From the Lost Colony to the West,
North Carolina and the Building of a Nation     

Deadline: 1 April 2008

You are invited to submit lecture proposals for the 2009 Conference-in-the-States to be held 13–16 May 2009 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Home to the first English settlement in North America, North Carolina’s storied past provides a backdrop for an exciting conference that will explore early settlement and the records left by individuals who lived within her borders. While early settlers include Virginians moving southward, Highland Scots, and DeGraffenried’s Swiss and German settlers, second generation settlers from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia became the beginning of a flood of people who followed the Carolina and Pennsylvania Wagon Roads into Piedmont North Carolina and beyond. These people, their records and their migration will be one of the major focuses of the conference.

Among the topics being considered are lectures on the history, records, repositories and ethnic and religious groups of North Carolina and neighboring states with special emphasis on migrations into, within and out of the region and the origins of the early settlers. Other regional topics of interest include land and military records (especially the French and Indian Revolutionary and Civil wars). Proposals are also solicited for the broader genealogical categories including federal records, the law as it relates to genealogy, methodology, problem solving, the use of  technology including genetics and other 20th-century research topics and hands-on and computer workshops.

Sessions are generally limited to one hour. Syllabus material (PDF files), due in early 2009, is required for each lecture or workshop presentation and will be included in the syllabus distributed to all conference registrants.

Please see proposal guidelines at  www.ngsgenealogy.org/2009callforpapers.cfm for instructions regarding submitting proposals.

Speakers may submit any number of proposals.

NGS members will be given first consideration as speakers.

Lecturers will receive complimentary conference registration and publications and compensation based on the number of lectures given.