My husband and I arrived in Richmond yesterday.  While he was out perusing the old homestead of Thomas Jefferson today, I was like a kid in a candy store, indulging in one of the greatest genealogical conferences of all – NGS.  Wow!

This morning’s opening session began with a keynote address from Sandra Gioia Treadway of the Library of Virgina.  She described how libraries and archives must prepare to change with the times, and how the Library of Virginia plans to do just that.  If Treadway has her way, in a mere seven years’ time patrons will have a substantially different experience when visiting the library.  They will find themselves met by staff assisted by iPads and other technological devices, better able to help patrons find the materials they are searching for. It is an exciting era, that’s for sure.

The exhibit hall was quite packed with the usual vendors and service providers – FamilySearch, Ancestry, NEHGS, Find My Past, My Heritage and many more.  Lisa Louise Cooke,  Maurine Taylor (aka the Photo Detective) and Janet Hvorka with Family Chart Masters shared a booth and provided “out of the box” educational sessions.  Was ecstatic to purchase BCG’s Genealogy Standards, and Maureen Taylor’s Hairstyles 1840-1900.

Lectures I attended today included:

• Problems and Pitfalls in a Reasonably Shallow Search, by Elissa Powell, CG, CGL
• New Standards of Old: Guidelines for Effective Research and Family Histories, by Thomas Jones, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS
• The Sociology of Cemeteries, by Helen Shaw, CG

Looking forward to another jam-packed day tomorrow, learning from the experts and the best in the field of genealogy!