The key to all good genealogical research starts with the society of other genealogists and, in turn, genealogy societies.
– the footnoteMaven
1st Edition (10 Mar 2010): Doin' Things Right
2nd Edition (10 May 2010): Collaboration
3rd Edition (10 Jul 2010) : Uniquely Us
4th Edition (10 Sep 2010) : Gen Societies on Facebook (deadline Sept. 7, 2010 [scroll down for the Call for Submissions]
Welcome to the Carnival of Genealogical Societies information page.
Jasia of Creative Gene generously allowed me to introduce this idea back in October with the 82nd edition of the COG, Breaking Into Society. In case you are new to the concept, the Carnival of Genealogy (COG) is a bimonthly blog event invented by Jasia in 2006. Individual genealogy bloggers write about an assigned topic and post the articles on their blogs. Each carnival edition has a host who gathers the submissions and publishes a round-up of links to the articles.
Regular readers know I am a firm believer in genealogical society membership and that this blog has been a wonderful way to showcase the good work of the dedicated volunteers at the California Genealogical Society. It is my hope that a carnival devoted exclusively to writing about societies will broaden awareness of what a great resource a society can be and provide a venue for gen-blogging groups to share ideas and perhaps solve problems.
Society blogs are becoming more commonplace. As of March 1, 2010, Thomas MacEntee has 37 Genealogy Society blogs listed on Geneabloggers and Chris Dunham's Genealogy Blog Finder now lists 88 Association and Society blogs. But this is a drop in the bucket when compared to the 500 societies represented by the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). From their website:
FGS links the genealogical community by helping genealogical societies strengthen and grow. To do this, FGS publishes FORUM magazine, filled with articles pertaining to society management and genealogical news. FGS also publishes an extensive series of Society Strategy Papers, covering topics about effectively operating a genealogical society.I think that a blog carnival can create a gen-society subset within the larger, existing geneablogger community. Although they don't always write about it, many gen-bloggers are active members and officers of their local societies and hold membership in distant societies where their forebears lived. Here are some great articles I've noticed in the past few months that are worthwhile reading for anyone involved in the running of a society:
FGS also links the genealogical community through its annual conference — four days of excellent lectures, including one full day devoted to society management topics.
Genealogy Societies by Karen
Promoting Genealogical Societies by Tina Sansone
Blog Presentation at my Society Meeting by Granny Pam
Should Your Genealogy Society Have a Blog? by Amy Coffin
Amy Coffin's 25 Great Topics for Genealogical Society Blogs
And now for a few specifics. For the first few months I will plan to host the Carnival of Genealogical Societies here at the CGSL blog but my intention is that hosting will rotate to other gen-society blogs. However, any individual blogger is welcome to write an article for the carnival and submit it – as long as it is on topic. The GenSo Carnival will run every other month with entries due on the 7th. I look forward to receiving your entries by the 7th of March, May, July, September and November. The carnival will publish at the host blog on the 10th of those months. Even if you've never participated in a blog carnival before, please consider joining us. I welcome your feedback about this new venture.
Call for Submissions!
Does your society have a Facebook Page? What are the benefits? Are you an administrator or a regular contributor? Does it help your members or attract new visitors and members?
The deadline for submissions is Sept. 7, 2010.
Please indicate in your article that you are writing for the Fourth Edition of the Carnival of Genealogical Societies. Submit your blog post using the carnival submission form provided by Blog Carnival. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any article you plan to submit and write a brief introduction to your articles in the "remarks" section of the form.
Past posts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
See you at the Carnival!
Copyright © 2010 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.
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