91��ý

On Friday, January 24, 2020 the RUSA Genealogy Midwinter Institute sponsored by ProQuest will explore German History during the 91��ý Midwinter Meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA

This year’s institute will feature a hands-on workshop “Reading Old German Handwriting Styles Without Knowing the language” by Milan Pohontsch and a presentation on the “German Immigrants in American Church Records” project by Roger P. Minert. The afternoon will include an information tour of the German Society of Pennsylvania and opportunities to debrief on the day and network with other attendees.

Milan Pohontsch is a native German and Wend at the same time. He does genealogical research in both languages and has more than 10,000 hours of research experience in original records and microfilms. Milan is accredited in German research and a constant guest presenter at various genealogical conferences. He has published several genealogy-related articles in the U.S. and Germany. Milan has two engineer degrees from German universities and a Masters in Library Science from an U.S. university.

Roger P. Minert is a professor of family history at Brigham Young University (BTU) and a professional genealogist with accreditation from the Salt Lake Family History Library. He has a background in German language study and has published reference books for genealogy work on German immigrants, guides on performing German genealogy research, and books about the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany. He frequently presents on German family history topics at genealogy conferences.

Registration is $20 and includes the morning workshop, presentation, snacks and tour.

This institute is sponsored by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) a division of the 91��ý, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, reader's advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and information sources, services, and collection materials they need.