Jamboree Photos

We're slowly getting the photos online from The Guy in the Kilt. They are posted on Facebook and on Flickr.

We have lots more to post. If you would like to add your photos to the photo albums, let me know. I'll send you an invitation to the Flickr group.

And the Winners Are...

Congratulations to Monica Bosch who won the 7-night stay at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel and $200 toward airfare! Monica promises that she will take a photo of the gift certificate when it reaches her by snail mail.

Keep checking back - updates will be made to this list as prizes are claimed.

The following raffle tickets have not been claimed. To claim one of the prizes listed below, please send a note to SCGSJamboree@gmail.com with "Raffle" in the subject line. Tell us which gift you want and how you'd like to receive it. We will mail it to you (please pay postage) or you can pick it up at the SCGS Library. Ticket claim check must be submitted to claim prize.

Prizes that remain unclaimed after July 15 will be distributed at the SCGS Annual Meeting in December.

219045 L. Tonelli
219493 Kathryn Sant
219575 Henry Lucas
219572 Bob K
4375396 Ken Lynch
4375602 Denise
4375811 Judy Bradley
4375955 Ridley Politisly
506058 Larry Bordo
506182 Shirley Reinecker
506195 Barbara Alm
506257 Nancy Helsley
5333653 Perry Rivera
709103 L Peck
709293 Cheryl Singpelor
709305 D. Masterson
709330 Steve Danko
709794 Doug Miller
709924 Dagmar
709960 B. Jones
709963 B. Jones
9516408 Donna B
9516446 Carla Barbula
9516451 Pam
9516549 Jan Fisher
9516719 Mary H.
9517249 June Mattias
9517024 V. Vandam
9517032 Jessie T.
9517140 Perry Rivera
9517896 Mary Thompson


Unclaimed Raffle Prizes

$40 gift certificate to Babouch Moroccan Restaurant, San Pedro, CA
$30 value - buy one, get one free at Legoland
$70 value - Pasadena Playhouse 2 tickets
$10 value - Reunion Magazine subscription
$10 value - Reunion Magazine subscription
$10 value - Reunion Magazine subscription
$10 value - Reunion Magazine subscription
$10 value - Reunion Magazine subscription
$10 value - Reunion Magazine subscription
$10 value - Reunion Magazine subscription
$64 value - 4 passes to the Hollywood Wax Museum and Guinness World Records
$35 value - 1 8x8 story book - Heritage Makers
$20 value - 1 hour research assistance from SCGS Research Team
$20 value - 1 hour research assistance from SCGS Research Team
$96 value - 2 tickets - La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts
$10 value - 2-piece quited bag set
$25 value - "Female Lives" - special quarterly from NGS
$65 value - CD, cookbook, sourdough starter and two Gene Autry VHS movies
$90 value - six admissions for The Ice House comedy club, Pasadena
50% off any item on Cassini Maps website (British maps)
50% off any item on Cassini Maps website (British maps)
$15 value - one antique photo from Old Town Prints
$15 value - one antique photo from Old Town Prints
$25 value - Book of Wildlife Refuges
$25 value - Confederates in California
$15 value - Full-color limited edition of the 2009 Jamboree Syllabus
$15 value - Full-color limited edition of the 2009 Jamboree Syllabus
$35 value - Federation of Genealogical Societies - Forum Online 1-yr subscription
$35 value - Federation of Genealogical Societies - Forum Online 1-yr subscription
$35 value - Federation of Genealogical Societies - Society Strategies
$35 value - Crash Course in Family History

Claimed Prizes:

$120 value - two tickets to Magic Mountain
4375674 Stacy

The Jamboree Committee - Dysfunctional Family Art

Many thanks to Julene Day who drew the Jamboree Committee members in ways that none of us have ever quite experienced before. Be sure to click on the photo so you can see all of the detail.

You can find more of Julene's wonderful artwork on her blog at http://www.dysfunctionalart.blogspot.com/

The Jamboree Committee and key onsite staff consisted of:

Co-Chairs
- Leo Myers
- Paula Hinkel
Program Chair
- Charlotte Bocage
Registration
- Louise Calaway
- Peggy Schulz
Tech Zone
- Jay Holladay
- Dick Emerson
- Linda Mustion
Door Prizes
- Jim and Pat Fryman
Lecture Rooms and Traffic
- Alice Avila
SCGS Volunteers
- Marva Grove
- Linda Golovko
Student Volunteers
- Joyce Roberson
Sales Table
- Vieve Metcalfe
- Jan Jennings
Small World
- Lin LaRochelle
Friday Entertainment
- Terry McVeigh
Promotion
- Vicki Hilb (Arizona)
- Margaret Rutledge (Orange County)
- Donna Lapera
Kids' Family History Camp
- Michael Melendez

Jamboree Reviews and Interviews

As you may have heard, we welcomed nearly 40 genealogy bloggers and Tweeple (people who post notes on Twitter) to Jamboree last weekend. In addition, podcasters and video casters were on hand to record several interviews for RootsTelevision.com, GenealogyGuys.com and Genealogy GemsPodcast.com.

The first of the RootsTelevision interviews are beginning to appear online, and you can see them on RootsTelevision. At the SCGS Website you can find interviews from past Jamborees as well as new videos from 2009. Right now, you'll see an interview with Tukufu Zuberi, PhD, and one that Matthew Poe conducted with me. More interviews will appear over the coming days and weeks. They did a LOT of interviews!

Click on the link to read all of the Twitter comments. The Tweets (postings) will show up in reverse chronological order.

To read the blog comments go to each of the following blogs and scroll down until you see the Jamboree posts. Blog posts, too, appear in reverse chronological order with the most recent appearing first.

If you are going to read only a few blog entries, I'd point you first to Dick Eastman's three very favorable posts. I thought Elizabeth O'Neal wins the prize for the funniest posts. Elyse Doerflinger's and footnoteMaven's posts were simply charming, and Randy Seaver was the king of the Tweeple during the Blogger Summit. If I start naming names, I'll be here all day so here is the list.

