UpFront with NGS: January 2011

26 January 2011

Reserve 6 February 2011 for Super Indexing Sunday

Ken Sisler, a family historian who lives in Newmarket, Ontario,

Canada

has put together a Facebook Group entitled Super Indexing Sunday to announce a grassroots effort to index genealogical records through the website indexing.familysearch.org. The goal is to break the record of approximately 1.9 million records indexed in 1 day which took place in January 2011.

Super Indexing Sunday will take place on 6 February 2011 which is the same day as the Super Bowl.

This event is open to the public and not just for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Over 400,000 people do indexing on FamilySearch Indexing. Fifty percent of those who index are not Mormons. Please feel free to invite your indexing friends and those who might be interested to participate in this event.

Note: This is not an official event of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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25 January 2011

REMINDER: 31 January 2011 -- NGS Awards and Competitions deadline

Remember that NGS recognizes excellence The National Genealogical Society recognizes excellence in the genealogy field by presenting awards in numerous categories and several competitions. The deadline for the 2011 awards is the end of the month (31 January 2011).

The presentation of these awards is administered by the NGS Awards Committee, which sets deadlines for the receipt of nominations. Notice of the deadlines is sent to the Board of Directors and to the membership through NGS Magazine. Nominations are submitted to the NGS Awards Committee, which reviews and evaluates the nominations.

Send nomination forms by postal service or e-mail to:

NGS Awards Program
3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300
Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370 USAE-mail: [email protected]

Include "NGS AWARD" in the Subject line of your message.

All nominations must include e-mail contact information for nominees and the persons nominating them.

Why not nominate someone you know or enter your own work in one of these NGS competitions? Click on each award/competition to get further details.

· Award for Excellence: Genealogy and Family History Book

· Award for Excellence: Genealogical Methods and Sources

· Award of Honor

· Award of Merit

· Certificate of Appreciation

· Distinguished Service Award

· National Genealogy Hall of Fame

· Fellow of the National Genealogical Society (FNGS)

· NGS Home Study Course Scholarship Award

· Rubincam Youth Award

· The Filby Prize for Genealogical Librarianship

Check out past winners!

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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/.
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Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to [email protected]. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.
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Lots and Lots of Photos

You might remember that in December we talked about Videos Videos Everywhere! Now it’s time for photos to take a front seat! You will find many collections of interest on Flick. I think of Flickr as a large collection of photo albums, with many viewable by the public.

Some of the larger collections on Flickr that might interest genealogists are:

· Library of Congress: in remembrance of the Union and Confederate soldiers who served in the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Liljenquist family recently donated their rare collection of almost 700 ambrotype and tintype photographs to the Library of Congress (LOC). These are posted online in the Flickr photostream Civil War Faces.

· National Archives and Records Administration

· With the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War this year, in addition to the LOC collection mentioned is a photostream called Civil War sites & Memorials Today with over 15,000 photos, and one titled Gettysburg with over 12,000 photos.

· National Register of Historic Places

· Smithsonian

· State Library and Archives of Florida, North Carolina State Archives, State Records NSW’s photostream along with other state and national archival collections.

· New York Public Library

And, it’s not just large entities or events like we’ve already discussed. There is a Genealogy Group Pool, which currently has over 7,800 images, and one titled 100 years old, where photos have to be at least 100 years old, that has almost 17,000 images. There are some groups of old photographs that have over 50,000 images each!

I suspect by now that if you didn’t know how Flickr might help your genealogy research, you do now. Even if a photo of your ancestor isn’t yet posted, there are probably photos to be found relevant to where he lived, who he lived near, the church he attended, the establishments he conducted business with, etc.

Have you made a great find on Flickr or used it related to your genealogy research. Is there a Flickr photostream for a genealogy-focused society, archive, etc. we haven’t mentioned? Do you know of a great photo collection not mentioned above? If so, please drop a comment. We’d like to hear from you whether you have made that great find or are an active supplier of photos.

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23 January 2011

Special censuses counted more than people

Check-out this great article by Sharon Tate Moody titled Special censuses counted more than people.

The article starts out with

“How much corn, potatoes, flax, sugar and honey did your great-great grandfather farmer produce in 1860? How successful was your great grandfather's small manufacturing business in 1880? How many men and women did he employ and what did he pay them?

Where would a researcher find such revealing information about their ancestors? In the census — but not the one we usually refer to as "the census.”

You’ll have to read the rest of the article to learn more.

If you have had some great success with a non-population census, please make a comment. We’d love to hear about it!

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Archives.com Announces Grant to Fund Family and Cultural History Projects

Read about this exciting opportunity to get a grant to help start, continue or finish a genealogically-related preservation project.

