Cedar Rapids Iowa Family History Center/Family History Symposium

"FREE - EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ATTEND""This year, the Cedar Rapids Family History Center commemorates its tenth year of service to the genealogy community in eastern Iowa with this tenth annual Family History Symposium. The schedule and class descriptions are currently being finalized as we arrange for the class topics and teachers. Please come back in a few weeks to check progress as the program comes together.""As you plan your attendance, we would love for you to share with is the whole day. But if there are only a couple of classes you are interested in, or your time is limited, please feel free to come join us as your time allows. As per our usual policy, we caution you again this year that all classes taught by volunteer teachers and the schedules, teachers, and topics for the symposium are subject to change without notice as we make adjustments according to the needs of the staff.. We will however endeavor to keep the information here abreast of any changes as they become firmed up.""As they become ready, we will provide downloadable Flyer and Schedule and Description Grids here via hyperlinks near the bottom of this page that will contain the latest information available." If you would like to volunteer to help out at the symposium please contact Kacy Novak at 319-362-0487 or 319-651-9416
 * Theme: Counting Cousins - Connections Across Time
 * Date: Saturday, October 11, 2014
 * Location: Cedar Rapids Family History Center, 4300 Trailridge Rd SE, Cedar Rapids, IA
 * Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (Registration starts at 8:30 a.m.)

Symposium Schedule
The following schedule is subject to change:&lt;TBD&gt;

Class Descriptions
The cells in the grid above are color coded according to general categories to make it easier to identify related classes in the same category.


 * NOTE: The classes below are from the curriculum for the 2013 Symposium. These classes may change as the 2014 curriculum continues to evolve.

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How to Start

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Indexing - Giving Back: Type what you see in records on the screen to make them electronically searchable. Anyone, any age can do it in 5 to 30 minutes. Help others to find their ancestors.

Family History Center Resources: What is available in the Family History Center. How these tools can help you in your researching.

Beginning Family History: Learn basics of how to get started in your research. Then learn how to search for those long lost relatives, and get “Family History Mania”.

Using Family Reunions for Family History: How to use family reunions to gather and share family memories.

Beginning Roots Magic: Introduction and how-to’s for Roots Magic. Learn ways to help organize your research and your genealogy database.

Beginning FamilySearch FamilyTree: Introduction to the FamilySearch.org web site and the Family Tree feature for Family History research.

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Research

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Open for Research: Use Family History Center resources to do some of your own research. Get help from and ask questions to Family History staff on hand.

Military Research: Discover your ancestor’s contribution in our nation’s military history. Use the internet to find valuable military records, unit histories, and military campaign information that pertain to your ancestor.

Locate Live Relatives + Those Separated by Adoption: Private investigator shares tips to find living relatives including those separated by adoption when names may be unknown. Includes info on sealed records..

Brick Walls: We all have them! Break through your “Brick Walls” with these important strategies.

Newspaper Research: Learn about online and library collections of newspapers and how they can be used to make family connections.

Genetics and Genealogy: Learn how DNA can give you clues about your ancestry and how sharing information with others can help you find relatives you didn't know.

Find the Unfindable in the Census: How to get more than the obvious out of census records. Use clues in the census to gain other researching leads.

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Foreign Research

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German Research: Methods and resources for researching German records to obtain Family History information.

United Kingdom Research: Methods and resources for researching records from the British Isles to obtain Family History information.

Danish Research - Getting Started: How to research Danish ancestors without knowing (much) Danish.

Danish Research - Using Online Sources: How to research Danish ancestors using online Danish genealogy archives.

Scandinavian Research: Methods and resources for researching Scandinavian records to obtain Family History information.

Norwegian Digital Archives: Using the Norwegian Digital Archive records to obtain Family History information.

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Technology

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Strategies for Tracing Immigrant Origins: How did your ancestors “jump the pond” to get to America? They didn’t all come through Ellis Island. Learn migration patterns and ports of choice depending on where they originated.

Retouch Digital Photos: Saving, identifying, and enhancing photos and to save memories before they are lost. Using programs available in MS windows.

Interviewing Tips and Technology: How to elicit important and fascinating details about your family history through interviews with your family and friends.

Photographing Artifacts: Photography techniques for preserving keepsakes, mementos, and other artifacts to enrich your family story.

Photographing Gravestones: Learn how to obtain the best results when photographing gravestones. Find out how you can share your photos online with others.

Collaborative Genealogy: Learn what it is, how to get people to play on your team, and how to incorporate today's internet technology in your efforts.

Google for the Genealogist: Learn many tips and secret features of the Google search engine to speed your research online.

Internet Searching: How to use browser and Windows features to use your internet research time more efficiently. Hone your search to zero in on your research subject. Develop and use a research log.

Advanced Internet Searching: Learn searching strategies, how to borrow books your library does not own, find people to gather information for you, build research logs.

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Organization

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Organizing Paper and Photo Records: Tips for putting those boxes of old photos, articles, and written keepsakes into an order that makes sense to you.

Writing a Family History: You have a little or a lot of family history you’ve gathered to share. But, how do you get started turning it into a for-real Family History? Come learn how.

Heritage Scrapbooking: Learn what information to include in a Heritage Scrapbook that will be enjoyed by family members of all ages.

Intermediate Roots Magic: How you can speed up the organization of your research and collecting of data. When time is short, use these tools to help you use it most effectively.

Intermediate FamilySearch Family Tree: Useful features of FamilySearch and Family Tree to ease your Family History research and record-keeping.

Symposium 2014 Flyer       Symposium 2014 Schedule       Symposium 2014 Descriptions