ALA - Genealogy & Local History Sessions - Washington DC June 22-26
Friday, June 22nd
All Day Pre-Conference - 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. National Archives Bldg.
Behind the Genealogy Reference Desk: Researching Our Nation's Treasures
Our Nation's capital holds great treasures for genealogists and historians. Find out what is available at the US National Archives and the DAR Library for family history research.
Speakers from both research centers will be available to share information about their facilities. This genealogy preconference will be held at the US National Archives Building in Washington, DC. It will include a private viewing of the Charters of Freedom held in the Rotunda.
Registration: RUSA Member: $95; ALA Member: $140; Non-Member: $215; Retired/Student Member: $57
Saturday, June 23rd
8am - 10am - Hamilton Crowne Plaza - Farragut Room. Executive Committee Meeting - I
10:30 am - 12 noon. Convention Center - Room 303. Bibliographies and Indexes
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm. MET Exec. Boardroom, Genealogy Preconference Planning Committee.
Sunday, June 24th
10:30 am - 12:00 noon. Genealogy Committee. REG Columbia Room - C
1:30 - 3:30. Convention Center - Room 144, A-C. All History is Local in a Digital World
How can libraries work to provide local history to non-local residents in a digital age?
How can the curious traveler, student, or genealogist learn about a locale that might not be their own?
The RUSA-HS panel will answer those questions. Hear about examples of local digital projects that are combinations of academic libraries, public libraries, museums and archives collaborating to do what one cannot alone.
Panelists include:
Nancy Allen, Dean & Dir. of the Penrose Library at the University of Denver. She will be speaking on the Collaborative Digitization Program and its effect.
Judy Graves, Digital Projects Coordinator, Library of Congress, who will talk about using online local history e.g., the American Memory and the National Digital Newspaper Project, to connect people to places.
Erich Kesse, Director of the Digital Library Center, University of Florida. He will discuss Florida's "Ephemeral Cities," which examines the footprint of history through dynamic mapping of digitized resources, using the map interface as a visual layer for research in local history.
The panelists will note successes and failures in digital space and allow time for questions.
Moderator will be Susan Malbin, Senior Program Officer, Institute of Museum and Library Services.
This program is sponsored by the RUSA, History Section, Local History Committee.
Monday, June 25th
10:30 am - 12:30 pm - Renaissance Mayflower Hotel - Chinese Room - GODORT Program - What difference does it make what Congress published? American history in the earliest congressional documents.
It is not known, for certain, what Congress published during the early years of the Republic, especially prior to the 15th Congress (1817). Although many Congressional publications from the period 1789-1817 are reproduced in the American State Papers, an indeterminate number are not included, some of which are known from scattered individual library collections. Others appeared with historically significant textual variations from the officially reprinted versions in the American State Papers, or are known through contemporary newspaper or later secondary bibliographic citations. Still others remain undocumented, scattered in individual library collections, unbeknownst even to their collection managers.
As a result of the burning of Washington by British armed forces on August 24, 1814, which resulted in the complete destruction of the Library of Congress as it existed at that time, this problem is all the more acute for these very early documents. Due to the preeminent importance of Congressional publications as primary sources of information concerning the early history of the United States, establishing a complete inventory of all Congressional publications from this period is a task of basic importance.
The 2007 GODORT Program, co-sponsored by the RUSA-History Section and the ACRL - Rare Books and Manuscript Section, will examine the origins of this state of affairs, the mystery concerning what Congress published prior to the 15th Congress, the variability in the text of individual surviving publications, the consequences for librarians and scholars, and the implications for an understanding of the earliest American history.
The Keynote Address by U.S. Congressman Rodney P. Frelinghuysen.
August A. Imholtz, Jr., Vice President, Readex Digital Documents Division, will address The American State Papers: The Incomplete Story, or What Was Selected and What Was Omitted, "pre-Serial Set" publications which are not included in the Gales and Seaton American State Papers, and the importance of examining individual library collections, to locate and identify otherwise unknown fugitive early publications of Congress.
Dr. Fred Beuttler, Deputy Historian, United States House of Representatives will present: "The Early House and the Early Presidents: Conflict and Compromise" which will focus on one significant early Congressional publication concerning the"John Jay Treaty," and the historical repercussions for the longer term of the debate which it inaugurates.
Finally, a presentation by Ms Jessie Kratz, Archives Specialist, NARA, Recovering the People's Voice: Unpublished Petitions and Their Impact on Publications, Legislation, and History which will discuss early archival material and its implications for an understanding of early Congressional publications and related issues in the early history of the United States.
Tuesday, June 26th
8am - 10am - Hamilton Crowne Plaza - Farragut Room. Executive Committee Meeting - II
