UpFront with NGS: Record Preservation

Showing posts with label Record Preservation. Show all posts

16 October 2015

Before you donate your genealogy research -- Important things to do!

Entry in Oldham Database for the Genealogy Research Volume I donated in 2001

We are not all in the fortunate position to have others in the family that shares our passion for genealogy and so will become the next archive for the family research already done. When in that situation, it’s important to consider giving your genealogy research to a library or archive.

And, you don’t have to wait to handle such in a will or similar instrument. When I completed the first round of research on my mother’s family (in 2001), I donated a copy to the local history library for the area which was the focus of the research. You can still find that item in its catalog. I also shared copies with family members. This way, no matter what happens to me or my research, at least a summary version of it is in the care of what I hope to be an in perpetuity facility. Unfortunately, I have produced two addenda to the original volume in the interim and I probably should also send a copy of those to join that initial volume.

I have created similar volumes for other branches of my family – They all Met in Salem Mass, They All Met in Chicago and They Married in Wilmington Delaware. I know what my New Year resolution will be come January 2016! Though, in a bit of a defense, I have posted most of this material online on my website and I have done so for years. And, donating volumes, like donating a book, is not quite the same as donating your collected research. Let’s delve into that now.

So, now that you’ve decided to donate your collection somewhere for safe keeping, how should you proceed? First, I suggest you read 4 Things To Do Before You Donate Your Genealogy (Amy Johnson Crow, via Ancestry.com blog) and do skim over the comments. There are some additional helpful ideas and thoughts to be found in the comments posted.

The Society of American Archivists also has some suggestions on Donating Your Personal or Family Records to a Repository.

Earlier this year, Dick Eastman (Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter) answered a query with a post titled Where to Donate Records to Make Them Available to Everyone. As always, do glance at the comments provided – they will tell you what the person who posted the original query did and provide many other relevant suggestions.

I am sometimes asked this question about family bibles and other one-of-a-kind documents (versus whole collections) with a North Carolina connection – my suggestions in this case are one or more of the following depending on the specific circumstances (you want to donate copies of pages, the original bible, etc) – NGS Bible Records collection (a member benefit), State Archives of North Carolina (digitized bible collection (currently over 2000) & brochure on how to donate to), UNC (e.g. Southern Historical Collection), local archive/library, etc. My suggestion is to first aim for the largest (and most likely to endure) repository and then if that isn’t feasible focus on repositories for which your bible or other material would be an asset such as several generations of a family who lived in a county or particular town.

What advice would you give someone who wants/needs to donate their genealogical research materials or bible or other one-of-a-kind original documents?

Editor’s Note: Post on a related topic "No longer saved for generations, family heirlooms are being shed"

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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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02 October 2014

Above and beyond -- helping to preserve our heritage

Yesterday we talked about an almost super human volunteer! Today we’ll talk about “a man who makes a different every day” as described in To Preserve and Protect Harris County’s Historic Court Records by David Furlow on the Houston Bar Association Appellate Lawyer blog.

As Team Leader of Harris County District Clerk Chris Daniel’s Historical Documents Records Center, Francisco Heredia ensures that the record of Harris County’s rich legal heritage is preserved, protected and easily accessible to lawyers, judges, justices, historians and members of the public. Anyone interested in seeing an important part of Texas legal history can examine these records in Room 200 of the Harris County Civil Courthouse.

Read this article to learn all about what Francisco Heredia and several others done to both preserve and provide better access to Harris County’s heritage.

You can directly access the Harris County District Clerk Chris Daniel’s Historical Documents Records Center here and you can search the records and documents via this interface.

Do you know of a person like Francisco who has gone above and beyond in his job to ensure the preservation, protection and access of the community to invaluable documents?

Editor’s Note: I ran into a few issues when trying to search the historical records beyond the naturalization records and it would be an understatement to say that my web browsers (both Internet Explorer and Google Chrome) have never malfunctioned on a website!

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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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13 August 2014

Even now records are at risk to be lost ... Fires, flooding, theft, etc., are NOT just something that happened to our ancestors!

