Those of us who took the California Zephyr from Salt Lake City to Illinois returned home yesterday from what I think was an enjoyable and fruitful research trip for all of us.
One of the things I was reminded of on this trip was the importance of utilizing offline sources and of going back and looking at things you might have researched early in your research. A couple of items I researched decades ago I never researched fully and in doing so during my trip I gained quite a bit of information.
I tried to find a relative in online passenger lists while at the library and realized that my time would better spent doing something else while at the library, despite how much I wanted to find both my Wihelmina Trautvetters. I could search the online databases at home and I really needed to sort through and organize what I had on both of them in order to search effectively. That organization could be done at home--and not at the library.
I made quite a few finds and gathered new information for blog posts and newsletters. Stay tuned.
And if you'd like to join us in 2014, there will be future updates as we finalize those details. Our group is one of the smaller ones that does to Salt Lake and, while the hotel would like us to fill more rooms, I intend to keep it that way. Everyone this way has time to ask questions if they are inclined and it's easier to interact with everyone in attendance.
I can't wait to go back, but I have to organize what I've found first.
