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Copyright© 2003 by Richard W. Eastman. All rights reserved.

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- Report from the SoG Family History Fair in London

Most of this week’s newsletter was written on board an Air Canada flight from London’s Heathrow Airport to Toronto, followed by a short flight home on a second Air Canada flight. I was returning from a "get-away weekend" in London, where I attend the Society of Genealogists’ annual Family History Fair at the Royal Horticultural Hall in Westminster. I spent 48 hours in England, a brief but very enjoyable visit.

I attended the same Family History Fair six years ago and enjoyed it immensely. I can report that this year’s event was at least as good as the earlier one. Lots of vendors were present, a few presentations were made, and a lot of one-on-one assistance was given by the Society of Genealogists’ staff and members. In addition, a number of readers of this newsletter helped make my stay more pleasurable and productive.

First of all, a couple of terms need to be explained. A genealogy "fair" is quite different from a "conference." A conference, such as almost all genealogy events in the United States as well as many in England, focuses on research methodologies. Speakers make presentations on a number of topics, ranging to beginners’ sessions to more advanced research methodology presentations. Conferences may also have a vendors’ area and may include demonstrations of commercial products, but the focus typically is on research methodology. Two of the largest genealogy events in the United States, the annual conferences of the National Genealogical Society and a somewhat similar conference presented by the Federation of Genealogical Societies, qualify as true "conferences." So do many smaller genealogy events held by a variety of organizations throughout the United States, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere.

A genealogy fair, however, is quite different, with the focus on genealogy products and sources of information. In a genealogy fair, the spotlight shines primarily on commercial and non-profit suppliers of genealogy goods and services. This may be supplemented by presentations on a variety of topics, including "how to conduct research." However, in the genealogy fairs that I am familiar with, these presentations are generally aimed at genealogy novices. Advanced research topics generally are not covered at genealogy fairs.

I believe the Society of Genealogists’ annual Family History Fair is now the largest such event in the world. A somewhat similar fair was held for some years in southern California. Smaller fairs are occasionally held elsewhere, but there is nothing in North America today or elsewhere in England that I know of that compares to the London event. Traditional conferences are also held throughout England, but the Family History Fair in London attracts many more visitors than any of the conferences.

Another aspect of the Family History Fair is the agenda. While it is promoted as a two-day event, a quick check of the schedule shows that it is really a one-day event that is repeated on the second day. With some minor variations, most of the Saturday presentations by speakers were repeated on Sunday. To be sure, the attendees seem to know this. Most of the attendees were there for one day but not for both. I did see a few attendees there on Sunday that I recognized from the day before, but the majority seemed to be one-day attendees.

Admission prices to the Family History Fair also seemed to assume single-day visits: the admission fee was £6 (roughly $9.00 in U.S. funds) per day with no discount available for the second day’s ticket. However, purchasing tickets in advance did reduce the fee to £4 (roughly $6.00 U.S.) per day.

I was told that attendance was down this year compared to last year, but it was still a large crowd. I did not obtain a final attendance figure, but I am guessing that about 3,500 people attended this year’s Family History Fair. That’s more than the combined attendance of the three largest annual genealogy conferences in the U.S. Not bad for a country with a much smaller population!

As you would expect, most of the attendees were from England, and probably most came from locations within easy commuting distance via England’s excellent public transportation system. The location in Westminster was only a short walk from "the Tube," and on-street parking was also available, something that can be scarce in London. While most of the attendees were British, I did meet a handful of Americans, one Norwegian, and a couple of Canadians among the attendees. One vendor from New Zealand was exhibiting, as were a couple of American enterprises and an Irish company or two.

There are many other differences between an English genealogy fair and the various American genealogy conferences that I have reported before. One difference that struck me immediately was the large number of non-profit societies who exhibit at this annual event. It seemed that about two-thirds of the stalls (Americans would call them "booths") were rented by various family history societies from all over England. Most of these societies cover one county within England although I did see a Jewish genealogy society, an Italian genealogy society, and a German genealogy society also exhibiting. Most of the county-oriented societies transcribe local records and make them available as printed books as well as on microfiche or CD-ROM. Many of the same societies will also produce books detailing genealogy research techniques and resources that are unique to that county, such as listings of the locations of various archives.

The exhibit hall also seemed to be busy all the time. Comparing this larger crowd crammed into two days versus the typical three or four day events I am used to in the United States, I was struck by the fact that the vendors’ area was constantly busy. There was no "down time." The noise level remained at a nice, busy level for two entire days. The commercial companies seemed to have people standing in line three or four levels deep all the time, waiting to talk with the people manning the stalls. I took a few pictures using the digital camera built into my cell phone. You can view the images at http://www.rootsforum.com/archives/sog2003/index.htm. They are taken at a rather low resolution but you will be able to see the crowded vendors area. It remained that way all day long on both days. Click on any of the small images to see a larger version of the same picture.

