October Scanfest - the Last for 2007

The next Scanfest will be held Sunday, October 28th from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Pacific Daylight Time (we return to Standard Time on November 4th, this year). For those who may be new to my blog, Scanfest is a monthly event where family archivists have set aside time to scan their precious family documents and photographs. Scanning can be a rather--ahem!--BORING process to undergo, so we've added some incentive by using that time to chat online with other family archivists, family historians, and genealogists. You do not need to be a genealogy blogger--or even a blogger at all--to join us. In fact, you may not consider yourself a family archivist, family historian, or genealogist...but you are still welcome to scan and chat with us. Chances are, you've got some items lying around your home that need to be scanned and digitally preserved. If you've been telling yourself, "I really need to get this stuff scanned," then you definitely want to attend Scanfest!

Planning to attend this month is the Olive Tree Lady, Lorine McGinnis Schulze, a professional genealogist and webmaster extraordinaire. Her websites include Olive Tree Genealogy, Ancestors at Rest, Ships Lists Online, and The Genealogy Spot. She has several blogs that accompany her websites as well. You may wish to take this opportunity to chat with Lorine about her expertise in immigration, Palatine, and New Netherlands (early New York) records, among others!

Perhaps you're not sure about this "chat" thing. Don't worry! It's very easy (and secure) to do, and we can help you out. Besides, once you learn, you can impress the young people in your life by telling them that you were busy chatting online on Sunday afternoon!

Below are the details on how to join us. If this still doesn't make sense, feel free to email me (my email address can be found on this page under "Contact" in the left-hand sidebar.

To join us, you'll need a Hotmail or Gmail account, and Windows Live Messenger downloaded to your computer (Mac users go here to download Microsoft Messenger for Mac). Although WLM states that it is compatible with Yahoo! e-mail accounts, we have had difficulty adding Yahoo! users to our chat conversation. If you don't have a Hotmail or Gmail account, it's very easy (and free) to set one up. Just go to the links in the first sentence of this paragragh. Once you have gotten set up, send me an e-mail (found on this page) and I'll add you to our chat list. You'll receive an invitation message from me at my hotmail address, which will be sent to the e-mail account that you've set up for Messenger (Hotmail or Gmail), and will need to verify that I can add you as a contact.

This will be the last Scanfest of 2007. The last Sunday of November falls on Thanksgiving weekend, a major American holiday, while December's last Sunday will be the day before New Year's Eve. With the holidays approaching, we'll take a hiatus until January 27th, 2008. See you online this Sunday!