Lisa Alzo
The Accidental Genealogist
http://theaccidentalgenealogist.blogspot.com

Bruce Buzbee
Roots Magic Blog
http://blog.rootsmagic.com

Amy Coffin
We Tree
http://wetree.blogspot.com

Lisa Louise Cooke
Genealogy Gems Podcast; Genealogy Gems News
http://www.genealogygemspodcast.com
http://genealogygemspodcast.blogspot.com

Stephen Danko
Steve's Genealogy Blog
http://stephendanko.com/blog

Illya D'Addezio
Live Roots Blog
http://www.liveroots.com/blog

Schelly Dardashti
Tracing The Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog;
International Jewish Graveyard Rabbit; MyHeritage Genealogy Blog
http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com
http://jewishgraveyardrabbit.blogspot.com
http://www.myheritage.com/blogs/genealogyblog

Elyse Doerflinger
Elyse's Genealogy Blog
http://elysesgenes.blogspot.com

Kathryn Doyle
California Genealogical and Historical Society
http://calgensoc.blogspot.com

Dick Eastman
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
http://blog.eogn.com/

Sheri Fenley
The Educated Genealogist
http://sherifenley.blogspot.com

footnoteMaven
footnoteMaven; Shades of the Departed
http://www.footnotemaven.com
http://www.shadesofthedeparted.com

Jean Wilcox Hibben
Circle Mending
http://circlemending.blogspot.com

Ruth Himan
Genealogy Is Ruthless Without Me
http://genealogyisruthlesswithoutme.blogspot.com

Paula Hinkel
It Just Never Came Up; SoCal Genealogy Jamboree
http://itjustnevercameup.blogspot.com
http://genealogyjamboree.blogspot.com

Jay Holladay
Jay's Genealogy Blog
http://jaygenblog.wordpress.com

Janet Hovorka
The Chart Chick
http://thechartchick.blogspot.com

Ancestry Insider
The Ancestry Insider
http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com

Thomas Jay Kemp
Genealogy Bank; Ask The Genealogist; Genealogy Librarian News
http://blog.genealogybank.com
http://askthegenealogist.blogspot.com
http://genlibrarian.blogspot.com

Susan Kitchens
Family Oral History Using Digital Tools
http://familyoralhistory.us

Kiril Kundurazieff
Musings of a Mad Macedonian
http://www.madmacedonian.com

Denise Levenick
The Family Curator
http://www.familycurator.blogspot.com

Thomas MacEntee
Geneabloggers; Destination: Austin Family
http://www.geneabloggers.com
http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com

Craig Manson
Geneablogie
http://blog.geneablogie.net

Leslie Mehana
La Donna Bella
http://www.Squidoo.com/LaDonnaBella

Leland Meitzler
GenealogyBlog
http://www.genealogyblog.com

George G. Morgan
George’s Genealogical Gleanings; The Genealogy Guys
http://georgegmorgan.livejournal.com
http://genealogyguys.com

Elizabeth O'Neal
Little Bytes of Life; The Graveyard Rabbit of the California Central Coast
http://www.littlebytesoflife.com
http://centralcoast-graveyardrabbit.blogspot.com

Cheryl Palmer
Heritage Happens
http://heritagehappens.blogspot.com

DearMYRTLE
DearMYRTLE; Teach Genealogy; Internet Genealogy
http://blog.dearmyrtle.com
http://blog.TeachGenealogy.com
http://blog.Internet-Genealogy.com

Randy Seaver
Genea-Musings; The Geneaholic; Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe
http://www.geneamusings.com
http://www.geneaholic.com
http://cvgencafe.blogspot.com

Drew Smith
Social Networking for Genealogists; The Genealogy Guys
http://snfg.blogspot.com
http://genealogyguys.com

Maureen Taylor
The Photo Detective
http://photodetective.blogspot.com

Gini Webb
Ginisology
http://ginisology.blogspot.com

Diane Wright
The Graveyard Rabbit Travels Wright
http://travelswright.blogspot.com

Jamboree - The Day After

What an amazing weekend. The 40th Annual Genealogy Jamboree is history, except for closing the financial books and finishing tidying up the library.

I compare the job of convention planner to that of a bride (one without a bridal consultant, that is). Months of planning goes into every detail, trying to find just the right venue, the right mix of activities, the right food, getting all of the right people to attend AND staying within a budget. The months of planning zoom by and in just a matter of hours, it's over. Poof. That pretty much describes Jamboree too, if you multiply by 3 days and add speakers and move-ins and load-outs.

Sunday night, Leo and I sat in the quiet empty convention center and -- and I'm not making this up -- started talking about improvements for 2010. When we realized what we were doing, we decided we were sick puppies and marshaled the energy to leave.

I fell into bed before the sun went down Sunday night. My daughter called at some time Sunday evening to see how things went, and I fell asleep during the call. When I woke up this morning, I reassembled the computer and read all of the tweets from the weekend. Then the blog posts started and I've spent the day reading all the comments.

It takes a village to produce an event the size of Jamboree. Our Jamboree Committee spearheads the planning, but Jamboree touches every aspect of the Southern California Genealogical Society. The Membership team processed over 200 new memberships and well over 100 renewals in conjunction with registration. The sales team managed the SCGS table and the technology team oversaw the Tech Zone. The SCGS Research Team staffed the "reSearCh GenieS" table to provide one-to-one advice on researching in the U.S. The financial team of Louise, Peggy and Betty, the Assistant Treasurer, Financial Secretary and Treasurer, handled all the registrations and paid the bills. What an immense job that was. Thank Charlotte for arranging such a fantastic line-up of speakers.

Our coordinators certainly got a work-out in scheduling volunteers to staff the many registration, sales table and Tech Zone spots. Even the newest members of the Society -- those who had joined just weeks or even days before -- helped out by serving as room monitors and introduced speakers. "General" Alice Avila kept the traffic flowing in the meeting room areas and did her usual exceptional job of juggling AV equipment, speakers, and room monitors.

