29 January 2016

Vanderburgh County (Indiana) Documentary Treasures Found!



Just a month ago we published, Though not common -- rare documentary treasures are found in unexpected places, and a few weeks ago I came across this exciting story, Timeless Treasures: County Records from Early 1800s Found.

A funny element of the new story is that the found documents were found under “Miscellaneous.”  I have often found in the Freedmen’s Bureau records and in other collections, that there is often a lot to be found in things labeled Miscellaneous.

In the newest find, records older than previously known to be extant were found and preserved in remarkably good condition.

... In December, Gowen was sifting through the county’s off-site warehouse in search of some records needed to fulfill a citizen’s records request. In hopes of finding those records, Gowen picked up and opened two tin boxes.

Those boxes were labeled ‘miscellaneous.’

What appeared to be a random assortment of records turned into something that was nothing short of remarkable.

“I was definitely surprised. The oldest documents that we have handled on a frequent basis are dated 1819,” Gowen said. “I’ve seen literally a handful (of records) from the 1840s. To date all the way back to the founding of the county was pretty shocking. These are the earliest records I've seen."
While some of the records are from 1823, most of what Gowen found date back to the months that followed the county’s formation in January 1818...

Again, we are reminded that records are still being found today that were created a century or two ago.  It also reminds us that you never know what you might find in something called “miscellaneous.”  I can’t promise it will always be a historic find and you still might find something valuable to your research.

Have historic records “re-surfaced” or been “found” in your community recently?





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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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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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28 January 2016

Rootstech FREE Live Streaming ProgramSchedule Released


Each year Rootstech shares programming for FREE via live streaming.  The live streaming will be available from the Rootstech home page (see previous link).

Here is this year’s streaming schedule.  Do note that the times are in Mountain Standard Time.  This schedule is reproduced from here, the page I suggest you check in case of any subsequent changes.

Day
Time
Class Title
Speaker
Thursday
8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Thursday General Session
Steve Rockwood
Paula Madison
Bruce Feiler
11:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m.
7 Unique Technologies for Genealogy Discoveries
Mike Mansfield
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Best Websites and Apps for Local History
Amy Crow
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
What’s New in Family Tree in 2016
Ron Tanner
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Virtual Family Reunions
Joseph Richardson
Friday
8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Friday General Session
Josh and Naomi Davis (Love Taza)
David Isay
10:30 a.m. 11:30 a.m.
RootsTech Innovator Showdown Finals

1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Proven Methodology for Using Google for Genealogy
Lisa Louise Cooke
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Finding Elusive Records on FamilySearch.org
Robert Kehrer
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
My Ancestors Are from Britain—What Do I Do Next?
Myko Clelland
Saturday
8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Saturday General Session
Michael Leavitt
11:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m.
Photos—Emerging Technologies in Photography
Jens Nielsen
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Become a Master Searcher on Ancestry
Anne Mitchell
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Homespun and Calico: Researching our Foremothers
Peggy Lauritzen
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Using the Genealogical Proof Standard for Success
James Ison












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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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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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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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Mocavo and Findmypast are coming together


I am a customer of both Findmypast and Mocavo and from the latter I received this email last week ... I have bolded and underlined a statement regarding FREE Mocavo content remaining as such.

+++

We wanted to let you know that in the coming months Mocavo will be coming together with its sister site, Findmypast. This will create a single experience for our US customers in a move that aims to deliver a more focused, efficient and comprehensive service to US family historians.

Mocavo's Story
We launched back in March 2011 when, only three months old, Family Tree Magazine named us as one of the best 101 genealogy websites of 2011. In 2012 we released The Free Yearbook collection and since then we’ve continued to publish hundreds of records and archives every day. We’d like to thank you, our customers, for being there with us as we’ve continued to grow.

We are now in the process of moving all Mocavo site content to Findmypast so you’ll soon be able to enjoy everything currently available on Mocavo and more. As part of our 'Free Forever' promise, Mocavo subscribers will continue to enjoy free access to all of the same records that were previously published for free on Mocavo. We will be transferring your account over to Findmypast soon so stay tuned for updates.

What's next?
You don't need to do anything just now. When we bring the two sites together, we'll be in touch with specific information about your account and some how-to guides that will help make the most of the new experience.

How does this move affect you?
  • You'll still benefit from the same great content you’ve been enjoying on Mocavo and this will all be available on Findmypast soon. In addition, you'll be able to take advantage of hundreds of millions of new and exclusive US records to further enhance the experience for US family historians.
  • Findmypast has more British and Irish records than anyone else and is adding new records from the US and other locales every single week, so you’ll be able to take advantage of these to help your family history search. You’ll be able to explore nearly 8 billion names now and hundreds of millions of new names coming this year alone!
  • You can easily import your family tree and we’ll start to hint against names that we find in the archives to help you discover more about your family and even find relatives you never knew existed.

About Findmypast
Currently the home to billions of names, including the largest collections of Irish records and British Parish records, military records and the British Newspaper Archive, not to mention the 1939 Register. It currently has a plethora of US records and will soon be home to all the Mocavo records once the two sites come together.

Findmypast has a free and easy-to-use family tree builder and it releases new records every week to keep your family history search alive.





