Our Expert Speakers
We are thrilled to have the following experts participate in this year's conference. Topics of discussion will include:
| Forces That Moved Our Scottish Ancestors | ||
| Socio-Economic Forces | Religious Forces | Cultural Forces |
| Industrialization of Scotland, occupational collapse, land clearances |
Religious fragmentation, the Great Disruption of 1843, the effects of communities and people's choices |
Music, art and artisanal traditions that bind families and communities, what they took with them, what stayed behind and what got lost along the way, how traditions might locate your family's homeland |
| Families - finding your family through rural to urban migration and emigration; creative thinking and unusual records to find the right family | ||
| Maps - using maps to determine migration/emigration patterns and how people might have traveled | ||
Sir Tom Devine, Professor Emeritus at Edinburgh University, will lead off with an overview of the socio-economic changes within Scotland from 1815-1914 that led to the emigration of so many;
Graeme Morton, Professor of Modern History and Director of the Centre for Scottish Culture at the University of Dundee, will tell us how the forces of industrialization drove people in Scotland to move;
Professional genealogist Alison Spring will tell us how those who moved into cities lived, and how we can find them;
Morag Peers, professional genealogist and Director of Scottish Studies at the International Institute for Genealogical Studies, will show us how to trace a ship’s passenger back to their Scottish home;
Chris Fleet, Map Curator at the National Library of Scotland, will show the most useful maps for emigration and migration, and then give a website demonstration focused on newer tools and more advanced features of the NLS Maps website;
Dr. Frances Wilkins, Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen, and a professional musician, will explore the musical and cultural traditions of Scottish communities in Scotland and Canada, examining what emigrants brought with them, what they left behind, and how their heritage evolved in new homes.
Marjory Harper, Professor of History, Aberdeen University and Visiting Professor at the Centre for History, University of the Highlands and Islands, will speak about the effects of religious fragmentation in Scotland and how it drove internal and external migration.
Full program details coming soon.