PAF-LUG BLOG

Discover Your Family History (FamilySearch Navigation)

2011-12-23T09:28:00.001-06:00

Discovering Your Family History

Find A County

2011-02-03T06:11:00.000-06:00

Find A County - NACo collects information on counties, such as county officials, courthouse addresses, county seats, cities within a county as well as various statistical and geographical information. To see a listing of the counties for a state: click on the title above, then select a State from the interactive map. You are then able to get more detailed information on counties. To view the State interactive map click HERE!

BitTorrent Explained

2011-02-03T01:25:00.000-06:00

Chances are, even if you’re one of the millions who use BitTorrent every day, you don’t really know how it works. That’s part of the magic that makes it so popular - it just works. It helps you download files from the Internet faster than any other method. This video explains the moving parts that work together to deliver the file to your computer.

Those of you who tune-in to the Common Craft blog may remember that we made a custom video for BitTorrent a while back. This video is very similar. Because BitTorrent is such a popular and misunderstood technology, we made a deal with the BitTorrent to be able to publish the video for our library. So, it is now available for licensing and use in education.

View Video Here

IGI - Past - Present - Future

2011-01-19T22:39:00.003-06:00

01/03/2011 - What is IGI?
01/04/2011 - When was IGI?
01/05/2011 - Whence IGI?
01/06/2011 - Why was IGI?
01/07/2011 - How is IGI?
01/11/2011 - Where Did IGI Go?
Every once in a while you find an article or series of articles on family history that is truly in-depth and enlightening. Such was the case a couple of weeks ago when the Ancestry Insider started his series on the International Genealogical Index (IGI). It started on January 3rd on “What is the IGI? Then on the 4th he followed up with “When was the IGI?”, 5th with “Whence the IGI?”, the 6th with “Why Was the IGI?” , 7th with “How is the IGI?” and finally on January 11th with “Where Did the IGI Go?” I found it most fascinating and informative since I’ve been working with the IGI for over 30 years. It continued when I was a Family History Consultant working in the Lincoln, Nebraska Family History Center and then when I organized the Personal Ancestral File – Lincoln User’s Group. I’ve worked with the IGI through microfiche, compact disc, the addendums and now the Internet but I never understood it as well as the Insider laid it out. I asked his permission to publish his 6 articles into a PDF file which you can download from here: IGI.PDF You can also go to his original blogs at the links above or find out more about him at: Who is Ancestry Insider?
Thank you – Insider for a great insight into the IGI.
Howard N Camp

NARA Online Research

2010-12-28T22:15:00.005-06:00

Try the new online google-like search on the National Archives and Record Administration's (NARA) website! Click here after watching the above video: NARA

A Better Way to Cite Genealogy Sources

2010-12-20T15:49:00.003-06:00

CLICK HERE: A Better Way to Cite your Genealogy Sources

FamilySearch Bloginar

2010-12-18T08:05:00.006-06:00

Click on this link to View the recorded online presentation:
Click Here (Recorded Playback)
When: Originally on Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Noon to 1:15 p.m. MST
Where: Online (Now Recorded)

Agenda

12:00 Welcome. FamilySearch Bloginar Overview
12:05 New Online Collections
Indexing Update
RootsTech 2011 Update

12:15 Next Generation FamilySearch.org (Beta.FamilySearch.org): Latest Tips and Tricks
November Upgrade(s)
- Catalog place search
December Upgrades
- New search forms
- Date context fixes
- Other search results improvements
Upcoming Changes (January/February)
- Filters
- Collection specific search
- Exact/close/partial controls
13:00 Questions and Answers

Login/Call Instructions:

Meeting Name: FamilySearch December 2010 Bloginar
When: 12/15/2010 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Bloginar presentation and recording will be made available following the bloginar.

Big Changes at FamilySearch.org

2010-12-17T00:20:00.004-06:00

Big Changes at FamilySearch.org
Updated Site Now Available; More Improvements to Come

SALT LAKE CITY–FamilySearch announced several changes today for its family history website, FamilySearch.org. Online patrons will find millions of new records and images, over 40,000 helpful articles, over 100 interactive courses of instruction, and a dynamic forum to ask personal genealogy questions. The changes have been in testing for some time. FamilySearch will continue to implement the new website in phases to ensure all critical elements are functioning as desired. Once complete, the website will be promoted more broadly.

