UpFront with NGS: Archives

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23 January 2017

Worldwide Archive Finder

Worldwide Archive Finder

The National Archives (of the UK) has a neat webpage, Find an archive in the UK and beyond. Obviously, its strength are the archives of the UK and it also includes archives from around the world. Scroll down to “Find archives by country.” When you find a country of interest, click on the name and you will be taken to a list of archives for that locale. The list for the United States currently includes 276 entries.

The list is not complete and it doesn’t include some of the bigger national archives, such as The National Archives of Finland.

That said, for Oldham Lancashire, a haunting ground of my ancestors it does include the Oldham Local Studies Library and also the Oldham Hulme Grammar Schools Archive. The latter is new to me and of great interest as my mum attended that particular school for a few years (and, I think my grandfather and his sister did also (though I need to verify that))!

I definitely did not need to learn about this now; I have so many other things that I must do! Well, I guess feeding our genealogical soul on occasion is important also!

What neat archive did you learn existed that you weren’t familiar with using this database?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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27 July 2016

New digital platform (Umbra) makes black history archives MORE accessible

New digital platform (Umbra) makes black history archives MORE accessible

Some news from the University of Minnesota … U's new digital platform makes black history archives accessible.

For the first time, the U is starting to make collections like the Givens accessible online. It has launched an ambitious project, called Umbra Search, to make it easy to search not only its own collection, but hundreds of African-American archives across the country. All at once.

Read the article for more details about this project.

The direct link to Umbra is found here.

What can you find? More than 400,000 digital images of African-American history and culture from 500 museums and libraries, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress and the University of Minnesota libraries.

The results will be the “found” items based on what you searched on.

Each find will have a link to the item in the collection where it is found. The sources are truly a smorgasbord from around the country as you can see from this example of a search on “North Carolina.” Mentioned are many archives that I wouldn’t necessarily think to look to for information on North Carolina such as the Catholic Diocese of Charleston (SC) and which I don’t think are included in Archivegrid.

You will definitely want to check it out! Any tool that makes any kind of archives accessible is a great tool for genealogists. Also remember that all materials, even African-American-focused records, have relevance to ALL the parties mentioned in the documents.

What neat find did you make?

What other aggregator gateways that benefit genealogists and family historians are you aware of?

Editor's Note: Other Upfront with NGS blog posts regarding African-American research can be found here.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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19 July 2016

Marketing + Video + Students = a great PR piece for an archive!

Reminder -- this is only a screen capture. A link to the video is provided below!

Marketing + Video + Students = a great PR piece for an archive!

Students in a marketing class at UNCA (University of North Carolina at Asheville) were tasked with creating commercials focused on regional historical and cultural sites.

The winning video promotes the Western Regional Archives, a branch of the State Archives of North Carolina.

Check the 30 second video out.

What a neat project. It’s great to see the university partnering with the community to create a visually rich promo for this facility.

Have your local students (of any age) taken on a project to help promote a local genealogical or historical resource?

Editor’s Note: Check out past Upfront with NGS articles on NextGen, Next Generation here.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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18 April 2016

Red Cross -- Invaluable Service & Extensive Archives -- Have you checked these out?

Today I woke up thinking about The Red Cross and the unimaginable scale of humanitarian aid provided by it since its founding.

Many of our ancestors have either contributed financially or physically to this organization and/or been assisted through provided services.

I knew that the British version, a few years ago, had made available a database of “Over 90,000 people volunteered for the British Red Cross at home and overseas during the war.” which refers to WWI.

I also learned that there is a physical British Red Cross museum and archives,

The British Red Cross museum and archives contain a fascinating portrait of our humanitarian work, from our beginnings in 1870 to our vital contribution in today's society.

Of course, I then had to see if the American Red Cross (ARC) had anything similar. First, I reminded myself of its history ...

Clara Barton and a circle of her acquaintances founded the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 1881. Barton first heard of the Swiss-inspired global Red Cross network while visiting Europe following the Civil War. Returning home, she campaigned for an American Red Cross and for ratification of the Geneva Convention protecting the war-injured, which the United States ratified in 1882.

I then learned that the National Archives actually has extensive holdings covering 1881-2008 donated by ARC. Here is an article about part of that collection as records were processed in 2011.

Additionally, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, has a large WWI-related collection.

Dating from 1917 to 1921, the large collection of American Red Cross records at Hoover documents the efforts to deliver aid to Europe, the Middle East, Russia, and China during and immediately after World War I. The records, consisting of correspondence, memoranda, reports, financial records, lists, and photographs, are arranged by the name of ARC commission, which specifies its geographic area of operation.

Ancestry.com, quite familiar to genealogists, has an online database of American Red Cross Nurse Files, 1916-1959.

We cannot talk about the British and American Red Cross agencies without referring to the International Committee of the Red Cross (IRC) and its archives and history.

What was to become the International Committee of the Red Cross met for the first time in February 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland. Among its five members was a local man named Henry Dunant who, the year before, had published a crusading book (A Souvenir of Solferino) calling for improved care for wounded soldiers in wartime.

Earlier this year, the ICRC made its Audiovisual Archives open and available online -- “Thousands of photos, films/videos and audio recordings belonging to the ICRC and documenting the organization's past and present are now open to the public.”

Why stop now, the Australian Red Cross in 2014, the Centenary of the organization, donated its archive and heritage collection to the University of Melbourne Archives. I’m sure that the list goes on.

It is great to see these archives becoming more available to researchers either by the material being donated to a national or large publicly accessible archive or through digitization and online access.

Many of our family members are part of the history of the Red Cross.

