31 October 2016

Records Returned -- Charles City County (VA) Record Book, 1694-1700 back home after an absence of over 150 years

A map of the most inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole province of Maryland with part of Pensilvania, New Jersey and North Carolina. Drawn by Joshua Fry

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/gmd388/g3880/g3880/ct000370.jp2&itemLink=D?gmd:15:./temp/~ammem_iK1n::&title=A+map+of+the+most+inhabited+part+of+Virginia+containing+the+whole+province+of+Maryland+with+part+of+Pensilvania,+
New+Jersey+and+North+Carolina.+Drawn+by+Joshua+Fry+&style=gmd&legend=

Records Returned -- Charles City County (VA) Record Book, 1694-1700 back home after an absence of over 150 years

Articles about returned records are always great to read. It reminds us that records, often held in private hands for decades, if not centuries, might find their way back to a public domain.

You can read more about the referenced Charles City County records recently returned as well as an overview of the history of Charles City County records slowly making their way back home in The Return of Virginia’s Lost History (Out of the Box, Notes from the Archives @ The Library of Virginia) and Charles City records taken by Union soldiers during Civil War are now returned (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

If you are researching Charles City Ancestry, here are some Genealogical Databases that might be of help as well as these documents which are part of the Library of Virginia, digital collections.

What records have you heard about recently that were returned to where they belonged?

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28 October 2016

Opinions Regarding Slavery: Slave Narratives. 1822-1865 [FREE Access]

Opinions Regarding Slavery: Slave Narratives. 1822-1865 [FREE Access]

Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Archives and Manuscripts Department (Baton Rouge, LA) – John B. Cade Library has a collection, Opinions Regarding Slavery: Slave Narratives, 1822-1865, available online. These are organized geographically by state/territory.

The collecting of interviews did not start with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as many believed. The first study, at Southern University, was directed and compiled by John B. Cade during the years of 1929-1930 whose interest in the utilization of the accounts of ex-slaves was initially aroused by the controversy over the nature of the slave regime and, in particular by remarks reportedly made by Dr. U.B. Phillip; who reportedly stated that "Negroes for the most part did not mind slavery." The 1929 set of narratives which were compiled at Southern University were destroyed. A preliminary study conducted at Southern during the years 1929-1930 was expanded during the early years of the depression under Cade's direction, and the results of those interviews were later summarized in Cade's article "Out of the Mouths of Ex-Slaves." The Journal of Negro History. Volume 20, Number 3 (July, 1935), pp. 294-337…

The 1935 Prairie View Slave narrative collection contains 17 states including the Indian Territory and Canada. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indian Territory, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma Territory, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Canada.

You can access the full finding aid. Each narrative can be accessed as a PDF.

Other sources for slave narratives are:

· North American Slave Narratives (Documenting the American South)

· Library of Congress – Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938

· WPA Slave Narratives (PBS, Slavery and the Making of America)

What other collections of slave narratives are you aware of?

Editor's Note: Angela Proctor, University Archivist at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana provided me with a corrected URL [12 December 2016]

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27 October 2016

Remembering WWI App

Remembering WWI App

From AOTUS and a post on 17 September 2016 …

Today we’re launching the public beta program for the Remembering WWI iPhone app, which puts newly digitized primary source materials into the hands of teachers and museum professionals nationwide. The app is a product of a two-year collaboration among the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the National WWI Museum, and others, all working toward the goal of connecting teachers, students and history enthusiasts to primary sources in interesting new ways.

I’ve written a few times about the moving and still images related to World War I and II that have been part of a large scale digitization effort at NARA over the last few years. In addition to the digitization of these rarely-seen photographs and moving images, this app is part of a long-term community engagement plan to connect with existing and new audiences for NARA. On our NARAtions blog, the team has shared how we’ve taken a user-centered design approach to one of our first cross-unit productions, and opened up our collections to free and creative reuse.

We welcome your participation and feedback in this beta program for the Remembering WWI app. The best way to get involved is to join the conversation on the History Hub, where you can learn about downloading the beta app, participate in user experience research, and share your feedback and ideas to help inform changes to the app before being promoted in schools and museums in February 2017.

Here is the link for it in Itunes. I don't see an android version yet available.

You can explore a Sample User Journey for WWI app here (PDF file).

What feature did you like best?

If you were a teacher, can you see using this in your classroom?

When traveling, how might you use this?

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26 October 2016

Nominations Now Being Accepted -- Award for Excellence: Genealogy and Family History Book (NGS)

Nominations Now Being Accepted -- Award for Excellence: Genealogy and Family History Book

This post starts a periodic series where we, at NGS, highlight the various competitions (15 December deadline) and awards (31 January) where nominations are sought in order to recognize excellence. The winners will be announced at the annual NGS Family History Conference, 10-13 May 2017.

