Updated 2 September 2025

Upcoming Events:

• None scheduled at this time. 

Online Presentations:

• Passport Records:  Passport Applications at NARA, 1790s-1925. 2024 NARA Genealogy Series.  Video, Slides, and Handout.
• Civilians at War:  Records of Participation in U.S. Military Conflicts.  2023 NARA Genealogy Series.  3 May 2023.
• The 1950 Census.  Federal Depository Library Program. 23 March 2023.
• 1950 Census Celebration Video.  NARA YouTube. 1 April 2022. 
• 1950 Census Records Release Preview.  Census Bureau Webinar.  14 March 2022.
• Overview of What’s on the 1950 Census.   2022 NARA Genealogy Series:  1950 Census.  2 March 2022.  Video.  Slides (PDF).
• Civil War Union Noncombatant Personnel:  Teamsters, Laundresses, Nurses, Sutlers, and More.  National Archives, 8 June 2021 (Video).  Slides (PDF).  Handout (PDF).
• “Federal Records that Help Identity Former Enslaved People and Slave Holders.” 2018 NARA Genealogy Fair. Video, Slides, and Handout. 
• Introduction to Genealogy.  National Archives 2015 Virtual Genealogy Fair, October 21, 2015.
• Using Records of Artificial Limbs for Union Civil War Veterans, 1861-1927. National Archives, 14 May 2015. (Video). Slides (PDF).
• Introduction to Genealogy, 2014 National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair. (Video).
• Union Civil War Pension Files, 2013 National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair (video and slides), 4 September 2013.  There are slips of the tongue – references to “soldier’s certificates” (etc.) should be “survivor’s certificates” (etc.).

Selected Past Lectures, Events, and Media in reverse chronological order. 

• “Finding Your Virginia Ancestors at the National Archives.” 19 Oct. 2024.  Genealogical Society of Virginia.
• “Decoding the National Archives to Find Genealogy Treasures.” National Genealogical Society, Richmond Virginia, 2023. 
• “Passport Applications, 1795-1925.” National Genealogical Society, Richmond Virginia, 2023. 
• “Overview of the 1950 Census.” Mount Vernon (VA) Genealogical Society, 21 June 2022. 
• “Genealogy Research with Government Resources.” North Carolina Library Association’s 64th Biennial Conference, held jointly with the Southeastern Library Association, Virtual, October 22, 2021.
• “1950 Census on Track for 2022 Release, Despite Pandemic.”  National Archives News, 30 Apr. 2021.  (Mentioned in article.)
• Michael E. Ruane, “During the Civil War, the enslaved were given an especially odious job. The pay went to their owners.” Washington Post, July 9, 2020. (Mentioned in article.) 
• “Civil War Confederate Slave Payroll Records.” Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference, Washington, DC, August 2019; National Genealogical Society, Richmond, VA, 2023.
• “Civil War Union Noncombatant Personnel: Teamsters, Laundresses, Nurses, Sutlers, and More.”  Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference, Washington, DC, August 2019. 
• “Pension Fraud: Thieves, Scoundrels, Impostors, and the Lure of Free Money.” Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference, Washington, DC, August 2019. 
• “War of 1812 Military Service, Bounty Land, and Pension Records.” Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference, Washington, DC, August 2019. 
• Slave Ship Manifests Filed in New Orleans, 1807-1860.  A blogtalk radio program hosted by Bernice Alexander Bennett, 31 August 2012.
• “Research Notes:  National Archives.” Association for Great Lakes Maritime History Newsletter, Vol. XXIV, No. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 2007): 7. (Mentioned in article.)
• Hartland and the Civil War, 29 May 2005, at Hartland, Michigan. (PDF).

Mentions, Acknowledgments, and Media 

• 60 Minutes Overtime, The Hidden Stories Within the National Archives, 22 Oct. 2024: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hidden-stories-within-the-national-archives-60-minutes/
• Paul Finkelman and Candace Jackson Gray, “Justice John McLean: Politician, Anti-Slavery Jurist, Emancipator of Slaves, and … Slaveowner?” Journal of Supreme Court History, Vol. 49, No. 2 (2024): 105-137, at 133, https://doi.org/10.1353/sch.2024.a931647.
• Amy O’Hair, “‘And then the vision starts to form’: The Life, Work, and Death of Ida F McCain, Part Two,” Sunnyside History Project blog, 16 March 2024, https://sunnysidehistory.org/2024/03/16/life-work-and-death-of-ida-f-mccain-part-two/.