In addition to the SCGS volunteers, we want to recognize the contributions of the Burbank High School Key Club students. We had over 25 students on the premises during the weekend, including several who were doing double-duty after spending 24 hours at a cancer benefit. Their attitudes, smiling faces and hard work were bright lights when our energy flagged.

We can't forget the fantastic staff at the Burbank Airport Marriott and Convention Center. I have never seen such responsiveness, such dedication and exemplary customer service. We had a few bumps in the road, but with the help of the hotel staff, the glitches were resolved in record time. Sunday morning, they reset TWO rooms from breakfast tables to lecture seats in under seven minutes. Absolutely phenomenal. The Marriott staff members were partners in every sense of the word, and we could not have had a successful event without them.

Thank you to the amazing speakers and exhibitors that filled the classrooms and exhibit hall. You spurred over 1500 participants to search for their family histories and provided the tools for success in that search.

I saved the most important for last. Leo Myers and I share a brain. He has the right side of that brain, and I have the left side. Neither of us could do it without the other, and I've never worked with anyone in such a rewarding, enjoyable, satisfying collaboration. Leo Myers doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves and he is in every sense of the word a Co-Chairman. I thank him for being the Right Side of our Jamboree brain, and for being my friend.

Thank you to everyone. It was a great weekend.

We'll do it again June 11-13, 2010. Mark your calendars.

Burbank Leader Article Friday June 26

Branching out

Researchers are climbing their family tree with help online from blogs, Twitter and Facebook.
By Joyce Rudolph

Published: Last Updated Friday, June 26, 2009 10:03 PM PDT

Tracking one’s ancestry has become high-tech, drawing devotees to the 40th annual Genealogy Jamboree this weekend at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel and Convention Center.

Presenting the event is the Southern California Genealogical Society, which makes its home at its Family Research Library, also in Burbank. Society members have organized a weekend of workshops, lectures and a how-to on using computers to access census and other family records like birth, death and marriage certificates.

New technology, like blogs, are one of the new ways people are finding their relatives, said Paula Hinkel, publicity chairwoman for the jamboree. “There are lots of different blogs,” she said. “Some let you know about new products and services for genealogy research. Some are blogs about particular family research. For example, one of our bloggers put up all his family on a blog — text and pictures of his family history.”

Continue reading the article at here.

Jamboree Message from Anna-Karin

I haven't been online but for a second in the past few days and saw this Facebook message from our Swedish friend, Anna-Karin Schander. It was great meeting Anna-Karin at last year's Jamboree and I wish she could have been with us in 2009. Maybe next year!!

Assistance Needed Friday Morning During Kids' Family History Camp

Genealogists are the most helpful, supportive people. Our call for Jamboree help has turned out more volunteers than I ever remember.

I'm going to ask for more.

Our Kids' Family History Camp promises to be a roaring success. We have 80 confirmed attendees and expect several walk-ins. That's the good news.

However ... both Starr Campbell and her daughter, Hailey, were going to be instructors at the Kids' Camp. Starr's illness means that we are short two adults. Although Jean Hibben and Maureen Taylor will be participating in the session for part of the morning, we would really like to balance the adult-to-student ratio by adding a couple of assistants. Boy Scouts make up the greatest portion of our budding family historians.

If you are going to be at the Marriott Friday morning and are willing to assist with the Kids' Camp, will you please get in touch with Michael Melendez, who is doing a wonderful job of organizing the event. His email is [zosomm90@yahoo.com]

The Kids' Camp is scheduled from 9am to 12noon Friday in the Convention Center Academy 4 and 5.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

$8,000 Worth of Door Prizes

Thanks to Jamboree supporters and sponsors, you can win genealogical society memberships, subscriptions to online services, books, professional research assistance (including three prizes worth $200 or more for research in the UK), restaurant, gift items, and entertainment and activities.

Give yourself lots of chances to claim one of our valuable door prizes, including the Grand Prize of a 7-night stay at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel and $200 toward air fare. Stop by the Door Prize booth and buy your tickets.

Buy Early, Buy Often! #scgs09

Update: Friday Morning Free Sessions

If you have signed up for one of the free sessions on Friday morning, here is an update for you.

The Kids Family History Camp has moved to the Convention Center, Academy 4 and 5. Enter the building from the door on the east side of the Convention center (on the left as you look at the building from the front). Greeters will direct you Academy rooms.

The other free sessions all meet in the Main Hotel City Ballrooms. Enter the hotel from the main door. Walk straight back, past the hotel registration desk, and stop at the Jamboree registration desk. The friendly volunteers will get you pointed in the right direction:

Librarians Genealogy Boot Camp - Pasadena Room
Beginning Genealogy - Glendale Room
Advanced Beginners - Hollywood and Burbank Rooms
SCGS Tour with Transportation - meet just inside the front door

For the tour of the SCGS Library, we have arranged for shuttle transportation to run all morning between the Marriott and the SCGS Library. The first shuttle will leave the hotel at 9:00 a.m. The shuttle carries 20 passengers at a time and a trip will take 15-20 minutes, so you don't necessarily need to be there right at the crack of 9:00 a.m.

We will open the registration desk in the Convention Center promptly at noon, and the exhibit hall doors will open at 12:30 p.m. We appreciate that you are all excited and anxious to get the weekend started, but we hope you will understand that our volunteers and our exhibitors need time to get everything prepared for you. Please sit down and relax or grab a bite to eat until the doors swing open.

#scgs09

Schedule Change Announcement

Starr Campbell is down with a nasty respiratory infection and her doctor says NO travel. I'm very sorry to say that those of you who were looking forward to hearing will miss out on her informative and entertaining presentations. Starr, we miss you and hope you feel better soon!

We are grateful that two great speakers have stepped forward to back her up:

Saturday 8:00 a.m.
Session SA-03
Ron Arons
Mapping Madness
Description: In the presentation Ron will show how to find a variety of historical maps online. He will then discuss the basics of both Google and Microsoft's internet-based mapping facilities (maps.google.com and www.bing.com/maps). He will then introduce more advanced functionality of both systems. Finally, Ron will also discuss less traditional facilities provided my whitepages.com, Microsoft's MapCruncher, IBM's Many Eyes and more...