The new site offers the following free benefits to FamilySearch patrons:

• Millions more scanned, historical documents and indexes that are published more frequently.
• An improved search experience that looks through more content and gives more accurate results.
• A thriving online genealogical community where patrons can give and receive help.
• One user name and password for all FamilySearch products and services.
• Responsive, reliable, and scalable hardware and software that will allow the site to grow and improve.

FamilySearch has published a helpful document called “Adjusting to the New Version of www.familysearch.org” and a video tutorial that summarizes the changes to the new site. These new guides can be found under the “Changes at FamilySearch.org” link.

The prior version of the site will still be available through the transition period.

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the renowned Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

FamilySearch Goes Beta

2010-10-08T22:50:00.003-05:00

4 Major Updates to FamilySearch Beta

October 5, 2010 - 11:00am by LawyerDC
At the end of last week we released another substantial update to the FamilySearch Beta website. In addition to the four major updates outlined below, we’ve made a large number of improvements under the hood that aren’t really visible to users of the site but make a big difference in the overall performance and function of the site. Here’s the quick list of updates.

* Redesigned Home Page
* Brand New – Getting Started Section
* Redesigned Learning Resources including online Research Courses
* Just Released - FamilySearch Center Section

Redesigned Home Page. We redesigned the home page to highlight more of the site features like the Getting Started Section, Learning Resources and FamilySearch Centers. We also added a basic browse by location feature under the search form. We plan to make the browse by location tool much more interactive over time and would love to get your suggestions of how to improve it. Click the Feedback link on the site to leave us a suggestion.Beta.FamilySearch (BLOG)

How to Use Google Advanced Search for Genealogy - Part 1

2010-10-08T21:47:00.003-05:00

How to Use Google Advanced Search for Genealogy - Part 1
This article discusses how genealogists can get the most out of Google’s advanced search capabilities. As many people quickly discover, simply typing in the name of your ancestor in Google is not going to get you what you want. You need to be a bit more sophisticated in your Google search queries if you want to have success in finding the correct genealogy record. In this article, we will show you simple and proven techniques that genealogists can use with Google to help you find your ancestors.

The first step in a genealogy search is to make sure you use the Google Advanced Search page, which can be accessed by clicking on the link on the main Google search page, as shown above.

Mapping Software for Genealogists

2010-09-23T00:09:00.003-05:00

The live webinar was broadcast on Wednesday, September 15, 2010. It is now available as a video presentation by Geoff Rasmussen. Click here to view: Mapping Software for Genealogists

Growth of a Nation

2010-09-22T23:50:00.002-05:00

AnimatedAtlas.com
Growth of a Nation
This ten minute presentation illustrates the growth of the United States from the original thirteen states in 1789.
· Turn SOUND ON to hear the narration.
· Click PLAY to start, PAUSE to stop, REWIND to go back to the beginning and PLAY to continue the show from any point.
· ROLLOVER states to show their names . CLICK on a state for more details. CLICK rivers or territories for their names.
· The Timeline Pointer at the bottom moves along with the narrative. DRAG the pointer to any date to see the map at that peiiod . Click PLAY to play from that period .
· Click a decade number like "1800," to go to an expanded timeline at that decade.
Growth of a Nation

FamilySearch offers free online research classes

2010-09-19T21:04:00.012-05:00

FamilySearch now offers 81 free lessons on FamilySearch.org, enabling people anywhere in the world to access family history expertise at any time.

The lessons include topics ranging from basic research to training on specific record types for both beginners and experienced researchers.

Most classes come from research consultants in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, but FamilySearch is also working with other partners to broaden its pool of expertise.

For example, FamilySearch has worked with the Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence, Mo., to record and post 12 classes. These classes are available on both familysearch.org and the Midwest Genealogy Centers site.

"We see partnering as a mutally beneficial situation for FamilySearch, our partners and the patrons," said, Darin Hakes of FamilySearch Community Services.

"We realize that FamilySearch does not have expertise in every area, nor do we have the bandwidth to create all the training that is needed. … There are many excellent individuals and organizations that have created training that can benefit the genealogical community. They may not have the resources to record and publish their classes, so working together is a perfect solution."

In addition to the Mid-Continent Public Library, FamilySearch is working with the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Board of Certified Genealogists and the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists.

Individual genealogists may also use FamilySearch's free services to record and share their presentations.

One result of an individual partnering with FamilySearch is a class called "Inferential Genealogy" by prominent researcher and teacher Tom Jones.

