New Video Feature — American Genealogy: Home Study Course

The NGS Online Video Series is now showing a new feature from our award-winning filmmakers, Kate Geis and Allen Moore. Now on the NGS website: www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/publications/videos/interviews/about_the_ngs_home_study_course.

Elizabeth Shown Mills and others talk about our widely appreciated Home Study Course. The experts agree the Home Study Course prepares a solid foundation for all researchers.

The graduates tell us they love it because they are learning while doing their own research – a unique feature of this program. And they love it because in the graded option they get personal feedback from experts. One graduate recently called the Home Study Course “number one” in the “grand slam of genealogy.” Now that’s a compliment!

Have a look at the video for an insight into the value the Home Study Course can have for you. For details on getting started with the course, visit http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/homestudy_course_cd.

Digital Archive Provides Access to Historic Atlanta Newspapers

A new digital database providing online access to 14 newspaper titles published in Atlanta from 1847 to 1922 is now available through the Digital Library of Georgia, housed at The University of Georgia Libraries.

The Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/atlnewspapers) consists of more than 67,000 newspaper pages and provides historical images. In addition to searching the full text, you can also browse by date and title.

“This site will provide users with a record of Atlanta's history from its origins as a railroad terminus, through the devastation of the Civil War, to its eventual growth into one of the nation's largest cities,” said Toby Graham, director of the Digital Library of Georgia and deputy university librarian. “Of great interest to anyone curious about Atlanta history, it promises to be invaluable to researchers on any number of topics.”

The archive includes the following Atlanta newspaper titles:

Atlanta Daily Examiner, 1857
Atlanta Daily Herald, 1873-1876
Atlanta Georgian, 1906-1911
Atlanta Intelligencer, 1851, 1854-1871
Atlantian, 1911-1922
Daily/Georgia Weekly Opinion, 1867-1868
Gate-City Guardian, 1861
Georgia Literary and Temperance Crusader, 1860-1861
New Era, 1869-1872
Southern Confederacy, 1861-1864
Southern Miscellany, and Upper Georgia Whig, 1847
Southern World, 1882-1885
Sunny South, 1875-1907
Weekly Constitution, 1869-1882

The Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia as part of the Georgia HomePLACE initiative. The project is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

Other newspaper archives available through the Digital Library of Georgia include the Macon Telegraph Archive (1826-1908), the Columbus Enquirer Archive (1828-1890), the Milledgeville Historic Newspaper Archive (1808-1920), the Southern Israelite Archive (1929-1958, 1984-1986), and the University of Georgia's student newspaper, The Red and Black Archive (1893-2006).

Where needed for viewing the images, each section includes links to download the appropriate DjVu browser plug-ins for Windows, Mac, and Linux/UNIX users.

These archives can be accessed at: http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/MediaTypes/Newspapers.html

Patricia Law Hatcher Elected Fellow of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania

Editor's Note: The following release is from the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania.

At the Annual Meeting of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, held on 26th March 2010, Patricia Law Hatcher, FASG, was honored as a Fellow of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (FGSP). For her exemplary service to GSP and scholarly achievement as editor of Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, she was unanimously elected by the Board of Directors of the Society at its meeting on 22nd January 2010.

Patricia Law Hatcher, FASG, FGSP, has been editor of the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine since 2001 and editor of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record since 2006. She is the author of Researching Your Colonial New England Ancestors, Locating Your Roots—Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records, Producing a Quality Family History, and other books. She has written over three hundred articles, which have appeared in over a dozen publications, many of which have been on Pennsylvania topics. She is a former trustee of the Association of Professional Genealogists and in 2000 was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. A popular lecturer and instructor, she has spoken at many national conferences and institutes.

Notable of the numerous articles she has authored are three published in Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine: “Finding George Lorah: An Exercise in Genealogy,” (Spring/Summer 2000); “Untangling the 15 Henry Hoffs of York County,”(Fall/Winter 2001); and “Land Record Magic, Scotch-Irish to German: The Wiley/Wahle Family of York and Cumberland Counties,” (Fall/Winter 2005).

