RootsTech 2021 Goes Virtual and NGS/FGS Complete Merger

RootsTech 2021

FamilySearch announced this week that RootsTech 2021 has been changed to a three-day online event from 25–27 February. Begun as a small conference in the late 1990s to explore the expanding role of technology in genealogy, RootsTech has grown into the world’s largest annual family history event. Since 2010, when it piggy-backed on the National Genealogical Society’s yearly conference, RootsTech, now sponsored by FamilySearch, has been held in Salt Lake City at the Salt Palace. By 2019, more than 27,000 attendees from every state and forty-seven different countries attended the conference. RootsTech 2021 was to be held in early February 2021 in Salt Lake City, but the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a complete change of plans.

Now renamed RootsTech Connect, the conference promises international keynote speakers, online classes for every skill level, a wide variety of livestreamed and recorded lectures, a virtual expo hall with vendors, and some just-for-fun entertainment. The best news about this updated schedule is that the conference will be completely free and open to everyone.

 To participate, all you have to do is pre-register. The process couldn't be easier. Just go to the the FamilySearch press release page. Scroll down the page to the registration form, which asks for some very basic information, and submit your registration. You will receive an acknowledgement within minutes, which will verify your registration and give you a link to use in case you have any questions. It's a simple step to what will undoubtedly be a great way to spend a few days in February.

NGS and FGS Merger is a Go

If you have been doing genealogy for a while, you know that there are two national organizations serving genealogists, although in different capacities––the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the National Genealogical Society (NGS). Each group has publications, prominent websites, separate staffs and offices, and an annual genealogy conference. The National Genealogical Society dates from 1903 and has always been a leader in education, publishing, and methodology. FGS organized in 1975 as a way to consolidate projects and programs of newly formed genealogy societies. By the 1980s, it had become active in acquiring access to and preserving records and in the politics involved with open access to records. Today, it consists of hundreds of genealogical societies, mostly in the U.S., and its emphasis is on society management, as well as education and records preservation.

In our blog post from 26 August 2019, we announced that with increasing concerns about duplication of efforts and a desire to consolidate resources, the leadership of both organizations were beginning to plan a merger. Their goal was to create one organization, under the auspices of NGS, that would support both individual genealogists and genealogy societies. To that end, representatives of both organizations have spent the past year working out the details of one combined national society that will be open to everyone. 

In June, they announced new bylaws and the creation of a House of Delegates to provide feedback to the NGS board. In addition, there will now be a vice president for Society and Organization Management. And finally, this past summer, with all the legalities in place, members of the FGS voted unanimously to merge with NGS, effective 1 October 2020. 

Look forward to a much stronger, more unified NGS that now can assist genealogists in many new ways. If you want to read more, check out the NGS/FGS merger blog.