John Philip Colletta is here, and will be speaking tomorrow at the Greater Omaha Genealogical Societies fall workshop. If you read this before 8:30, you can probably still make it, as it starts at 9:00 am. It's at the Paralyzed Veterans Building on Maple. All day workshop, 9:00 AM Using Original and Derivative Sources: How to evaluate Evidence This lecture defines and discusses original and derivative sources, and explores the assets and drawbacks of each. It demonstrates how to derive the full informational content from a source; the importance of knowing the origin and purpose of the source; how to resolve conflicting "facts;" how to weigh documentary evidence to arrive at the "most probable" truth; how to combine sources to see the "whole picture;" and how to test hypotheses to learn the true story of your own ancestors. 10:45 Only a Few Bones: Case studies in pulling sources together to reconstruct real life events The biographical facts we discover about our ancestors did not happen in a vacuum. Our ancestors were born, lived, & died under specific physical circumstances at specific times in history. Using seven specific19th-century case studies drawn from my book, Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath, this lecture demonstrates how to turn biographical facts into the real-life experiences they were by gathering together multiple documentary sources bearing on a particular ancestral event and individualizing it. The case studies include: locating the precise place in the backcountry where an ancestor was born; determining whether an ancestor built his house on his city land or his country land; learning the circumstances -- time, place, weather, society, etc. -- of a wedding ceremony; exploring an ancestor's appointment to public office during Reconstruction; examining a freedman's experience as Justice of the Peace; locating the grave of a Jewish clerk who died young; reconsructing an ancestor's legal dispute with the captain of the Robert E. Lee. 11:45 Lunch on your own & visit vendors. 1:30 Military Pension & Bounty Land Records 1776 - 1912 This lecture explains what federal military pension and bounty land records are. It discusses how they are arranged at the National Archives, what information they contain, and what you need to know to begin a search for an ancestor's record. Using two specific sample cases, it demonstrates how to use resources available locally on microfilm, in books and on the Internet, as well as those in the National Archives, to find and obtain the record of an ancestor's military pension or bounty land. 3:00 Breaking Through Brick Walls: Use your Head. The path of genealogical investigation is strewn with many stumbling blocks, and every so often we even hit a brick wall. When that happens, it’s time to use your head! This lecture offers some guidelines, some points of methodology, for how to proceed when you hit a brick wall. The theory, however, is presented very briefly, giving way to five or six solid, practical examples. It's too late to get any of the special admission discounts, except for the member discount, but there's also going to be a conference in the spring, and you can save enough between the two workshops to pay for the membership. There's door prizes, a white elephant table, "My US Roots are here:" Tshirts, 365 +1 Genealogy Tips books; handy census helpers; rubber stamps to aid in documentation, photo identification, and marking materials that need to be handed down so a well meaning descendent doesn't trash all your good work; John's books, a bake sale, and all kinds of other things going on. Hope to see you there. Karen