Saturday 1:30 p.m.
Session SA-22
Lisa Alzo
Murder, Mayhem and Town Tragedy
This talk, which includes a complex case study, demonstrates how to use Census records, funeral records, obituaries, cemetery inscriptions, historical newspapers, town histories, court and jail records, and many other underused records and sources to find the heroes and villains in your family tree.

#scgs09

Lunch Menus and Food Choices

Hungry? You have lots of options for meals this year.

The Daily Grill has $10.95 specials for lunch. You can call ahead and have the meal ready for you. If you are staying at the hotel, you can even arrange for room service and enjoy a quiet, relaxing few minutes away from the Jamboree bustle.

818-840-6464 Daily Grill

The Food Court across the street offers several options for quick meals. To save time, call ahead and have your lunch waiting for you. Stop at the SCGS Information Table in the foyer if you want an advance look at the menus.

818-565-0448 Subway
818-565-0420 San Sai Japanese Grill
818-565-0512 George’s Greek Cuisine
818-847-9600 Denny’s
818-565-0417 McDonald’s
818-847-2543 Panda Express
818-565-0534 Del Taco
818-565-0571 Starbucks

The Convention Center concession will have two serving lines on Saturday and Sunday to make sure you are served promptly and efficiently.

Convention Center Concessions
Saturday and Sunday Only

7:30 AM to 10:00 AM
Freshly Brewed Regular Coffee $2.50
Freshly Brewed Decaffeinated Coffee $2.50
Hot Water for Assorted Herbal Infusions $2.50

11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Whole Seasonal Fruit $2.00
Assorted Bag of Chips $2.00
Turkey Sandwich $5.00
Roast Beef Sandwich (Saturday only) $5.00
Ham Sandwich (Sunday only) $5.00
Freshly Baked Gourmet Cookies $2.00
Chef Salad $6.00
Assorted Sodas $2.00
Freshly Brewed Coffee or Hot Tea $2.50
Bottled Water $2.00
Flavored Snapple $3.50
Granola Bars $2.00

Soda Machine located by Convention Center Restrooms

#scgs09

Exhibitor Profile - United Daughters of the Confederacy

Table 102
United Daughters of the Confederacy
Elaine Hirtle
6859 Hazeltine Ave.
Van Nuys, CA 91405
818.785.7470
Sewelaine@aol.com

United Daughters of the Confederacy

The United Daughters of the Confederacy is the outgrowth of many local memorial, monument, and Confederate home associations and auxiliaries to camps of United Confederate Veterans that were organized after the War Between the States.

Exhibitor Profile - Roots Magic

Tables 401-403, 410
RootsMagic, Inc
Bruce Buzbee
P.O. Box 495
Springville, UT 84663
801.489.3102
www.rootsmagic.com
bruce@rootsmagic.com

RootsMagic Genealogy Software New Version 4!
RootsMagic is the easiest-to-use family tree software available for Windows Vista, XP, and 2000, yet is also one of the most powerful. See why professional genealogists and beginners alike say RootsMagic is the best genealogy software in the world. Making Shareable CDsTM to share with your family, running the software and data directly from a portable flash drive, integrated WebSearch,, and many other new features keep RootsMagic 4 "the top of the genealogy tree".

Exhibitor Profile - Seaside Highland Games

Seaside Highland Games
Nellie Lowry
964 Kessler Avenue
Chatsworth, CA 91311
818-886-4968
LowryLines@aol.com
www.seaside-games.com


What:
Seaside Highland Games

Where:
Seaside Park in beautiful Ventura County, California
Ventura County Fairgrounds,
10 W Harbor Blvd., Ventura

When:
October 10 & 11, 2009, 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 pm

Exhibitor Profile - LA as Subject

Table 129
LA as Subject
Susan D. Anderson
Managing Director
Univeristy of Southern California
Doheny Memorial Library Room 316
Los Angeles CA 90089
http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/arc/lasubject/


What Is L.A. as Subject?

Hosted by the USC Libraries, L.A. as Subject is an alliance of research archives, libraries, and collections dedicated to preserving the rich history of the Los Angeles region. L.A. as Subject is working to increase the visibility of local archives and improve access to them for students, researchers, K-12 educators, and everyone else with a stake in Southern California history. L.A. as Subject promotes tools and mentoring to help its members with everything from preserving and cataloging materials in their collections to fundraising and public outreach.

Exhibitor Profile - US GenWeb

Table 119
US GenWeb
Joy Fisher
jfisher@sdgenweb.com

US GenWeb

The USGenWeb Project is a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone.

Joy Fisher will be speaking about the US GenWeb project at 3:00 on Sunday.

She is an Engineer by training and has been using computers for nearly 50 years. She became interested in genealogy nearly 40 years ago. Searching for ways to use the computer to assist in doing genealogical research, she became a sysop for a genealogy bulletin board back in the early 1980's.

She began translating and transcribing Russian church records in the early 1990's. These records were uploaded to an experimental server and made available via ftp (before the age of browsers).

Joy was on the KY mailing list when Jeff Murphy announced his small Muhlenberg County web site and USGenWeb was born. She started web sites for two KY counties soon after and has been part of USGenWeb ever since.

Joy is the founder of SDGENWEB, the South Dakota state pages for USGenWeb, and maintains several county web sites in Illinois, South and North Dakota.

She has been a part of the USGenWeb Archives since its inception in 1996. The Archives has steadily grown from a few text documents to almost 1.5 million text files and over 2.5 million photographs and document images.

OOPS - wrong date for Hollywood Walk of Fame Ceremony on Monday June 29

UPDATE - my apologies. This ceremony was Monday June 22, not June 29.

