Layout and publishing

After I made this table, I started listing ways that I might start building those skills and turned them into long-term goals (not just goals for 2015).

1. I will read scholarly journals.
2. I will attend a genealogical institute. 
3. I will attend one or more conferences.
4. I will participate in webinars. 
5. I will continue to build my library, read books and participate in book studies. 
6. I will work with unfamiliar record types.
7. I will keep a record my educational activities and evaluate them quarterly.

The seventh goal, "I will keep a record my educational activities and evaluate them quarterly," is actually the reason behind this post. I have been very faithful in recording my activities this year. What follows is my evaluation of the work I have done in the last 6-7 months toward building those skills.

I use Excel to track my educational activities. Tabs across the bottom of the workbook are labeled:

• Webinars
• Institutes
• Conferences
• Book Studies
• Article Studies

The columns in each worksheet are similarly labeled but vary slightly for each activity type. Typical column headings are:

• Date - the date I participated or viewed
• Sponsoring Organization - conference, institutes, or society sponsoring event
• Presenter - name and credentials, if known
• GenTopic - general genealogy topic, say "Research Skills"
• SubTopic - topic sub-category, say "Online Searches"
• Length - time spent viewing or attending
• Handout - link to downloaded handout (organized on my computer)
• Notes - link to notes taken (organized on my computer)
• Rating - mini-review on topic and/or speaker

Goal 1- "I will read scholarly journals."

I have probably tripled the amount of time I spend reading journals as compared to years past. However, I need to spend more time studying the articles. I joined an National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ) Study Group and need to make an effort to schedule myself accordingly. These are the journals I subscribe to:

• Association of Professional Genealogists; "APG Quarterly"
• Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International; "Nase rodina" (Our family)
• Minnesota Genealogical Society; "Minnesota Genealogist"
• Minnesota Historical Society; "Minnesota History"
• National Genealogical Society; "NGS Magazine" and "NGSQuarterly" (e-magazine)
• New England Historic and Genealogical Society; "NEHGS Register", "American Ancestors"
• New York Genealogical and Biographical Society; "The New York Researcher", "The Record"
• Southern California Genealogical Society; "The Searcher"

Goal 2- "I will attend a genealogical institute."

I met this goal by attending IGHR, Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, in June 2015. I could stop there and just say I met this goal. But instead I want to encourage anyone who might read this to participate in IGHR or one of the other institutes available. There are several including:

• GRIP, Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh
• SLIG, Salt Lake Institue of Genealogy
• NIGR, National Institute on Genealogical Research
• IGHR, Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research

There are also institutes on genetic genealogy and one or more virtual institutes. If there are others, I would love to hear about them as I have heard nothing but wonderful things about each of the ones listed above. And my own experience was beyond expectations, one of the best values for my genealogy dollars.

The list of speakers at the week-long IGHR in June reads like a "Who's Who" in genealogy expertise. The coordinator of the Intermediate Genealogy & Historical Studies course that I took was Angela McGhie and I cannot say enough about how much I enjoyed the course. I also learned so much from Angela and her guest speakers. Fun & learning - you can't beat that! Speakers (and their topics) during the week-long course included:

• Thomas W. Jones (Using Evidence)
• Debbie Parker Wayne (Tax Rolls; DNA)
• Kimberly T. Powell (Online Searches; Manuscript Collections)
• John Phillip Colletta (Immigration & Naturalization)
• Gerald Smith (Local & State Land Records)
• Michael Strauss (Military Records)
• Judy G. Russell (Court Records)
• Angela McGhie (Essential Skills; Vital Record Alternatives; Advanced Census Research; Federal Land Records; Historic Newspapers; Wills and Probate; Evidence Review, Techniques)

The session topics were very closely aligned to my genealogy goals, particularly in Record Types and Research Skills, so I feel that this course was especially suited for me and my goals.

I plan to attend another Institute in the coming year. Because I have family in Birmingham, it may be IGHR as 2016 is the last year it will be held at Samford University. But I have heard such wonderful things about SLIG, GRIP and NIGR; it's a very tough decision.

