Jamboree: Crowds, the census and a red carpet!

From left: Joel Weintraub shows original 1940 Census documents to Daniel Horowitz, Mark Olsen and Leland Meitzler. original

On Friday morning, the Southern California Genealogical Society’s Jamboree exhibit hall opened to crowds. More than 1,600 family history fans had registered for the event.

Conference-goers arrived to find great deals on genealogy products, ask questions and receive answers to family history questions, as they mingled with friends from everywhere at this event.

Jamboree’s venue at the Burbank Marriott is excellent; this conference is well organized.

Tara helps a MyHeritage member.

The MyHeritage booth was busy and we welcomed Joel Weintraub, co-developer of the popular 1940 Census ED Finder tools on stevemorse.org.

Joel demonstrated original 1940 census forms, enumerator training manuals, postcards left at homes where no one answered the door, and other original documents.

Joel found the items on eBay, along with other historical items he showed to us and at his 1940 Census presentation.

His program was interesting, as it took many humorous turns and also went deeply into the inner workings of the 1940 census. He described some issues, including some people’s refusal to answer questions and the process to complete the national count. You can search all the census images online at MyHeritage.com/1940census. 

The red carpet was rolled out for "celebrities" (from left) Amy Coffin, Elizabeth O’Neal and Sheri Fenley.

The red carpet was rolled out Friday evening for the gala event.  Attendees included many Geneabloggers, such as Amy Coffin (We Tree Genealogy Blog), who appeared in costume. She won the unofficial reward for best-dressed.

Several 1940s-era celebrities also attended, including Margaret O’Brien, star of the classic film, “Meet Me in St. Louis” and other films.