Posted on January 13, 2011

PALO ALTO, CA -- January 13, 2011 -- Archives.com, an Inflection brand, today announces its Grant Program, a major initiative to assist individuals and communities with family, communal, and cultural research and preservation projects. The Archives.com Grant will help people and organizations take on historically significant projects that positively impact their family or community.

"Since inception, Archives.com has sought to create a simple and affordable family history research experience for users," said CEO Matthew Monahan. "Now we are going one step further by establishing the Archives.com Grant Program so that valuable research projects do not perish due to lack of funding. We aim to level the playing field so that anyone can embark on the preservation projects that matter to them because family history shouldn't be a hobby solely for the rich and famous."

Grant recipients may come from all walks of life, and may be individuals or community-based organizations. Specifically, Archives is seeking any project that contributes to the promotion and advancement of family history research and preservation. Examples include projects related to document preservation, artifact restoration, record transcription, and promotion of historical events.

Grant recipients will be chosen monthly and awarded up to $1,000 to fund their project. Archives encourages every person or organization in the

U.S.

to apply, whether a newbie, hobbyist, expert, or community group, like a historical society, library, or archive.

"Archives is excited to continue investing in the community, as we believe there are few things more important than the exploration and preservation of our history, culture, and heritage," said Director of Product Joe Godfrey. "Undoubtedly, the Archives.com Grant Program will prove to be an important resource for a diverse group of family historians and organizations."

Archives.com provides more than 2 million monthly visitors with an array of powerful tools, expert advice, and access to a database of over 1.1 billion records. If you would like to learn more about the Archives.com Grant Program, please visit the application page. All are encouraged to apply and forward this important opportunity to friends, family, or colleagues.

Source: Announcement at http://blog.archives.com/press/archivescom-announces-grant-to-fund-family-and-cultural-history-projects.html

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19 January 2011

OH Chapter -- Palatines to America – Spring Seminar Notice

The Ohio Chapter of Palatines to

America

’s Annual Spring Seminar will be held on 16 April 2011 at Columbus, Ohio in partnership with the Franklin County Genealogical and Historical Society and the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

"Research Using New & Time Tested Resources"

Columbus Metropolitan Library - Main Branch

96 S. Grant Avenue, Columbus, Ohio

April 16, 2011, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Fee includes box lunch & material: Member $25; Non-Member $30 Students ages 15-21: $15; Late Fee after April 7: Add $5

Topics include:

· Beginning German Genealogy

· 18th & 19th Century Tombstones & Markings

· History of Germans in Columbus

· Researching Germans in Methodist Denominations

· How to Document and Organize your Research

· Techniques & Resources for Finding Ancestors.

For more information and online registration, visit:

http://www.oh-palam.org/bookstore/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=21

Ed Note: The Ohio Chapter of Palatines To America (PAL-AM) is a regional German-American genealogical organization. It is part of The Palatines To America, a national genealogical society of persons researching German-speaking ancestry, with emphasis on European migration from the Germanic regions of Europe to North America (primarily the

United States

and

Canada

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Browsing the NGSQ Archives: Bringing Life to a Family Narrative

by Toby Webb

I continue poking around in the NGS Quarterly digital archives, seeing what treasures are there for the new family historian. Today I found a great article by John Philip Colletta on writing a family narrative. Colletta is one of the most popular genealogy lecturers around and a great teacher and family history writer. This particular article, Developing Family Narrative from Leads in Sources: The Case of James W. and Nancy Parberry, was in the March 2006 edition of the Quarterly, Volume 94, No. 1. What struck me about it is that it is a "how-to" article with excellent examples. Instead of just telling us to "use strong verbs and adjectives", for example, he shares a paragraph he has written about the Parberrys in which strong verbs move the narrative along. He tells and shows us how to pace the prose to build interest, how to keep our ancestor at the center of a narrative that also includes a lot of historical context, how to shape paragraphs to pull the reader along. It is an article about how to write that will help move any family historian from "fact collector" to "effective story teller."

NGS members can find the article in the NGSQ digital archive. At the NGS website, click the Publications and Videos tab, then click on NGS Member Periodicals, on NGSQ and then, in the left column, on NGS Quarterly Archives.

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New Lineage Society -- Sons & Daughters of World War II Veterans

The Sons and Daughters of World War II Veterans is a program of the Admiral Nimitz Foundation and the Nimitz Education and Research Center.

Per the society,

“Sixteen million men and women served in the Armed Forces of the

United States

in World War II, at home, at sea and on battlefields from North Africa,

Italy

France

and

Germany

Burma

China

, the islands of the Pacific and the skies over

Japan

. They were ordinary Americans, called from every walk of life to resist and ultimately vanquish the most powerful armed forces ever raised on earth. 405,399 died in the service of the nation and the cause.

The Sons & Daughters of World War II Veterans preserves their legacy and offers their descendants the opportunity to establish genealogically consistent proof of descent from a qualifying veteran. The service of a family member in the greatest of all struggles for freedom and a secure future is a landmark in the story of any American family.”

