SLIG 2020 Sunday -#SLIG2020

While classes start on Monday, Sunday is really the first day of SLIG in my mind. Many folks have been here for a couple of days, researching at the Family History Library and getting reacquainted with old friends. Many folks just arrived today. Weather in Salt Lake City has been snowy and cold (although not bad to this Minnesotan).

Registration is always fun - you can see who's in your class, start looking at the amazing syllabi put together by the amazing course coordinators. (Apparently, Tom Jones doesn't like it when we overuse the word amazing but it does seem fitting.)

Then comes Orientation (with door prizes) and a fun social hour with entertainment - it's always a mystery until they come out. We've had Island dancers, jingle dancers, and other fun and unexpected treats. Tonight we had Chinese Lion Dancers. They were energetic, kind of cheeky and a lot of fun although I did not get lettuce spit on me for good luck. We had some nice food (Chinese of course) and John Colletta very nicely shared some yummy chocolate truffles. All in all, it was a nice start to the week.

Most people have now returned to their rooms to crash. I'm looking forward to learning all about Virginia research - and hearing good things from the other courses. Don't forget to dress in layers tomorrow, wear your name tags and be prepared to learn and have fun!!!

#SLIG2020

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Disclaimer - The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy has provided me a discount on my SLIG 2020 tuion for my participation as a SLIG ambassador. The opinions expressed are my own.

Sliding to the Finish Line

    It's Thursday. Lots of bleary eyes today as the lack of sleep and the dryness of Salt Lake City catches up to people. And on top of that, our brains are pretty full.

   We have been fortunate, in the Beyond the Libraries class, to not have homework. We've been even more fortunate to have several great guest speakers who have energized the class and gotten us excited about expanding our research.

    Yesterday, Paula Stuart-Warren talked to us about NUCMC. Somehow, Paula manages to be excited about this topic and that excitement is infectious. I'd learned about NUCMC previously from Paula and I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't used it very much. But that is going to change.

    In the afternoon, we have an energetic and fun talk by Angela Packer McGhie and we not only learned a lot about tracking sources back to their records, but we learned about handcarts and the Mormon journey. I admit to having heard mention before about handcarts but never stopped to think about what that really meant. I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like to have pulled those handcarts across the west to Salt Lake City and it's definitely something I want to learn more about.
  
    This morning we were treated to two sessions by Pamela Boyer Sayre. I've never had the pleasure of hearing her speak but she is a great presenter - gave us wonderful information and did it in a way that was fun and interesting. I've found that most speakers here at SLIG have the knack of presenting things in a fun and interesting way!!

   And of course, all of these talks have been interspersed with learning from Dr. Coletta. He is definitely one of the best storytellers I've encountered and he can make even the driest of material come alive. It makes me definitely anxious to put to use many of the tools he's shared with us. 

    As SLIG starts to wind down, I'm already starting to formulate some plans for using what I've learned this week. Retirement gives me time to do that! I know that this week has made me a better researcher and I can't wait to hear what courses will be offered next year!

Thinking Way Outside the Box - SLIG Day 2

    Day 2 at SLIG we had the pleasure and challenge of listening to two great sessions by Dr. Thomas Jones.  I always learn a lot listening to Tom and I am excited that he will be our keynote speaker at the Minnesota Genealogical Society Northstar 2018 conference this fall.

    In his second session Dr. Jones worked through a case study - using only online sources  asking the question -  can you solve the problem using only online sources? As you might guess, to quote Judy Russell - "it depends". 

    The particular case study that Dr. Jones used was a man who changed his name several times. I realized that this was something I had never really thought about (except for my great-grandfather who was and is a bit of a mystery.) We saw records that I might have dismissed because I would have assumed that they were a totally different person. It made me realize that a:) I need to think more outside the box and b:) I really need to keep an open mind. I will be searching record sets a bit differently going forward.

    This afternoon we took a great field trip to the Utah State Archives. What an interesting place!! We got the backroom tour. We saw where they store the records and got to see the retrieval system in action. 

