10:30 AM - Noon CST (UTC-5)
Presented by Mary Wickersham and Gigi Hickey
$15 for IGSI members (with Discount Code); $20 for non-members
Click here to see the current time in Minnesota
Click here to see the current time in Minnesota
Curious about AI but not sure where to start—or whether it's even relevant to tracing your ancestors? Our speakers will show you how today's AI tools can help you with brick walls, faded documents, and mysterious townlands that every family historian knows too well. We'll walk through real examples (many drawn from Irish records) demonstrating how AI can help you decipher difficult handwriting, suggest research strategies when you're stuck, make sense of unfamiliar placenames, and even draft those tricky notes to distant cousins.
No tech background required—just bring your curiosity. You'll leave with practical techniques you can try immediately, a better sense of what AI does well (and where it still needs a human eye), and maybe a few new leads on that elusive great-great-grandmother from County Cork.
Please join our live audience at the Minnesota Genealogy Center, linger for a box lunch and mingle with the speakers, then explore the Irish Collection at the Hoffman Research Library until 4pm.
Mary and Gigi are long-time volunteeers and lkeaders of our Irish Society. They served as co-chairs of the 2020 Celtic Connections Conference and later as co-managing editors of our quarterly journal The Septs. They currently lead a bi-monthly genealogy group for the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Auxiliary.
Mary Wickersham is a past IGSI president, secretary, and treasurer. She serves as IGSI’s web editor and Technology Committee chair. Mary is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
Gigi Hickey has served on the IGSI board and has long served as editor of IGSI’s Blog. Gigi is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
