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40th Anniversary Genealogy Showcase Conference Presenters |
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Keynote Speaker Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html Mr. Wilson has been involved with the Canadian archival and library communities for over 30 years. He has worked diligently to make archives accessible and interesting to a wide range of audiences. He has helped safeguard the integrity of archival records while at the same time encouraging the public to use them. He has published extensively on history, archives, heritage and information management. In 2004, Mr. Ian E. Wilson was appointed Librarian and Archivist of Canada. In his former position as National Archivist of Canada, appointed July 1999, he and National Librarian, Roch Carrier, developed and led the process to create a new knowledge institution for Canada in the 21st century.
The career of Mr. Wilson is distinguished in many areas, including archival and information management, university teaching and government service. He began his career at Queen's University Archives (1967), later becoming Saskatchewan's Provincial Archivist (1976 - 1986) and Chairman of the Saskatchewan Heritage Advisory Board. He was appointed Archivist of Ontario in 1986, a position he held until 1999. For several years he was responsible for the Ontario Public Library system. He has taught as an Adjunct Professor in the Faculties of Information Studies and Graduate Studies of the University of Toronto. He has also served as President of the Ontario Historical Society (1975 - 1976) and more recently as President of the Champlain Society (1995 - 2003) and Vice-President of the International Council of Archives (2000 - 2004). In March 2008, Mr. Wilson was elected President of the International Council of Archives. Mr. Wilson chaired the Consultative Group on Canadian Archives on behalf of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The Group's report, "Canadian Archives" -- generally known as the "Wilson Report" -- was published in 1980 and is described as "a milestone in the history of archival development in Canada." As Librarian and Archivist of Canada, Mr. Wilson serves on two advisory committees for the Treasury Board of Canada and chairs the Group of Heads of Federal Agencies. Mr. Wilson has been involved with the Canadian archival and library communities for over 30 years. He has worked diligently to make archives accessible and interesting to a wide range of audiences. He has helped safeguard the integrity of archival records while at the same time encouraging the public to use them. He has published extensively on history, archives, heritage and information management and has lectured nationally and internationally. |
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Librarian and Archivist of Canada Ian E. Wilson © V. Tony Hauser |
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Dick Eastman For some 30+ years, Dick Eastman has been honing his vision of the future to improve our picture of the past. A high school writing assignment started him asking questions about family, and tuned his ear to the stories of Eastman, Dow, Deabay and Theriault elders at family reunions. Along with this growing curiosity about his roots, an early interest in ham radio awakened his penchant for all things electronic, and he was ready for computers almost before they were ready for him. This odd combination of interests came together, and by the early 1970’s, Dick was already using a mainframe computer to enter his family data on punch cards. It was only natural for him to play with PCs and Macintosh computers when the information age invaded households across the continent. He immediately saw new and better and faster ways of researching his family. This was too good to keep to himself, so it’s no surprise that the internet became his playground, where he would exhort others to bring their ancestors into this digitized world. In the mid-1980s, Dick actually went knocking on the door of a rising online star called CompuServe to propose a genealogy forum: a move by which he built a community of family historians over the next 14 years. At the same time, he preached the benefits of technology to an even wider audience of genealogists, including national and international genealogical organizations, and of course, GENTECH, an organization that helped him to spread his message. For the last 12-plus years, Dick has pursued his mission through an online periodical he writes every day, simply called "Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter." He loves to share technology "finds" that can help both new and seasoned genealogists, as well as dethroning the scams and shams that can lead the unwary astray. |
