Working In the Garden of Genealogy: Farmers or Field Hands?

Over at Marian Pierre-Louis’s blog Roots and Rambles, there’s a discussion going on about the market for professional genealogists and other such things.  She started the discussion by linking to my earlier post (see here) and then posed these questions:  

Is the role of professional genealogists disappearing?  Are their services no longer needed?  Should they focus more on providing education services?  Do you feel genealogists haven't focused on education enough? Is it time to pack our bags and go?

I tend to be wordy, so rather than clutter up her “Comments” section, I thought I’d chime in over here.

There’s an old saying, sometimes attributed to Joseph P. Kennedy (JFK’s father), that goes something like this: “When your shoeshine boy is offering you investment advice, it’s time to get out of the market.”  Of course, old Joe Kennedy didn’t mean that all the money had dried up, just that savvy investors needed to look elsewhere, in places where nobody else was looking.

In other words, when everybody and their brother thinks they’re all of a sudden market experts or Warren Buffett wannabes, the real experts, having already recognized that the boom is over and that the bubble has quietly burst,  are now quietly looking elsewhere. 

In a way, something similar has been happening in genealogy during the past decade (even though I don’t think the family history boom is over in any way. Not by a long shot!) 

There’s a whole lot more genealogy being done than when I started in 1961.  More and more people are paying more and more money for things genealogical, including hiring professionals. More and more people are finding the genealogy niche markets, like I did with reprint maps way back in 1977.  Tim Sullivan’s Ancestry.com reaches a hugely larger market than John Sittner’s original Ancestry, publisher of “The Source.” 

All of this is a good thing.

More and more people have been taking courses and seminars – both online and in-the-flesh, joining study groups and tuning it to podcasts and webinars, better educating themselves in the field with the hope of turning “pro” someday.  

I know this because they tell me directly at conferences where I speak and sell books. This is, of course, a good thing and makes for better genealogy overall, as more folks know more stuff and do better work for themselves and others. 

However, we’ve yet to see the market analyses that show there’s a huge amount of (a.) pent-up customer demand with (b.) corresponding purchasing power; i.e., customers with cash just waiting for more professional genealogists to appear and solve their brick-wall problems.

In a lot of respects, it reminds me of my days as a retail antiquarian bookseller. 

It seemed like every other person coming into the shop wanted to own a bookstore when he or she retired, mostly because he or she “just loved” books and thought it would be neat to spend the rest of their lives surrounded by old books, reading, reading, reading all the live-long day.  (Clue: real bookstore owners don't have time to read on the job...)

I wish they’d call me now; I have a great inventory of rare stuff to sell them at a great price to get them started.

Once “Antiques Roadshow” got popular, the “public at large” was convinced that every book more than 50 years old was supremely valuable and folks could never quite understand why I wouldn’t offer them hundreds – no, thousands – of dollars for their beat up family bibles and A.L. Burt reprints that they brought into the shop to sell.  It was almost like what the saw on the “Roadshow”, they thought.

Even later, folks would drop in with a book they wanted to sell and tell me how much it was worth.  After all, they already looked it up on the internet.  They zeroed in on a price they liked, disregarded the hundreds of others priced much, much lower, ignored both “points” and condition, and glossed over the fact that it was an ex-library book, with all the stamps and other marks.  The “internet” said it was worth $300, and, of course, the internet is always right.

The internet will also tell you you’re descended from Julius Caesar and the Queen of Sheba, too.

So, genealogists see that Ancestry.com is now a public company with subscriber numbers in seven figures and that “Who Do You Think You Are” has been renewed for yet another season.  Ergo, genealogy is “hot.”  The public seems to be eating this stuff up and is spending money on genealogy hand over fist.

It’s only a matter of time when genealogy will spread, Amway-like, through every American sub-division and the market for professionals will go through the roof.

Maybe. Maybe not. 

The point of my original post was to point out that “the public at large” doesn’t quite understand what we do or why and how we do it and that the lack of understanding will have a negative effect on funding the public resources that we use (libraries and archives) and on keeping public records open and available. We talk to each other about what we do, but folks outside the group aren’t getting the message, as evidenced by the people talking about genealogy on financial websites.  Those guys are the “public at large”, not the folks reading this or Marian’s excellent blog.

