Thursday, May 9, 2013

Notes from NGS


Thomas W. Jones, Elizabeth Shown Mills, Warren Bittner, D. Joshua Taylor, Jane E. Wilcox: people I had heard about, but by whom I had never attended a presentation before this week. Ceil Jensen, David Ouimette: familiar faces in the crowd and speakers I had met before. Building evidence, computer applications, women's resources, context of place: familiar topics with new tidbits gleaned.

My most intriguing potential new source of information: Presidential libraries! Which of my ancestors are most likely to have written a letter to a sitting President? Jane Wilcox presented a copy of a letter she had written to President Nixon, retrieved from his library. She had also made a search through the collection at the FDR library in Hyde Park, which is not indexed. I'm pretty sure that my parents would have written to the White House during my lifetime. Were there other political activists in my family tree? I will have to see what I can uncover.