"Tom's class is excellent, but may be too complex for some patrons," Hakes said. "We tried to provide a different instructional approach to make the presentation of the content more visual and provide opportunities for practice. We added value by presenting his content in a different way, taking something fairly complex and making it more easily digestible."

Upcoming FamilySearch classes will focus on U.S. courthouse research and a series of courses for those just getting started in family history research.

There are also more interactive classes planned on reading handwritten records in different languages, a list that now includes Dutch, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

All classes can be accessed at FamilySearch.org.

FamilySearch offers free online research classes

2010-09-19T21:00:00.001-05:00

Our Heritage: Coming to Nebraska

2010-09-05T09:48:00.002-05:00

Lincoln, Nebraska Family History Center Open House and Presentations
Saturday, September 18, 2010
3100 Old Cheney Road
Lincoln, Nebraska
Free Classes:
1. So You Think They Came From England - Janna Oldham
2. Civil War Records - Merle Rudebusch
3. What's in the Family History Center
4. Digital Records 1 & 2 - Brian Leavitt
Please send registration for one or more free classes and the preferred class times to lincolnfhc@gmail.com

Granite Mountain Records Vault Videos Online

2010-07-22T22:05:00.006-05:00

Two videos that describe the operations of the Granite Mountain Records Vault are now available online. Take a behind-the-scenes tour and learn how the records preserved in the vault are digitized and made available on the Internet. The first video is an overview of the vault itself, and the second video goes into greater detail on the technology and process for digitizing, indexing, and publishing the records in electronic format.
Granite Mountain Records Vault

The Internet History Sorcebook

2010-07-17T21:50:00.003-05:00

The Internet Modern History Sourcebook is one of series of history primary sourcebooks. It is intended to serve the needs of teachers and students in college survey courses in modern European history and American history, as well as in modern Western Civilization and World Cultures. Although this part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project began as a way to access texts that were already available on the Internet, it now contains hundreds of texts made available locally.

The great diversity of available sources for use in modern history classes requires that selections be made with great care - since virtually unlimited material is available. The goals here are:

* To present a diversity of source material in modern European, American, and Latin American history, as well as a significant amount of materal pertinent to world cultures and global studies. A number of other online source collections emphasize legal and political documents. Here efforts have been made to include contemporary narrative accounts, personal memoirs, songs, newspaper reports, as well as cultural, philosophical, religious and scientific documents. Although the history of social and cultural elite groups remains important to historians, the lives of non-elite women, people of color, lesbians and gays are also well represented here.
* To present the material as cleanly as possible, without complicated hierarchies and subdirectories, and without excessive HTML markup. What you get here is direct access to significant documents, not the efforts of some whizkid "website designer". In other words, we are interested here in the music, not the Hi-fi!.
* Within the major sections, to indicate a few high quality web sites for further source material and research. The Internet History Sorcebook

Internet Public Library

2010-07-17T08:08:00.003-05:00

ipl2 is the result of a merger of the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII).
On March 17, 2010, the ipl2 (Internet Public Library) celebrated 15 years of innovation, service, and research. In conjunction with this event, The iSchool at Drexel hosted the Institute on the Future of Reference and its Impact on Library and Information Science Education on March 15-16, 2010. The institute was part of the IMLS grant Transforming the IPL into a Virtual Learning Laboratory. Faculty, students and staff from Drexel University, Florida State University, The University of Washington, The University of Illinois, The University of North Carolina, Syracuse University, and the Free Library of Philadelphia participated in the institute.

Additionally, in honor of this moment in the ipl2's history, two special open presentations on the future of reference and its impact on the future of library and information science education were given. These presentations were streamed live on video, with information also reported live on the ipl2 blog, Second Life, and Twitter.

Below find links to presentations given at this event, press releases advertising this event, guests who presented at and participated in the institute, and photos of those who attended (in real life and Second Life).

The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries

2010-07-17T07:05:00.002-05:00

The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is meant to be a resource for people seeking records of past events, and people trying to analyze, interpret and display county-based historical data like returns of elections and censuses, and for people working on state and local history projects. The special interests of those potential users range from history to demography, economics, genealogy, geography, law, and politics. While many of these goals can be achieved using the Atlas' Interactive Maps, the downloadable data can be used with various GIS (Geographic Information Systems) programs to create specialized projects.
ArcIMS Interactive Map Website

Arc Explorer imageThe Web site for the Atlas of Historical County Boundary Project provides interactive maps for all states. These maps were created using ArcIMS software from Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), and they can be accessed using the Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browsers. No downloads are required to view the maps.

