Family History Expo 10th—12th August 2018
Brief Report—Over the weekend of 10th – 12th August 2018, the Auckland City Library and the NZSG Genealogical Computing Group once again co-hosted another fantastic Family History Expo.
From the nibbles and drinks on the Friday night and the presentation by Kerry Farmer on ‘DNA: Another tool in the genealogist's toolbox’ followed by a panel discussion with all four overseas presenters it was a genealogist’s dream.
All the usual supporters were there: Irish, Scottish, Māori, Pacific Island, European Interest Groups, FamilySearch, Ancestry, My Heritage, Beehive Books, AWMM Cenotaph Station, Mentis (with all their scanning gadgets), and so many more. If you haven’t been in past years, put this in your diary for next year. Apart from the Friday night event, the whole weekend is FREE – apart from the raffle tickets you are encouraged to buy. But even then, you could win DNA Kits, subscriptions for all the main Genealogy sites and lots more besides.
The presentations throughout the weekend were superb – I just wish I had more time to attend them. In Diane Loosle’s talk on FamilySearch tools for the Advanced Researcher, it was standing room only – and then they started turning people away. Diane is the Director of the Family History Library in Utah – so she really knew her subject and delivered it so we could all understand it easily.
Raniera Kingi’s session on Whakapapa : Broadening your understanding of Whakapapa and find out about Auckland City Libraries resources – opened up opportunities for many attending – particularly with reference to Māori Land Court records and minute books. Also available to many for the first time, were two publications given away by library staff. One book ‘Ko tōku whanāu’ is a wonderful tool as a simple guide to help school age students on their journey to understanding their whanau connections and write them up in a meaningful way. The other book, ‘Whakapapa for Beginners’ is a small booklet you could carry with you to research facilities to help you with where to go next. Both of these books were developed by Raewyn Paewai who used to work at Auckland Libraries.
Lorraine RICE