For more information about the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, visit http://www.genpa.org

Invitation to Participate in Focus Groups or Interviews

Dear Genealogist,

A research project at the University of Maryland aims to learn more about how historians and genealogists deal with copyright issues when using online archival sources. In particular, we are looking for genealogists who have used the online holdings of American archival institutions in their research, and who are willing to participate in a focus group or telephone interview to discuss how you deal with copyright issues that arise in your uses of online archival material.

Focus Groups:

• will be held on a weekday in the Washington, D.C., area
• will last for approximately 2 hours
• will consist of 5-8 participants
• Participants will receive a $50 honorarium.

Interviews:

• will be conducted by telephone
• will last for approximately 1 hour
• Participants will receive a $25 honorarium.

Interested?? For further information, please contact Dr. Jean Dryden at jdryden@umd.edu or 301-405-3777.


Dr. Jean Dryden, Principal Investigator
College of Information Studies, University of Maryland College Park

Mass. Records Closed to 1841?

Do you have Massachusetts ancestry? Barbara J. Mathews, CG, President of the Massachusetts Genealogical Council, alerts us to Massachusetts Senate Bill 820, which will close all vital records after 1841. Yes, that is not a typo: 1841.

S820 states that only the person named in a vital record or his parent, guardian, or attorney can look at a record or get a certified copy of a record. This law applies for records all the way back to 1841, that is, to all the birth and marriage records for the last 169 years.

The bill's text eliminates the current section that closes out-of-wedlock births and replaces the entire section with text that closes all births and marriages. Proposed by Patricia D. Jehlen of the Second Middlesex District, the last sentence states, "The provisions of this section shall not apply to such records, returns or notices recorded or filed prior to January first, eighteen hundred and forty-one or to such copies thereof.” You can see the full text at http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/186/st00/st00820.htm

We cannot ignore this bill. Please write to members of the House Ways and Means Committee right away to stop this bill from moving forward. Massachusetts is an open records state and has been so since 1641.

To access a list of the Massachusetts House Ways and Means members, go to http://www.mass.gov/legis/comm/h34.htm. From the committee listing, you can click on the name of any member and go to that member's personal page. Full contact information is on the member's page, including telephone, mail, and email. Put "Against Senate Bill 820" in the subject line of your email. Genealogists, protect your interests!

Did Grandpa Serve in Mexico?

by Jan Alpert, NGS President

My grandfather keeps trying to get my attention about his military record, which I had ignored for too long.

About a month ago I reviewed some of my father’s genealogy files for examples I could use in my lectures at the upcoming NGS Family History Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, 28 April – 1 May 2010. A newspaper article from the Rockford (Michigan) Register dated 16 June 1966 caught my attention. It was the 50th Anniversary of Rockford Guardsmen in “M” Company, Grand Rapids Battalion, 32nd Michigan Infantry, serving in the Mexican War. The article included a photograph of eleven men with rifles. My grandfather was one of the men in the back row.

I don’t remember seeing this newspaper clipping ever before. However, I remembered that my grandfather’s World War I draft registration said something about earlier military service, so my next step was to review the record on Ancestry.com. The draft registration card for Lance Nutter was dated 5 June 1917. In answer to the question, “What military service have you had,” Lance's card said, “rank of private, independent branch, for one year.”

I sent an email to my uncle Neill to ask him if my grandfather ever mentioned serving in the Mexican War. His response was “Dad NEVER mentioned military service of any kind. Sorry I can’t help.” My uncle went on to mention that he had been to Pancho Villa State Park in New Mexico some years back, where most of the military were stationed during that time.

Grandpa's visit to Pancho Villa State Park could be a significant clue to his service. Mexico's internal revolution began in 1910. In 1913 U.S. President Taft stationed troops along the Rio Grande to protect Americans in the area. When Woodrow Wilson became President, he increased the U.S. forces - and Mexican resentment as well. From Mexico's 1915 election rose Francisco “Pancho” Villa, who was loved by millions of revolutionary supporters and hated as a ruthless bandit by many others. Villa's exploits along the border caused the U.S. to organize a punitive expedition of about 10,000 men, but they never managed to capture their quarry. At the same time, European troubles were escalating into a world war; in early 1917 the U.S. troops were redirected, and the U.S. negotiated better relations with Mexico.

