Thursday, January 2, 2020

Scottish Virtual Conference January 25th 2020


With just over three weeks to go, we are in the home stretch in terms of getting organized for the Scottish ViC. As with past years, this promises to be a day of incredible learning and will show you first hand that your Scottish ancestors are just waiting for you to find them.

I believe that understanding Scottish history is an integral part of understanding the lives of your Scottish ancestors and to that end, I have once again included an historian in the roster of experts who will be presenting on the day. This year, the historian is Dr Stephen Mullen, University of Glasgow, who will be presenting a truly fascinating talk on Glasgow's relationship with the Caribbean Slave Trade and the Viriginian Plantations.

Next up is Dr Irene O'Brien, Senior Archivist at Glasgow City Archives. It was when I was speaking with Dr O'Brien about someone buried at the Glasgow Necropolis that I learned about the other records that can show us about the deaths of our ancestors. As she has in past years, Dr O'Brien will give an in-depth look at a variety of records within the collections of the Archives that can assist you in researching your Scottish ancestor's death.

Dr O'Brien is followed by Aoife O'Connor from Findmypast and who will be sharing her rich knowledge of the British Newspaper Archives and all of the extensive information that can be gleaned from newspaper articles. Aoife's strategies for searching Newspapers are sure to move your research forward.

We round out the morning with genealogist Emma Maxwell who will present on Asylum records. As you know from past ViC's Emma's presentations bring your ancestors to life. Emma is a regular at the National Records of Scotland and is intimately familiar with the records she will be presenting on.

We take a short break to give your head a rest, to help you re-group, to grab a bite to eat and to grab a beverage so that you are ready for a full afternoon of learning.

First up is archivist Margaret Fox. Margaret is a firm favourite with ViC attendees and this year's presentation doesn't disappoint! Margaret will be presenting on Wills and Testaments and shows how using these records can assist you in recreating the lives of your Scottish ancestors.

Margaret is followed by a repeat showing by Emma Maxwell, who this time will be presenting on Prison Records. Just a heads up that you might want to have kleenex on hand for this presentation.

And to wind up the day, Christine Woodcock will be presenting on the things that led to Scots leaving their homelands and the opportunities that awaited them when they arrived in Canada. Remember that for several decades, it was easier for Scots to come to Canada then head south to America since Canada was still a colony following the Revolutionary War.

The day promises to be fast paced, information loaded, energizing and one you won't want to miss. For those of you who have Burn's Night activities to attend to, the recordings will be available for a month afterwards to allow you to catch up. This also allows those on the west coast, those in Aus or those in NZ the opportunity to watch the presentations during waking hours.

The syllabus will be distributed to registrants one week before the ViC to allow you to take notes during or to prepare your questions for the presenters.

The price remains the same as last year at just $99 cad (about $65usd). I'd love to be able to offer this for free, but in order to get top quality speakers, I pay them for their work and for sharing their knowledge. 
https://www.genealogyvic.com/

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