Illinois State Genealogical Society Blog

ISGS is excited to announce our speaker lineup for the 2023 Fall Conference! This year is our first IN-PERSON conference since 2019, and will be held at Heartland Community College in Normal! This year's conference will have 2 tracks that focus on Illinois research, repositories, and history, plus DNA tips and tricks. Check our our excellent lineup of knowledgeable speakers! Keynote Lecture from Dr. David Joens , Director of the Illinois State Archives! Caron Brennan : How I Use DNA in my Genealogical Research Laura Kovarik : Illinois History and Genealogy: Speed Version! David McDonald : Illinois Settlement Patterns: From the Colonial Era to 1850 Introduction to the Illinois Research Archives Depository (IRAD), featuring Illinois State University Teri Barnett : Researching Your Ancestors at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Kelly Hickey, DNAngels ( Back by Popular Demand! ): Unraveling DNA Mysteries: Inspiring Stories of Discovery Tina Beaird : Illinois County Resource Pri

Check out these exciting upcoming events from ISGS Associate Members! The Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago's 41st Annual Family History Conference is coming! October 14-15th CAGGNI's Road Trip to the Wisconsin Historical Society is coming up September 28th-30th! The trip for CAGGNI members includes a tour of the Society, and plenty of research time. Registration closes on August 30th- CLICK HERE for more info! The Polish Genealogical Society of America will be holding their next webinar on Sunday, August 20th. Vera Miller will discuss the timely topic of emergency efforts to preserve Ukrainian genealogical records. Learn about efforts by FamilySearch and others to protect and digitize records of Ukrainian ancestors. CLICK HERE for more info and to register! © 2023, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society

The University of Illinois' Illinois Newspaper Project is offering a GREAT opportunity for libraries and societies who have microfilmed newspapers in their collections! The Illinois Newspaper Project (INP) is now accepting nominations for newspapers to be digitized as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. All Illinois cultural heritage institutions (including libraries, museums, archives, and historical and genealogical societies) are invited to nominate newspapers on microfilm held in their collections. 100,000 pages of newspapers will be digitized and made freely available online. Nomination Criteria Newspapers nominated for digitization: Must be available on microfilm Must have been published prior to 1964 Must be free of copyright restriction (note: issues published before 1928 are in the public domain) Must not already be freely available online For details on this fantastic opportunity, visit