I put the newspaper article in my pile of genealogy materials to take back to Michigan this summer for further research, along with the notation, "Check Michigan National Guard records 1915-1917."

A few evenings later I picked up the New York Archives, Winter 2010, Volume 9, Number 3, which had recently come in the mail. The cover included two soldiers in uniform with the caption “Keeping Out Pancho Villa.” The article, which began on page 13, mentioned that “over 100,000 National Guard troops were activated to patrol the American side of the border” to keep Pancho Villa and the Mexican rebels from raiding New Mexico border towns. If my grandfather had indeed served along the border in 1916, this article provided more details about their living conditions and duties. Most of the soldiers never encountered the rebels but suffered from the heat and disease.

This week I received the January/February/March 2010 issue of Michigana, published by the Western Michigan Genealogical Society. Page 31 included a list of the Michigan National Guard companies in the 33rd Regiment that were deployed in the Mexican Border Campaign on 19 June 1916. My grandfather’s company and regiment were not listed, but this article was part three of an earlier series of records compiled by LeRoy Barnett, Ph.D., who had served as a reference archivist at the Archives of Michigan. Copies of the earlier issues are at my Michigan home.

One article would be a coincidence. Three articles have definitely gotten my attention. So Grandpa, I hear you. I promise more research this summer on your Mexican War service in 1916 and to write and share your story with the family. The first stop will be the Archives of Michigan.

You can read more about the Mexican Expedition at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/mexican_expedition.htm

Maine Bill May Close Vital Records

Anyone living in Maine or doing research in Maine should know that the Maine legislature will be deciding a bill that could close access to vital records.

A bill recently passed out of the Health and Human Services Committee of the Maine legislature which would close vital records and divorce records in Maine for 100 years after the event. The bill is LD 1781 An Act To Allow Electronic Filing of Vital Records and Closing of Records To Guard against Fraud and Make Other Changes to the Vital Records Laws.

A public hearing was held on the bill on March 3rd, but the genealogy community in Maine was not aware of the bill or of the public hearing, so no one was at the hearing to protest. Since then, APG and NEAPG members Pam Eagleson and Helen Shaw have been working to amend the bill so that genealogists are included in the bill as persons with "a direct and legitimate interest in the matter recorded."

While input on problems with the bill was sought by the legal analyst preparing an amendment to the bill, that input was not included in the amendment which was made available on March 18. That amendment made the bill even worse.

At this time, the only option is to have bill LD 1781 amended on the House floor or killed there. Anyone living in Maine or doing research in Maine should contact the Maine legislators or members of the Maine Health and Human Services Committee. Let them know in your own words that, as a family researcher, you want to maintain open records in Maine.

The full text and status of this bill are online at http://www.legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?LD=1781&snum=124

It appears the House agendas are posted a day in advance. If you want to follow this agenda, the link is: http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/hcalfr.htm

New York National Archives Plans Move, Offers Meetings

The New York City Office of the National Archives will be relocating in
the fall of 2011; the exact date is yet to be determined.
Many of the records will be kept off-site.

The National Archives has just announced they will hold two public meetings
on May 4th at 10:30 AM and at 5:30 PM at the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House at One Bowling Green in New York City. Questions about the move should be directed to Nancy Shader, Director of Archival Operations at NYC NARA at nancy.shader@nara.gov.

For more information please see:
http://www.archives.gov/northeast/nyc/move-notice.html

As a reminder, this move was under consideration in August of 2009. Below is a quote describing the plan and its rationale from Adrienne Thomas, then Acting Archivist of the U.S., originally published at
http://www.oah.org/pubs/nl/2009aug/thomas.html:

We are considering moving from the Varick Street federal office building to the Customs House, a federal building in lower Manhattan that also houses the Smithsonian American Indian Museum, which draws 300,000 visitors annually, and is centrally located near the Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty ferry landings. A feasibility study is currently underway.

Because of the high cost of archival storage in Manhattan, we plan to move eighty percent of New York City holdings to our Federal Records Center (FRC) in northeast Philadelphia in a new archival bay. The most heavily used records and significant “treasures” from the holdings will remain in New York.