NGS Conference begins- Wednesday May 9

Up early, picked up my registration packet and I am off and running.

I forgot to tell you that all the hotels in the area (Millennium Hotel (my hotel), Hyatt Hotel (Denise & Scott's Hotel) and the Hilton (and maybe others and parking lots too) are directly connected to the Duke Energy Conference Center with skywalks- most all of them are totally enclosed from the outside elements. This is the skywalk between the Millennium Hotel and the Conference Center

 ...........nice,  really NICE!!!

 The Conference starts off  at 8am with an Opening Session "Genealogy Buried in a Photograph: Amazing Discoveries in the Cincinnati Panorama of 1848" with key note speaked Speaker isher Patricia Moseley Van Skaik. She manages ones of the nations's largest genealogy collections at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. She is an online instructor, web developer, and recipient of RootsTech's Distinguished Speaker Award.

What a great Opening Session presentation from Patricia Mosley Van Skaik. On September 24, 1848, Charles Fontayne and William S. Porter set up their camera on a rooftop in Newport, Kentucky. It panned across the Ohio River capturing on eight separate plates a two-mile span of the nation's sixth largest city, Cincinnati. While Fontayne and Porter knew their project was an ambitious one, they could not have imagined that their daguerreotype view of Cincinnati would survive more than 160 years as the oldest comprehensive photograph of any American city. The original panorama is displayed in The Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Cincinnati Room at the Main Library - specially designed argon interior glass housing to protect it from deterioration.  More information Cincinnati Library

Waiting for the Exhibit Hall to open at 9:30am ............

Holy Smokes, where did all the people come from?

Classes during the day were good, lots to think about, more resources to consider. "Strategies for Finding "Unfindable" Ancestors"; Paradigm Uses When Searching Online Genealogical Records"; "Getting to Know Your Ancestors: Integrating Social, Economic, and Political Background into Family History".

Took advantage of a planned Museum Tout and Dinner. It was held at the huge buidling that use to be the Main Railroad Station.  WOW!   First picture is of the Union Terminal in minature - yes it is a mini mock up of the real station.

And thiis is a view of the 1940 Cincinnati skyline  again in minature. You just  have to see it in person to appreciate the workmanship. It is amazing.

Good Night all....... tomorrow is another full  day.