Recent events remind us that fires and floods and theft are not just the purview of when our ancestors lived, they are events that happen every day. Every time they happen, a bit of history can be lost or in these cases, a lot of history!

Burglars steal 100 years of historical records

Late July 14/early July 15, burglars broke into the church through a window, and then broke into a locked office. There, across from Chaska’s City Square Park, they lugged out a 3-foot by 3-foot metal safe. The safe held about four ledgers recording births, weddings and deaths, as well as an index... All the pivotal moments in the life of a Moravian parishioner, from about 1920 all the way to a baptism recorded within the last two weeks, were in the books, Eder said. The earliest records of the Chaska church, founded in 1858, have been shipped to the church’s headquarters in Bethlehem, Penn., he said.

Cause undetermined for fire that destroyed Hancock County Courthouse

In 1885, the Hancock County Courthouse was two years old when an all-white jury upheld the wishes of David Dickson, a wealthy planter who had left much of his estate to his illegitimate daughter born of a slave mother... Investigators called the building a total loss. It housed the county commissioners’ office, Probate Court, Superior Court and the elections office... Foster said clerks of the Probate and Superior courts used walk-in vaults to store many important documents, like deeds and birth certificates. Doors to the vaults typically are closed at the end of the work day, he said... Joslyn said many court records were microfilmed in the 1950s. Although the microfilm can be tough to read at times, the film is stored at the state archives.

Though I often comment to my clients that “real life” can take precedence over our research into our ancestors as the long-deceased are just that and their records will continue to be available into the future. Events such as these serve as a reminder that my assertion might not be completely true. Fortunately, even our modern court houses and churches do not hold ALL the records created during the lives of our ancestors. We just have to be a bit more creative in what types of records we research.

That said, it behooves us to do what we can to “preserve” records important to future genealogists and family historians.

Please do what you can to help ensure that your local records remain safe. Make sure they at least get transcribed by a person or society, or better yet, possibly provide financial support so they are microfilmed.

What have you or your society done recently to ensure that local records will remain available to future family historians?

Do you know of a situation where all was not lost in a fire, flood, theft, etc., due to steps having been taken to ensure that at least the content (if not the physical records themselves) of records was preserved?

Editor’s Note: Previous Upfront with NGS posts on related topics:

· Disaster Preparedness for Genealogists -- Are you Prepared?

· Disasters and Genealogy -- our ancestors were greatly affected by natural events, like "Sandy," also!

· “I’m Sorry, Those Records Were Lost” – California Genealogical Society Publication Gives Researchers New Hope

· The Dayton (OH) Flood -- one example of a devastating natural disaster -- part of a collection of then and now images from natural disasters

· FREE Video Series -- Caring and Preserving Family Papers, Photographs and More

P.S. If you happen to know if the safe was recovered or if there is any knowledge on what survived (or didn't) the courthouse fire, please post a comment to let us know.

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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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11 September 2013

For Biographers, The Past Is An Open (Electronic) Book

source: matthileo, http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthileo/5448890428/

Used Under: Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

Keeping with a recent blog post theme of what to keep and what not to keep and what that means for future family history researchers, please read For Biographers, The Past Is An Open (Electronic) Book who introduction starts out with:

For centuries, biographers have relied on letters to bring historical figures to life, whether Gandhi or Catherine the Great. But as people switch from writing on paper to documenting their lives electronically, biographers are encountering new benefits — and new challenges...

[the post goes on to say] ... A lot of us think electronic communications live forever. But if someone won't give up his emails, or takes his passwords with him to the grave, or if he used software that's now outdated, his records may be lost...

If you’ve ever been to an archive and accessed the private collection of an individual or family with its letters, diaries, logs, and more, you know exactly the kind of “intimate” communication that you might miss out on if modern individuals don’t ensure that what they “write” will be available to future researchers.

Other recent Upfront with NGS posts about “preserving” records for the future:

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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

01 April 2013

Digital Preservation News -- FREE Webinar Series and Resource Guide

Digital preservation has certainly been in the news lately! Here is a recap of some recent news on the subject that might interest you! All of the mentioned resources are FREE and available to the public.