How about this as a measure of the market:  first show me the section labeled “Genealogy” in your local Barnes and Noble.   

They have a labeled section for “Teen Paranormal Romance” but not for “Genealogy”, at least not where I live.  Apparently there’s a market for “TPR”, suggesting that there are more teens interested in having paranormal romances than folks interested in their genealogy.   

Here’s a market lesson to take away: when it’s ready for prime time, like Home Repair, Self-Help, Mysticism or Cooking, B&N will have a section for it.

Next – imagine what would happen if “Who Do You Think You Are” announced that they were done with “celebrity” genealogy;  next season, it was all about a grocery store cashier in Kansas, a bank teller named Horace, and a little old Italian lady from Syracuse, New York, all trying to  find their ancestors.  Where would the show’s ratings go then?   (Do you wanna flush those ratings, or should I…)   

Those currently high ratings come from folks who want to see their favorite stars in a reality TV setting, not folks who want to watch a reality show featuring their next door neighbor doing strange things.  They already have “Cops” for that…

You watch it because it’s about genealogy and if you must know, you’re way, way down the “long tail” of the TV ratings curve. You’d watch it if it were on C-SPAN at 2 AM (if only you could stay awake). 

Most folks wouldn’t. It’s called being in the minority.

Finally, here’s the real test: when there’s national conference JUST for professional genealogists held in a hotel conference room that seats at least 200 people and ONLY those folks who make a middle-class living doing professional genealogy (with no other income stream, no second job, no trust fund, no working spouse, no pension or other means of support) are allowed to attend, then there’s evidence of a viable market – but only if all those seats are filled.  

The first test of “admission” is if you’re filing a separate “Schedule C”, “Subchapter S” or corporate business return for your professional genealogy biz or receiving a W-2 or 1099 from a genealogy business as an employee.  The next is if you’re supporting a family of four, making mortgage and car payments and can still afford to send kids to college on your “professional genealogy” earnings alone.

I'm not saying that only folks who make a lot of money are professionals - far from it.  I'm not saying that the market for professional genealogists won't continue to expand.  I'm simply saying that the market is not huge.  And that there are many more tattoo artists than genealogists who earn a lot of money without any other visible means of support. 

Maybe you could already make the cut as a professional genealogist; if so,congratulations!  But remember - there aren't a lot of folks like you out there.

There will always be a market for professional genealogists, but we have a long way to go before the potential customer base is large enough to absorb everybody who wants to be a professional. 

Sure, you might have studied French for eight years in school and have a great accent, but there are only so many glamorous UN General Assembly translator jobs in New York City to be had. You might have to settle for being an elementary school substitute teacher instead. Or you may have to be satisfied with something else altogether.

Or better yet, you might decide to create your own niche business and grow your own market.

Voltaire’s Candide said it well hundreds of years ago: Il faut cultiver son jardin.  You have to cultivate your own garden.  Create your own market.  Become THE expert. Don’t follow; lead the pack.

Consider this: the young guy who sold me my new cell phone yesterday at the Verizon Wireless store told me he had both a bachelor’s degree and a shiny new master’s degree. Apparently the market demand for whatever his specific field was hasn’t grown as fast as the number of competing degreed graduates – which is why he’s now standing up for eight hours, chatting with the general public and selling phones.  

Nothing wrong with that, but probably not what he expected leaving high school.

Once again, the people – the public at large - who don’t do family history or understand the genealogical research process or know how to separate evidentiary wheat from chaff think what we do is simple.  It’s not.  They can’t see what value it has.  We can. 

For all of us who do this, we need keep on explaining, advising, encouraging and telling them our story. 

Some of us can tell them HOW to do it; that’s a different, more specialized educational activity.  We can all, however, keep telling them WHY we do it and WHY they should want to.

It’s what might be called “growing the market.”  Best to do it now in the days of plenty than in a time of drought.

When The Taxman Cometh

There’s an interesting conversation going on today over at the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) member listserv about the need for professional genealogists to collect (and remit) sales taxes on professional genealogical “services.”  Last year, New York State, and specifically the Department of Tax and Finance, made it almost clear that “genealogical services” were sales-taxable.  There are still some shaded areas to be worked out, but that'll take time.

