Society Night

On Wednesday evening, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, the mezzanine area of the convention center will play host to Society Night. Free and open to the public, many county genealogical and historical societies from all over North Carolina and nearby states will have representatives displaying information about their group's activities, answering questions about area repositories and resources, and selling publications and books. This is a great opportunity to network with genealogists from your research areas and to learn more about how you can benefit from the many societies' offerings. Live piano music will add ambiance to the evening. The exhibit hall will also be open that evening until 7:00 PM.

A free lecture series will also be offered at 7:00 PM: [note that these talks will run concurrently!]

1. "How Our Ancestors Moved over the Land in Olden Times: Land Transport Capabilities and Limitations in Colonial Carolina" presented by Tom Magnuson from the Trading Path Association.

2. "Genealogy 2.0: Using Digital Tools to Trace Your North Carolina Roots." Druscie Simpson and Christy Allen from the North Carolina State Library and Archives will present a guided tour of the North Carolina State Archives/State Library's digital resources, such as the Archives' MARS catalog, and will showcase digitized publications and records related to genealogy.

3."Melungeon Voices" is a film by Julie Williams Dixon and Warren Gentry. The Melungeons of East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia have been shrouded in mystery for hundreds of years with theories of who they might be ranging from descendants of the Lost Colony to descendants of shipwrecked sailors who intermarried with Native Americans. For any genealogist looking for a Melungeon ancestor, this one-hour documentary film is a must see. Part genealogy, part geography, part genetics, the story of the Melungeons offers a fascinating look into the earliest days of America and how people put aside ethnic and racial differences to survive.

4. "Irish Emigration to America and Canada," presented by Mary Sullivan from the Irish History Foundation, will explain the reasons for the pattern of emigration from Ireland to America and Canada - who was affected and why.

5. "The Journey of an Ancestry Record: How an Image on Ancestry.com Gets From the Archives to the Website" will be presented by Laryn Brown from Ancestry.com.