This exciting conference opens Friday evening, April 27 at Inver Hills Community College in Inver Grove Heights with a lecture by plenary speaker John Philip Colletta, Ph.D., "Finding the REAL Stories of Your Immigrant Ancestors" and a dessert reception. You won't want to miss this evening even if your ancestors didn't come from central or eastern Europe! John Colletta uses his inimitable ability to research the details that bring ancestors to life and tell their stories, using examples of German, French/German, and Irish families.
Saturday, April 28 the conference continues with a full day of two more lectures by Colletta -"U.S. Passenger Arrival Records, 1820-1930s: Sources and Strategies for Challenging Cases" and "The County Courthouse: Your 'Trunk in the Attic.'" In addition, the program includes fifteen breakout sessions in five tracks - German/Pommern, Czech and Slovak, Polish, Romanian, and all ethnicities (maps and DNA). There will be vendors and exhibits, an Ask the Genealogists session, door prizes, a silent auction, and more. Parking is plentiful, free, and close, and IHCC has free wireless Internet access throughout.
Register here now for special Early Bird pricing, but hurry - Early Bird prices end March 17. The conference is co-sponsored by MGS, the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, the Germanic Genealogy Society, the Polish Genealogical Society of Minnesota, the Pommern Regional Group of Minnesota, and the Romanian Genealogy Society. Watch for conference details on the MGS Events Blog.
Save the dates for MGS' other 2012 conferences:
Saturday, June 23, Mankato Genealogical Program, Mankato -co-sponsored by Blue Earth County Historical Society and Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Friday and Saturday October 5-6, North Star Conference "New Approaches and Old Sources" featuring D. Joshua Taylor.
