Home > Events and Programs > Special Events > Family History Festival Special Events 5th Annual Family History Festival "Not Far From the Tree" Saturday, September 25 Click Here to Download the Brochure! Schedule of Events The Burton Reading Room will be open from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. with full reference service. Registration, Friends Auditorium: 10:00 - 10:45 a.m. Receive your packet with the day’s schedule and other hand outs (including your lunch ticket, if you pre-ordered from us) and then go to the nearby staff lounge for breakfast refreshments. Breakfast sponsored by the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research. Keynote Address: 11:00 a.m. - Noon John P. Colletta, Breaking Through Brick Walls: Use Your HEAD! Location: Friends Auditorium (A Level) Breakout Sessions: 12:15 – 1:15 p.m. John P. Colletta, Naturalization Records, 1790-1920s Location: Friends Auditorium (A Level) Professor DeWitt Dykes, Tracing Ancestors in the Slavery and Civil War Periods Location: Explorers Room (A Level) Thomas Vadjik, Genealogical Resources of the Windsor Public Library Location: Friends Conference Room (2nd Floor, Cass Concourse) Kris Rzepczynski, Seeking Michigan Death Records: An Online Michigan Resource Location: Technology, Literacy and Career (TLC) Center (1st Floor, Cass Concourse)* Lunch Break: 1:30 – 2:15 p.m. If you pre-ordered lunch, please come to the Old Fine Arts department on the 3rd floor to pick it up at this time; lunches available only for people who pre-ordered (Please see lunch registration form on next page for details). Breakout Sessions: 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. Dr. Deborah Abbott, Making the Most of Your African American Genealogical Research: Leave No Stone Unturned, Part 1 Location: Friends Auditorium (A Level) John P. Colletta, Erie Canal Genealogy: The Peopling of Upstate New York and the Midwest Location: Explorers Room (A Level) Timothy Pinnick, The WWI Draft Card: Don’t Do Research Without It! Location: Friends Conference Room (2nd Floor, Cass Concourse) Christine Reiner, Using Google Earth in Genealogy Location: Technology, Literacy and Career (TLC) Center (1st Floor, Cass Concourse)* Breakout Sessions: 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. Dr. Deborah Abbott, Making the Most of Your African American Genealogical Research: Leave No Stone Unturned, Part 2 Location: Friends Auditorium (A Level) John P. Colletta, Turning Biographical Facts into Real-Life Events: How to Build Historical Context Location: Explorers Room (A Level) Cecelia Wendt Jensen, Working the Line: What Life Was Like for Auto Workers and What Records They Generated Location: Friends Conference Room (2nd Floor, Cass Concourse) Kris Rzepczynski, Michigan on the Web: Online Family History Tools for the Wolverine State Location: Technology, Literacy and Career (TLC) Center (1st Floor, Cass Concourse)* * All sessions in the Technology, Literacy and Career (TLC) Center require pre-registration. Please call (313) 481-1363 to reserve your seat. Burton Historical Collection Reading Room: 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. The Burton Historical Collection Reading Room will be open to those who wish to use it, with full reference service until 6:00 p.m.