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 18th 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.

Filed under: Centenary Conference • Conference Speakers • Genealogy • Society of Genealogists

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