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Library of Congress has released “Perspectives on Personal Digital Archiving.” This is a free and new e-publication. Described as “a published compilation of selected blog posts published in The Signal. All of these posts are written by NDIIPP staff as well as guest bloggers from inside and outside the Library of Congress. This resource can serve as a primer for the digital archive novice, as well as a refresher for those with more experience.” Read here for more about this new publication.

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Members of the Web Science and Digital Libraries Research Group at Old Dominion University attended Personal Digital Archiving (PDA) 2013. They provide a great summary of the sessions held with links provided to various videos housed on Internet Archive (one of my favorite places!).

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Live in NC? Interested in Digital Preservation? A librarian or interested person?

If so, check out this free webinar series being offered brought to you by ASERL, the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, these webinars are targeted toward those preserving digital content as part of their jobs, but are open to all. They’re presented by professionals from all over the country.

“Preservation Planning and Overview of PREMIS for Beginners”
Speaker = Lisa Gregory, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
This webinar is designed to help participants begin formulating a digital preservation plan for their digital collections. Even if you already have files accumulating, planning and implementing basic digital preservation strategies doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Topics to be covered include what to consider during planning, first steps for implementation, as well as a basic introduction to PREMIS, the Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata. The goal will be to help you start thinking about preservation as part of your everyday digital workflow.
DATE: Tuesday, April 2, 2013 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/784245138

“Forbearing the Digital Dark Age: Capturing Metadata for Digital Objects”
Speaker = Chris Dietrich, National Park Service.
Metadata is the key to both discovery and long-term accessibility of digital content. This webinar will address metadata for digital photos, documents, audio-video, tabular data, and GIS data. Topics include categories of metadata, metadata standards for different asset types, metadata capture strategies, and metadata software tools. Links to additional resources for digital preservationists will also be provided.
DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 2013 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT

“Management of Incoming Born-Digital Special Collections”
Speaker = Gretchen Gueguen, University of Virginia.
This webinar will cover the basics of getting started with managing born-digital archives. Through basic techniques and practical suggestions, you will learn how to assess your collection, develop a management plan, put basic policies in place, and set up an accessioning workflow. Simple tools to help you do the job will be reviewed along with guides and other resources to help answer your questions.
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/366765338

“Using FITS to Identify File Formats and Extract Metadata”
Speaker = Andrea Goethals, Harvard University.
After an introduction to file formats and technical metadata, a demo of the File Information Tool Set (FITS) will be given. You will learn what it does, how it differs from other format tools, how to use it, how to customize it and how Harvard is using FITS in different ways. No experience with FITS is necessary but if you would like to try it out in advance you can download it from http://code.google.com/p/fits/
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/305875426

Do you have other recent Digital Preservation news? If so, please post a comment!

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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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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog.

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Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

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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!

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

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

24 September 2012

National Freedom of Information Coalition

Serendipity again! I recently stumbled across a website for the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC).

This happened as I reading an article “Pike County (Indiana resident, newspaper sue health department to access death records” (published in the Evansville Courier & Press) and wanted to see if there was a follow-up.

EVANSVILLE — A Pike County resident and the Evansville Courier & Press are suing the Vanderburgh County Health Department to obtain access to cause of death information contained on death certificates maintained by the health department. The newspaper and Rita Ward of Winslow, Ind., contend the death certificates are public records, while the health department interprets state law to require it to restrict access to them...

I found that the blog for NFOIC summarizes state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and local open government news items every Friday and then other news items are blogged regularly.

Additionally, there is a section where information for ALL State Freedom of Information laws is provided (along with sample FOIA Request letters for all states).

FOIA laws are very important to genealogists since documentation generated by local and federal entities can be very important to our genealogy and family history research.

Sunshine Week, celebrated around the March 16 birthday of James Madison, reminds us of the importance of records access and also the power of grass roots initiatives to keep our government open. And “open records” are vital to us!

Part of the Sunshine Week Toolkit of Editorial Cartoons -- Credit Steve Greenberg, Los Angeles

Tell us of a recent success you’ve had in gaining access for yourself or other genealogists and family historians into records previously unavailable and yet invaluable!

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog.

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Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

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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!

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

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