In other words, if you run a business in the State of New York, and that business does genealogical research for paying clients, then that business is in the “information services” business.  That means, plain and simple, that the bills that get sent to clients for research need to have NYS sales tax added to them (both state and local.)

But... but... should a state like New York be forcing “mom and pop” genealogy businesses to collect sales tax from their research clients?  After all, it’s a professional service.

Turns out, that’s the wrong question, because it doesn’t matter.

It’s just like selling books.  Whenever we send a book to a New York State address, the law requires us to collect the appropriate state and local sales tax, not only on the price of the book itself, but also on the shipping costs. 

That’s the law in New York State.

Of course, we also have to file periodically – usually quarterly - with a bunch of other states where we are required by law to have sales tax permits. It’s one of those costs of doing business that nobody ever thinks about when they hang out their “open for business” shingle.

Of course, nothing is ever simple.  You can’t just start a business doing research for clients, add the appropriate sales tax to your client’s bill, collect it from your client and then send it the State of New York.  Before you can do any of that, you need to register with the State Department of Tax and Finance as a business, get a “tax number” (also known as a “Certificate of Authority”), and only then can you collect and remit the tax to the state.

(Personal aside: a few years ago, New York State wanted all those of us with “old” Certificates of Authority to get “new” Certificates of Authority.  There was a $50 fee for that…)

Note that State tax people tend not to kid around.  The NYS Department of Tax and Finance makes it crystal-clear on its official website what’s likely to happen if you fail to register:

If you are required to register for sales tax purposes but fail to do so and you operate a business without a valid Certificate of Authority, you will be subject to a penalty. The maximum penalty for operating a business without a valid Certificate of Authority is $10,000, imposed at the rate of up to $500 for the first day business is conducted without a valid Certificate of Authority, plus up to $200 per day for each day after.

Of course, they wouldn’t do that to little ol’ you, right?

Welcome to the “Cautionary Tale About Sales Tax Collection”:

More than 30 years ago, I sub-leased about 200 square feet of not-so-great retail space from a friend who had just started a retail business and was selling all kinds of interesting jewelry, clothing and other objets d’art made in Asia.  I used the space to install about 15 six-foot bookcases, stocked with interesting and unusual (non-genealogical, non-historical) books. Art, science, medical history, that sort of thing.  The arrangement was simple:  I paid her for the space (and a bit extra) and she agreed to handle the sales of the occasional book, using my receipts, etc., just so it was clear that it was two separate businesses.

This all lasted for about six or so months.

Then came The Day.  The day that I found out that my friend was collecting sales tax from HER customers for HER stuff, but not sending any of it on to the State of New York.  (Because we used separate receipts, my stuff was properly accounted for and I paid the state directly.)

However, that didn’t stop the NYS sales tax agents from visiting the shop one morning, padlocking the doors and plastering huge bright orange stickers with the words "SEIZED BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK FOR TAX VIOLATION" all over the display windows. 

It took lots of calls, document production, and smooth talking to convince the tax folks that there was no problem with the thousands of out-of-print books in the bookcases and storage boxes (mine) in the two hundred square feet in the back.  My book business was current with sales tax filings. Finally, an agent allowed me inside to retrieve my stock and my bookcases.

My friend’s merchandise, however, ended up being sold at a tax auction for pennies on the dollar.

The moral here is simple:  no matter what your personal beliefs about government or taxes, if you run a business, it’s your responsibility to know what’s required in your state and then, to do what’s required.

Sure, it may not seem logical or fair.  Doesn't matter.  No question, it complicates your life.  Doesn’t matter.  If you mess with the tax folks, there’s a very high likelihood you will lose - big time.

These days, states are broke and looking for revenue sources. “Information services” businesses are easy targets when states are looking for new taxable services.  Genealogists research and sell information to clients.  Ergo . . .

If you do this sort of thing, it’s a good idea to find out if the service you provide for a fee is taxable in your state.  Here’s an interesting “advisory opinion” from the State of New York tax people about the tax-ability of “information services.”  (Not “genealogical – but close enough for government work…)

When it comes to collecting sales tax, you need to be on top of stuff like this if you run a business, not only because it is the law and you’re responsible for knowing what it is, but most of all, because –

Bright orange “tax violation” stickers on your place of business 

are not good advertising for your business skills!