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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
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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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 [email protected]
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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 January 2016

NGS Announces a New Cloud-Based Course: Researching Your World War I Ancestors


Arlington, VA, 01/27/2016 —The National Genealogical Society (NGS) announces the release of its newest Continuing Genealogical Studies course, Researching Your World War I Ancestors. In this cloud-based, nine-module, self-paced course, genealogists obtain an introduction to WWI research.  Modules cover topics such as “Locate and Understand Records of Units,” “Serial Numbers and Unit Identification,” and “Obtaining Copies of World War I Personnel Records.” Also included are examples, citations, references, self-graded quizzes, and a comprehensive glossary. 

Craig Roberts Scott, CGSM, FUGA, developed Researching Your World War I Ancestors for NGS. A nationally recognized lecturer, educator, and genealogical and historical researcher, he has more than thirty years’ experience and specializes in the diverse military records at the National Archives.

Researching Your World War I Ancestors is one of a number of cloud-based NGS courses that offers the convenience of completing a genealogy course over a period of months at any location and at any time.  It is available for $45.00 for members and $70.00 for nonmembers. For further information or to purchase the course, visit NGS Continuing Genealogical Studies.

#     #    #

Founded in 1903, the National Genealogical Society is dedicated to genealogical education, exemplary standards of research, and the preservation of genealogical records. The Arlington, Virginia, based nonprofit is the premier national society for everyone, from the beginner to the most advanced family historian, seeking excellence in publications, educational offerings, and guidance in research. It also offers many opportunities to interact with other genealogists.

Certified Genealogist, CG, and Certified Genealogical Lecturer CGL are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists® used by the Board to identify its program of genealogical competency evaluation and used under license by the Board’s associates.




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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
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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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 [email protected]
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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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26 January 2016

Chronicling America Data Challenge -- Prizes will be awarded!


We often talk about Chronicling America as a great resource for digitized newspaper content.

NEH has issued a challenge (with prizes!) -- Create a web-based tool, data visualization, or other creative use of the information found in the Chronicling America historic newspaper database.  Here’s a snippet about this challenge.

... What are we looking for?  NEH encourages contestants to develop data visualizations, web-based tools, or other innovative and interesting web-based projects using the open data found in Chronicling America. There are over ten million pages of digitized newspapers in Chronicling America, published between 1836 and 1922, from towns and cities across the United States.  The newspapers illuminate 19th- and 20th-century American life, with stories about politics, sports, shopping, music, food, health, science, movies, and everything in between.  Entries should uncover trends, display insights, explore a theme, or tell a story.

For example, entries using the Chronicling America newspaper data could:
·        Show how local news in various places covered the World Series of baseball
·        Trace the developing motion picture industry across the country
·        Follow the enactment of amendments to the Constitution
·        Show coverage of a historic political campaign in various locations
·        Map the travels of a president across the country based on local news coverage
·        Show changes in advertising logos or newspaper mastheads over time
·        Track the price or adoption of consumer goods over time in different locations
·        Explore tourism in different locations in the United States
·        Discover how various regions of the country celebrated Thanksgiving at different times...

Full details can be found here. I also found this related read, NEH Invites Entries for the Chronicling America Data Challenge on the Blog of the American Historical Association interesting as it gave a couple of examples of projects “such as An Epidemiology of Information, which uses text mining to explore how information about the 1918 influenza pandemic spread, and Journalism’s Voyage West, a visualization of the growth and decline of newspapers in the US, have shown some of the possibilities offered by computational approaches to this digitized archive.”

Understanding historical context always benefits our family history research.

What neat project, based on Chronicling America, would you like to see undertaken?




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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
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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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 [email protected]
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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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25 January 2016

NYPL Releases More than 180,000 Digitized Items to the Public Domain to be Used for FREE



Last week the New York Public Library (NYPL) announced ...

... that out-of-copyright materials in NYPL Digital Collections are now available as high-resolution downloads. No permission required, no hoops to jump through: just go forth and reuse! 

The release of more than 180,000 digitized items represents both a simplification and an enhancement of digital access to a trove of unique and rare materials: a removal of administration fees and processes from public domain content, and also improvements to interfaces — popular and technical — to the digital assets themselves... 

Read the full announcement and details on what is included here.

Recognize that the collection is worldwide in scope.  I searched on North Carolina and over 800 items were found.  I will definitely be looking more closely at this collection since I was previously unfamiliar with many of the materials listed.


I also searched on Salem and Peabody Massachusetts – two communities where my immigrant ancestors lived.  When I resume my personal research, I will revisit this collection to see if I can find images of the churches, organizations, etc., that they were associated with.

Did you find a really neat image or document connected to your family history?



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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
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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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 [email protected]
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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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22 January 2016

Rootstech Innovator Showdown -- 12 Semifinalists -- Who will win?


Each year at Rootstech developers/innovators have been encouraged to come up with new innovations of benefit to family historians.

The newest incarnation, The Innovator Showdown, debuted in 2015.  Fifty-one software developers from all over the world entered a challenge to create the best new innovations in family history for an opportunity to win $25,000 in awards provided by sponsors.  Checkout the list of winners! 

In 2016, there is $100,000 in awards, Forty-six teams have gone through 2 rounds of judging and this has left 12 semifinalists.  Check out the 12 semifinalists and if you are attending Rootstech, cast your vote on the Friday, 10:30 a.m. in Hall D to help select the People’s Choice winner.

Whether you will be attending Rootstech or not, which app would get your vote?


Editor’s Note: Articles on a related topic:











~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
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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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 [email protected]
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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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