If you're lucky enough to be staying over until Monday, you have a special opportunity to see one of the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremonies. Actress Cameron Diaz will be receiving her star at a ceremony that begins at 11:30 a.m. Her star will be in front of the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and will be the 2386th star on the Walk of Fame.

She's made several movies, but your grandkids may know her best as the voice of Princess Fiona of Shrek.

Watch the news report

Exhibitor Profile - Royal Ancestors

Table 139
Royal Ancestors
Michel L. Call
P.O. Box 11488
Salt Lake City, UT 84147
royalancestors@yahoo.com

Royal Ancestry, Michel Call's massive three-volume opus, The Royal Ancestry Bible: Royal Ancestors of 300 Colonial Families, is the outgrowth of more than 30 years of research and writing about royal and noble genealogy. Containing 3,400 genealogical charts, this work attempts to track all known descents from English or French kings or the Emperor Charlemagne for all American colonists who have at least 20,000 descendants. Bound in three handsome volumes, this remarkable work traces the origins of 300 American colonists to the Middle Ages. Nine years in preparation, The Royal Ancestry Bible documents more ancestry for more people than almost any other work ever published.

Exhibitor Profile - Heritage Makers

Table 404
Heritage Makers
Joan Merritt, Independent Consultant
memorymaker@mindspring.com
www.yourfamiliesstories.com
310.613.9133

Join Joan in Storybooking - a wonderful new way to preserve and share your family history, along with special memories. Heritage Makers provides easy to use tools and ideas to help you on your way. Preserve your family history in words and pictures to complement your family tree. Through my Dad’s written words and my Mother’s recollections, I have been able to uncover previously missing information about the family’s immigration to America. The stories, pictures and family tree are being preserved in a storybook.

Exhibitor Profile - Footnote.com

Tables 132 and 133
Footnote.com
Justin Schropepfer
355 W. 520 W
Lindon, UT 84042
801-494-6517
justin@footnote.com
www.footnote.com

What if history was an ever-expanding perspective where anyone was free to interpret, extend and connect their own ideas and stories to the Big Picture? What if you could discover, interact and share millions of the most interesting original sources from the world's greatest archives as easily as getting your email?

Take a Tour

Introducing Footnote

Footnote.com is a place where original historical documents are combined with social networking in order to create a truly unique experience involving the stories of our past.

The Footnote.com collections feature documents, most never before available on the Internet, relating to the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, US Presidents, historical newspapers, naturalization documents, and many more.

Footnote.com is more than just an online repository for original documents. In addition to hosting millions of records, Footnote supports a community of people who are passionate about a variety of topics relating to history. See what people are doing on Footnote right now with Member Discoveries.

Footnote.com creates an environment where members can share their content and insights, ranging from major historical events to personal accounts and family histories. Footnote.com, together with its members, is revealing a side of history that few have seen before.

Irish Dancers to Entertain during Welcome Reception

Get into the spirit of this year's British Isles focus and take some time to enjoy Irish dancers who will be performing during the Friday afternoon welcome reception. The dancers come to us from Cleary Irish Dance, www.clearyirishdance.com

818-503-4677
mcleary364@aol.com

Exhibitor Profile - ScanDigital.com

Table 121
ScanDigital.com
Pam Weiss
Director of PR / Marketing
209 Richmond
El Segundo, CA 90245
888.333.2808
info@scandigital.com
www.scandigital.com

ScanDigital describes itself as the world's premier, photo digitization service. They provide high quality scans and provide them to customers on DVD or CD and through our online gallery. Using our fully interactive online gallery, customers can share your photos with friends and family, upload additional digital images to complete your digital gallery and order reprints; as well as numerous other print products (i.e. mugs, key chains, t-shirts) through their print partner Qoop.

Exhibitor Profile - Kater Crafts Bookbinders

Table 904
Kater-Crafts Bookbinders
Judy Howard
4860 Gregg Road
Pico Rivera, CA 90660
562.692.0665
katercrafts@earthlink.net
www.katercrafts.com

Kater-Crafts bookbinders is a family-owned business celebrating their 60th year binding and restoring books in Southern California. They will custom bind your family history in a beautiful hard cover binding with foil debossing available on the spine and front cover. They have a wide variety of cloth, paper, and leather materials in stock, or they can laminate a photocopy of your art work, text or photographs to make a unique and personal cover.

Bring your family Bibles, reference books, family histories or other treasures that need repair, rebinding or restoration when you come to Jamboree and Kater-Crafts experts will be happy to recommend the best way to preserve them. They can also protect flat documents with nylon lamination or Mylar encapsulation.

Exhibitor Profile - Save Their Story

Tables 705 & 706
Save Their Story, Inc.
Bridget Poizner, M.Ed.
PO Box 22051
San Diego, CA 92192
800-727-1996
www.SaveTheirStory.com

What if the “leaves” of your family tree could talk? Save Their Story conducts in-home video interviews to help capture the stories and history of families and organizations.

Save Their Story, Inc. provides:

Video or audio confidential in-home interviews
Interviewers trained in the art of family history interviews
Nationwide Service
Enhanced Video Biographies using photos, home movies and other memorabilia
Consultation with each client prior to an interview
Editing of the original footage with music and titles added for professional results
DVDs of interview with custom case
Affordability; We want everyone to be able to share their stories
Lovely gift certificates for Birthdays, Anniversaries, Family Reunions etc.
A wonderful way to preserve the stories, laughter and gestures of a loved one

Stop by Save Their Story’s booth and view some interview samples and register for a drawing for a free interview.

Exhibitor Profile - National Institute for Genealogical Studies

National Institute for Genealogical Studies
Booth 115
Louise St. Denis
92 Ashbury Blvd. Ajax
Ontario L1Z 1N1 CANADA
800-580-0165
416-861-0165 fax
admin@genealogystore.com
www.genealogystore.com

" LEARNING GENEALOGY ONLINE! Partner with the PLC, Faculty of Information Studies-University of Toronto. Over 150 courses delivered entirely online. Most popular genealogical education program-received over 40,000 course registrations from around the world! Register individual courses to increase your knowledge, or study a formal program leading to Certificates in Genealogical Studies in records of various countries. Specialized Librarianship Certificate also available."

