March 2025 PA Genealogy News

Hello Reader!

March is the busiest month in the genealogy year, so let's jump right in:

Join Me for a YouTube LiveStream: Let’s Talk RootsTech!

🎥 Date: Friday, February 28th

🕠 Time: 6:30 PM ET

📍 Where: My YouTube Channel ​

I’m testing livestreaming on YouTube, and I want you to be part of it! Let’s chat about all things RootsTech, and I’ll also show how I use AI to summarize and enhance my notes from the conference sessions. Just open this link at 6:30pm eastern to join:

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PLUS: I’ll be presenting in person at RootsTech on Saturday morning on “Using ChatGPT as a Writing Coach.” If you are not there in person (it will not be recorded as far as I know) —I’ll be sharing on AI and writing on my YouTube channel and website: ChronicleMakers.com​

Legacy Lab 3.0 Starts Monday!

🚀 Launch Date: March 3, 2025

If you’ve been meaning to create a digital archive, Legacy Lab is here to help! Over the next four weeks, they'll work with you to complete a project on Permanent.org—whether it’s organizing family photos, preserving documents, or something personal to you.

• 📩 Daily (weekday) emails to keep you on track

• 👥 Optional weekly community calls for support and accountability

• 💰 Pay-what-you-can to make it accessible to everyone

Donations are welcome but not required—this is about making sure everyone can participate! Register here: https://www.permanent.org/legacy-lab/

Workshop Alert: Preserve Your Family’s Audio-Visual History

🗓 Date: March 31, 2025

📍 Location: Harrisburg, PA (In-person only)

🕘 Time: 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM

The Pennsylvania State Archives is hosting a hands-on, in person workshop where experts from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive (MARMIA) will teach you how to care for home movies, VHS tapes, audio cassettes, and more.

✅ Bring your old family films, VHS tapes, or oral history recordings

✅ Learn how to properly store and preserve them

✅ Work directly with archivists to improve your collection

Space is limited! To register, email Archivist Ty Stump tystump@pa.gov at the PA Archives by February 28th with:

• Your name and the names of anyone attending with you
• A list of what you’re bringing (e.g., “3 home movie reels, 20 VHS tapes, 12 cassette tapes”)

Great Blog Alert: Claire Kluskens’ ‘The Twelve Key’

If you’re researching in federal archival records, you need to check out Claire Kluskens’ latest blog post on National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records.

Claire specializes in census and military records, and her blog is a goldmine of information. She also links to some great presentations on federal records.

I highly recommend creating pdf downloadable pages of anything on her blog that you want to reference. It could be deleted at any time with a sudden change in policy.

Visit The Twelve Key blog here: https://twelvekey.com/​
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That’s all for now, but I’ll be back soon with more genealogy updates. Let me know if you’re joining Legacy Lab, the AV workshop, or the YouTube livestream—I’d love to hear from you!

Talk soon,

Denyse Allen Founder, PA Ancestors

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P.S. You'll find all my content on using AI for family history writing on ChronicleMakers.com . You can subscribe for free updates of everything I post.

P.P.S. If you are attending RootsTech in person, there is a group of newsletter readers just like you, joining me for lunch on Thursday March 6th. Reply back and I'll send details!

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