Ancestry Day’s Special Friday Event

We were welcomed as we entered the museum

We were welcomed as we entered the museum

In a sold-out precursor of Ancestry Day, the crowd was treated to a half-day of presentations on topics from State Archive and State Library resources to identifying old photos. Besides getting a great opportunity to browse the exhibits at the Washington State History Museum, we heard presentations by:

A sold-out crowd at the Friday presentations

  • Tracy Rebstock, Southwest Regional Archivist at the State Archives, enlighten us with the “unique” records available online and on-site at the Archives. From old high school yearbooks to logging and cattle brands. Who knew Tracy had such a fascination with criminal records — and passed that on to us!
  • Mary Kathryn Kozy, professional genealogist extraordinaire, is always a delight — and she didn’t disappoint. Her talk about tracing people through time and space using timelines was excellent and enlightening.

    Mary Kathryn Kozy talking about timelines

    Mary Kathryn Kozy talking about timelines

  • Lynette Miller and Ed Nolan from the Washington State Historical Society shared the resources and original records available among their collections — all focusing on Washington State — from businesses, personal papers, organizations and more. A particular source of pride is the collection of Northern Pacific Beneficial Hospital records.
  • Karen Wallace Steely, professional genealogist with The Past Matters, provided an enlightening talk about finding stories in family photographs. Her  knowledge opened our eyes in identifying old photos.
  • Kathryn Devine from the Washington State Library shared numerous newspaper indices, online resources and on-site opportunities to find that unique story about our ancestors. Did you know the State Library has 40,000 reels of newspapers?

What a day! And there’s more! Tomorrow (Saturday, 24 Sep) will feature the “main event” — Ancestry Day, sponsored by Ancestry. If you’re reading this blog post before 8:00 a.m. Saturday  morning, get yourself to the Greater Tacoma Convention Center and register at the door for a plethora of classes, door prizes, networking, vendors and more! Only $35 — a real bargain!

One comment on “Ancestry Day’s Special Friday Event

  1. […] the previous day’s lectures at the Washington State History Museum (see my 9/24/16 blog post), but Saturday, Sept. 25, was the “main event,” sponsored by genealogy records giant […]

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