Morning view looking out over the Alleghany from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center before the Thursday Keynote.
On Thursday, I took advantage of a full set of sessions, attending presentations as varied as the anatomy of military pension, organizing your genetic genealogy, German Church records, and a class on slave research. The standout of the day was Tony Burroughs’ dynamic session “Anatomy of a Pension.” My pension research to this point has been fairly haphazard and this class offered an organized approach to obtaining and analyzing these records. I came out with a better understanding of the process of requesting them from NARA and some ideas for my next steps in researching them—including a gut feeling that I should look up the files that I already have, if I get the chance to do so in person, just to verify I’m not missing anything from the original file. Not a knock on NARA—just a feeling that there’s something odd about the file. So… bumping DC up on my someday road trip list.
I also, managed to fall rather spectacularly while on lunch outside the convention center. Many thanks to the couple who helped me retrieve my things and checked to see that I was ok! Wrenched my ankle and was fairly bruised but I finished out the day and after some care was up and around to start again Friday morning. Note to self… next time pick the attached hotel, you are that much of a klutz.
Happy hunting,
Jess
Genie Road Trip 