Record Storage At Archives

    We walked through a variety of rooms where they were processing records that we were all interested in. They are doing an amazing job with what seems to be a small staff. Unfortunately, I don't have any Utah family to research but if I did, they have a treasure-trove of records. It gave us all I think, a new respect for the work that archivists do behind the scenes. 

    This tour was another reminder of thinking outside the box to look for records you hadn't thought about and to look for them in places you hadn't thought about. 

    This may turn out to be my biggest lesson of the week - THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!!!

Ancestral Tapestries - My Tapestry is Warped

    The theme of SLIG 2018 is Ancestral Tapestries and we were lucky enough to hear Rich Venezia talk about Common Threads: Weaving our Ancestral Tapestries. I will admit that I hadn't thought much about the tapestry theme until I listened to Rich and I'll also admit that I have been humming Carole King all evening. 

    Rich talked about how names, traditions, and the American Dream, among other things all, play a part in weaving our tapestry. And it got me to thinking..... I come from a family that's not real big on Traditions!! 

    I sat here trying to think about traditions in our family. Was the fact that my maternal grandmother always burned the food a tradition? Was that something that was passed down from her mother? I don't know the answer to that but I do know it's a tradition that has not been continued. 

    My paternal grandmother always cooked up roast beef and Yorkshire pudding whenever we visited no matter how hot it was in southern Illinois in the summer. I suspect that recipe was passed down from her father's side - he was born in England. But what about that delicious peach pie she made? Was that passed down or did she learn it on her own? These are good traditions that aren't being passed down. I love roast beef and Yorkshire pudding but I just don't make it (although I do have my grandmother's recipe) - and I doubt that my siblings even remember eating it. 

    When I was first married we talked about creating our own new family traditions. For some reason, that plan didn't even last as long as my marriage. So is there a gene in our family that prevents us from creating and/or passing down traditions?  

    My tapestry is either missing some threads or has a different design than others who carry on with those rich traditions. Either way, it has got me to wondering about whether or not this is something that's being lost in the world today. Do traditions only matter to genealogists?

    At this point, I might not have traditions to pass on but I can do my best to tell the stories of those who came before me and hope that will inspire the future family to create new traditions.

What The Heck is SLIG?

Here I am in Salt Lake City getting ready to spend my week in class. My genie friends understand this strange obsession but some of my non-genie friends are probably puzzled. So here's the scoop.

First, what is SLIG? It stands for Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. Huh? Well, it's an in-depth week-long course on a specific subject. This is my second year at SLIG. Last year I took Paula Stuart Warren's class Taking your Research to the Next Level..... and I believe it truly helped me do just that. 

This year there were so many good offerings that I struggled to pick one. I chose Beyond the Library: Using Original Source Repositories taught by John Coletta (with sections by Tom Jones, Angela Packer McGhie, Pam Sayre and Paula Stuart Warren). I'm one of the few people who has NEVER heard John Coletta speak but when I tell people what course I'm taking there is this almost uniform expression of awe!! And almost everyone says "I could listen to him read the phone book." So I know I'm in for a treat. We also get to take a field trip to the Utah Archives which will be fun!!

So why did I choose this class? Besides the pleasure of listening to all the great presenters, I decided this was just what I needed at this time. I'm a pretty good, sitting at my desk in my jammies, researcher. I need the kick in the butt to get out and see what else is out there - away from the computer. So I'm looking forward to understanding more about various repositories, how they work and how I access their materials. 

Of course, the learning doesn't start just on Monday. I spent yesterday at the first SLIG Tech Day attending great classes done by Kimberly Powell, Elissa Scalise Powell, and Cyndi Ingle. I learned lots of little tips and tricks for writing, spreadsheets, timelines, and translations and can't wait to try these things out.

But one of the greatest thing about SLIG is the networking. I've met people who I've only "met" previously on Facebook and I've had the pleasure of seeing people I met last year. SLIG is also about socializing and today I'm headed to lunch with a group, meeting a couple of MN peeps for a bit, having a bite with my friend Annette who I met last year (in the shuttle to the hotel in a snowstorm), people at the welcome reception tonight and then fellow ProGeners for a meet and greet.  Anybody that knows me knows that's more socializing than I do all year!!

All in all, it will be a packed week, filled with learning, fun and more learning.