Did a family member of yours serve in or be served by the Red Cross? Do you have or have you sought out documentation of such? What type of documentation do you have or found?

What other archives of the Red Cross and its activities have I overlooked that would interest family historians?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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05 January 2016

Eww! Insects would love to eat historic (and not so historic) documents -- Are you pest free?

Image from "Get the munchers!"

As we all know, eradicating pests can be problematic. Many of them are voracious in their appetites, and tenacious in their choice of food and location. We talked about this before in Insects destroy Idaho county's historic documents – insects did an amazing amount of damage!

The reason for today’s post was a nostalgic walk through the Library and Archives Canada Blog and I came across this post, Get the munchers! which contains “graphic” images of the “top five most unwanted creepy crawlers in libraries and archives.” Yuck!

Pests are everywhere all the time. It’s easy to get focused on worrying about disasters and forgetting that “munchers” are constantly seeking food and that food just might be your collected documents, heirlooms, photographs and more.

So, to help ourselves (with our personal archives) and our archivist friends (with their much larger collections), I’m posting some helpful resources that might help with the pesky problem of pests.

+ Integrated Pest Management (Northeast Document Conservation Center)

+ Solutions -- MuseumPests.net (Integrated Pest Management Working Group)

+ Approaches to Insect Problems in Paper and Books (Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin)

+ Preservation Advisory Centre – Pests (British Library)

+ Archives Damage Atlas (Metamorfoze, teh Netherlands’ National Program for the Preservation of Paper) (go to P – Pest infestation)

If you Google (TM) on insect + damage + documents or something similar, you will come across many helpful websites.

Are you aware of collections which suffered extensive damage from insects?

Did a local archive near you have an insect problem? How was it handled?

Have you personally had an insect problem beyond an occasional silverfish carcass found? How did you handle it?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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06 November 2015

Support the preservation of the Port of Los Angeles Archives

This is just an image; working links provided in body of post.

Archive Corps, which we blogged about in Archive Corps -- Saving what is in danger of disappearing (14 Sept 2015) sent out an email 25 October 2015 drawing our attention to what may or may not be of some concern about the Port of Los Angeles (CA) Archives.

The email referred readers to Port of Los Angeles Archives in Danger where it’s stated that the Port of Los Angeles Archives are now housed in less-than-hospitable conditions and are at risk of being lost. Please read the full post for more details on the situation.

For information about the history of the port, a Photo Archive, an Oral History collection (in video format), and more, visit the port’s history page.

Interested in signing the petition, Save the Port of Los Angeles Archives? You can do so here.

Are you familiar with this collection? Is it at-risk as stated? Did you sign the petition?

What other at-risk collections are you aware of?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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13 October 2015

Archives Month -- I hope you've been celebrating!

For me, Archives Month is something I actually celebrate every day I visit an archive. They are the most wonderful places as repositories of our heritage.

It is a month when archives across the US celebrate their existence, their mission, and their collections. Also, the most wonderful posters get created.

Here is my annual sampling of the posters for 2015! Check them out and be sure to see “how” your archive is celebrating.

P.S. Just checking out all the posters is a lot of fun. A reminder of how each archive is unique and share a common mission.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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21 September 2015

How to Best Research in Libraries -- Don't let anxiety get in the way!

Image by Mariana Zanatta, https://www.flickr.com/photos/marisaysfuckoff/6059864539

Used per Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical 2.0 Generic license

It can be hard to visit a library, archive, courthouse, or other repository that we are not familiar with.

In fact, sometimes it creates such anxiety, that we may talk ourselves out of making the visit. Who knows what we’ve missed out on by choosing not to make a visit.

This post by Linda Barnickel on Ancestry.com, Don’t Suffer From Library Anxiety: How to Best Research in Libraries is a great read.

Symptoms: anxiety, uncertainty, sudden shyness, fear, worry that one might seem woefully ignorant, embarrassment, bewilderment, lack of confidence, and perhaps even shame that one should “know better” or already know the answers before the questions are even posed. If not treated, additional more-severe symptoms may develop, including: frustration, despair, a spirit of defeat, giving up, bitterness, and a vow to never do this again (whatever “this” is).

Remember, you are not alone! Every one of us has been to a “new” library in the course of our research and I definitely always am a bit anxious as I prepare to visit and then arrive on the scheduled day.

Since I am writing this blog post, I have obviously, emerged unscathed from these experiences. I’ve learned that preparing in advance helps a lot. It removes much of the uncertainty to have researched the answers to our myriad questions. For example you may have questions about pencils or pens, real-time copies or not, what tech toys are allowed, request materials in advance or not, signing in and getting set up, costs, etc.

Anne Gillepsie Mitchell helps us prepare with her post, Genealogy Roadtrip: 10 Tips for Researching at a Library or Archive as does Michael John Neill with his advice in Before Your Trip -- Doing Your Homework: A Checklist for Your Genealogy Vacation.

Finally, don’t forget to start with your local library! You may find that some of what you seek access to might be available locally (via subscription databases, journal archives, print books, etc) or through interlibrary loan (ILL) and for FREE.

For example, I have ancestors who lived in Essex County MA. A search in my local Raleigh NC library card catalog tells me that there are several books available that I can consult.

And, your local library can be a good place to ease your anxiety about visiting any library. The stakes aren’t as high when walking into a local library as when one has traveled possibly a great distance to visit a repository.

If you are planning a visit to a library, archives or other type of repository and feel a bit anxious, consider the advice offered above.

Editor’s Note: Related posts ...

+ Do We Still Need Libraries? (2013)

+ Planning a Visit to an Archive? Here's some Invaluable Guidance (2012)

+ Guide To Using Archives (2011)

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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