The interactive maps make use of the date-coding incorporated in the county boundary data. The maps allow the user to select any date and display the county configuration at that date. Several additional map layers are provided, including modern county seats, unsuccessful county proposals, modern county boundaries, and state boundaries. Each of these layers can be toggled on or off by the user.

The interactive maps provide a variety of map navigation tools, along with query tools to allow the user to obtain additional information about each county. The interactive maps also provide links to supplemental documents showing, among other items, the combined chronology of the state's county boundary changes, and the chronologies of each individual county's changes.

Grandmother's guide to video chat

2010-07-17T06:45:00.002-05:00

FROM GOOGLE: Often when I tell people that I work on Google video chat, I hear stories about how they’ve used it to give a video tour of a new home to friends, introduce a baby to relatives, keep in touch with traveling loved ones... the list goes on. This got me thinking about how convenient— and sometimes even magical — the experience of video chatting is.

So when I saw that my grandma, who loves keeping in touch with family more than anyone, wasn’t set up to use video chat, I decided to help her get started. While doing so, it occurred to me how many people there must be out there in similar situations. If only there were a simple way that any grandmother could use to get started on her own...

Introducing the Grandmother’s Guide to Video Chat: GRANDMA

This video, along with a printable guide, can be accessed at google.com/chat/grandma. Feel free to share this link with your grandma—or grandpa—or, well, anyone who wants to video chat to help get them up and running.

And after your grandma is all set up, take a screenshot of you video chatting with her and email it to grammy324@gmail.com to share it with us. The first 100 people to do so will get a t-shirt, printable guide and VHS of the video (because if your grandma’s like mine, she’s still a cassette kind of girl).

Ancestry.com Wiki

2010-06-09T06:04:00.002-05:00

The Ancestry.com Wiki is a great place for family history education. Built on a solid foundation of genealogical reference material, the Ancestry.com Wiki is free to read, edit, add to, and discuss.

We are now accepting registrations!

* If you are a current Ancestry.com member, you are already registered. Just click here and sign in.
* If you're new, go here and register.
* For more on registration, see Help:Registering for the Ancestry.com Wiki

Also, we now have some documentation in place. Check out Help:Contents for more.
The Ancestry.com Wiki is still in beta

What does this mean? It means that, though all the bells and whistles aren’t in place, we’re ready for you to take a look at what we have and even start adding your own stuff. This means a few important things:

* You may occasionally run into some problems. If the problem keeps occurring, click Discussion on this wiki homepage and report the problem.
* We are continuing to add more content and making changes, so keep your eye on the Recent changes page.

What's in the Wiki?

The Ancestry.com Wiki is made up of four kinds of fantastic content:

* The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy has been called the bible of genealogy. Focusing mainly on record types and methodology, The Source is one of the best places to learn how to do genealogy. Now, the third edition of this book has been broken into easy-to-read articles. Explore it to learn more about
o Census records,
o Military records,
o Immigration records,
o African American research,
o Jewish American research,
o and more.
* Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources looks at each state and offers an in-depth look at what records are available and where to go to find them. As one of the most valuable books in place-based research, it has helped researchers for more than 20 years. As with The Source, we’ve broken the third edition into great, easy-to-use sections, which include
o state-by-state summaries of available records,
o extensive tables of county resources,
o incredible maps,
o and more.
* The Ancestry.com Wiki will also continue to add other great Ancestry.com content, including other books, how-to information, and original articles written by the experts.
* Most importantly, the Ancestry.com Wiki includes content added by you. We know that each genealogist is an expert in his or her own field and we invite you share your expertise. If that means correcting some outdated information from one of our printed sources, that’s great. If it means writing a brand new article about a topic we haven’t covered yet, even better.

The Ancestry.com Wiki is designed to be as useful to you as possible. If it’s not helping you do a better job in your research, then get involved, bring your own experience to the table, and encourage your fellow researchers to do the same. This is a community project. Get involved!
How the wiki works

A wiki is a website that is editable by anyone. For example, Wikipedia is a wiki. Because anyone can edit, update, or add articles, a wiki can tap into the strengths and experience of a community.

The Ancestry.com Wiki is free for anyone to use.

