September brings glorious late summer days, and tons of learning opportunities. Most schools and colleges have opened their doors, and the school supplies are still on sale, so it’s a great time of year to stock up on sheet protectors, file folders and all the other helpful genealogy paraphernalia. Once the kids and grandkids have gone back to school, it’s also a great time to indulge in some grown-up learning opportunities; one of them is the Maine Genealogical Society’s (MGS’s) annual September conference.
The conference, Saturday, Sept. 21st, will once again be held at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer. The keynote speaker is Linda Prescott, presenting the topic “How the Internet Makes Us Sloppy Genealogists”. There will also be three breakout sessions for which you can chose one class each session. Session one choices are between “Placing Your Heritage in Historical Perspective,” and “Divorce Records.” For session 2 you can chose either “Finding Your Military Ancestors on Fold3” or “Digging for Gold in Early Maine Town Records,” Session 3 offers “Treasures within the Ivory Tower: Finding Family in Academic Archives” or “Improving Your Use of FamilySearch.”
Between sessions there will, of course, be vendors and exhibits, and you can purchase lunch with your registration or go “off campus.” Lunch is $15, registration is $50. All registrations received before Aug. 23rd will be entered into a drawing for a $50 L.L. Bean gift certificate. MGS members, of course, get discounts on registration (and on MGS publications which will be available at the conference).
The conference is always an interesting and helpful way to spend a Saturday. For more information and to pre-register contact Celeste Hyer at 69 Loop Road, Otisfield, ME 04270-6456. Or visit the MGS website at www.maineroots.org.
Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft is a longtime genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader e-mails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com. Her semimonthly column is sponsored by the Aroostook County Genealogical Society which meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at Cary Medical Center’s Chan Education Center at 6:30 p.m. Guests are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501.
