Centenary Events
Centenary Events
The Society of Genealogists was founded in 1911. In celebration of its centenary we published our History Society of Genealogists : A century of family history available from the online bookshop.
“The respected institution celebrates its 100th birthday …Now we have the official hustory of those 100 years, Inevitably the book has an inward focus but this lavishly-produced volume offers a great deal of wider reflection on how genealogy has been perceived over the years and how to clebrate it.
The main body has 18 chapters, each of which is an essay by a figure in the SoG’s recent history. Between them they discuss many issues and togeter provide a history of the organisation. YFT regular Else Churchilll reveals how the Society has lobied for archive users, Michale Sharpe reflects on the relationship between family history and the media; and Frank Hardy describes the changing role of volunteers wothin the Society. Meenwhile Susan Gibbns, who was Librarian from 1991-2010, provides both a personal recollection of working there, and a useful survey of the many invaluable collections held. Dr Colin Chapman of the legendary Chapman codes reminisces about the 1970s and 1980s. Past and Present Officers recall their involvement and many of the people who have made working for the SoG so interesting.
Interspersed among the cha[ters are timelines of the organaisation down the years. Also, appropriately enough, this book is something of a genealogiala document providing several losts of names, from patrons and officers of the Society to a useful index of obituaries in the the Genealoggists’ Magazine. Names of imporrtant contributors to the SoG who crop up in the book are also indexed.”
The Society of Genealogists was incorporated under Licence of the Board of Trade as the Society of Genealogists of London on May 8 1911. Hence we were are 100 years old in 2011 and have been are celebrating our anniversary in style. Several articles giving a potted history of the Society have appeared in in the genealogy press and we are grateful to those magazines that have given us permission to publish copies of them here.
1911-2011. A Century of Family History by Else Churchill was first published in Your Family History in May 2011 . Else, the Genealogist at the SoG talks about the Society’s roots and archive holdings plus the shape of things to come in the 21st Century
A Centenary of Family History by Sue Gibbons first appeared in May 2011 issue of Family Tree Magazine. The Society of Genealogists has been preserving historic records, campaigning, educating and informing for a remarkable 100 years. In this article former Society librarian Sue Gibbons looks back at its achievements and explains how its work is still so vital to family historians today.
A century of Genealogy by Jen Newby first appeared in March 2011 Family History Monthly . The article includes an interview with Else Churchill, SoG Genealogist who tells us what has changed for researchers since 1911
A report and pictures from the Centenary Conference and Gala Dinner have been posted on the our News Blog, and was published the September 2011 issue of the Genealogists Magazine. More on the blog...
Society of Genealogists President's Centenary Lecture - Genealogy: Our Favourite Insanity given on 18 October 2011
On the occasion of the Society's Centenary, Patric Dickinson took the opportunity to offer some reflections on the many changes that have taken place in the world of genealogy during the fifty years since Sir Anthony Wagner's lecture 'Genealogy and the Common Man' (given as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1961), a period that has witnessed the growth of family history from a hobby enjoyed by a small minority to a popular activity pursued by millions of people worldwide. The Text of this lecture will be published in the March 2012 issue of the Genealogists’ Magazine.
Centenary Weekend
Judging by the smiles and nice comments I think everyone who attended the Society of Genealogists’ Centenary celebrations over the weekend of 6-7th May had a very good time. On a beautiful spring evening SoG members, staff, friends and guests attended the Anniversary Gala Dinner at the Royal Overseas League. The Society’s Patron HRH Prince Michael of Kent welcomed everyone and congratulated the Society on reaching its anniversary and, in addition, awarded the Society of Genealogists’ prestigious Prince Michael Award to Alex Graham of Wall to Wall Television.
Attendees at the Gala Dinner included our President Patric Dickinson, Clarenceux King of Arms; Vice Presidents Dr Peter Spufford and Dr Elizabeth Hallam Smith; Centenary Sponsors findmypast (along with parent company brightsolid and sister company GenesReunited); SoG Chairman Colin Allen and fellow Trustees; SoG Chief Executive June Perrin and staff and, of course, SoG Fellows and Members. Guests included Sara Rapson (General Registrar and CEO Identity and Passport Office); Alan and Terri Packer and Patrick and Jennifer Kearon (from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), various representatives of the genealogical online community and websites, and editors of the genealogical press.
Our President offered the Loyal Toast and cut the Society’ birthday cake. Colin Chapman, Chairman of the Fellows, toasted the Society; congratulating it on its past and wishing it well in the future. An after dinner auction of gifts and prizes generously donated by various suppliers raised funds for the Society. Everyone looked very grand either in black tie or party frock though I am sure many of the ladies, like me, welcomed the opportunity to ease out of heels and relax with a drink afterwards!! The Royal Overseas League was a lovely venue and made us very welcome.
The conference the following day was equally enjoyable.(especially as there was no need to wear high heels). After being formally welcomed by Colin Allen and Debra Chatfield from Findmypast the delegates were eager to hear the Society’s programme of talks. Along with as centenary sponsorship from Findmypast that provided for the venue and many of the gifts for the conference bags for each delegate, the Society of Genealogists was able to provide many of the speakers with help from the sponsorship of the Halsted Trust.
Dr Nick Barratt challenged family historians to preserve and make use of their own personal family stories and archives for the future of genealogy. Schelly Dardashti showed how DNA can help solve genealogical questions using the Iberian Ashkanaz DNA project as an example and throwing in a tremendous amount of history of Jewish and European migration for good measure. Dr Colin Chapman made sure everyone had a good understanding of the history of the Society of Genealogists and his chairman Dr Peter Spufford encouraged everyone to purchase the Society’s recently published history. Dr Bruce Durie spoke on the future of genealogy education. Despite becoming a father only the night before!! Jeremy Goldsmith came to explain problems and challenges of using parish registers in the 21st century. Sharon Hintzte gave a thought provoking outline of the preservation of genealogies in older cultures and suggested that the future genealogy memories will be recorded on our mobile phones and in digital web archives no bigger than a freight container. Dr Gill Draper warned of over reliance on the technology of genealogy though acknowledged that it has made innovations in family reconstruction before the 18th century. Alex Tritton showed the future of genealogical communication with blogs and other media to record and promote family stories. Else Churchill outlined some lesser used, but name rich resources, for researching in the Long 18th Century while Beverley Charles Rowe explained the technical intricacies of automated name linkage within genealogical databases.
Everyone came together at the end of the conference to hear Juliet Nicolson’s evocation of the events in the long hot summer of 1911 in which the Society of Genealogists was founded. She spoke eloquently and was very amusing and unsurprisingly there was a long queue to have copies of her books signed. Colin Allen presented gifts to Lori Weinstein, June Perrin and Else Churchill for their hard work as organisers of the weekend’s events. While some delegates called it a day, most stayed on for the conference banquet afterwards. After dinner we heard David Fletecher’s wry and very amusing tales about two diarists and their experiences as Mormon genealogists in England in 1889 and in the 1940s. Later we sat back, drank some more wine and ended the day being serenaded by one of Roy Stockdill’s favourite singers Catherine Howe who left us all feeling very mellow indeed.
We do hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. We did. We have posted albums of photographs from the Gala Dinner and Centenary conference onto the Society’s Facebook page.
Please let us know if you like them and do take the opportunity to like the SoG Facebook fan page too we need more friends. If anyone who attended the event would like larger copies of these pictures they can either be found along with many others on the official photographer’s website details of which you have.