UpFront with NGS

15 July 2016

Slave Ads -- New Database Coming from Cornell

Slave Ads -- New Database Coming from Cornell – Freedom on the Move

The last few years have greatly increased our access to Runaway Slave Advertisements. There are several databases you can examine as discussed in Runaway Slave Advertisements -- Invaluable to descendants of the slaves & their former owners.

Another database, which is in the works, will hopefully soon be added to the collection – Freedom on the Move.

Throughout the 250-year history of slavery in North America, enslaved people tried to escape. Once newspapers were common, enslavers posted “runaway ads” to try to locate these fugitives. Such ads provide significant quantities of individual and collective information about the economic, demographic, social, and cultural history of slavery, but they have never been systematically collected. We are designing and beginning data collection for a database that will compile all North American slave runaway ads and make them available for statistical, geographical, textual, and other forms of analysis.

To make this vision happen, crowdsourcing will be needed! Hopefully details on how the community can participate will become available. We’ll keep you posted.

To learn more, I suggest you read In a digital archive of fugitive slave ads, a new portrait of slavery emerges.

What genealogy-related crowdsourcing projects are you aware of?

Editor’s Note: Check out past Upfront with NGS articles on crowdsourcing 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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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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14 July 2016

Starts Tomorrow -- FamilySearch Worldwide Indexing Event

FamilySearch recruits 100,000 to save the world’s records

From our friends at FamilySearch …

SALT LAKE CITY (July 11, 2016) — On July 15, FamilySearch International will launch the world’s largest indexing event with a goal of bringing more than 100,000 people from around the globe together online during a 72-hour period to save the world’s records by making them searchable to the public.

“FamilySearch believes everyone deserves to be remembered,” said Shipley Munson, FamilySearch International’s Senior Vice President of Marketing. “All should have the opportunity to find their ancestors, and we provide a simple way for people to make those family connections.”

During the 72-hour indexing period, volunteers participate by downloading the FamilySearch software, a program that stores scanned copies of a variety of old records. Volunteers can then complete as many records as they would like by retyping the information from the scanned images into the program. Anyone with a computer and internet connection can join.

"Family history discoveries online are driven by indexed records. Volunteer indexers make those personal discoveries happen. Without them, much of what we do would not be possible,” Munson said. "We invite everyone to join in this important cause to preserve history.”

Volunteers have made over one billion historic records searchable online since FamilySearch introduced online indexing in 2006. The demand for volunteers continues to grow as millions of historical records worldwide are added online every year and as more people take interest in making personal family discoveries.

To join over 100,000 teammates in saving the world’s records, visit familysearch.org/worldsrecords…

Will you be participating? What records would you like to index and/or see indexed?

Editor’s Note: Check out past Upfront with NGS articles on FamilySearch 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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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 UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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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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13 July 2016

National Genealogical Society - June 2016 Quarterly Now Online

National Genealogical Society - June 2016 Quarterly Now Online

Volume 104, No.2, June 2016 (PDF 2.5MB) of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly is now available online in the Members Only section of the website.

Feature Articles

+ Rafael Arriaga, a Mexican Father in Michigan: Autosomal DNA Helps Identify Paternity by Karen Stanbary, CG
+ The English Original of William Witt of Cincinnati, Ohio by Karen Mauer Jones, CG
+ A Family for Melville Adolphus Fawcett by Mara Fein, PhD, CG
+ Which John Woodson Served in the 4^th Virginia Regiment of Foot, 1776-1778? by B. Darrell Jackson, PhD, CG
+ What’s in a Name? The Ancestry of Margaret (Reding0 Snider (1794-1885) of New Jersey and Ohio by William B. Saxbe Jr, CG, FASG

and other regular features ...

Editor’s Note: Please note that online access to the NGS Quarterly (NGSQ) and NGS Magazine are available only as long as your membership is active. You can access the NGSQ archive – the index is available for FREE and as a member you can access archives encompassing 1960-1974, 1976–current.

Editor’s Note: Check out past Upfront with NGS articles on NGSQ 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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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 UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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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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12 July 2016

Journal of Multidisciplinary Research -- Special Issue on Genealogy and Family History

Journal of Multidisciplinary Research -- Special Issue on Genealogy and Family History

The current issue of the Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, an international peer-reviewed open access journal, focuses on Genealogy.

“This special genealogy issue of the Journal of Multidisciplinary Research is unique – bringing our readers what Dr. Hershkovitz calls a “rigorous, multifaceted research” in a growing but underrepresented field of academic research.”

