News from California and Chicago

Maureen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:40:33 GMT

This past weekend I attended the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree. What an experience! If you've never been, think about attending next year. You'll be glad you did. It was perfect.

The conference was held at the Marriott at Burbank Airport, a beautiful hotel with great rates. The convention center is connected to the hotel.

In the exhibit hall I sat next to Lisa Louise Cooke of GenealogyGems. Lisa scheduled interviews throughout the conference for both her own podcasts and those she produces for Family Tree Magazine. You'll definitely want to listen in.

Lots of folks who read this blog and my articles in Family Tree Magazine stopped by to say hi and show me pictures. For an upcoming Photo Detective column in the magazine, I wrote about one family's picture of an ancestor in his fraternal organization regalia. The owners came by to show me the original tintype.

(I'm actually still in California. Since I live in Boston, any trip to the west Coast includes a little vacation time.)

If you live in the Chicago area, there's an art show over 4th of July weekend at the Flat Iron Building you might be interested in. A couple of weeks ago the show organizers contacted me to ask if they could include two of my video podcasts. Of course I said YES!

The show is called Salute! and it celebrates patriotism. They'll be showing my video on the history of flags in photographs and one on veterans at Mount Vernon. I wish I could be there. You can see those videos you can watch them on my PhotoDetective channels on YouTube and Vimeo.

London Wrap-Up Part 1

Maureen — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:03:23 GMT

A big thank you to Diane for posting a couple of pictures in this space last week. London was fantastic! I'm a bit jet-lagged from the travel and tired (but excited) about all the things I saw at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show last weekend. This is an event I've wanted to attend for a couple of years, but the timing was never right. However, this year's schedule was perfect.

While WDYTYA is really a trade show, there are a few different lecture tracks. Some are even free. At American genealogy conferences you pay a general admission fee, but at the London event you only purchase tickets for specific lectures on a first-come first-served basis.

If you took a look at the two pictures you get a sense of just how popular this event is. The Facebook friends I posed with wanted to get there early. We waited in line for about an hour, but it was worth it. Guess who secured the number one spots in the queque? We did.

When the doors opened we were ready. Estimates for Saturday's attendance were as high as four thousand people. On Saturday the crowds were even larger and the line continued around the building even at noon. Each new Olympia/Kensington train brought loads of new folks to the event. I have lots to share over the next few weeks.

I'll start with a few photos so you can get a sense of the size and scope of the show.

Here's one of the free lectures taught by FindMyPast.com.

2009 is the year of the Gathering in Scotland. I spend some time in the booth talking about my McDuff line. He told me that there currently isn't a Chieftain of the McDuff clan. The Gathering brings all the clans together for events. I put my name in for a free drawing. My fingers are crossed.<smile>.

The crowds on day 2.

I'll be back in the next few weeks with more. I'll also post an album on my FaceBook profile.

I can't wait until next year!

Photo Detective with Maureen A. Taylor - Genealogy events

News from California and Chicago

London Wrap-Up Part 1