The Southern California Genealogical Society is proud to announce the 45th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. The popular conference will be held at the home of Jamboree, Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA, from Friday through Sunday, June 6 to 8, 2014.

Jamboree combines speakers, exhibitors, class sessions, and special events to create an exceptional event. Reservations are now open at the Marriott. Jamboree will again offer a mobile app to help you manage the event. Details will be announced as we draw closer to June.

Theme: The theme of the 2014 Jamboree is Golden Memories: Discovering Your Family History. Our heritage focus will be on European ancestors. Class sessions are scheduled for German, Irish, English / UK, Scotland, Eastern Europe, Italian, Mennonite, Swedish, and Russian, as well as African American and Jewish classes.

JamboFREE: Friday morning, JamboFREE makes genealogy available at no cost to genealogists at all experience levels. Beginner classes (first steps and next steps); Genealogy World small-group discussions; and orientation for new SCGS members and first-time Jamboree attendees are just three of the free sessions. 2014 will also feature a professional-level Librarians' Genealogy Boot Camp and Workshop for Genealogical Societies.

Workshops: Two Friday morning workshops will help solve the problem of reading and understanding old documents. "Ye Old Handwriting Workshop" will cover English records; and "German Gothic Handwriting - Anyone Can Read It" with F. Warren Bittner, CG, will help decipher German Gothic handwriting which is used in records of German, Austria, Switzerland, and Scandinavia. A nominal fee will be charged for attendance at the workshops.

Sessions: Fully half of the 150 sessions at Jamboree will directly address the use of technology in family history research. Other sessions will focus on methodology, organization; record types. Sessions for all experience levels will be available. Sunday's schedule includes several family history writing classes.

Friday's banquet presentation spotlights John P. Colletta, one of genealogy's most popular and entertaining speakers. In his presentation "The Keepers of the Records and I: Tales of Accessing Historical Sources," John said, "I have had to develop skills of diplomacy, negotiation, good humor, melodrama, stealth, groveling and bribery" as he's searched for family document treasures over four decades. Come hear his experiences as only John can tell them.

Syllabus: One note: in 2014, in an effort to manage costs, Jamboree's printed syllabus will be available for purchase only. Most syllabus articles will be available for download prior to Jamboree, dependent on permission of the speaker and independent of the app. Every attendee will receive a CD with all three syllabi (DNA Day, JamboFREE, and the 450+ page Jamboree syllabus.) DNA day and JamboFREE attendees will receive a free syllabus specific to their events.

Following on the heels of last year's successful inaugural conference, we will again hold Family History and DNA: Genetic Genealogy in 2014. The conference will be produced by the Southern California Genealogical Society and sponsored jointly by SCGS and the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG). Family History and DNA will be held Thursday, June 5, at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank.

Keynote speaker Dr. Maurice Gleeson is by profession a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical physician. He is also a professional actor and has appeared on the West End stage in London. Maurice is co-administrator of the Ireland mitochondrial DNA project. He has given talks on genetic genealogy at the ‘Back to Our Past’ exhibition in Dublin (2012 & 2013) and also at the National Library of Ireland (Dublin), The National Archives in Kew (London), and at various regional and local meetings. His presentation will be of interest to Irish researchers in general, as well as those who are DNA users: "How DNA will Change the Face of Irish Genealogy."

Other speakers at Family History and DNA include many of the leaders of the genetic genealogical community: Blaine Bettinger, JD; Judy G. Russell, JD, CG; CeCe Moore; Tim Janzen, MD; Diahan Southard; Alice Fairhurst; Cheri Mello; Katherine Borges; Bonny Cook; and Dr. Kathryn Johnston.

What's New for 2014?

• The registration fee for Family History and DNA has been reduced for SCGS members and non-members.


• We are offering a special discount for those who register for both DNA and Jamboree conferences.

• News will be forthcoming with details about the luncheon. Watch the Jamboree blog about updates. You can get announcements delivered right to your inbox. Just subscribe in the box on the upper right corner of the Jamboree blog.

Help us celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Southern California Genealogical Society. The Society was formed on January 10, 1964; and the Saturday banquet will top off the year-long celebration.

Celebration of SCGS's 50th Anniversary will culminate at the 2014 Jamboree Saturday Night Banquet. We'll take a look at the decade of the '60s, a seminal time in the history of the United States. Katherine York worked with San Francisco's rock impressario Bill Graham for several years, and she was the founding archivist for the multi-million-dollar Wolfgang's Vault. She will compare the gold miners' search for riches with the hippies' search for freedom.

Sunday will be "Dress like the '60s" day. Whether it's tie dye and granny glasses, or bell bottoms like Jimi Hendrix's, or a tidy shirtwaist dress with a poofy crinoline; whether it's a uniform of the US Military or the IBM uniform of dark suit, white shirt and narrow tie, show us your '60s look. We'll have a dress-up contest in the Pavilion at lunch, and the winner will receive a free registration to the 2015 Jamboree. Were you just a glimmer in someone's eye in the 60s? Never fear ... you can be a Boomer for the evening.

1964:
That Was the Year That Was

1964 took a population still grieving over the loss of its young President into the cultural decade of the '60s. It happened on a single Sunday night, February 9, when the Beatles exploded into our living rooms.

Whether you were 9, 29, or it would be 19 more years before the creation of your birth certificate, you can take a look back at that time and appreciate the many seminal changes that took place.

With passing of the Economic Opportunity Act and the Civil Rights Act and declaration of "War on Poverty" ...
... to murders of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner and burning of six Negro churches ....
... to the arrival of the Beatles and the British Invasion ...
... to the roll-out of the hot new Mustang, available for just $2,368 f.o.b. from Detroit (the official car of the 2014 Jamboree) ...
... to the introduction of Kellogg's Pop-Tarts ...
... to munching popcorn while watching Mary Poppins, A Hard Day's Night, My Fair Lady and Goldfinger ...
... to filming of the pilot episode of Star Trek ...
... 1964 was a transformative year -- the year the decade really began.

And amid all this cultural turmoil, all these events, a small group of genealogists came together and formed what would become today's Southern California Genealogical Society.

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