Every change that is made is saved so if someone makes a change that turns out not to be right, it’s easy to revert to an earlier version. As users make changes, they include reasons for their changes, so that others can see what happened and why. If there is ever a conflict about a change, each article has a discussion page, where users can figure out the best way to go.
How to get involved

Since the Ancestry.com Wiki is still in beta, the best way to get involved is to just get reading, editing, and adding content. A wiki only works if it’s built atop a vibrant community. Ancestry.com has one of the best communities in the world and together, we will create the best resource for family history knowledge available.

Here are a few ways to get started:

* To search for an article, type the topic you’re interested in into the search box on the left toolbar.
* Browse a list of all available topics.
* Go to a random article.
* Read the MediaWiki user guide.
* Browse The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy
* Browse Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
* Go back to Ancestry.com

Backup your online data FREE

2010-01-19T23:51:00.002-06:00

Why should I backup my online data?

Your lifestream contains important data, but all those pictures, videos, documents, and blog posts are exposed to potential loss. Some web 2.0 services shut down without warning. Others are hacked. Sometimes data is lost from basic human error, or the intentional actions of a disgruntled employee. Don't put your lifestream at risk when there is a simple, easy, low cost way to back it up.

The short answer is that your online data is important and Backupify is an easy cost effective way to protect it from loss.

The longer answer is that much of the data you generate today is not stored on your computer. You have data locked up in Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Google Docs, Basecamp, and all the other online services you use. Backupify is not just about backup, it is about controlling your data yourself instead of having it stored in hundreds of services all around the web. Your online data is just as important as the data on your computer. Both should be backed up. You can read more about reasons for backing up your online data in this blog post.
Am I likely to lose my online data?

It is unlikely that an online service will simply lose your data, just as it is unlikely that a hard drive will just delete a file. It does happen occasionally, but your real concerns for cloud services are hackers, viruses, user error and legal issues. Many services can shut off access without warning if they think you violated their terms of service. Many hackers are targeting online accounts because they are easier to access than your computer. On top of that, roughly 1/3 of all data loss is due to simple user error. These are the kinds of risks that Backupify can minimize.
If I use Backupify, where does my data go?

We store all of your data on the Amazon cloud. We chose Amazon after a careful analysis of their security and data duplication policies. For some specifics about why we like Amazon, read this. The reason we chose Amazon over building our own cloud infrastructure is simple... in the unlikely event that something ever happens to Backupify, you can contact Amazon to get your data back out.
Why should I backup my data to another cloud? Isn't that just as much of a concern?

Not really, for three reasons. First of all, you can download all your Backupify backups to your computer so that you can have a third copy. Secondly, when calculating the likely failure of two independent systems, you multiply the probabilities. What that means in plain English is that the likelihood of two independent systems failing at the same time is so unlikely that you really don't have to worry about it. Third, if Amazon did fail and lose your data, once they came back online your backups would kick off again and re-backup everything you had before.
How do I know what was backed up?

Initial backups usually take 24 - 48 hours, depending on how much data you have in your accounts. Once you sign up, you can access all your data from the "archives" page simply by choosing a service from the drop down menu. We also give you the option of receiving daily or weekly digests of which services were backed up.
How secure is Backupify?

Security is our highest priority. We chose Amazon's data center because of the security features they offer. Our system was designed by top security experts who previously worked on sensitive data systems like billing software.
Do you store my usernames and passwords?

It depends on the service. Most services work like Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook where you authenticate one time through Backupify, and they pass us a "token." This token is a unique identifier that allows us to pull in your data without sending your login credentials. For those services, we do not store your login credentials. There are a few services that don't offer this kind of authentication (Gmail, Hotmail) and for those we have to store your username and password to back them up. When we do that, we use advanced encryption methods to keep your login credentials safe.
How do I restore my data if I lose it?

It depends on the account. For something like Flickr, we can restore your account to a state very similar to what it was before you lost it. This isn't yet automated, so our programmers will have to do it manually for you. For something like Twitter, we can't time stamp a tweet so we can never really restore you account. The best we can do is re-tweet everything for you at one time, but your followers would probably hate that. If you have specific questions about specific services, email us and we can answer them for you.
What is your privacy policy? What will you do with my data?

We don't do anything with your data once it is backed up. We don't look at it, we don't sell it, we don't analyze it, we don't modify it. Our privacy policy is that you own your data and you should be in control. We don't own your data, we just provide software to give you more control over your stuff. We charge for our service, so we never have to resort to analyzing your data so that we can sell advertising against it or anything like that. You will never get email from us unless you opt-in for it.