I have to admit that one other thing struck me as being radically different: the food. At American conferences, I am used to a concession stand in the back of the exhibit hall that typically serves pre-wrapped hamburgers and hot dogs that have been sitting under a heat lamp for several hours. In contrast, the exhibit hall used by the Society of Genealogists features a very nice cafeteria-style restaurant. The menu included roast salmon, Cornish game hens, beef and mushroom stroganoff, and a number of other mouth-watering dishes, all prepared on the premises and served immediately upon preparation. There was a wide variety of desserts to choose from (I loved the cookies), and they even featured real silverware, not plastic. The food concession may not be the most important thing when selecting a conference or fair site, but I would suggest that it can be a great asset for everyone.

I’ll detail the various products and services that I saw in a separate article. However, I will summarize the 2003 Society of Genealogists’ Family History Fair by saying that I hope to attend next year’s event.

I was struck by one major difference this year compared to the same event that I attended a few years earlier: the wide availability of CD-ROM databases. After my last visit, I wrote that the British genealogists seemed to be less computer-oriented than their American cousins. This year I have to state that the opposite is true: almost every genealogy society that exhibited at the Family History Fair was selling electronic collections of extracted local records. In fact, the amount of publishing on CD-ROM by local societies in England now exceeds anything that I have seen in the United States or Canada.

While walking around the exhibits floor, I noted CD-ROM or floppy disks of local records being sold by family history societies, including the following:

I probably missed a few; the above is simply a list of the ones that I noticed.

In addition, the Suffolk Family History Society offered to perform look-ups on a computerized database although the database itself was not for sale.

The commercial suppliers seemed to have even more disks:

Steve Archer is a name well-known to genealogists in the U.K. and elsewhere. Not only did I meet Steve for the first time on this trip, but I also managed to obtain a copy of his brand-new Surname Atlas. Based upon surname data extracted from the 1881 U.K. census, this software draws maps and provides textual information that shows where the surnames are found. I’ll write a full review of the Surname Atlas in a future newsletter, but I’ll tell you the "bottom line" of that review right now: it is an impressive piece of software.

This gives you an idea of the sorts of products and services available at the Society of Genealogists' Family History Fair. I will be writing more in-depth reviews of some of these products in the near future. In fact, I walked away with enough material to keep me busy for several weeks!

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Of course, any time I visit a gathering of genealogists, I look and listen for "what’s new that is not yet announced." I often hear about new software or databases that are getting close to release. Unless sworn to secrecy, I will report here whatever I learn. This week I learned that an old genealogy program is being "rehabilitated." That is, it is being modernized and updated and will soon be released again. Family Treasures is (or was) a Windows program that enjoyed rather limited success some years ago. Family Treasures was one of the first Windows genealogy programs to store images within its database. It was a rather nice program, but author Larry Ledden seemed to have a difficult time competing with the large corporations who were also releasing programs with new capabilities at about the same time. Family Treasures slowly faded into oblivion.

Now a Norwegian company has purchased the rights to Family Treasures, including the original software code. The Norwegian company was not exhibiting the program at this year’s Family History Fair, although one of the company’s principals did attend and offered "private showings" by invitation only. (I have to say a "Norwegian company" as that is where the incorporation papers were filed. However, this is really an international "virtual corporation" with owners and employees in Norway, England, and the United States. In fact, I was told that Larry Ledden is very much involved in the new release.) This company is revamping everything and plans to re-release the program later this year. The code is still in its "alpha" stage, not beta. I was not able to see the program in operation as I was told that much of the code has not yet been completed. However, I did see screen captures and printouts and must say that they look good. The new version of Family Treasures will contain a complete update; it should be fully competitive with any of the genealogy programs of 2003. I am guessing a release date will be in late summer or the autumn (northern hemisphere). However, that's just guesswork, and we all know that software schedules occasionally slip. In any case, I am looking forward to seeing this "rebirth."

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- (+) Follow-up: An Inexpensive Trip to the Family History Fair in London

This is a "preview" from a Plus Edition-only article that is available only to subscribers to the Plus Edition of this newsletter. To learn how to subscribe to the Plus Edition, go to http://www.RootsForum.com/plus

Two weeks ago I wrote a Plus Edition-only article describing how I had found round-trip airfare from Boston plus two nights' stay in a London hotel for $400 (U.S. funds) plus tax. The taxes are significant; they drove the total cost to nearly $550. Even so, that seemed like a bargain. I thought I would report on the results this week.

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Last week I wrote about GEDmark, a new utility program from Progeny Software. GEDmark is promoted as a method of "branding" your genealogy data when sending it to others. However, correspondence this week uncovered another use for the program. One e-mail correspondent wrote:

Great idea! While GEDCOM files can be marked as to the source of the file, most genealogy programs do not add data to each record showing its source (with a few exceptions). GEDmark can be used so that you can quickly determine where each record came from, complete with name, e-mail address, mailing address, and any other information about the person who gave you the data.