Forecast: 83 Degrees and Sunny for Jamboree

Here's the 10-day weather forecast from weather.com:

Burbank's 10-day forecast

Funniest Post Yet about Jamboree

A Jamboree blog post in Machine-Translation French

This year’s Jamboree devise furnish an unprecedented 55 speakers and more 100 lectures, a jazzy betray entry, and lots of devoted events and activities, according to Paula Hinkel, Jamboree co-chair. Jamboree has earned the stature be known opportune being delight, famously organized, with devoted speakers and vendors. This year devise be all that and more.

The betray entry devise army software and online database companies, vendors, societies, patrimony and napkins groups, authors, and log sellers...

The original blog post

"This year's Jamboree will offer an unprecedented 55 speakers and nearly 100 lectures, a full exhibit hall, and lots of special events and activities," according to Paula Hinkel, Jamboree co-chair. "Jamboree has earned the reputation for being fun, well organized, with exceptional speakers and vendors. This year will be all that and more."

The exhibit hall will host software and online database companies, vendors, societies, heritage and lineage groups, authors, and book sellers. Some exhibitors feature services including photo restoration, book repair, and production of beautiful pedigree charts and maps..."

I am so glad I have Google Alerts set to find Jamboree posts for me, or I'd have missed this one.

Jamboree Listed in the LA Times Entertainment Section

LA Times Entertainment Listing for Jamboree

"Southern California Genealogy Jamboree - More than 50 of the nation's top genealogy teachers and practitioners meet for nearly 100 class sessions throughout the weekend on a wide variety of topics, including vintage photos, DNA, and how to use the online information sources. Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank. Fri., 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat., 8 a.m.-7 p.m.; next Sun., 8 a.m.-4 p.m. $45-$50 daily registration. (818) 843-7247."

Please keep your eyes open this week for notices on LA area radio, television, in print and on media websites. We have deployed press releases on Jamboree in general, for Kids' Family History Camp, Tukufu Zuberi's appearance, and the free beginning genealogy classes on Friday morning.

Arlene Eakle's New Kentucky Blog Launches

Arlene Eakle has been a member of the Jamboree family for a long, long time. We received a note from her tonight announcing her new blog:

My NEW Kentucky blog is launching tonight, 19 June 2009. This is a very significant date in Kentucky history, which I will tell you all about later on. My preliminary blog describes the chronic problems of Kentucky genealogy. My first post is an example of the kind of thorough research that solves the chronic problems for Kentucky genealogy--about the Hanks ancestry of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. President Lincoln said, "I, too, am a Kentuckian."

I hope you enjoy this example, and if you happen to have a Hanks line, find it useful.

Join in the fun with this blog. You will get in each episode and mini-sode that I post, examples and sources that will increase your genealogy success in Kentucky!

Arlene Eakle, your favorite Kentucky genealogist. http://www.arleneeakle.com Follow the link on my new Home Page.

I can't wait to see the blog posts and tweets from Arlene during Jamboree!

Ancestry World Archives Project Demonstrations

The Southern California Genealogical Society is sponsoring one of the indexing projects of Ancestry's World Archives Project. The Southern California Naturalizations are about 57% complete. You can contribute to this important project from the comfort of your own home. Read about the project here and please volunteer to help with this important initiative to conserve the world's records.

Stop at the Ancestry booth during the lunch hour on Saturday and Sunday to see the indexing project in action and learn more about how you can participate.

Female Roommate Wanted - Non Smoker

Is anyone looking for a female roomie for Jamboree? I received an urgent request for a roomie. If you have room and are willing to share with someone, please send an email to SCGSJamboree@gmail.com with Roommate in the subject line. I'll do what I can to help out.

Take a Test Drive in the Tech Zone

One of the very popular features of Jamboree is the Tech Zone. Just ask Lila Desatoff who did the genealogy happy dance in her chair a couple of years ago. If you haven't attended a Jamboree before, you're probably asking yourself, "What the heck is the Tech Zone?"

The Tech Zone is a special area on the exhibit floor that is equipped with computers and free access to a number of paid subscriptions. It will be a long time before you get another chance to sit down and test-drive such an extensive collection of online genealogical services. And it's all included with the price of your Jamboree admission.

Some of this year's databases are being offered for the first time. We will be featuring the following online subscriptions:

From ProQuest:
-Ancestry Library Edition
-Heritage Quest
-Historic Los Angeles Times
-ProQuest Obituaries
-Historic Map Works
-African American Biographical
-ProQuest Historic Los Angeles Sentinel
NewspaperARCHIVE.com
FindMyPast.com
Footnote.com
WorldVitalRecords.com
VitalSearch-CA.com
NewEnglandAncestors.org (NEHGS)
Godfrey Memorial Library (godfrey.org)
GenealogyBank

What if you get a hot tip during a lecture, and you just can't wait until you get home to try it out? You can use other free genealogical resources at the Tech Zone too.

FamilySearch.org
RootsTelevision.com
SCGS's Virtual Surname Wall

Each user will be limited to 30 minutes. No food or drink allowed at the Tech Zone. Volunteers will be on duty to assist you use these valuable resources.

Thanks to Jay Holladay and his merry band of techs for overseeing the Tech Zone. And a special shout-out goes to all of the organizations that have provided free access for the weekend.

Congratulations to NEHGS!

The New England Historic Genealogical Society received a $7.5 million donation from an anonymous donor. NEHGS president and CEO Brenton Simons, who will be speaking at Jamboree, said, "I was of course blown away."

He said that a portion of the funds will be used "...to build a completely new website, which will allow us to give access to our millions of collections here and other data that we'll put on line."

This is fantastic news for NEHGS and for any of us who are tracing ancestors in New England.

The 2009 Syllabus is Finished

Tom Underhill, the designer of our Syllabus cover and the printer of the Jamboree syllabus for the past four years, just sent a photo of his daughter and the 2009 syllabus. I'm not sure which is more beautiful--his daughter Amanda or our book! (okay it's Amanda but just by a smidge).

