Earlier this month, from the 15th to 17th of June, the second International German Genealogy Conference (IGGC) of the International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP) was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sacramento. This post is my review of the conference, but my viewpoint cannot be considered completely unbiased, because I am a board member of the host organization, the Sacramento German Genealogy Society (SGGS). The high regard in which I hold the organizers of this IGGC colors my review. I had helped a little with publicity for the conference but was not directly involved with its planning.
First, I must commend the organizers for their choice of venue. The location of the Hyatt Regency was ideal for the conference. The hotel is right across the street from the beautiful Capitol Park that surrounds our impressive State Capitol Building. A number of fascinating museums, Old Sacramento, the California State Library and Archives, the Historic City Cemetery, and several other historic sites are a short distance away from the Hyatt, accessible by light rail or even on foot.
The California State Capitol Building (Photo by California State Parks)
Sacramento Historic City Cemetery (Photo by CSvBibra, Wikimedia Commons)
Friday evening, there was a Biergarten reception at the Sacramento Turn Verein, a beautiful German cultural center that is a real treasure with a rich history (read about it here: http://sacramentoturnverein.com/history/). It includes a library and several social areas complete with beer taps. The regular activities at the Sacramento Turn Verein include festivals, German language lessons, sports clubs, and music and dance groups. I did not attend the Biergarten, but I have visited the Turn Verein on many happy occasions. Musicians from the Turn Verein provided wonderful entertainment throughout the conference, including the skillful blowing of an Alpine horn at the opening session!
Speaking of the opening Plenary Session, at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday the 15th, the IGGC wasted no time drawing us into the rich German pioneer history of California, with visits from living-history figures that included Civil War soldiers, frontiers-men and -women, and the proprietor of that famous fort, John Sutter, himself!
All three days of the IGGC, there were wonderful keynote speakers over lunch, and I had made reservations to be at all three. Saturday's keynote was presented by IGGP and SGGS President Ingeborg Carpenter, a native of Germany with first-hand knowledge of the American immigrant experience. Her living-history characterization, in full costume, of a German woman in San Francisco and Sacramento during the Gold Rush was compelling and beautiful. It was my favorite of the three keynotes, which is saying something, because the other two speakers were the wonderful and immensely knowledgeable Michael Lacopo and Roger Minert! Dr Lacopo spoke about push and pull factors that brought Germans to America during the 18th Century, and Dr Minert offered details about German marriage and courtship practices that covered three centuries. So glad I attended them all!
A quick review of the food served by the Hyatt: The salads were excellent (fortunately) and so were the desserts (unfortunately). The house wines were good, and the cheese/cracker/fruit hors d'oeuvres for a reception were very nice. I was underwhelmed by the entrees, except for one that was a chicken Caesar salad. At the banquet Sunday night, the entree would have been fine, except everything on the plate was covered by a glaze that made me gag. I scraped off the glaze and ate some of it (the combination of German and Scottish blood in me detests waste). It would have been good without the glaze. Sauces on the side, people!
The speaker for the banquet was marvelous! I don't have her name written down, but I recall that she is an anthropologist who specializes in historic dress and has participated in living history at Sutter's Fort. She made her presentation in frontier-era dress that featured bloomers and stays (like a corset), discussing reasons and methods for wearing her outfit. It was very entertaining as well as fascinating!
It was rather difficult to choose sessions to attend during the day, because there were so many terrific choices! I decided to go hear mostly speakers I had not heard before, and of those my favorites were Wolfgang Grams (on German American migration), Ben Hollister (on German one-name studies), Nathan Machula (on researching provinces in the East), and Ute Brandenburg (on the travel companions of immigrants). I did attend presentations by familiar speakers, though, and I especially liked James Beidler's talk on German-Language newspapers (his new book on newspapers is a must-read!) and Bill Cole's session on storytelling and writing techniques.
This IGGC was of moderate size, but the hallways and small rooms that housed the society and vendor tables were not overly crowded. Of the vendors, I had particularly interesting chats with Michael Provard of FamilySearch and Mike Mansfield of MyHeritage, both of whom gave highly informative talks about their websites that I'm glad to have attended.
The first IGGC, which I did not attend, was held in 2017 in Minnesota. Every attendee from whom I heard descriptions of that conference stated that there had been a sense of "family reunion" there. At this second IGGC, I had a strong feeling of being surrounded by cousins, too. More than at any other genealogy conference I have attended, the mood was warmly collaborative and not a bit competitive. Not once did I feel as though I needed to get away from the people. I was drawn to them, and we all had beautiful experiences and exciting ideas to share. For me, the 2019 IGGC in Sacramento was a meaningful and memorable experience filled with learning and fun.
When it was announced that the 2021 IGGC is slated to take place in Cincinnati, my excitement could not be contained. The breeding grounds of my mother's family, including the German line, from pioneer days forward, have surrounded the city of Cincinnati. I have been going back there to visit cousins and do research in the Fall for the last couple of years and plan to go back there this year, too. It will be great to be there with even more German cousins from around the world in 2021. Hope I will be able to convince a few of them to join me at Skyline for a plate of Cincinnati chili over spaghetti (what my mother called "chili-skett")!
A plate of Cincinnati-style chili. Looks good, doesn't it?
(Photo by Valereee, Wikimedia Commons)
Here's to many beautiful Summer hikes, without wildfires!
--Annie
"Man reist nicht, um anzukommen, sondern um zu reisen (You do not travel to arrive, but to travel)." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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