Central New York Genealogical Society Conference - Saturday, April 16, 2011

We're Here On Saturday!

In the event that you’ve finished your income taxes AND if you have a free Saturday this coming weekend, AND if you’re going to be in the greater Syracuse, NY area (specifically Dewitt, NY, which is just a hop, skip and jump from Carrier Circle), you just might want to come to the Central New York Genealogical Society’s April Conference which will be held at the Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church, 5299 Jamesville Road. 

I’ll be presenting a three-lecture program AND I’ll have tables of books AND the folks of CNYGS will have home-made stew available for lunch.  Here’s the link to the program so you can see what’s what. 

The current weather forecast suggests that there will be a 90% chance of “precipitation”, which will probably be rain.  Still, it’s April and this is New York, so it might be anything.

Anyway, it doesn’t sound like a great day for gardening.  It’ll be rainy and damp.  Sounds like a "stew for lunch" day to me.

With a conference thrown in for good measure.  With friendly genealogists like yourself.  Who won't look at you all funny-like when you tell them what you do for fun, like lots of your other friends and relatives do...

Come join us if you can.  Registration starts at 8:30 AM.

NERGC 2011? Is It Soup Yet?

It’s Sunday.  10 April. 7:03 PM.   

Is NERGC over?

For vendors like Jonathan Sheppard Books, the 2011 New England Regional Genealogical Conference (aka “NERGC”) almost came to a close yesterday at 4 PM when the Exhibit Hall closed. 

However, that was just the “close” that the conferees saw. 

For the folks like us in the Exhibit Hall, the work continued. The guys from the decorating company arrived to dismantle and cart away their drapery, drapery pipes, tables and chairs.  Meanwhile, the vendors packed up their boxes and display equipment.  

We worked (two of us) from 4 PM till about 6 PM getting stuff packed up.  Then the fun began.  Moving stuff from the third floor to the first floor loading dock.  While the decorating company was moving their stuff out. While, at the same time, the hotel was moving stuff in for the “dance competition” the next day.

Anyway, here’s what we had to do:

A. Remove books from shelves.  Pack boxes. 

B. Load 4 or 5 boxes of stuff on hand truck.

C. Exit Exhibit Hall with loaded hand truck, turn left, head down service corridor to elevator. Pray that decorating company not using elevator.

D. Ride down three floors and exit near kitchen.

E. Navigate the “backstairs” part of the hotel, past the kitchen, past the employee breakroom, past crates of oranges, and onto loading dock.  Elapsed time: 6 minutes.

F. Lift each of 35 pound boxes and 30 pound bookcases (11 of them) down from the chest-high loading dock and put in van.

G. Repeat steps A through F about 20 times.

Thanks to the folks from our fellow NERGC exhibitors Maia’s Books and Family Chronicle, who willingly gave us a helping hand with the moving, we were able to get our stuff loaded by a little after 7 PM. 

One thing that may not be apparent to the conferees:  the folks in the Exhibit Hall consider each other colleagues, not competitors.  If we’re sold out of a popular in-print title, we refer customers to our colleagues on the floor.   Our colleagues do the same for us. That’s the great thing about this biz – genealogy is a common interest that promotes collegiality. 

None of us will ever get rich doing what we do, but none of us will be without friends, either.

About 2 hours later we were home, the van securely parked.

Today, we started at 9:30 AM with the unloading process.  Every box needed to be removed from the van, and every unsold book needed to be returned to the proper place on the shelves.  We worked until 4:30 PM, and did occasional conference paperwork in between.

There are still boxes in the van that will need to get moved tomorrow, weather permitting.  Then, we’ll do inventory, see what needs to be re-ordered, and start planning for the next event.  There will still be about two full days of accounting, inventory and general record-keeping work that needs to be done before we can declare NERGC 2011 officially “over.”

The next event is in Dewitt, New York (a Syracuse suburb) next Saturday.

I’ll be the “all-day” speaker (3 talks) for the Central New York Genealogical Society’s spring event.  Since we’re also exhibiting as “Jonathan Sheppard Books”, we’ll be doing all of the above again, but on a smaller scale.

Yeah, we both have loose screws…otherwise, if we were interested in monetary rewards, we’d wear paper hats, stand behind a counter and ask customers, “Would you like fries with that?”