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Speaking of Progeny Software, this week the company released the following announcement:

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The following is from Gary Hoffman who kindly gave me permission to use his words:

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The Library of Congress announced a new online collection this week: The Chinese in California, 1850-1925. This collection includes information about 19th and early 20th century Chinese immigration to California and includes about 8,000 images and pages of primary source materials.

The site is easy to search, using the Library of Congress' ability to search by keyword or browse by subject. You can also browse by group (including Collection of Chinese textbooks, Roy D. Graves pictorial collection: San Francisco Early Views, and San Francisco schools: an album of photographs) as well as theme (including Chinese and Westward Expansion, Chinese/Chinese American Communities, and San Francisco's Chinatown - Business and Politics.)

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The following was written by W. E. Potter, Ph.D., owner of familytapestries.com. It is a mild advertisement for his company's services, but I think it is an excellent article and provides "food for thought" for many of us.

1. Grandparents should send dated snapshots or digital pictures of themselves directly to the child by mail. These should be labeled with the name the child uses when talking to them, e.g. Grandpa and Grandma.

2. The parent can provide a composite frame with a multiposition mat where the child can enter each new snapshot as received.

3. Depending on the child's age, grandparents can start telling 'family stories' to the children to make them more aware of their recent and distant ancestors.

4. The art of letter writing should be used, including email when appropriate, as a way to close the geographical gap between child and grandparent when it exists. A hand-written and mailed letter on special occasions is much more likely to find its way into the child's 'memory' box than an email.

5. Family member accomplishments can be gradually introduced to children to make them aware of the rewards of working hard at a task.

6. Grandparents can praise the child for their accomplishments, such as being in a grade school play, participating in sports, graduations, etc. This praise can be verbal, written, and also take the form of 'Grandparent Award Certificates' or some visual reminder the child can hang on their wall.

7. Both the parents and grandparents should stress the role of the family and family unit no matter what form it may take. The visual family tree with informal snapshots and labels is a unique way of accomplishing this. This can be a classical family tree or a "child's family tree."

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The following is a press release from Retrospect Publishing:

• Chester Co (Vol XI & XII): 1765, 1766, 1768, 1769, 1771, 1774, 1779-1781,1785;
• Bucks Co (Vol XIII ): 1779, 1781-1787;
• Philadelphia Co & City (Vol XIV-XVI): 1769, 1774, 1779-1783;
• Lancaster Co (Vol XVII): 1771-1773, 1779, 1782;
• Berks Co (Vol XVIII): 1767, 1768, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1784, 1785;
• Northampton & Northumberland Counties (Vol XIX): Northampton 1772, 1785, 1786, 1788; Northumberland 1778-1787;
• Cumberland Co (Vol XX): 1778-1782, 1785;
• York Co (Vol XXI): 1779-1783;
• Western Frontier Cos (Vol XXII): Bedford 1773-76, 1779, 1783-1784; Huntingdon 1788; Westmoreland 1783, 1786; Fayette 1785, 1786; Allegheny 1791; Washington 1786.

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- Genealogy Spying Brings New Twist to the Jefferson-Hemings Saga

Most genealogy research and discussion is conducted in a polite manner. However, one genealogist was recently caught spying on another group, even conducting some subterfuge in an effort to discredit the group. Sadly, the unethical behavior also has racial undertones.

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The amount of junk e-mail messages most people receive is disgusting. The flood is increasing in double-digit percentages per year. While good anti-spam software is available that will eliminate most of this junk before you see it, the millions of junk mail messages still clog the bandwidth available and overload mail servers around the world. Now, some American politicians are starting to pay attention. They want to jail the @#$%^&*s who send this crap.

The state of Virginia has passed a law that would have those who send huge amounts of spam end up in jail and lose their riches. This law is the first that lets authorities seize the assets that are earned from spamming. It also imposes up to five years in felony prison time. Gov. Mark Warner said he backs the new, stiffer penalties because technical filters and civil penalties have done little to stem the tide of unsolicited commercial e-mail.

The fact that Virginia passed this law is interesting because America Online is based in that state. Their mail servers are also within the state of Virginia. Presumably, receipt of any unwanted, unsolicited commercial mail messages by AOL members anywhere in the world would be a violation of Virginia's laws. Senders could be prosecuted and even jailed. Could it be that relief from spam is finally in sight?

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The Upcoming Events section of this newsletter is published once per month, usually in the first newsletter of each month. Each event will be listed very briefly: date(s), location and brief details, followed by either an e-mail address or a Web page that you can use to find more information. Since detailed information is available via e-mail or the Web, I will not list the details in this newsletter. If you do contact any of these organizations, please tell them where you heard about the event.

Here are the listings, arranged by date. An asterisk indicates a new listing that has been added since the last time this list was published:

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The PR Budget for this newsletter is $0.00. I rely upon "word of mouse" advertising in which you recommend this newsletter to your friends. This newsletter is a private project of mine, and I have a zero budget for a publicity campaign to get more readers.

Thanks.

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