Chuck Knuthson Memorial Lecture
The lecture honors Chuck Knuthson, an FGS Board member, an FGS Vice-President of Administration, FGS Treasurer, and a friend to everyone he met in the genealogical community. A police captain by profession, Chuck was a professional genealogist who researched for more than thirty years. After a courageous three-year battle with cancer, Chuck passed away on February 27, 2008. Involving young people in genealogy, as well as German research, were among Chuck's primary genealogical interests.

This year we are proud to have Julie Miller, CG, present "Firing Up the Next Generation of Genealogists!" for the Chuck Knuthson Memorial Lecture. Miller is a professional researcher, lecturer, and writer. She is a member of the NGS Board of Directors, President of the Colorado Chapter of APG, genealogy columnist, and a volunteer at the National Archives, Rocky Mountain Region.

Helen F. M. Leary Distinguished Lecture
The Helen F. M. Leary Distinguished Lecture series, sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogists Education Fund, honors her remarkable contributions to genealogical education. Helen Leary of North Carolina, Certified Genealogist (Emeritus), FASG, former BCG president, and long-time trustee, is known for her broad range of richly informative and entertaining lectures, including methodology, law, writing, education, and the art of lecturing.

Leary Lecturers, who are themselves accomplished and distinguished members of the genealogical field, typically present topics of particular interest to Ms. Leary. This year, Laura Murphy DeGrazia, CG, will present "Why is a 'Reasonably Exhaustive Search' So Important to the Genealogical Proof Standard?" DeGrazia is president of BCG. She specializes in New York City area research and is the author of articles in NGSQ, NYG&B Record, and NEHGS Register.

James Dent Walker Memorial Lecture
The James Dent Walker Memorial Lecture is presented annually at the FGS conference honoring the late Jimmie Walker, one of the most popular and respected lecturers in the field of genealogy and family history. His thirty-year career included participation at the annual Institute of Genealogical Research (now known as the National Institute on Genealogical Research) and in the supervision of the Military Service Records Section at NARA. He conducted pioneering research on minorities in the American Revolution and helped thousands of genealogists during his career.

We are pleased to announce that John Baker, Jr., will provide the Walker lecture this year, presenting his session titled "Connecting Land and People: Using Farm Records to Illuminate Slave Families." Baker is the author of The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family's Journey to Freedom. For more than thirty years, he has been researching, conducting interviews, and collecting photographs and information about them and the hundreds of others enslaved on the plantation.