First up is the Award for Excellence: Genealogy and Family History Book

Deadline for Submissions—15 December Annually

Presented to an individual or nonprofit organization for a specific, significant single contribution in the form of a family genealogy or family history book published during the past three years that serves to foster scholarship and/or otherwise advances or promotes excellence in genealogy.

Criteria

· Published during the past three years

· Nominees need not be members of NGS

Nomination for Award for Excellence: Genealogy and Family History Book

Nomination Form (PDF 139KB)

The nomination form must be accompanied by four copies of the publication. One copy of your publication will be donated to the NGS Book Loan Collection at St. Louis (Missouri) County Library, and the other three will be retained by the reviewers.

Mail the nomination form and publications to:
NGS Genealogical Writing Competitions
National Genealogical Society
3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300
Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370 USA

E-mail contact information is required for all submissions.

Questions? Contact the NGS Awards Chair at [email protected].

Nominate your own or someone else’s publications that meet the stated criteria. NGS membership is NOT required! Please let those who have published a possibly qualifying book, in the last three years, know about this award!

What Genealogy or Family History Book Would You Like to See Nominated?

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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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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 October 2016

FREE Emergency Response and Salvage Mobile App -- after all, genealogists often maintain priceless collections

FREE Emergency Response and Salvage Mobile App -- after all, genealogists often maintain priceless collections

Many genealogists and family historians become the “keepers” of invaluable family papers, images, heirlooms, and more.

Essentially, we main mini libraries and archives. As such, when disaster strikes, it’s important that we know what we should be doing to preserve our priceless collections.

The Emergency Respond and Salvage Mobile App provides just the information we need as disaster strikes. Created by the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works in partnership with the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (part of the National Park Service), it …

The app provides the same reliable content found in the original Wheel, outlining critical stages of disaster response and provides practical salvage tips for nine types of collections, from photographs to natural history specimens.

Let’s make sure that we keep the family history materials entrusted to us safe if an emergency strikes.

What emergency response element did you learn that surprised you?

Have you previously had an emergency (e.g. fire, flood)? How did you respond?

Editor’s Note: Read past Upfront with NGS blog posts about emergency preparedness here, natural disasters here, and preservation 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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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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24 October 2016

Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law (HeinOnline) -- FREE Access

Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law (HeinOnline) -- FREE Access

Our friend The Legal Genealogist, Judy G. Russell, in her post, Shining a light, introduces us to this HeinOnline database.

This HeinOnline collection brings together, for the first time, all known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. Our cases go into the 20th century, because long after slavery was ended, there were still court cases based on issues emanating from slavery. To give one example, as late as 1901 Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court had to decide if a man, both of whose parents had been slaves, could be the legitimate heir of his father, because under southern law, slaves could never be legally married.

I suggest you read her post and follow the instructions as given. Doing that, I was able to successfully register for and receive database access.

A neat feature is that for any found article, you can get the full citation (click the Cite box in the upper left near Show table of Contents) in MLA, APA, Chicago or Bluebook formats.

Since I’ve spent the last hour just looking around in this database, I’m just going to post this so that y’all can get yourselves signed up and do the same!

If you discovered some element of slave law that you were unfamiliar with previously, please tell us about it.

If an ancestor of yours is explicitly mentioned, share the context.

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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 [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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21 October 2016

Gen-Fed Alumni Association Announces 2017 Lackey Scholarship

Gen-Fed Alumni Association Announces 2017 Lackey Scholarship

From our friends at Gen-Fed …

So you've been wanting to attend one of the major institutes but the cost of it is a problem? Here's a great opportunity. ...

"Gen-Fed Alumni Association Announces 2017 Lackey Scholarship
Press Release, October 18, 2016

The Richard S. Lackey Scholarship is awarded annually to an experienced researcher active in a paid or volunteer position which directly benefits the genealogical community. This year the scholarship will award $600, which covers full tuition for the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed), and partly defrays hotel and/or meal cost. The Gen-Fed Alumni Association will also provide meal coverage at the Gen-Fed Alumni Banquet on Friday night, July 14, 2017, where a check for the amount less tuition will be presented to the recipient.

For more information about the Institute, visit www.gen-fed.org. The application can be downloaded from the Scholarships page.

All applications and additional attachments must be submitted in PDF format, combined in one file. The completed application form and attachments should be emailed to Angela McGhie at [email protected] with “Lackey Scholarship 2017” in the subject line. The PDF file should include your last name and first initial, such as “McGhieA Lackey Scholarship 2017 Application.”

A complete application must be received by midnight 15 December 2016. The winner will be notified by 15 February 2017. The scholarship winner will automatically be accepted for the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records to be held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., from July 10-14, 2017."

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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 [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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