Speakers at the Society of Genealogists’ Conference

Breaking the Barriers – Innovative Genealogy in the 20th and 21st  Centuries

Royal Overseas League , London . 7 May 2011

Dr Gill Draper, FRHist. Soc, FSA. will be speaking on - 

Beyond the Grave: Challenges of Family Reconstruction Before the 18^th Century

Session 4A, 15.15-16.15

This illustrated lecture explores the challenges of taking a family history back in time beyond the 18th century, perhaps even to the Middle Ages. Using the example of the Godfreys of Lydd, Kent, it considers material from church brasses, plaques, monuments, wills and antiquarian pedigrees. The lecture argues that two technological innovations make family reconstruction in the distant past seem ever more possible: the huge amount of material now available online and the use of relational databases like Access to bring together people with the same surname. It reviews both the pitfalls and the potential of this approach.

Dr Gill Draper is the Events and Development Officer of the British Association for Local History and an associate lecturer at the University of Kent. She speaks regularly at family and local history fairs including Who Do You Think You Are at Olympia.  She takes training sessions on using archives, and liaises with BBC Hands on History  in the production of online resources for the public such as its Norman Walks.

Speakers at the Society of Genealogists’ Conference

Breaking the Barriers – Innovative Genealogy in the 20th and 21st  Centuries

Royal Overseas League , London . 7 May 2011

Juliet Nicolson will be our key note speaker. She will be speaking at the final session of the day when the conference will come to together to hear her talk about - 

The Perfect Summer. Dancing into the Shadow in 1911

Session 6 (final), 17.45-18.30

The summer of 1911– the year the SoG was founded – is seen through the eyes of a series of exceptional individuals including a debutante, a choir boy, a politician, a trade unionist, a butler and the Queen. A new king was crowned and audiences swarmed to Covent Garden to see the Ballet Russes and Nijinsky’s gravity-defying leaps. The aristocracy was at play, bounding from house party to the next; the socialite Lady Michelham travelled with her nineteen yards of pearls while Rupert Brooke a 23-year-old poet spent the summer swimming in the river at Grantchester. But perfection was over-reaching itself. The rumble of thunder from the summer’s storms presaged not only the bloody war years ahead: the country was brought to near standstill by industrial strikes, and unrest, exposing the chasm between privileged and poor as if the heat was torturing those imprisoned in society’s straitjacket and stifled by the city smog. Children, seeking relief from the scorching sun, drowned in village ponds. What the protagonists could not have known is that they were playing out the backdrop to WWI; in a few years time the world, let alone Britain, would never be the same again. Juliet Nicolson illuminates a turning point in history.

Juliet Nicolson is the granddaughter of Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West and the daughter of Nigel Nicolson. A journalist and writer, her books include The Perfect Summer: Dancing into Shadow in 1911 and The Great Silence: 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War. She read English at Oxford University and has worked in publishing in the UK and the States. She has two daughters and lives in Kent and Sussex.

The Society of Genealogists thanks the Halsted Trust for sponsoring this speaker

Technorati Tags: Breaking the Barriers- Innovative Genealogy, Centenary Conference 2011, Family History Conference, Society of Genealogists

Speakers at the Society of Genealogists’ Conference

Breaking the Barriers – Innovative Genealogy in the 20th and 21st  Centuries

Royal Overseas League , London . 7 May 2011

Else Churchill’s talk will be called -

I’ve got a little list – sources for the “Long 18^th century” 1688-1837 

 Session 5B, 16.30-17.30

An overview of the sources that can supplement the deficiencies of parish registers using what are known in the Society of Genealogists’ Library as “local lists”. These were often generated for ad-hoc need or used as census substitutes. Lists  could be generated by the parish such as the duties on baptism and marriages 1695-1706 or for the provision for parish poor; lists generated for defense such as musters and militia; lists generated by the state for taxation and lists of voters and ratepayers. Some of these underused treasures of the SoG will be digitized for the forthcoming business index and other projects.

Else Churchill is the Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists. She has nearly 30 years of experience as a professional genealogical librarian, researcher and teacher and has for many years been responsible for the external liaison and campaigns of the SoG. She also leads the Society’s education and publishing programmes as well as being the Society’s subject specialist. She has contributed to articles to for the British Genealogical Press, National Media and of course the Society’s own Genealogists Magazine. She has written modules on advanced genealogy techniques and sources for the BBC History Family History website and has acted as a genealogical consultant for the BBC. She lectures regularly for the Society of Genealogists, The National Archives and for local groups around the United Kingdom. She has lectured extensively in Canada, New Zealand and the USA. Else is one of the Society of Genealogists lecture team and a tutor for the joint SoG/Pharos Family History Skills and Strategies (Intermediate) Distance Learning Course.

Speakers at the Society of Genealogists’ Conference

Breaking the Barriers – Innovative Genealogy in the 20th and 21st  Centuries

Royal Overseas League , London . 7 May 2011

David Fletcher’s after dinner talk will be called -

1942 ….. in afternoon went to Soc of Genealogists, cost £3.3.0, a fine place.” 

time – Conference Banquet.

A fascinating glimpse into the diarised accounts of genealogical research undertaken by two members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England, the first in 1889 and the second in the 1940’s.

David George Fletcher BSc(Hons) CEng FIStructE MIFE is a Chartered Structural Engineer by profession and is a Senior Engineer for the National House-building Council [NHBC]. He is a Past-Chairman of the East Midlands Branch of the Institution of Structural Engineers and regularly gives presentations, in-house and to his Branch, on topics associated with structural engineering. In his free time he is an avid amateur genealogist researching personal lines in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire and assisting others with research in Scotland, Wales and England. He has been a member of the Society of Genealogists since 2004. He serves as the Family History Director of the Lincoln Family History and in the bi-monthly Family History Fireside has given presentations on topics such as: “Family Records”, “Parish Registers”, “Family History – getting started and going backward”, and “On-line Family History – how we got our English BMD’s”; these were 60 minutes presentations. He instigated the first “Fletcher Gathering” held in Luton, Beds. in 2009.

