The census records. The immigration papers. The obituary that finally confirmed a maiden name after a decade of searching. People who can trace a lineage back six generations and tell you the exact ship, the exact port, the exact date.

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And then we’d ask the same question, over and over: “So what are you going to do with it?”

Most of the time, the answer was some version of, “I don’t know. Put it in a binder, I guess.” Or maybe, “Well, I guess I’ll post about it on Substack, but I wish I could do more.”

That’s the gap we kept seeing. Brilliant researchers, people who had done the hardest part, the actual finding, who had never once been shown how to turn what they found into a story.

Not because they couldn’t.

Because no one had ever handed them the tools.

So we built the thing we wished existed.

The Genealogy Storyteller Virtual Summit is the first gathering of its kind: two days built entirely around the bridge between research and narrative. Not another class on where to find records. A summit on what to do once you’ve found them.

September 18 and 19, 2026, we’re bringing together writers, researchers, and preservationists who have spent their careers on exactly this problem. You’ll hear from someone at the Internet Archive on making sure your family’s history outlives every dead hard drive and shuttered platform. You’ll hear from a writer who helps people move past the fear of hitting publish. You’ll hear how to place your ancestors inside the larger sweep of history, so a name on a census page becomes a person.

And Robin and I will be walking you through the parts we know best: organizing a timeline you can actually write from, and building the kind of counter archive that turns a summary into a scene.

Early Bird tickets are on sale now, and they won’t stay that way. If you’ve been sitting on years of research wondering what comes next, this is where you find out.

Reserve your seat, Early Bird Tickets

We can’t wait to see you there.

Aryn & Robin

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Somewhere in your family there’s a photograph with no name written on the back, a letter folded into a shoebox, a name fading on a ship’s manifest. You’ve spent years gathering the facts. But facts and dates only tell part of the story. Who will tell the rest?

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Join us September 18–19, 2026 for a first-of-its-kind virtual gathering created for family historians who are ready to turn research into narrative — and narrative into something that lasts.

Proudly presented by Aryn Youngless’ From Research to Novel and Robin Stewart’s Genealogy Matters, this is where your ancestors’ silent records finally find their voice.

Over two days, you’ll learn from writers, researchers, and preservationists who have devoted their lives to this work:

• Chris Freeland, of the Internet Archive, opens the Summit with a keynote on preserving your family’s history in the Internet Archive — showing you how to make your research and stories part of the permanent record, safe from lost files, dead platforms, and time itself.

• Rhonda Lauritzen helps you move past the fear of hitting “publish,” reframing the doubt every storyteller feels as proof that you’re exactly the right person to tell this story.

• Lisa Maguire shows you how to place your ancestors inside the wider sweep of history, so a name on a census page becomes a person shaped by the world around them.

• Aryn Youngless guides you through organizing your timeline and building the habits that carry a story all the way to the page.

• Robin Stewart takes you through creating a counter archive and why it matters — building moments in your ancestors’ lives rather than settling for summaries.

You don’t need to be a professional writer. You don’t need a finished manuscript. You just need the willingness to believe that your family’s story — your story to tell — deserves to be more than a folder on a hard drive.

Tickets go on sale August 1st! Stay connected and click the subscribe button below.

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