Fall Meeting of GSV
Saturday, October 16, 2010, Unitarian-Universalist Church, 21 Fairground Road, Springfield, VT
Business Meeting including elections of officers. Raffle of genealogical materials.
10 a.m. Rosanne Putnam, "Who Made Springfield"
The original settlers in Springfield located on the hill in Eureka but the water power was in the valley next to the great falls on the Black River--but it was a swamp. Every community has a few people who can see through the obvious to the possible. This lecture is about those people and what they did. This presentation will include brief histories of fifteen or so of these forward-thinking citizens and will use old post cards and photographs to illustrate their accomplishments--namely, turning a swamp into an international machine tool town.
Rosanne Putnam is a native of Springfield and grew up in the twilight years of the great machine tool shops. She and her husband, Hugh, have always been history enthusiasts. She publishes a weekly column in the Springfield Reporter called "Picture the Past" which uses old post cards and photographs to tell the history of the town. "I use old local histories, memoirs, residential directories, maps and Springfield Reporters, as well as land and tax records, to collect my information; not much different than genealogists." She is a graduate of Fisher College, Boston, MA and has two grown children.
11 a.m. Elise Guyette, "Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburgh, 1790-1890"
Elise Guyette is a historian, writer, and educational consultant, who presently co-directs a Teaching American History grant in the Champlain Valley: Turning Points in American History. Her passion for the real stories of history dates back to the 4th grade when she was shocked to discover that “her people,” French-Canadian, Lebanese, and Irish, were left out of her Vermont history text. When she began teaching, she was taken aback when given the same little green textbook to teach her first students. As a result, she has spent her adult life in pursuit of stories omitted from traditional histories. She has taught history workshops for teachers throughout the United States, and in China and South Africa. Her publications include the textbook, Vermont: A Cultural Patchwork; a teacher's guide for a traveling exhibit, Making a Living: The Work Experiences of African Americans in New England; and “Behind the White Veil: A History of Vermont's Ethnic Groups”in Many Cultures, One People: A Multicultural Handbook for Teachers. Her newest book is Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburgh, 1790-1890, which tells the history of America in microcosm from the viewpoint of black farmers in northern Vermont. To research this book she camped out in town records and on genealogical websites to uncover the relations among black farmers who populated hill farms in Hinesburgh for three generations. A free teachers guide for Discovering Black Vermont is available at: http://www.upne.com/1-58465-760-X.html. Elise is featured in this University of Vermont news story.
12 p.m. Lunch, served by women of the church. Chicken & Biscuits or vegetarian option, Tossed Salad, and apple dessert.
1:30 p.m. Marcia Melnyck, "Getting the Most from Land and Probate
Research."
Marcia Iannizzi Melnyk is a professional genealogist who has taught beginning and advanced genealogy courses for more than 18 years all over the US and Canada. She is a former reference librarian for the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston and the creator, and teacher, for their popular Genealogy 101 program. She is the author of The Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, Fourth Edition, The Weekend Genealogist: Timesaving techniques for effective research, The Genealogist’s Question and Answer Book and Family History 101 as well as articles for journals and genealogical magazines. She has served as a volunteer and lecturer for the National Archives and Records Administration, Northeast Region and the Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, MA. Marcia is President, and a founding member, of The Italian Genealogical Society of America, a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), former executive board member of the New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC) as well as many local and national societies.
Cost: $22 for members, $27 for non-members, including lunch. Please send check, made out to Genealogical Society of Vermont, to
GSV, P O Box 14, Randolph, VT 05060. Check must be received by Friday, October 8, 2010.
Springfield Unitarian Universalist Church website with directions
Ethnic Heritage Day at National Archives -- Pittsfield, MA.
Saturday, August 28, 2010 from 9am-2pm. We will have 5 of our ethnic experts on-hand for 15-minute consultations to help with that difficult to trace ancestor. The experts and ethnicities are: Michelle LeClair: French-Canadian; Peter Sisario: Italian; Lisa Dougherty: Irish; Elsie Saar: German and Alan Horbal: Polish. The Microfilm Reading Room will also be available for researchers' use during the day and volunteers will be available for assistance. Please visit our website http://www.narafriends-pittsfield.org to download the registration form and more information.
Free Genealogical Conference sponsored by Middlesex Chapter of the Mass Society of
Genealogists, Essex Society of Genealogists and Lynnfield Family
History Center.
Saturday, September 11, 2010, at LDS Church in Lynnfield, MA. Leslie Huber will be our guest speaker and will be speaking about her
new book, which will also be for sale at the conference. We will have
a beginning genealogy track, a military track, an
intermediate/miscellaneous track, a DNA talk and a HisGen track. For more information check the MSOG web site.
National Archives - Pittsfield, MA Genealogical Conference
Life in the Past Lane VII
Saturday, September 18, 2010, at the Williams Inn, Williamstown, MA. The day will include lectures by Jean Nudd, Leslie Albrecht-Huber, and Gregory Pomicter. The registration fee includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch, and a roundtable question and answer period hosted by a panel of experts. Vendors will be on hand to provide products of interest to genealogists. We will also have our popular free prize raffle. Complete program details and a printable registration form can be found at www.narafriends-pittsfield.org Call 413-236-3600 or email pittsfield.archives@nara.gov for further information or to receive a registration form by mail.
Maine Genealogical Society Annual Family History Conference
Saturday, September 25 at the Point Lookout Resort & Conference Center in Northport, ME. This conference will feature ten workshops, a national keynote speaker (Dick Eastman), vendors and exhibitors.
Registration deadline is September 11, 2010. For further details, please check the Maine Genealogical Society website at www.maineroots.org.
New England Regional Genealogical Conference, Springfield, MA, April 2011
The New England Regional Genealogy Society is searching for people to present papers at its 2011 conference during Librarians' and Teachers' Day. More Information.
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Page updated 25 August 2010