Technorati Tags: Breaking the Barriers- Innovative Genealogy, Centenary Conference 2011, Family History Conference, Society of Genealogists

Speakers at the Society of Genealogists’ Conference

Breaking the Barriers – Innovative Genealogy in the 20th and 21st  Centuries

Royal Overseas League , London . 7 May 2011

Dr Colin R Chapman will be speaking on -

The Progress of Our Profile – 100 years of the Society of Genealogists 

 Session 2A, 11.45-12.45

An illustrated account of the Society’s development from 1911 to 2011 and its impact on international genealogical research. Born in borrowed premises, the Society embraced interests across the United Kingdom, British Empire and then worldwide, collecting unique and transcribed materials into its ever-expanding prestigious library. Public access to Government historical papers and archives throughout the past 100 years has been championed by the Society voicing forceful arguments to national committees and consultation groups. With a century of expertise from paper-based notes to electronic storage and delivery of data and documentation, the SoG continues to advance with the times

Colin is a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists, and former member of its Executive Committee.  An international lecturer and author of 14 genealogically-related books he was Founder of six county-based family history societies, the President of three and Patron of another. A Freeman of the City of London and formerly a professional industrial chemist and engineer with international experience, Colin has has spoken regularly in the Society’s lecture programme in recent years and lectures weekly somewhere in the world on social, local and family history

Technorati Tags: Breaking the Barriers- Innovative Genealogy, Centenary Conference 2011, Family History Conference, Society of Genealogists

 Breaking the Barriers : Innovative Genealogy in the 20^th and 21^st Century

Proposals will be accepted starting 1 May 2010 for the Society of Genealogists’ Centenary Conference, Breaking the Barriers, to be held at The Royal Overseas League, Over-Seas House, Park Place, 5 St James’s Terrace, London SW1A 1LP on Saturday 7^th May 2011.

The conference lectures will be a celebration of the past century of genealogy and the Society of Genealogists and will look forward to the future of the subject. The conference will include a full day of lectures, networking luncheons, and workshops featuring nationally and internationally known genealogical speakers.  

Deadline for Submissions — 31 July 2010

Conference Themes

The Society is inviting submissions for papers and presentations on a variety of themes and expects submission topics to include, amongst others:

 How the SoG has affected genealogy

Expanding the frontiers in genealogy

The development of genealogy.  Then and now and what next?

Expanding the frontiers in genealogy

Problem solving. Breaking the barriers in genealogy

London research and London problems

Technological innovation in genealogy (with a particular look at British innovation).

Social themes from 2011, the end of the Edwardian Age ­ – Women’s suffrage, pensions etc

General genealogical topics including methodology, skills building, record analysis, problem solving and writing family history

Sessions are generally limited to fifty minutes plus a ten-minute question-and-answer session. Syllabus material (word documents or PDF files), due in early 2011, is required for each lecture or workshop presentation 

Guidelines

Anyone wishing to submit a talk for the conference should contact the conference team genealogy@sog.org.uk who will supply a conference proposal form which should include the following information:

 •           Speaker’s full name, address, telephone and email address.

•           Lecture title, not to exceed fourteen words, and a brief but comprehensive outline

•           Short summary of the lecture; word count not to exceed 100 words, which will be used in the program, if selected.

•           Brief speaker biography, not to exceed 100 words.

•           Resume of recent lectures given by the speaker. Those who have not spoken previously at a regional or national conference are encouraged to submit an audio or video tape of a recent lecture.

 Speakers are expected to use an electronic presentation program. Such as Powerpoint. The SoG will provide the data projector, VGA cable, stand and power. Talks using OHPs will NOT be accepted.

 Individuals may submit any number of proposals. SoG members will be given first consideration as speakers.

 Completed proposal forms must be e-mailed to genealogy@sog.org.uk  with the subject: 2011 SoG Family History Conference-Call for Papers.

Selected speakers will be notified in August 2010. Speakers will receive a complimentary full conference registration 

Compensation by the SoG

Speakers selected by the SoG, and who are not sponsored elsewhere, will receive a speakers fee and reasonable travel expenses, within the UK, agreed in advance with the SoG.

Sponsorship opportunities

Sponsorship for individual lectures and lecturers may be agreed with the Society. Speakers who have their sessions sponsored will receive a complimentary one-day conference registration. Compensation and travel expenses are at the discretion of the sponsoring organization.    

Any Questions? Contact the Conference Team on genealogy@sog.org.uk  

The Society of Genealogists will be 100 years old in 2011 and we intend to celebrate our anniversary in style.  There will be different activities to commemorate the occasion and we hope all our members and friends will join us in our celebrations

Details of all our commemorative events planned for 2011 will be posted on our website and in the Genealogists’ Magazine. Here are the first two events to note in your diary

The Society of Genealogists Centenary Conference will take place on Saturday 7 May 2011
Venue: Royal Overseas League,
Over-Seas House,
Park Place
5 St James’s Terrace,
London SW1A 1LP

Royal Overseas League SW1

This will be an all day event culminating in a Conference Banquet in the evening. More details including lecture streams, prices etc will follow but this is definitely a date to book in your diary.

Society Centenary Celebration Dinner
Friday 6 May 2011
Venue: Royal Overseas League, London
This will be a high profile dinner to formally celebrate the Society’s 100th Anniversary. Spaces will be limited, ticketing information and pricing will be available soon.

Technorati Tags: Centenary Conference 2011, Family History, Family History Conference, Genealogy, Society of Genealogists