Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay

"Collaborative Trees: Making Them Work for You"

Presentation by Drew Smith

Sunday, September 11, 2022

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay will meet at Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services, 14041 Icot Blvd., Clearwater, Fla., on Sunday September 11, 2022, for a presentation by author, podcaster and genealogy librarian Drew Smith. A social with refreshments and JGSTB library access begins at 1:30 p.m., and the featured program starts at 2 p.m.

• Date:         Sunday, September 11, 2022
• Time:        Social with refreshments begins at 1:30 p.m., featured program starts at 2 p.m.
• Place:        14041 Icot Blvd., Clearwater, Fla.
• Program: “Collaborative Trees: Making Them Work for You”
• Speaker:   Drew Smith, genealogy librarian at the University of South Florida Libraries

While it's important for genealogists to maintain a personal family tree using desktop software, with the option to share a copy on a more public site such as Ancestry.com, there is another kind of family tree that deserves our attention: collaborative trees. The best-known examples are the FamilySearch Family Tree, WikiTree, and Geni, which allow thousands of researchers to work together to create a well-sourced global tree. This presentation will cover each of these trees and provide tips and techniques on how to minimize problems with others who might confuse ancestors and introduce errors.

Drew Smith is the genealogy librarian at the USF Libraries and was the 2016 winner of the Filby Award for Genealogical Librarianship, presented by the National Genealogical Society. He is co-host of The Genealogy Guys Podcast and host of the Genealogy Connection podcast. Drew is a founder and administrator of The Genealogy Squad Facebook Group with nearly 50,000 members. He is co-author of the book Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques and author of the book Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher. 

Anyone interested in Jewish family history and in how to do Jewish genealogical research is invited to attend this and all meetings of the JGSTB. Beginners as well as experienced researchers are welcome. There is no charge to attend. For information about the organization or for directions to the meeting call Bruce Hadburg at 727-796-7981, or email him at bhadburg@tampabay.rr.com. For more information about the Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay, go to http://www.jgstb.org/.