It’s great to see that the academic research world is paying more attention to genealogy and family history. We all know how rigorous our discipline can be and the research challenges we explore on a regular basis.

The contents of this issue are ….

· Critical Family History: Situating Family within Contexts of Power Relationships by Christine E. Sleeter

· Memory and Belonging: The Social Construction of a Collective Memory during the Intercultural Transition of Immigrants from Argentina in Israel by Yaakov M. Bayer

· Recuperating Ethnic Identity through Critical Genealogy by Christine Scodari

· 200 Years of Scottish Jewry: A Demographic and Genealogical Profile by Kenneth Collins, Neville Lamdan, and Michael Tobias

· The Genealogist’s Information World: Creating Information in the Pursuit of a Hobby by Crystal Fulton

· Review of Genealogía Cubana: San Isidoro de Holguín: Padrón de las casas y familias de este Pueblo de San Isidoro de Holguín hecho en el mes de Febrero del año del Señor del 1735, by W. Navarrete and M. D. Espino by Lourdes Del Pino

Most of these articles aren’t how we typically view our field (they are broader (not individual family case studies) and yet narrower (deep empirical perspectives on a specific experience or place) and if we seek to have genealogy viewed as academically rigorous, peer-reviewed publication in an academic research journal is important recognition that genealogy and family history research involves academic rigor -- something we all know and experience regularly.

You can access the complete archive of the journal here.

Are you aware of any other peer-reviewed academic journals which have published genealogy-related content?

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Dick Eastman for bringing this to our attention

When you #StartWithaSmile on #PrimeDay (TODAY), Amazon donates to National Genealogical Society. Shop for great deals at http://smile.amazon.com/gp/charity/homepage.html?orig=%2Fgp%2Fbrowse.html%3Fnode%3D11448061011&ein=52-0745713

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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 UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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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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11 July 2016

Do you remember playing telephone? The same happens sometimes to the documents we access!

Created by H.L.I.T., https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/4498151545/. [CC-BY-ND-2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/)], via flickr

Do you remember playing telephone? The same happens sometimes to the documents we access!

If you have ever done research in multiple places for the “same” document or reference, it’s not unusual to stumble across different versions of the same thing. How did those differences come about? Which is more accurate? Where’s the original?

It’s kind of like when we played telephone as a kid (*). Remember how we would all laugh at how garbled the initial message became as it passed lips to ears down the line?

Well, the same happens to documents, a lot! Unfortunately, in this case, we don’t laugh when we realize what’s happened. We are often frustrated by the inaccuracies that have crept in. As a result, we need to continue to strive to acquire original documents identified in subsequently discovered derivative resources.

See the BCG Skillbuilding: Guidelines for Evaluating Genealogical Resources for a great overview of sources, information, and evidence, and the evaluation of such. Whenever we are using an index, abstract, transcription, or other forms of a document, you are now accessing something that is derivative. Just as when we played telephone, errors can creep in with each iteration (or generation) of what is supposedly based on the original document.

A recent post on The Ancestry Insider, Life of a Record from the Barbour Collection, is a MUST read. You are taken through the life of a record to illustrate that the copy of a record from this collection that you can access on Ancestry is a 7^th generation copy and each generation changed the information, sometimes slightly and sometimes by introducing gross errors.

As stated in the article and which this blog has stated many many times – always pursue the original, if that is not possible (unfortunately, not all originals are extant), do acquire the earliest possible (hopefully 1^st) copy (2^nd generation) of the record of interest.

On a similar note, do also read The Ancestry Insider companion post, Take Time to Understand Online Records. It is critical that you understand what you are actually accessing online – where it came from, how/why it was created, when it was created, etc. These details are very important. How close to the original document housed in its original collection are you?

What is the worst version of a derivative document you have come across in your research?

(*) I had to laugh that I didn’t initially read the entire article that I reference in this post until I was wrapping up writing the post – I just focused on the 7 generations and skipped the conclusion. Well, the conclusion, which I’ve just read, states “Just like the children’s game, Telephone or Gossip …” It’s nice when independently two writers both come up with the same analogy. That said, I did come up with it independently and no intellectual property was usurped in the creation of this blog post.

When you #StartWithaSmile on #PrimeDay (12 July 2016), Amazon donates to National Genealogical Society. Shop for great deals at http://smile.amazon.com/gp/charity/homepage.html?orig=%2Fgp%2Fbrowse.html%3Fnode%3D11448061011&ein=52-0745713

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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 UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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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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08 July 2016

Archives Actively Seek Lost/Missing Documents

Archives Actively Seek Lost/Missing Documents

Unfortunately, there are individuals who believe that certain historical documents belong in their personal libraries and so they go missing.