I will continue my evaluation of my progress toward my goals in Part II.

My 2015 New Year Genealogy Education Goals: Part 1

As challenged in a post by Randy Seaver in his genealogy blog, Geneamusings, I am going to list my genealogy education goals for 2015.

I am still employed full-time and so must limit my opportunities to after work, weekend and vacation hours. Still, I think I have managed to accumulate quite a list of opportunities for the advancement of my studies.

One very ambitious goal was just started this last week- I signed up for ProGen Study Group 25, which begins soon. I had signed up for a waiting list last summer as indicated in my earlier post here. I was unaware that there were some technical difficulties and some of the names on the waiting list were lost. After no word in over 6 months I decided to contact the new administrator of the program to find out when I might be included and found they had no record of my registration. Fortunately, I kept my copy and was able to promptly send it back. I was accepted into the newly formed group and am awaiting news of the first online meeting.

I also recently signed up for a week-long institute, the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama that runs from June 7 through June 12. I am very fortunate in that my sister lives in a nearby suburb and has offered to put me up and to put up with me. I am signed up for the Intermediate Genealogy and Historical Studies course  - I can hardly wait to get there!

And I am currently in the Mastering Genealogical Proof Study Group 37; we just completed our second meeting. This study group will run concurrently with my ProGen Study Group 25 but just for the first 2 months of ProGen study. So I should be able to work it out especially since this is my second time through the MGP book. I do need the practice!

I've been a member of several genealogical societies for years. I joined a few others this past year. Most have a quarterly magazine or journal and some educational opportunities. These are the societies I currently belong to and the publications (if available) that are a benefit of membership:

• New England Historic and Genealogical Society; NEHGS Register, American Ancestors
• National Genealogical Society; NGS Magazine and NGSQuarterly (e-magazine)
• Minnesota Historical Society; Minnesota History
• Minnesota Genealogical Society; Minnesota Genealogist
• Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International; Nase rodina (Our family)
• Association of Professional Genealogists; APG Quarterly
• New York Genealogical and Biographical Society; The New York Researcher, The Record
• Southern California Genealogical Society; The Searcher
• Tenney Family Association; Tenney Times
• Wright County (MN) Historical Society; no publication

Other family history/educational magazines I subscribe to:

• Family Tree Magazine
• American History

Some of these magazines are on my Kindle App on my iPad where I can read them on one of our many 3 hour summer car trips. Others, that arrive in PDF version, are on my iBooks app also on my iPad. I like being able to bring several months worth on one device.

I also have memberships in many genealogy and research websites. Some are free and some require a paid subscription. I will list these in a future post.

I am addicted to blogs! I have been following 50 or more (nothing like the 1500 that Randy Seaver follows) and find something new and helpful every week. I read them at least once a week, some post every day and so I read several days worth from that author. Many post weekly or slightly less often. I choose blogs that appeal to me based on interest, midwest genealogy or technology in genealogy, for example. Or blogs based on genealogy software that I use. I will list my old favorites, and some new ones, in a future post.

Webinars and videos, live and archived, are quickly becoming a favorite for me, too. I have several favorite sites which I will list in a future post.

And books! I love books; hardcover, paperback, e-books, it doesn't matter. In a previous post I indicated one of my last year's professional genealogy goals was to build a research library. I'm not finished yet but I have to say that it is a lot of fun.  It was somewhat difficult to find online references  listing "must have" books. I even posted online at Dear Myrtle last May to see if some of the others viewing would list their top ten. Dear Myrtle posted some of her favorites in her G+ post of December 26 (thanks, Dear Myrtle!) So I will follow suit and list some of my top favorites in a future post.

So I have lots of opportunities this year. My goals this year: I will...

• make it to the end of 2015 still up-to-date with all my readings and homework in ProGen25.
• successfully complete Mastering Genealogical Proof Study Group 37.
• learn to critically read articles in professional genealogy registers.
• follow the GenLaw Study Group on Dear Myrtle's YouTube channel.
• continue to add to my research library.
• visit at least one courthouse for research.

I have much to learn but lots of opportunities!