2019 alphabet soup: E is for …

Okay, so it’s not a legal term…

The 2019 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy finally draws to a close today. The last lectures, the distribution of certificates, the final class photos… the last hurrah.

Now tell the truth, all you who’ve been sitting there at home these past two weeks.

You’ve been jealous, haven’t you?

It’d be impossible for any genealogist not to be jealous: one or two weeks of intensive genealogical education in a city with the Family History Library and in the company of hundreds of people who won’t roll their eyes when you talk about your brick wall fifth great grandfather? It doesn’t get much better than that.

So if you’ve been sitting there jealous these past two weeks, the word for today is for you.

It’s education.

There are simply so many opportunities these days to get a good solid genealogical education in all the foundational topics: research skills; citation and documentation; methodology and more — and then go beyond to the specialty topics: research in a particular type of records or into a specialized part of the world or into the records of a particular ethnic group or even (gasp!) into the interplay of genealogy and the law.

And registration for a number of these opportunities this summer (and fall) in what The Legal Genealogist fondly calls summer (and fall) camps for genealogists is coming up soon. So mark your calendars if you want in on any of these upcoming educational opportunities:

• Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP), two summer sessions at LaRoche College, Pittsburgh (June 23-28, 2019, and July 14-19, 2019).

Registration opens on Wednesday, February 20, for all GRIP courses in both sessions.

You’ll forgive me for leading off the June courses with my own new advanced legal analysis course, Understanding and Using Legal Documents for Genealogical Research. (It should be a lot of fun!) Also in June are Advanced DNA Evidence, Blaine Bettinger; From Confusion to Conclusion: How to Write Proof Arguments, Kimberly Powell; Diving Deeper into New England: Advanced Strategies for Success, D. Joshua Taylor; Fundamentals of Forensic Genealogy, Cathi Desmarais, Kelvin Meyers and Michael Ramage; Irish Research Part I, David Rencher; Mastering the Art of Genealogical Documentation, Thomas W. Jones; Pennsylvania Germans and Research in the Keystone State, Michael D. Lacopo; and Developing Digital Research Skills: Organize, Search, and Analyze, Cyndi Ingle.

The July courses are Advanced Italian Genealogy: Tools for Researching Difficult Ancestors, Melanie Holtz; Chromosome Mapping, Karen Stanbary and Blaine Bettinger; Digging Deeper: Records, Tools, and Skills, Paula Stuart-Warren; Elements of Genealogical Writing, Editing, and Publishing, Melissa A. Johnson; Ontario and Quebec Research Before 1900, Kathryn Lake Hogan; Practical Genetic Genealogy, Blaine Bettinger; Researching Your Mid-Atlantic Region Ancestors, Michael Strauss; and Tools and Strategies for Tackling Tough Research Problems, Kimberly Powell.

• Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed), July 29-August 2, 2019, at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.¹

Registration opens on Saturday, February 23, 2019, for the 2019 session of this week-long institute offering an intense focus on federal records held by the National Archives. Seats fill up almost instantly, so read more now about Gen-Fed 2019 and get ready to act immediately when registration opens.

• Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), Georgia Genealogical Society, July 21-26, 2019, at the University of Georgia, Athens.

Registration begins on Saturday, 2 March 2019.

The 2019 courses are: Methods & Sources, Rebecca Whitman Koford; Intermediate Genealogy & Historical Studies, Angela Packer McGhie; Advanced Methodology & Evidence Analysis, yours truly; Writing & Publishing for Genealogists, Thomas W. Jones; Genetics for Genealogists: Beginning DNA, Patricia Lee Hobbs; Military Records 2, Michael L. Strauss; Tracing Your English Ancestors, Paul Milner; Land Records: Using Maps, Melinda Kashuba; Research in the South: Colonial States, J. Mark Lowe; Building an African American Research Toolbox, Tim Pinnick; Virginia’s Land and Military Conflicts, Victor S. Dunn; DNA as Genealogical Evidence (Advanced), Blaine Bettinger; and The Five Civilized Tribes, Anita Finger-Smith.

• Midwest African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI), July 9-11, 2019, at the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Registration by mail is open now for Midwest African American Genealogy Institute, to be held at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne July 9-11, 2019. Online registration will be available shortly. Courses being offered this year include Fundamental Methods and Strategies, Shelley Murphy; Methods and Strategies for Slave Research, Shelley Murphy; DNA & Genealogy, introduction and intermediate sections, Bernice Alexander Bennett; Intermediate Genealogy – Pre & Post Slavery Era Research, Janis Minor Forté; Genealogy Writing, Bernice Alexander Bennett; and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, Angela Walton-Raji.

• British Institute of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History, October 14-18, 2019, Salt Lake City

Registration is open now for members of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History and will open on May 1 for the general public for the 2019 British Institute to be held October 14-18 at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel. Courses being offered this year are Ireland Land, Property and Estate Records, David Rencher; Tracing Your British and Irish Ancestors Using The National Archives, Audrey Collins; Sources for Tracing Pre-Mid-19th Century English Ancestors, Paul Blake and Maggie Loughran; and Researching Scottish Ancestors, Christine Woodcock.

I’ll try to provide a closer look at each of these — and others too! — as registration gets closer. But mark your calendars now… these classes fill up fast.

And there are so many reasons why we should all continue our educational efforts. Data collected by the Board for Certification of Genealogists, just as one example, shows a direct correlation between educational opportunities that applicants have taken advantage of and success in achieving certification.²

And besides… it’s just fun.

Yes, it’s too late now for winter camp for genealogists in 2019. But summer (and fall) camp beckons…

SOURCES

Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “2019 alphabet soup: E is for…,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 25 Jan 2019 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed date).