Unfortunately, sometimes documents get misfiled and so they become lost.

Fortunately, some archives have programs in place to address lost and missing documents. We’ve previously talked about NARA and its recovery program -- U.S. National Archives Archival Recovery Team -- Trying to retain our heritage. Recently, AOTUS reiterated the importance of and the purpose of the Archival Recovery Program.

There are also state-level programs with a similar mission.

The Genealogical Society of New Jersey recently posted on its Facebook page …

More than 700 original documents were known to be missing from the [NJ] State's collections. Some, largely Colonial documents, were intentionally lifted by manuscript dealers while others were removed or circulated in error. All disappeared in the time before the founding of the state archives in the 20th Century—when the documents of government were stored less securely.

Thankfully, the NJSA is highly proactive in recovering these missing treasures and has recovered more than 200 of the missing documents from the list!

You can access the lists of missing records and also a list of recovered records for NJ here.

I also learned that the Texas State Archives maintains lists of Materials Missing from the Texas State Archives.

Other archives maintain internal documents identifying seemingly missing materials recognizing that some may not be lost and possibly misplaced/misfiled.

Does your state archive maintain a missing documents list? Is it publicly available? If so, please share the URL.

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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 UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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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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07 July 2016

Libraries + Historypin Mapping the History of Rural America

Libraries + Historypin Mapping the History of Rural America

Context is so important to history and history is so important to genealogy. They are so inextricably intertwined!

That’s why it’s great to read about a new Knight’s Foundation News Challenge grant award winning project involving Historypin and libraries.

The project is called Our Story and “Its aim is to help rural libraries in New Mexico, North Carolina, and Louisiana establish programs that will share and preserve the history of their communities.”

As revealed in How Libraries Can Help Map the History of Rural America …

Part of the program will use Historypin’s platform, launched in 2011 as a way to essentially map the past: Organizations and individuals can share photos of what their neighborhoods or towns once looked like. The photos are then grouped into collections and “pinned” to Google Maps. Visitors, in turn, can search for photos by time, location, or subject. And users can also overlay photos onto Google Street View to see just how much a place has changed.

Images + Historical Context + Mapping is an extremely powerful combination as a means of preserving history.

Check out all the winners of the Knight News Challenge (How might libraries serve 21^st century information needs).

How have you used Historypin?

What would you like to see your library do to better serve its 21^st century users? Any specific genealogically-related requests?

Editor’s note: Related Upfront with NGS posts -- Explore amazing Olympics photos on a Historypin picture map (2012), National Archives Joins Historypin (2011)

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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 UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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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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06 July 2016

50th Anniversary of FOIA Recently Celebrated

50th Anniversary of FOIA Recently Celebrated

Hard to believe that we’ve been able to make Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for 50 years!

Better yet, as we celebrated the anniversary of this bill on the 4^th, President Obama Signs FOIA Reform Bill into Law on 50th Anniversary.

Some features of the reform, as reported above are:

· the law's mandate for agencies to operate from a presumption of openness, ensuring that information is withheld only under one of FOIA's nine exemptions

· paves the way for the creation of a single online portal to accept FOIA requests for any agency, similar to FOIAonline, already in use by 12 agencies and offices

· FOIA exemption 5, which allowed agencies to withhold privileged information indefinitely, will limit the withholding of "deliberative process" documents — such as memoranda, letters and drafts — to 25 years

FOIA is a great resource for genealogists and family historians. It’s also NOT just about Federal records. Open government initiatives exist in most states and may also be found in effect for local government also. The National Freedom of Information Coalition has information on State-level Freedom of Information (FOI) resources. You also might want to check out the Open Government Guide.

Here is a video about the 50^th anniversary of the Federal Law.

In my experience, there are many genealogical queries that I made historically using FOIA that are now handled in a more streamlined fashion. Have you found the same?

What FOIA requests have you made as part of your genealogical research? Were the records acquired through such an FOIA all that you hoped for?

Editor’s note: Related Upfront with NGS posts -- FOIA Mapper -- FREE tool to facilitate making FOIA requests (2016), FBI Records -- The Vault (FREE Access to select FOIA requested documents) (2015), New Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Portal! (FOIAonline, 2012), National Freedom of Information Coalition (2012)

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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

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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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