A qualifying veteran is a man or woman who served in a Branch of the United States Armed Forces, being the United States Army, United States Army Corps/Air Force, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, United States Coast Guard and United States Merchant Marine, at any time during the period from 7 December 1941 to 31 December 1946.

Full details as well as research guidance and a veterans/members search engine are found at http://www.sonsanddaughtersofww2veterans.org/index.asp

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14 January 2011

JFK Library Opens First Online Presidential Archive

(AP) 13 January 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — Caroline Kennedy unveiled the nation's first online presidential archive Thursday, a $10 million project to digitize the most important papers, photographs and recordings of President John F. Kennedy's days in office.

Users can sort through the drafts of Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you," speech and see how he tinkered with the words of that most famous line from his inauguration. Or they can listen to his personal phone calls and read his letters.

In advance of the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's inauguration Jan. 20, Caroline Kennedy visited the National Archives, saying it reminded her the nation was built on words and ideas — and that her father's call to service was more relevant than ever.

"His time is becoming part of history, not living memory, and we need to reach across the generations in new ways," Caroline Kennedy said, noting many young people are disillusioned with politics. "He inspired a generation who inspired their children. They transformed

America

, and that's why 50 years later, his legacy still resonates."

Kennedy himself broached the idea of making his records available to the masses in 1961.

At a news conference, a reporter asked if he would consider putting his papers in Washington, rather than his hometown, to make them more accessible to scholars.

"Through scientific means of reproduction ... and this will certainly be increased as time goes on, we will find it possible to reproduce the key documents so that they will be commonly available," the president responded.
After four years of work, the Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston has made that a reality. Archivists digitized over 200,000 pages, 1,200 recordings and 300 museum artifacts, as well as reels of film and hundreds of photographs.

Library Director Tom Putnam said they started with all of Kennedy's Oval Office files — everything that went across his desk — along with his personal papers, official White House photos, audio of all his public remarks, video of his famous speeches, and home movies. Archivists knew the most requested items in their research room in Boston and used them as a guide.

Private partners — including AT&T, EMC Corp., Raytheon Co. and Iron Mountain Corp. — contributed $6.5 million in equipment and technical services to digitize thousands of records. Iron Mountain will store backup copies of all the digital files about 200 feet below ground at its facility in western Pennsylvania.
Original files will remain accessible at the Kennedy Library, Putnam said. The digital records, though, will help preserve the originals because they will be handled less frequently, he said.

The library will continue digitizing about 100,000 pages a year, along with thousands of photos and recordings. At that rate, it would still take more than 100 years to digitize all records from the Kennedy administration.
For students across the country, the online archive will mean access to primary documents for school research. They could examine Kennedy's correspondence with Martin Luther King Jr. from the time they first met to the time King was jailed in Birmingham, Ala.

Drafts of Kennedy's speeches show how he was writing and editing along with speechwriter Theodore Sorensen, giving people a sense of the president's power as a writer, Putnam said.

"It truly democratizes history," Putnam said. "We're really hopeful it can work both for a young person and for the most serious scholar."

Only the George W. Bush and William J. Clinton presidential libraries have extensive records that were "born digital" in the computer age. The Kennedy Library's archive will be the largest collection available online to the public.

David Ferriero, archivist of the

United States

, said it will serve as a prototype for other presidential libraries.
"In the past 50 years since President Kennedy took office, the scope and scale of presidential records has escalated, as have expectations of access to those records," he said. "For students today, if it isn't online, it doesn't exist."

On the Net: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: http://www.jfklibrary.org/

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12 January 2011

NGSQ Index Now FREE and AVAILABLE to the Public

Since 1912, the National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ) has published material concerning all regions of the nation and all ethnic groups including compiled genealogies, case studies, essays on new methodology and little-known resources, critical reviews of current books, and previously unpublished source materials.

Articles show how to cope with name changes, burned courthouses, illegitimacies, and other stumbling blocks; how to interpret records that do not mean what they seem to say; how to distinguish among individuals of the same name; how to identify origins of immigrant ancestors; how to research a variety of ethnic groups; how to find a way through the maze of records at the National Archives; how to conduct research in specific states; and how to compile solid genealogies.

Previously, only NGS members could access the index to search the collection by author or title or browse editions by year. Now ANYONE can search the National Genealogical Society Quarterly Index for FREE, just click here!

Did you find the NGSQ that you were looking for? Interested in purchasing a back issue of the NGSQ? Contact [email protected] to check if it is available. Cost is $12 members/$15 non-members which includes shipping.

Or, recent issues (1983–current) of all National Genealogical Society Quarterly issues are currently available at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/members_only to NGS Members, and limited back issues will be coming online periodically. Click here to join today!

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