My RootsTech Experience
Beginning on Wednesday, February 26, 2020 I excitedly attended my first RootsTech Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah with my friend from our church. If you are unsure of what the RootsTech Conference is, well, according to the FamilySearch Blog it is: "RootsTech is a 4-day conference dedicated to helping people celebrate and discover their family history, no matter their expertise. Beginners will have the opportunity to learn from some of the most experienced genealogists in the world. For more advanced genealogists and family historians. RootsTech is a great place to learn about new, cutting edge technology for records, digitization, mobile apps, and DNA." 1
The author, Kathleen, savors both the environment and a rare soda treat. My friend had previously attended the conference several times and she seemed delighted to show me around, which made me feel even more positive. We arrived on the first morning, discussing the different class sessions we each wanted to attend, registered, picked up our complimentary bags and went our separate ways until reuniting for our planned tour of the Family History Library, owned and managed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. While I attended The Joseph Smith Papers for Family Historians class featuring speakers Ben Godfrey, the Product Manager and Nathan Waite, an Associate Editorial Manager, I felt very captivated with everything that the two presenters communicated to the audience. Actually, I was so intrigued that my notes were rather disappointing when I perused them later. I don't seem to have the gift of listening and writing at the same time. Adding to the anticipation of wanting to know more, the speakers Ben and Nathan exhibited a level of delight that was almost tangible throughout the large room. The class description in the RootsTech schedule was:
Stephen Abbott was my 4th Great Grandfather, document found Joseph Smith Papers website. 4 Learn how you can use the vast treasure of original documents and primary sources found in The Joseph Smith Papers for your personal family histories. This session will highlight the tools and resources available at JosephSmithPapers.org including thousands of original documents, biographies, maps, charts, and more. 2 Considering the fact that my notes were meager in my eyes, I had to go to the actual website to gather a complete list of the available document types. In the Documents category, there are letters, revelations, reports of discourses, minutes, etc. There are journals and diaries in the Journals category as well as minutes and other official records in the Administrative Records category. Early manuscript and printed versions of scriptural works can be found in Revelations and Translations. There are early histories and draft material for the later History of the Church found in Histories and court, land, and business papers in Legal, Business and Financial Records. 3 When the team is finished with the project, there will be 24 volumes yet currently we may enjoy 5 volumes. Each document is searchable for and including places and all parties involved. The website URL is JosephSmithPapers.org The project team is now collaborating with FamilySearch . Once you are logged in, ancestors within any Joseph Smith Papers documents will pop up. You can arrow through them to see their names and details in the documents. As you can imagine, this will open up the availability of great information for learning our church history, building additional layers to individual testimonies, investigating more details on pioneer ancestor stories and much more. I can only hope that some of you are as excited and interested in learning more as I am. In fact, here's a great big hand to the team members that have worked on, are working on and will work on this incredible project! Watch for my next RootsTech class summary about Census 1790 to 1840 Summary References: 1. Ashley Hamblin, FamilySearch blog, "RootsTech 2020–Registration Now Open!”, accessed 7 March 2020, https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/rootstech-2020-registration/ 2. Intellectual Reserve, Inc., “RootsTech schedule”, Pub. 2020, accessed 25 February 2020, https://www.rootstech.org/salt-lake-schedule 3. The Joseph Smith Papers Project, “JosephSmithPapers.org”, accessed 26 February 2020, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/ 4. "License Record Book," p. 77, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed March 19, 2020, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/license-record-book/97 Read the full article