ROOTS & BRANCHES

As I write the last “Roots & Branches” column of the year 2021, there’s a bit of “déjà vu all over again” as the country is grappling with another surge of COVID-19 … just as it was doing so when the year began.

Long before the pandemic, much of genealogy has migrated to the virtual world—records available online and DNA tests taking the family history world by storm.

And when the pandemic hit, it didn’t take terribly long for a goodly number of genealogy groups to grasp that presenting programs virtually could be a huge opportunity to bring their events to people rather than requiring people to make the effort (and expense) of coming to the events.

For me personally, I was able to do a program for a county society in Iowa in the middle of the week, something that never would have happened as an in-person event.

Larger conferences were put at registrants’ fingertips, including the International German Genealogy Partnership’s virtual conference that drew more than 800 people who couldn’t get enough of an eight-day run.

Of course, some groups didn’t have or find the technological wherewithal to go virtual and that may be their death knell in a society world that’s been already weakened by the changed paradigm of easily accessible records on the Internet.

I recall being optimistic at the beginning of 2021 that the coming vaccines would enable perhaps a few events to be held in person. That, of course, didn’t happen.

And now I look at a schedule for 2022 that includes some events planned as either in-person or hybrid. Just a month ago before the omicron variant reared its ugly head at us all, I had high hopes for those non-virtual-only events and was looking forward to them with a high level of enthusiasm!

Part of my new role as interim executive director for Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania is advising on and implementing programming for the society.

People are yearning for a return to in-person events. Many simply miss being face-to-face with their genealogy friends. Others are simply weary of the virtual setting using by conferences and all the sit-behind-a-computer time it entails.

I feel for the entities such as the Ohio Genealogical Society (this year near Cincinnati), National Genealogical Society (to be held in Sacramento, California), and Indiana Historical Society (sponsors of Midwestern Roots in Indianapolis) that have scheduled partially or fully in-person conferences—all places I’ve been invited to speak.

I’m not near any decisions to pull a plug on attending any of these events. Just as a mere month ago I felt that enthusiasm a certain normalcy had arrived, much can happen between now and the spring and summer. Let’s hope it’s on the positive side!