Interested in genealogy? You are invited to FGS 2013!

The Federation of Genealogical Societies conference is an annual educational event for genealogists of all levels of experience. Among the cities where it has been held are Philadelphia, Dallas, Seattle, Little Rock, Orlando, St. Louis, Phoenix, Knoxville, Salt Lake City, Boston, Springfield [IL], and Birmingham. In 2013 it will be in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a place where the FGS conference is always welcome and eager registrants love to attend. The main dates are August 21-24. The renowned Allen County Public Library's Genealogy Center will have extended research hours that will be announced later on this blog.

I am happy to serve as one of the National Co-Chairs of this conference along with my friend and colleague, Dawne Slater-Putt. I live in Minnesota and she is in Indiana. I have researched at the Allen County Public Library many times over the years. It's a city and a library where I always feel welcome and hate to leave. I have researched Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, California, and other localities at the ACPL. I keep a running list of what I need to work on during the next trip there. It's a place with row after row of county histories, city directories, family histories, record abstracts, and much more on open shelves. The microfilm and database offerings are extensive. The Genealogy Center is full of tables for researchers and has many rows of computers.

Anyone with an interest in family history is invited and FGS conferences draw people from all over the U.S. and from other countries. I hope to see you in Fort Wayne next August. Registration will open as it usually does in February, 2013.

In an upcoming post I will give you an overview of the week's activities and provide updates on the conference planning. As you can read earlier on this blog, the hotels are accepting reservations. At the minimum you'll want to be there on Tuesday, August 20th for registration and special activities.and depart after the Farewell Brunch on Sunday, August 25th. Oh, wait, we might want to stay longer to research. What a week it will be!