UpFront with NGS: National Park Service

12 August 2016

National Park Service Digital Archive Now Available!

National Park Service Digital Archive Now Available!

There is a lot of activity regarding the National Park Service as on August 25^th it is celebrating its Centennial! What a milestone!

We recently talked about the Federation of Genealogical Societies & National Park Service Partner to Create Database of U.S.-Mexican War Soldiers.

Now I’ve learned about a resource that is available right now!

Clemson University and the National Park Service have released the Open Parks Network, a digital gallery of rare and unique material from the archives of the country’s national parks, historic sites, and battlefields. The network’s website is growing perpetually and currently features more than 100,000 high-resolution, public domain images. Read more about this new collection in Clemson and National Park Service unveil digital repository for national and state parks.

The Civil War maps collection caught my eye. Those maps are often so detailed and very helpful to one’s research. I also noticed the Lincoln Farm Association Cards collection (the mentioned article stated that “the record of more than 141,000 names and addresses of people who donated to create the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in the early 20th century” in included. Maybe your ancestors contributed to help make this park a reality.
Besides being just fun to look at, the website contains documents of genealogical interest.

What other digital archives in unexpected places (sort of) might interest genealogists?

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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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09 August 2016

Federation of Genealogical Societies & National Park Service Partner to Create Database of U.S.-Mexican War Soldiers

Federation of Genealogical Societies & National Park Service Partner to Create Database of U.S.-Mexican War Soldiers

From our friends at FGS and the National Park Service …

August 8, 2016 – Austin, TX. and Brownsville, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the National Park Service’s Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park announce a partnership to develop a searchable database of more than 130,000 soldiers of the U.S.-Mexican War.

The database will allow descendants of U.S. soldiers to connect to their personal history and help Palo Alto commemorate and tell the stories of these soldiers. After the database is developed, unit histories, digitized documents, and information on U.S.-Mexican War soldiers will be added. Efforts will also be made to include names and information about Mexican soldiers in this war.

"FGS is thrilled to partner with the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park for this important preservation project,” said FGS President D. Joshua Taylor. “We look forward to working with our member societies and volunteers to provide new access to records for those researching the Mexican War."

Palo Alto Battlefield is also pleased with the partnership. “National Parks tell the stories of America,” said Superintendent Mark Spier. “Palo Alto Battlefield is excited to have the opportunity to work with the Federation of Genealogical Societies to tell the stories of the thousands of soldiers who served in the U.S.-Mexican War.”

To help bring these soldiers’ stories to life and to be a part of this momentous preservation project, indexing volunteers should contact Project Coordinator Patricia Rand, The Villages, FL, at projects@fgs.org.

The Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Park Service previously partnered together in 1999 for the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System database project where FGS volunteers completed data entry for more than five million names. The efforts of the CWSS project can now be experienced on the NPS Civil War website.

What future partnerships would you like to see between members of our genealogical community and other entities?

Editor’s Note: Check out past Upfront with NGS articles on FGS 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.

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

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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Follow NGS via Facebook, Flipboard, Google+, Twitter, YouTube