Conference Attendance!

A question we have been asked a few times is how many attended the conference. We have been told by NGS that the number of attendees was over 1600! Thanks for making the conference a great one!

THANK YOU!

Thank you for coming to Raleigh for NGS 2009! We hope that you had a great time at the conference and in the Raleigh area!

We were so happy to have you visit and hope that you will come back and visit us soon!

We enjoyed so much re-acquainting with old friends and making lots of new ones!

Maybe we'll see you in Salt Lake City UT in 2010 ("Follow Your Ancestral Trails" ) or Charleston SC in 2011!

Orienting Yourself at the Convention Center -- a Quick Guide

Here's a quick floor-by-floor guide to the Raleigh Convention Center!

Floor 1 -- Exhibit level

• Exhibit Hall A is the one closest to the front of the building -- access it from the Mezzanine level via a dedicated escalator or elevator

Floor 2 -- Mezzanine level

• The level you are on if you enter off Cabarrus St.
• Access to the exhibit hall (use escalator or elevator to go down one level as designated)
• Any classrooms with a number in the 200s
• Connector hallway to the Marriott
• Society Night on Wednesday

Floor 3 -- Meeting level

• The level you are on when you come in the "main entrance" off Salisbury Street
• Registration Area
• Any classrooms with a number in the 300s (301-304 are on the S side and 305 -307 are on the N side)

Floor 4 -- Ballroom level

• The Ballroom
• Classroom 402 (SE corner)

Google Map of the Raleigh and North Carolina

We have created a map of some of the important locations in Raleigh and North Carolina on Google Maps.

Please follow this link view the map.

The map identifies locations according to the following key:

• A blue circular pin with a black dot in the center -- The Raleigh Convention and Conference Center. The location of the conference.
  
• A yellow house -- The three conference hotels
• A knife and fork -- Dining areas or specific restaurants
  
• A coffee cup -- (New!) Local coffee bars and cafés
  
• A purple push pin -- The Raleigh City Museum & Visitor's Center
• A green push pin -- Libraries and archives
  
• A yellow push pin -- Historical sites
• A red push pin -- Historic cemeteries
  
• A light blue push pin -- Other sites of interest
  
• A blue letter P -- Parking (New! The map now includes the locations of the Convention Center, Cabarrus and Archives parking lots.)
  

We will continue to update the map with additional locations, including parking locations.

Visiting the NC Archives -- Part V -- Guides to Help You With Your Visit!

Visiting the NC Archives -- Part V -- Guides to Help You With Your Visit!

You've arranged your travel, lodgings and have some idea of what sessions you plan to visit! And, if you are planning a visit to the NC State Archives and the State Library of NC (remember that they are in the same building!), you might have decided what day you'll try for!

To assist you with your archives visit -- here are a few documents that you might find useful, both for understanding NC record availability and getting a sense of the "lay of the land" in the archives.

• NC Map showing "burned" counties and those with other sources of "record losses"
• A map showing the physical layout of the Archives search room (note that it is not to scale and gives you a sense of how it is organized)
• A map showing the physical layout of the Archives Microfilm room -- this self-service room might be an important part of your visit. Many records have been microfilmed and sometimes it's easier to access them via microfilm than requesting the originals -- almost half the microfilm machines permit you to print copies (8 1/2 x 11 or 11 x 17) for $.25 each!
• Instructions on how to request "copies" of original documents -- you found something, now you want a copy! These instructions will help expedite your request for those copies. Recognize that "bound volumes", maps and other type documents CANNOT be photocopied. Staff will be happy to talk with you about digitizing options and you might want to bring a camera with you just in case (note that you cannot use any flash!)

Important note: If you can't get into the NC archives when you want, don't despair -- in the same building you have two other resources available to you!

• (on the mezzanine) the Genealogy room of the State Library of NC can hold more people than the archives! It has an excellent collection of books for all NC counties, nearby states, etc and includes family histories, NC genealogy/history society journals, as well as an extensive microfilm collection.
• (on the first floor) you can access an extensive microfilm collection of North Carolina newspapers, check out this link for more info about this wonderful collection, http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/reference/newspapers.html

UNC-CH -- A Great Archive to Visit While You Are in Town!

One of the many repositories available for research near the National Genealogical Society Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina May 13-16, 2009 is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A number of significant collections of interest to genealogists and historians alike include The Southern Historical Collection, Documenting the American South, The Maps Collection, the North Carolina Collection and the Microforms Collection.

The Southern Historical Collection is perhaps the world’s largest collection of manuscript material documenting the American South. Individual archival collections are comprised of many unique primary documents such as diaries, correspondence, oral histories and photographs. Helpful to researchers is an online finding aid to this collection at www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv.html. The Southern Historical Collection is housed on campus in the Louis Round Wilson Library on the 4th floor.

Documenting the American South (DocSouth) is a digital publishing initiative that allows the access of primary resources on Southern history, literature, and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. Currently DocSouth includes twelve thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.

Other digital collections at UNC include the Gilmore Civil War Maps Collection, the North Carolina County Collection, and the North Carolina Maps collection which when complete, will contain over 1,500 maps ranging in date from the late 1500s to the 1970s, and will include detailed maps for each of North Carolina’s one hundred counties. Additional information on these digital collections, as well as DocSouth, can be found at www.lib.unc.edu/digitalprojects.html.

The Maps Collection at UNC houses about 250,000 maps and charts covering the world. It also contains atlases, gazetteers, cartographic reference volumes, and government depository publications. The volumes in the Maps Collection including government document gazetteers have been cataloged and are listed in the UNC-Chapel Hill online catalog at www.lib.unc.edu/maps/indexes.html.

More than 170,000 books and 110,000 pamphlets form the heart of the North Carolina Collection, and these are supplemented by newspapers, journals, maps and photographs, among other items. Located in the Louis Round Wilson Library, this collection preserves
literary, visual, and artifactual materials illustrating four centuries of the colony and state of North Carolina.

The Microforms Collection contains an extremely large and diverse group of materials. Copies of many major United States and foreign newspapers are available, as well as US and foreign government documents. There is also a large collection of medieval manuscripts and microfilmed editions of papers of prominent individuals and organizations. The Microforms Collections is located on the 2nd floor of Davis Library and includes over one million items on microfilm, microfiche, microcard and microprint.

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Getting from the Raleigh Convention Center to the campus of UNC at Chapel-Hill is an easy drive of less than 30 miles. As each collection has its own hours of operation and special guidelines for use, it is important to consult the collection web page for information before travelling. The diversity of these collections cannot compare to anything else in North Carolina and an opportunity to visit should not be missed.

FYI -- Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar -- Offer for Conference Attendees

FYI ...

We look forward to your group’s arrival to Raleigh, May 13-16, for your annual conference.

Please share with your attendees that anyone interested in dining at our restaurant will receive a complimentary appetizer (excluding seafood tower), with the purchase of an entrée. We are located at Crabtree Valley Mall. Please let them know to just show a name badge, program, or something showing they are attending the conference so we know to give them their complimentary appetizer.

Also, if your board members are looking for a place to hold a last minute meeting, dinner, or lunch, please let me know and we will be happy to accommodate your group in our private dining room. Any group that currently books a dinner for 10 or more people in May, receives a $150 scrip to use at their next visit to Fleming’s (accepted at any Fleming’s).

Thank you and again, welcome to Raleigh!

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar
4325 Glenwood Ave.
Suite 5004
Raleigh, NC 27612
(919) 571-6200
(866) 931-6602 fax
http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/