“More Hidden Voices of our Ancestors”
Following the highly successful Secret Lives conference in 2018, the Halsted Trust will be hosting another major family history conference to be held from Friday 19th September to Sunday 21st September 2025 at the Holiday Inn, Peterborough West, Thorpe Wood, Peterborough, PE3 6SG
The Halsted Trust invite speakers to submit talks.
The conference lectures will be aimed at family historians interested in tracing ancestors who may be less represented in mainstream records, whose voices are difficult to hear or who might be overlooked or indeed elusive.
The conference lectures and after dinner talks are expected to feature nationally and internationally known genealogical speakers but the organisers will also look favourably on new talks and subjects that have not been presented before. To learn more about forthcoming news on the conference see the Secret Lives of Our Ancestors web pages here
Deadline for Submissions — 31 January 2025
Conference Themes
We are inviting submissions for papers and presentations on a variety of themes and suggests submission topics and these to include, amongst others:
Bigamy, Divorce, Marriage breakdown from 18th-20th centuries; LGBTQIA Lives, social history, records and current research; Criminal under class; Bagnios and Bawdy Houses. Prostitution in18th Century London; Fallen Women -Victorian Prostitution and Reform; Victorian Detectives, Police and Crime; Transportation; Social deprivation in London and other urban areas; Social deprivation and life in rural areas; Researching Women ancestors; Ecclesiastical or Bawdy Courts cases; Litigation and civil and equity court records case studies; Migrant communities – Jewish Manchester, Irish Liverpool
Workhouses and other institutions inmates; School and institutions for poor children; A poor person’s death- Funeral Clubs and Friendly Societies;
These are just some ideas the conference organisers thought of. We are sure you can suggest others and look forward to hearing them.
Sessions will generally limited to fifty minutes plus a ten-minute question-and-answer session.
ALL lecturers are expected to provide a synopsis of the lecture and biographical information as part of the submission. If accepted this, along with a photograph will be published and used for publicity purposed. ALL lecturers are expected to provide syllabus material (hand-outs, notes or copies of slides or presentations as word documents or PDF files) which will be made be available to attendees in electronic form either through the conference webpages or as a conference CD.
Syllabus materials will be due by July 31 2025 and are required for each lecture or workshop presentation
Guidelines
Anyone wishing to submit a talk for the conference should contact complete the speaker submission form here which will require the following information:
Speaker’s full name, address, telephone and email address.
Lecture title, not to exceed fourteen words, and a brief but comprehensive outline
Short summary of the lecture; word count not to exceed 100 words, which will be used in the program and pre conference publicity if selected.
Brief speaker biography, not to exceed 100 words.
Resume of recent lectures given by the speaker. Those who have not spoken previously at a regional or national conference are encouraged to submit an audio or video tape of a recent lecture.
Speakers are expected to use an electronic presentation program, such as Powerpoint. The conference will provide the laptop, data projector, VGA cable, stand and power. Talks using OHPs will NOT be accepted.
Individuals may submit a maximum of 5 proposals.
Completed proposal forms must be received by 31 January 2025
Speakers selected by the conference and who are not sponsored elsewhere, will receive a speaker’s fee and reasonable travel expenses, within the UK, agreed in advance with the Trust after acceptance of the submission. Speakers may also receive complimentary day delegate conference registration in lieu of fees.
Sponsorship opportunities
Sponsorship for individual lectures and lecturers may be agreed with the Halsted Trust. Speakers who have their sessions sponsored will receive a complimentary day delegate conference registration. Compensation and travel expenses are at the discretion of the sponsoring organization.
Questions. Contact the Conference Team on else.churchill@sog.org.uk