Special Interest Groups (SIG)

“Bring It to the Board”

This is a new event organized by MVGS President, Margaret Powell, to give members an opportunity to meet in-person with board members. The purpose is to discuss your ideas, questions, or concerns. We will meet the 3rd Tuesday of September after the monthly membership meeting. Recognizing you'll have ideas, questions, or concerns throughout the year, feel free to email presidentmvgs@mvgenealogy.org at any time.

Field Trip/Road Trip SIG

The Field Trip/Road Trip SIG meets the Fourth Friday quarterly. The next quarterly meeting of the Field Trip/Road Trip SIG is scheduled for Friday 28 October. Looking ahead to 2023, the FT/RT SIG will meet in January, April, July, and October. Information on outings in 2023 will be coming soon.

For the 28 October 2022 meeting, we will tour Old Town Alexandria with the Manumission Tour Company. We will follow some of the same steps taken by Franklin and Armfield and the enslaved people profiled by Dr. Joshua Rothman, the speaker at our September general membership meeting.

The start and finish times of the tour, as well as the cost of tickets, will depend on the number of people attending. If you are interested in joining us for the tour, contact Stephanie Campbell at sjc8665@gmail.com.

New England SIG

The special interest group for colonial New England genealogy will no longer meet regularly at the Mt. Vernon Genealogical Society Research Library and the McLean Family History Center. Instead, if there’s something you want to discuss on colonial New England, contact Linda MacLachlan at ggggrandmac@gmail.com to make an appointment, or just come to one of the Centers below while she is staffing it:

McLean Family History Center, 2034 Great Falls Street in Falls Church, VA, any Friday between 9:30 am and 1 pm.
MVGS Research Library, 1500 Shenandoah Avenue in Alexandria, VA, on the 2^nd or 3^rd Wednesday of any month between 10 am and 2 pm.

Writing Family History SIG

This group is intended for genealogists who may have done a lot of research but have written little or nothing. Participants will learn that writing family history is a different and equally challenging proposition, but one with satisfactions and discoveries of its own. The idea is to get something on paper, even if it's just a paragraph or a page, and then have other beginning writers suggest ways to make it clearer and more interesting. The emphasis will be on storytelling rather than scholarship, but we’ll also include questions of evidence and documentation. Meetings will be held via ZOOM on the third Monday of each month at 3:00 PM (regardless of holidays); Paul Phelps will instruct and may be contacted at pbphelps1@verizon.net.

The Genealogy Community on Social Media SIG

Connecting to the genealogy community on social media can add value to discovering your family history. Social media gives us the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals from all over the world; those we can work together with as a community to enhance each other’s journey. The goal of this group is to help you understand how to use social media, learn about available resources on the various platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter) and how to make the most of your time. The group will meet monthly on the 4^th Friday at 7pm via Zoom. Grab your glass of wine or drink of choice and join me to explore connecting to the genealogy community on social media. To register for this SIG, send an email to simplelivinggenealogist@yahoo.com.

African American Special Interest Group (AA-SIG)

The African-American SIG has been formed to explore the rich history of our ancestors and their experiences. A combination of learning tools (group discussions, computer searches, lectures, presentations, case studies, site visits, etc.) will assist the genealogist in uncovering clues that help tell and document their stories. Generations to come will appreciate and enjoy the care that went into preserving this bit of history.

Meetings are normally scheduled on the second Tuesday of the month from 1:00-3:00 pm. When re-opened and available, meetings will be held in the MVGS Research Center, Hollin Hall Senior Center. Meanwhile, be sure to register for a Zoom invite by sending an email to MVGSaaSIG@gmail.com.

Computer Technology and Applications SIG

This SIG is instructor-led by Larry Dempsey and Emily Cole. Guided by questions and interaction from the participants, the goal is to discuss and demonstrate how one can use computers to make genealogical research less complicated. Meetings will cover topics such as computer settings, features of genealogical programs/applications and genealogical websites. Attendees should have a basic understanding of the applications and computers they use. To ensure we address your questions, participants are urged to send their inquiries to the email address COMPUTERSIG@OUTLOOK.COM at least two days before a SIG meeting. Attendees can bring their own laptops. (Computer systems are limited to Windows 10 and 11 as well as IOS 15.)

Initially, the SIG will meet on the 4th Wednesday in the months of January through June and October between 2 PM and 3:30PM in the MVGS Research Center.