Here in Minnesota, spring is technically here. We’ve passed the equinox. However, there is six to twelve inches of new snow on the ground. This afternoon it’s 44 degrees, with more snow forecast for tonight. As a child in Rhode Island, I experienced snow bunnies and shivered in my Easter bonnet, but Easter is long over! Maybe this year we’ll have snow on Memorial Day!
What does spring mean to genealogists? Longer days and more sunlight energize us–perhaps to get out and do research (though in much of the country it’s too early to walk cemeteries), perhaps to spring clean our paper and electronic files, perhaps to attend spring conferences of genealogical societies.
In the upper Midwest, Wisconsin State Genealogical Society’s Gene-a-Rama Conference took place April 6. Iowa Genealogical Society’s Spring Workshop is coming up April 20 in Des Moines. April concludes with the Nordic Genealogy Conference co-sponsored by Minnesota Genealogical Society and seven Scandinavian, Icelandic, and Sami genealogical and heritage groups on April 26 and 27 in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, not far from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. Next month comes the National Genealogical Society’s 2013 family history conference in Las Vegas May 8 through May 11. Linked with the NGS conference is the Board for Certification for Genealogists Education Fund Workshop May 7.
What am I doing to celebrate spring? I’m doing research: I just received the results from my full-sequence mitochondrial DNA test from Family Tree DNA and will be figuring out what my matches mean. I’ve done spring cleaning, clearing out some old files and continuing to digitize paper files. And I’m helping organize the Minnesota Genealogical Society’s Nordic Genealogy Conference, as well as preparing to give a talk there called Don’t Cross the Pond Till You’re Ready!
What are your spring plans?
