ROOTS & BRANCHES

OK, so this is your last chance.

Really.

Truly.

Your “Roots & Branches” columnist has devoted a number of columns to the all-virtual “Pennsylvania’s Genealogy Event” or PaGE, sponsored by the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, which runs from this coming Saturday through Aug. 12.

I’ve highlighted quite a number of features about this innovative event, but now it’s time to “fess up” to one more: I’ll be the concluding keynoter on Aug. 12.

More about that in a minute, because first I want to go through the other keynoters for PaGE, which will use the Whova event platform.

On this coming Saturday, there will be the first three keynoters:

• David Rencher, the chief genealogical officer for FamilySearch, will start the party with “The Ghost of Pennsylvania’s Genealogy Past, Present and Future: All Rolled Into One!”—appropriate since Rencher was born in Pennsylvania and has had a hand in so many innovations at FamilySearch and its Salt Lake City library.
• Then Adrienne Whaley, the education director for the ground-breaking Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, will speak about “Freedom Dreams and Coal Seams: Finding Pennsylvania’s Rich African American Genealogical Resources.”
• Finally, material culture expert Lisa Minardi will present “Family Heirlooms: Rediscovering the Hidden Histories of Pennsylvania German Fraktur and Furniture.”

After the opening day’s keynotes, there will be 30 prerecorded presentations dropped in batches for on-demand viewing (these lecturers will be available for Live Q&A sessions during the conference and their presentations will remain on the Whova app for 90 days afterwards, along with most features of the event.

For the closing day of keynotes on Aug. 12, the lineup looks like this:

• Blaine Bettinger, author of the best-selling book The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy, will start the day with, “Exploring the DNA Legacy of Pennsylvania’s Settlers.”
• Second up will be David Carmicheal, Pennsylvania’s State Archivist, with a behind-the-scenes video introduction to the new State Archives building that his staff is busily in the process of occupying in Harrisburg.
• And then your “Roots & Branches” columnist will explore the topic “Storytelling Tools for Pennsylvania’s Future Genealogists.”

The honest truth is that I’m a reluctant keynoter. But I’m convinced that the future of genealogy lies in storytelling, not just names and dates, and I have a bunch of ideas on how to do that!

Through the end of July on Tuesday, registration for the event will be under “Ready to Launch!” pricing that keeps the cost of the full conference (with GSP member discount) down to just $199.

The registration options for PaGE are to get just the Keystone Keynotes; “Sessions-plus” for just the prerecorded sessions (including those Live Q&A sessions and all other Whova features during those six days); and the “All-Access” package offers everything over the eight days of the event, along access to most features for 90 days afterwards.

For more information about the event’s program or to register, go to the URL, https://genpa.org/