This year's Syllabus is 400 pages of great content from our speakers and special offers from our advertisers. We will have some extra copies for purchase at Jamboree at the low-low price of $15 per copy. You'll also receive a CD copy of the syllabus at registration.

Thanks Tom! Creative Continuum comes through again!

Family Tree Magazine Top 101 Websites

We are very pleased that Family Tree Magazine will be represented on the exhibit floor by Lisa Louise Cooke, who will be participating in the Blogger Summit and also conducting two classes on using Google in your family history research.

Family Tree Magazine has released its list of 101 Best Websites for 2009. Count on the good folks at Family Tree Magazine to compile a very valuable list of resources for all genealogists. Some of the sites are fee-based, while several others are free sites.

Ancestry.com is "in a class by itself" according to Family Tree Magazine. The remaining websites are classified by:

10 Best Web Sites to See Dead People

10 Best Web Sites for Vital Records

10 Best Web Sites for Storing and Sharing

10 Best Big Web Sites

10 Best Web Sites for Maps

10 Best Web Sites for Local Searches

10 Best Web Sites for International Searches

10 Best Cutting-edge Web Sites

10 Best Web Sites for Military Research

10 Best Virtual Library Web Sites

New Civil War Publication from Bill Dollarhide

Great news coming out of www.GenealogyBlog.com. Leland announced that they will unveil Bill Dollarhide's new Civil War book, Genealogical Resources of the Civil War, at Jamboree.

Leland added, "We’re running a special pre-publication price on the book through noon on Monday, June 22 - when we will ship the volume."

Genealogical Resources of the Civil War Era – Online and Published Military or Civilian Name Lists, 1861-1869 & Post-Civil War Veteran Lists; by William Dollarhide; 2009; Soft Cover, Perfect Bound; 8.5×11; 203 pp; Item # FR0113.

It looks like a fantastic resource for tracing Civil War Era ancestors.

Bill and Leland, bring lots of copies!

Free Wi-Fi at Jamboree

This year we've raised the tech level at Jamboree to a whole new level. We have lots of exciting and fun things lined up and I'll be posting about them over the next few days.

The first announcement is that we will be offering Free Wi-Fi access throughout the Convention Center and in the Main Hotel meeting rooms throughout the weekend. The public areas of the hotel will also have free Wi-Fi access.

Internet access is available for a fee in the rooms for those of you who are staying overnight at the Marriott. We can't do anything about that in-room Internet fee, unfortunately.

At this point, it looks like we'll have you stop in at the Tech Zone to pick up the passcode to the Wi-Fi. If that changes, I'll let you know.

I'd like a show of hands (okay, a show of comments) from those who will be using the Wi-Fi. We're trying to figure out how many connections we'll need.

Friday Night Dodger Game

In case you're looking for a non-genealogical activity for Friday evening, what about a Dodger game? Sit in the stadium, chew on a Dodger Dog and shout for the team.

Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, CA)
Friday, Jun. 26 @ 7:10pm (vs. Seattle Mariners)

Full Price: $28.00 - $75.00
Reduced ticket prices through Goldstar.com: $20.00 - $42.00

There will be fireworks on and off the field in 2009 at Dodger Stadium, as every Friday night is Fireworks Night. The on-field firepower will be supplied by Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Orlando Hudson and a potent Dodger lineup as they seek to recapture the division title. A spectacular fireworks show follows each Friday home game.

Click here to go to the Goldstar website. Register for free and take advantage of the discount.

Focus Group Respondents Needed at Jamboree

One of our Jamboree exhibitors is conducting two focus groups during Jamboree weekend. The first session will be held Friday, June 26 from 12:15 to 1:15. The second focus group will be held Saturday, June 27, from 12:15 to 1:15. We have been asked to help find potential respondents for these two sessions.

A focus group is a small-group discussion with 10-12 people who share their opinions about an existing or future product, service, or topic. It provides an excellent opportunity to guide the development of products and services that you use in your family history research.

Individuals who qualify for and attend the focus group will receive a gift valued at $50 or more in appreciation for their time.

If you would like to learn more about this research initiative and be considered for participation in one of the focus groups, send an email to SCGSJamboree@gmail.com with the subject line "Focus Group."

Factoid from the Pre-Jamboree Survey

How's this for a bell curve? This is the distribution of ages of 445 people who responded to this question the Jamboree planning survey.

Parking at the Marriott

Those of you who attended Jamboree in 2008 will recall the parking challenges that we faced. I can guarantee this: The parking situation at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel in 2009 will be much better. Here are the specifics:

1. The Marriott typically provides an airport parking service in their lot. In past years, 200-300 spots that could be available for Jamboree were taken up by these airport parkers. This year, the Marriott is closing their airport parking service during Jamboree. That should free up a large number of parking spots.

2. The Marriott lot (including the area by the Bank of America office building) has more than 1100 spaces. On Saturday and Sunday, all of those spots are available for our use. Friday afternoon should see about 800 available parking spots. Please remember that "There isn't any parking" is not the same as "There isn't any close-by parking" and you may need to walk a little distance to the building.

3. In the unlikely event that the Marriott lot is full, there is a paid parking lot directly to the north of the Marriott. The parking cost is $9, which is less than our discounted $10 per day cost at the Marriott. Should it become necessary to use that lot, we will work with the Marriott to provide shuttle service between the remote parking lot and the hotel.

4. We are allocating 20-25 additional spots for handicapped parking. If the permanent handicap spots are full, look for a space in the area immediately to the east of the convention center (to the left as you face the convention center).

The biggest change in the parking will be evident when you leave. In prior years, there were two parking attendants taking your money when you left at the end of the day. Now there is only one attendant outside in the booth. A second parking attendant will be stationed in an alcove inside the Convention Center itself. (Look for the big banner that says "Parking.") Pay this attendant at any time throughout the day, receive a validated ticket, and drive out through the speedy automated lane. This will get you home more quickly.