The End Of Packing Is In Sight! The Van Is Being Loaded! (well... sort of...)

Things are going a bit more slowly than I expected.  

The morning rain was supposed to stop by noon.  It didn't.  Now, it's raining and lightly snowing, with a touch of sleet mixed in for good measure. 

Did I ever tell you that Upstate is delightful in early April? Yeah, we have mud season here, too.

Since books don't like to get their little book feet wet, we're waiting for a break in the weather and planning out our next loading move in the event the rain keeps on falling.

When we load the van, the trick is making it all fit inside in a non-hazardous way.  In other words, avoiding driver and front passenger concussion or decapitation from flying wooden bookcases is the basic idea. That’s one of the reasons we use uniformly sized boxes.  That way, it’s kind of like an exercise in bricklaying. Done right, the weight is equally distributed and nothing shifts (too much).

The first things to go in are the aforementioned folding wooden bookcases, and that’s already done.  Next are the boxes of out-of-print books, the contents of some of which I drew your attention to earlier this week.  Maps, manuscripts, ephemera bins, display panels, folding tables, table covers, bookends and book stands – they’ll all go in last, along with the luggage, the LCD projector for my talks and other odds and ends.

In between, we’ll pack the “new” in-print books.

What sort of things, you ask?  Well, we’ll have copies of a new book by Christine Rose (FASG) on using military bounty land records.  The book was just was released two weeks ago.  If you think that this would be outside your “area” since you had stay-at-home New England ancestors, you’d be dead wrong, especially if one of your guys served in the Rev. War, the War of 1812 or anything before the Civil War and thereby received a sale-able warrant.  We’ll also have Ms. Rose’s books on courthouse research and courthouse indexes, her book on nicknames and her handy book on the Genealogical Proof Standard.   

You also find a stack of Elizabeth Mills’ “Evidence” and “Evidence Explained”, as well as her “Quick Sheet” guides to source documentation.  And yes, we’ll also Diane Rapaport’s “New England Court Records.”

Then there are the new GPC “At A Glance” laminated reference guides (much like the “Quick Sheets” in style and format) on Irish, Scottish and French Canadian research.

Of course, we’ll have many of the NERGC speakers’ books.  There will be books by Colleen Fitzpatrick, John Colletta, Maureen Taylor and Leslie Huber.  We’ll have books on a variety of ethnic topics - Irish, Italian, Welsh, Scottish, African American, Hispanic and …, oh, well, you get the idea.

 Plus, there will be a number of new books that we’re fond of, but that you may have never heard of, since they’re not talked about much in genealogical circles.  Nonetheless, they’re great references.

You can see them for yourself when the Exhibit Hall opens Thursday night.  Now you know why we have four (count ‘em, FOUR) booths. 

In my next reincarnation, I’m going to concentrate on rare stamps. Or maybe autographs. Anything lightweight that doesn’t require a strong back and a van to get ‘em from place to place.

PACKING FOR NERGC – PART DREI (Okay, So Maybe We Should Just Bring Everything!)

Around here, we’re suckers for ephemera.  

For those not completely familiar with the term, it means (at least, in bookseller-speak) something – either printed or handwritten – that was produced for a very specific reason, but was not intended to be saved for any long period of time.

For example, those receipts you get from the grocery store with coupons printed on the back?  That’s ephemera.  Your cell phone bill? Ephemera.  A party invitation or the junk mail selling you lawn fertilizer?  Ephemera, too.  Today, they’re worthless.  Three hundred years from now, historians will drool over today’s junk mail and will use it to document 21^st US culture. 

These days, however, most booksellers take a broader view of what ephemera is, since 18^th century junk mail is hard to come by.  Ephemera can be a pamphlet, a small notebook or even small book. It can be a handwritten 18^th century receipt for lumber. In our NERGC booth, we’ll have three crates of interesting  ephemera with pieces relating to each of the New England states,  New York and eastern Canada, along with some handsome display pieces.

For example, I just finished writing the description for two long handwritten and signed account receipts for blacksmithing work by Zaccheus Pond of Watertown, Massachusetts for a man named Samuel Stearns.  There’s a list of all the jobs performed for Stearns from 1810 through 1814.  I also finished a 1795 “love and affection” manuscript deed from Eleazer and Abigail Mitchel of Southbury CT to their daughter Hannah, wife of Zephaniah H. Smith of Glastonbury.  

