It’s now two months and counting until the National Genealogical Society conference in May. The annual event will be held May 16 - 19 in Richmond, Virginia. This year’s theme is “Rediscover Virginia”, and coincides with the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement.

While the conference details are not yet finalized, the society is sharing some of the expected highlights:

Day-long tracks on DNA, the Library of Congress, National Archives records, Virginia records and repositories

A special, “Beginning Your Family History” track on Saturday.

Workshops on Handwriting, Finding and dating postcards for your family history, Court records, Advanced Chancery Record Research, Land Platting, and Mapping Workshop for Genealogists.

Computer workshops on DeedMapper, GenSmarts, Legacy, Master Genealogist, Photo Image Digital Manipulation Using Software, Excel for the Genealogist, Microsoft Word for the Genealogist, Optimizing Your Computer at No Cost, Backup Strategies and Tools.

Lectures on English, Irish, Scots-Irish, German, African-American, and Indian Research; Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington, DC; military records, migration paths, railroads, indentured servants, searching the Internet; conference-long Methodology track, researching women.