If you forget to prepay, drive through the staffed booth and show your name tag to receive the discounted parking rate.


If you are dropping off passengers, pull into the main Marriott driveway (enter from Hollywood Way). You can make a U-turn and go back out the driveway without having to pay.

Deadline Alert June 15 for All Things Jamboree

Jamboree Pre-registration closes Monday, June 15. This is your last chance to buy a ticket for the Friday night banquet with Tukufu Zuberi; the Saturday morning panel discussion on "Effective Society Management"; Saturday evening's dinner with David Rencher; and the Sunday morning "The Art of Mourning." Meal tickets cannot be purchased on site so if you want to attend, make your reservation now.

June 15 is also your last chance to reserve a copy of the printed version of the syllabus. Order your copy before Monday, June 15, and it will be waiting for you when you check in at the registration table. (Those who registered before May 15 will receive a free printed copy automatically.) Issues may be available for sale at Jamboree, while quantities last.

How about a Jamboree T-Shirt?

Available in sizes from Small to 4x. $18 for standard sizes, $21 for larger sizes. Several styles available at the SCGSGenealogy Jamboree Store on CafePress.

FREE Beginning Genealogy Class June 26

Audio Recorded Sessions at Jamboree

You can download the complete list of all of the Jamboree sessions that will be audio recorded and available for purchase. CDs will be available for purchase at Jamboree at the JAMB booth. For those of you who are not attending Jamboree, you can order cassette tapes and CDs from the JAMB-Inc.com website after July 10.

One note: Ron Arons' talks are not included on the JAMB list. However, DVDs of his two talks, "Putting Flesh on the Bones" and "Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky - The Men Behind the Flamingo Hotel," will be available for purchase through the SCGS sales table.

Jamboree Volunteers are Needed - Repost

Calling all SCGS members - new members and long-time SCGS members and even potential members - to help out at Jamboree!

Jamboree is more fun when you set aside a couple of hours to help. It's a great way to get to know your fellow members and jump in both feet into activities with your Society.

The more volunteers we have to share the work, the less time that any one volunteer needs to be on duty. We want everyone to have a good time, see the lectures they want, and have an opportunity to contribute to the success of Jamboree.

The room monitor job is just the thing for volunteers who don't want to commit to several hours of work. Pick the sessions you want to attend. Sign up to be the room monitor for 2 or 3 or more of those sessions. You'll be asked to hand out evaluation forms, collect them after the session, straighten up chairs, ask people to move to the front of the room, help people find empty seats. During the lecture, you can sit back and enjoy the presentation.

We need volunteers for:

Saturday June 20 at the SCGS Library
417 Irving Drive, Burbank
10:00 a.m. until we're done

• Bagging and Stuffing Party

Thursday June 25 at the SCGS Library

• Packing help at the Library at 12:00 noon

Friday June 26 at the Marriott

• Unpacking and setup help at the Hotel starting 6:30 a.m. to noon
  
• Registration - 9:00 a.m. for setup, 12:00 registration opens
  
• Door attendants - 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  
• reSearCh GenieS - SCGS Research Assistance for US States
  
• SCGS Sales booth setup and staffing
  
• Room Monitors
• Introduce speakers - the introductions will be prepared in advance for you
  

Saturday June 27 at the Marriott

• Registration - 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Door attendants - 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
  
• reSearCh GenieS - SCGS Research Assistance for US States
• SCGS Sales booth staff
• Room Monitors
• Speaker introductions
  

Sunday June 28 at the Marriott

• Registration - 7:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon p.m.
• Door attendants - 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
  
• reSearCh GenieS - SCGS Research Assistance for US States
• SCGS Sales booth staff
• Room Monitors
• Speaker introductions
• Packing and Load-out at the Convention Center

Monday

• Unpacking help at the Library

To volunteer for any of these jobs, please send an email to SCGSJamboree@gmail.com with a subject line of Jamboree Volunteer. Please include your name and phone number so that we can get in touch with you.

Have you Checked out the SCGS Store on CafePress?

Did you know that SCGS has a store on CafePress? You can find items with Jamboree logos, SCGS logos, French-Canadian Heritage Society logos, all sorts of logos. The Jamboree Sigg hydration unit* is brand new -- very sleek and attractive. You can win one as a door prize gift, or you choose one of the new SCGS ceramic travel mugs.

Check out the many things for sale. Order a Tree shirt by Friday, June 12, and you should have it in time for Jamboree.

SCGS Store on CafePress

*hydration unit = California-speak for fancy water bottle

Help Wanted - Earn $$ at Jamboree

We have a request from an exhibitor, Bridget Poizner of Save Their Story, Inc., to help find someone who could help staff their booth. The person would talk to visitors to the booth, hand out information, and let people know about the benefits of having a video biography done. This would be a paid position for college age or older. Bridget is willing to pay $20 an hour.

If you are interested, contact Bridget directly at

Bridget Poizner
Save Their Story, Inc.
850-414-4338
800-727-1996
www.SaveTheirStory.com
info@savetheirstory.com

Family Tree DNA Offers 50% Discount

One of the longstanding supporters of Jamboree is Family Tree DNA. Max Blankfeld, who will be staffing the FTDNA booth along with Jamboree speaker Bennett Greenspan, announced special discounted pricing from June 9 through June 24 for first-time testers:

• Y-DNA37+mtDNA for $119. (The regular project price is $248 – a reduction of more than 50%!!)
• The promotion will begin on June 9, 2009 and will end on June 24, 2009.
• Kits ordered in this sale must be paid for by June 30, 2009.

This is your opportunity to skip past the Y-DNA12 and Y-DNA25 tests and get the best Y-DNA Genealogical test on the market in addition to an mtDNA test for an extremely reduced price!

Now, Bennett and Max traditionally offer special Jamboree pricing, too. If you have family members who have been thinking about jumping into the gene pool, send them a link to the special offer. Remember the offer starts on Tuesday, June 9.