Today was the pre-conference workshop sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) Education Fund with the topics of Reading Early Handwriting and Synchronized Research and Reporting. I knew that getting more information on both these topics would be great asset, and they were. The sessions were well presented and chock full of information.
“Reading Early Handwriting” was presented by Kip Sperry and was a great overview of how to read old handwriting. The focus was on U.S. and one of the most useful things was him showing variations in the way letters have been made over time (see pic). Some of these I probably wouldn’t have figured out on my own (and honestly, the capital H is still a mystery to me). Per Sperry, one of the keys to success is practice and one of the documents we practiced on in class was “The Mayflower Compact”; My poli-sci spouse is going to geek on that one. After this session, I even feel empowered to tackle reading my 13-yo son’s scrawl, and that’s saying something.
“Synchronized Research and Reporting” was presented by Pamela Boyer Sayre. Another one that has great application, not only in the genealogy world. The jist was that the story you tell is just as important as the documents you find and the analysis you do, so don’t give telling it the short end of the stick time-wise. I also LOVED her emphasis on genealogists not undervaluing ourselves and our skills and thinking of it as the rocking profession that it is. (OK, the rocking part is my add.) She also demo’d some tools that are now on my gotta check them out list including Animap and Deedmapper. Also emphasized was the habit of getting writing a well cited report and the oh-so-nice-to have-on-hand tools that make it easier including the following on PDF: Chicago Manual of Style, Websters 3rd International Dictionary, Evidence Explained, Black’s Law Dictionary, and State Guides. Way easier on the back to have in PDF, but I’d <3 them even more as iPhone apps.
Cross your fingers that SLC doesn’t blow away tonight. I’m making room in my brain for one more session today and hopefully a little late-night researching at the Family History Library. sleep? Meh. who needs it.