Last night, I described a tailor/seamstress accounting sheet from Camden, Oneida County, New York for sewing jobs performed for local residents between September 1841 and July 1842.  A day and a quarter’s work was valued at 38 cents.  

Anytime you can find a list of rural residents in between census years in mid 19^th century central New York, you have what could well be a genealogically significant item.  Think documenting an individual in a particular place and a particular time by finding his/her name on a tailor’s accounting record.

We’ll also have a copy of the September 1938 Rhode Island “Hurricane” book with great photos of the damage done and lists of the cottages destroyed.  Plus, I catalogued a number of funeral sermons just for NERGC.  There will also be lots of pamphlets on local history, church history and the like.  There’s a truly rare piece that documents Armenian-American soldiers in World War II, with photos and capsule biographies. There are no copies in WorldCat and none being offered for sale anywhere.

Later today, I’ll sort out some original maps and prints.  One of the ones I’ve already picked is an original Thomas Worth woodcut that was published in Harper’s Weekly showing the 1870 census-taker interviewing folks on the porch.  This link will show you what it looks like.   Note that ours is the original engraving from Harper’s, not a reproduction.

You have to admit it would look great framed and hanging in your office.

If you’d prefer something a bit older, we’ll also have a circa 1791 copperplate engraving of “View of the Attack On Bunker’s Hill, With the Burning of Charles Town, June 17, 1775”.  Yes, there’s some minor foxing and light wear.  Still, if you were born in 1791 like this engraving, you’d be foxed and lightly worn, too.  The print is triple-matted and ready for your frame.

The list goes on and on.

Today is Monday and we’re getting down to the wire.  Next, we'll have to make sure it all fits in the van!

PACKING FOR NERGC – PART DEUX

It's getting crowded around here.

The work tables are brimming with books, old and new.

The stacks of packed book boxes are growing.  It’s getting harder to navigate between the piles.

Here are some more of the items that have already “made the cut”, so to speak, in addition to the many town histories, etc. that our customers have come to expect.

BOOKS

Most genealogists know that historian David Hackett Fischer has a way with words.  While his classic “Albion’s Seed” is probably his best known work in the genealogy world, there’s another much less well known work that is well worth reading too.  We’re bringing a copy (that’s right, just one) of his 1996 “The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History”, which is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the economic factors – especially the rise and fall of prices –that influenced and determined our ancestors’ life decisions.

In keeping with this idea that mundane “getting and spending” activities– jobs, money, profit - were also  keen motivators that influenced our ancestors’ decisions on such matters as spouse selection (“her father’s filthy rich”), migration (what, you think your farmer ancestor moved to Ohio for the scenery?) and job choice (had he been able to read and write, he would have been a great attorney…), we’re also packing some business histories, a number of “westward migration” books and a couple of copies of a fascinating study of early “commercial travelers”, also known as “traveling salesmen”.  It’s called “100 Years On the Road: The Traveling Salesman in American Culture.” It covers the 1830 – 1920 time period and makes use of letters and diaries, etc.  It’s also the first book on the subject.  We’ve also got a title or two about the ubiquitous “Yankee” peddler and his wagonsful of “notions.”

Oh…and about that “spouse selection” reference above – we’ve got two copies of “I Do I Do”, about American wedding customs and then, cognizant that things didn’t always work out, we’ve packed a single copy of “Framing American Divorce: From The Revolutionary Generation To The Victorians.”  Plus, we’ll also have a few copies of “Forbidden Fruit: Love Stories from The Underground Railroad.”

Then, continuing along the same line – but a bit farther away, I just packed a pristine hardcover copy of Asa Briggs “A Social History of England” which has a chapter entitled “The Quest for Wealth, Power and Pleasure” and another on “Poverty and Progress.”

Very frankly, if you’re not reading and studying the background material, you’re likely missing a whole lot about your ancestors’ lives and times.  It’s not just collecting names and dates, you know.  Really.  It isn’t.

