Here's the latest on the Polish Genealogical Society of America's 31st Annual Conference entitled Unraveling the Mysteries Friday, September 18, 2009 & Saturday, September 19, 2009 at the Marriott Schaumburg.

Speakers & their session titles:

Loretto Szucs

• "They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records & Ethnic Origins"
  
• "Hidden Sources for Finding Family Stories"
  

Juliana Szucs Smith

• "Finding Dziadzia's Roots: A Case Study"

Loretto & Juliana jointly presenting

• "A Dozen Ways to Jumpstart a Family History Project"

Kahlile Mehr

• "Online Databases of the Polish State Archives - Ela,Sezam,Pradziad,Iza"
• "Gazetteers & Online Maps for Polish Genealogy"
• "East European Internet Sites for the Family History Researcher"

Dr. Michael J. Mikos

• "Visiting Poland: The Glory of the Past & Promise of the Future"
• "The Partitions of Poland and What It Meant to Our Ancestors"

Craig Pfannkuche

• "Using Cook County Records in Family History Research"
• "Dealing with Bad Guys in One's Family Tree"
• "Doing Family History Research in Cemeteries"

Don Litzer

• "The Mysteries of PERSI, the Periodical Source Index"
• "Gem at the Crossroads of America: The Genealogy Center at Allen County Public Library"

Cynthia Piech

• Cynthia will be speaking on Polish Costumes of various regions.

Speaker Biographies

Loretto Szucs: Executive Editor & Vice President of Community Relations-Ancestry Magazine -Ancestry.com. She has served on advisory boards for the Staue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and the Illinois State Archives as well as governing boards of several genealogical societies and is currently serving on the Cook County IL Circuit Court Archives Advisory Board; founding secretary and current member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. Author of many books including The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy , Loretto has lectured at 20 national conferences and hundreds of workshops since 1980 and has taught family history classes for local schools and the National Archives, Great Lakes Region; 7 years a member of the American Library Association & presented at two of their conferences; interviewed for the television PBS Ancestors series, ABC News, CNN News & ABC's The View. Numerous national, societal, genealogical and ethnic awards & citations for her contributions to family history & the genealogical community, as well as her support to the writing, editing & publishing communities. She has been with Ancestry for 17 years.

Juliana Szucs Smith: Editor of Ancestry.com newsletters over 10 years & Author of The Ancestry Family Historian's Address Book & has written for Ancestry Magazine; wrote "Computers and Technology" chapter in The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy.

Kahlile Mehr: MA; MLS degree Accredited Genealogist at the Family History Library Salt Lake City; Supervisor Slavic & Eastern Europe Collection Management Family Search; 27 years of experience at the Library as a manager of the Slavic collection, user guidance, collection development specialist, cataloger and catalog supervisor. He is published and compiled professional genealogies for Test Pilot, Chuck Yeager & Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh.

Dr. Michael J. Mikos: Professor in Dept. of Foreign Languages & Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; authored 12 books & over 70 articles; awarded PEN Club Prize for translations of Polish Literature into English; over 29 years of escorting students & community members to the Summer School at the John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin to study Polish language & culture.

Craig Pfannkuche: President of Memory Trail Reseaarch, Inc.since 1993, Genealogical Archivist for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Historical Society since 1984; on Board of Directors of McHenry County Illinois Genealogical Society & Chicago Genealogical Society; presenter of numerous workshops in history, historical & genealogical research & archaeological techniques at both the local and national level.

Don Litzer: Former Reference Librarian at Allen County Public Library's Genealogy Center, Fort Wayne, IN; presently Assistant Director & Head of Adult Services at T. B. Scott Free Library in Merrill, WI; he has researched his German, Polish, Swedish, Swiss & Bohemian ancestry; conducted many lectures and multi-session courses.

Cynthia Piech: PGSA Treasurer--Previously served on the PGSA Board as the Publications Chair; created & edited the PGSA e-zine, PGSA Notebook. She is a Genealogy Saturday volunteer and has volunteered for many PGSA projects. She has documented her family genealogy back to the 1700s. She is a CPA and employed by an agency of the U. S. Treasury Department that regulates financial institutions.