DOCUMENTS AND MANUSCRIPTS

We’ll also have a small selection of interesting original prints, maps and documents.  Some of the documents are intensely family-specific, but are absolutely fascinating pieces of history in their own right. For example, I just packed (1.) a letter from Alfred Lennox to his brother Patrick back home in Wiscasset, Maine.  In his “blue paper” letter dated “New Orleans, Sunday, December 30^th 1849”, Alfred discusses his health, his Thanksgiving dinner of well-seasoned salt pork, the loss of another Lennox vessel, the “Mary T. Randlett” and much more. The Lennox brothers dominated the Maine “coaster” business several decades later.  There’s also (2.) a large partially printed document (an 1830 militia appointment, making John T. Knapp a major in the NY 167th) signed by NY Gov. Enos T. Throop, (3.) a striking large broadside referencing the collection of the State of Maine Tax for 1829,  some deeds, … well, you get the idea.  

These, of course, are the “real one-of-a-kind deal” – not copies.

THE DOOR PRIZE

Finally, there’s a sneak peek at the door prize quilt close up (below).  

It’s 42” X 68” overall and ideal for keeping the chill off your knees and lower extremities come those cold New England (or upstate NY) evenings.

The quilter refused to let me put her in the picture, but she’ll be in the NERGC booth.

PACKING FOR NERGC - PART ONE

Today was NERGC Packing Day – Part One.

As some of you know, next week is the New England Regional Genealogical Conference, and, in addition to yours truly doing two new lectures, we’re also exhibiting in the Exhibit Hall, wearing our “Jonathan Sheppard Books” hats.

Okay, no actual hats, but you get the idea.

We have a pretty large space (four booths) and we plan on bringing lots of hard-to-find, out-of-print titles as well as a select assortment of in-print items, too.  There will also be one-of-a-kind 19^th century original manuscripts. There will be original documents.  There will be maps.  There will be… whatever I decide to pack at the last minute.

We’re concentrating on items that relate to the six New England states, plus New York State and Canada, along with some Irish, English and Scottish titles, social history, genealogy, reference material and ethnic history.  Some of the titles are pretty obscure, but then, I like to introduce genealogists to things that may not usually appear on their research radar. 

For example, if you’re doing any Civil War related research and are not yet familiar with Drew Gilpin Faust’s recent “Republic of Suffering”, you’re missing a lot.  Dr. Faust is a top-notch historian, writes a mean, well-documented book (this one’s about caring for the CW dead), and in her spare time is President of Harvard.  We’ll have copies. Need the one-volume edition of Seymour Dunbar’s 1915 classic the “History of Travel in America” (probably the best study of how our ancestors traveled from Point A to Point B)?  We’ll have that, too.

I could go on and on about the stuff we're bringing, but you're much better off coming to look it over yourself.

We’ll also have lots of original-edition 19^th and early century local histories and genealogies.  Many of these will be the original first editions, more than a century old, with real steel engraved illustrations, printed on real paper with honest-to-God metal type that is pressed into the paper so that you can feel the words when you run your fingers across the page.  Do I make myself clear?  Think original antiques.  These books are to “reprints” as the original DaVinci “Mona Lisa” in the Louvre is to a magazine illustration of the same painting.  Or as an original antique chair is to a chain store reproduction.

If you’re coming to NERGC, plan on allowing plenty of time to browse our booth(s); my guess is that we’ll have well in excess of a thousand or so titles on display before we’re done packing.

And, as a special thank-you to our loyal customers over the past 34 years, we’ve discounted a large number of our out-of-print titles, just for NERGC attendees.  Not everything, mind you, but still, a very significant number.  Look for the special orange discount cards.

It’s always hard breaking the news to the books that don’t get to go to NERGC.  Those poor books have to stay home and sit on the shelves, waiting to be adopted by other means.  Pennsylvania? Nope.  Ohio?  Sorry, guys.  Virginia?  Not this time!   It’s NERGC, so it’s mostly New England.

Plus, these stay-at-home books are suffering since everybody seems fascinated with e-books and digital stuff.

Don’t worry, I tell them, the really serious types know that digitized titles are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.  There’s lots more stuff that is essential to research that exists only in paper-ink-glue format.  You’ll get your turn to find a new home soon!

Oh, yeah. The Jonathan Sheppard Books NERGC door prize. 

This year, we’re offering an original, one-of-a-kind, artisan-designed lap quilt.  Come check it out!