Backupify was started on the premise that your data is yours and you should not leave it locked up in all of these online systems. We believe strongly in freedom and privacy.
What does my data look like when it is backed up?

Every service we backup sends us data in a different format. In general, we store the data in the format we receive. Often times, this is an XML format that is not easily readable by human eyes. We are working on new data presentation interfaces to let you browse your data in formats more like the original services.

Worlds Digital Library

2010-01-19T23:40:00.003-06:00

The Mission
The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.

The principal objectives of the WDL are to:
* Promote international and intercultural understanding;
* Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet;
* Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences;
* Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries.

The Site
The WDL makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world on one site, in a variety of ways. These cultural treasures include, but are not limited to, manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings.

Items on the WDL may easily be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, or can be located by an open-ended search, in several languages. Special features include interactive geographic clusters, a timeline, advanced image-viewing and interpretive capabilities. Item-level descriptions and interviews with curators about featured items provide additional information.

Navigation tools and content descriptions are provided in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Many more languages are represented in the actual books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and other primary materials, which are provided in their original languages.

The WDL was developed by a team at the U.S. Library of Congress, with contributions by partner institutions in many countries; the support of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the financial support of a number of companies and private foundations.

Background
U.S. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington proposed the establishment of the WDL in a speech to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO in June 2005. The basic idea was to create an Internet-based, easily-accessible collection of the world's cultural riches that would tell the stories and highlight the achievements of all countries and cultures, thereby promoting cross-cultural awareness and understanding. UNESCO welcomed the idea as a contribution toward fulfilling UNESCO's strategic objectives, which include promoting knowledge societies, building capacity in developing countries, and promoting cultural diversity on the Web. UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura designated UNESCO's Directorate for Communication and Information, led by Dr. Abdul Waheed Khan, to work with the Library of Congress to develop the project.

In December 2006, UNESCO and the Library of Congress convened an Experts Meeting to discuss the project. The assembled experts from all parts of the world identified a number of challenges that the project would need to overcome to be successful. They noted that little cultural content was being digitized in many countries and that developing countries in particular lacked the capacity to digitize and display their cultural treasures. Existing Web sites often had poorly developed search and display functions. Multilingual access was not well developed. Many Web sites maintained by cultural institutions were difficult to use and, in many cases, failed to appeal to users, particularly young users.

The Experts Meeting led to the establishment of working groups to develop guidelines for the project, and to a decision by the Library of Congress, UNESCO, and five partner institutions - the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the National Library of Brazil, the National Library and Archives of Egypt, the National Library of Russia, and the Russian State Library - to develop and contribute content to a WDL prototype to be presented at the UNESCO General Conference in 2007. Input into the design of the prototype was solicited through a consultative process that involved UNESCO, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and individuals and institutions in more than forty countries.

The successful unveiling of the prototype was followed by a decision by several libraries to develop a public, freely-accessible version of the WDL, for launch at UNESCO in April 2009. More than two dozen institutions contributed content to the launch version of the site.

The public version of the site features high-quality digital items reflecting the cultural heritage of all UNESCO member countries. The WDL will continue to add content to the site, and will enlist new partners from the widest possible range of UNESCO members in the project.
WDL Milestones
* June 2005: Librarian of Congress James H. Billington proposes establishing a World Digital Library to UNESCO.
* December 2006: UNESCO and the Library of Congress co-sponsor an Experts Meeting with key stakeholders from all regions of the world. The Experts Meeting results in a decision to establish working groups to develop standards and content selection guidelines.
* October 2007: The Library of Congress and five partner institutions present a prototype of the future WDL at the UNESCO General Conference.
* April 2009: The WDL is launched to the international public, with content about every UNESCO member state.

Key Features
The WDL represents a shift in digital library projects from a focus on quantity for its own sake to quality; quantity remains a priority, but not at the expense of the quality standards established during the start-up phase.

The WDL breaks new ground in the following areas, each representing significant investments of time and effort:
1. Consistent metadata: Each item is described by a consistent set of bibliographic information (or metadata) relating to its geographical, temporal, and topical coverage, among other requirements. Consistent metadata provides the foundation for a site that is easy and interesting to explore, and that helps to reveal connections between items. The metadata also improves exposure to external search engines.
2. Description: Among the most impressive features of the WDL are descriptions of each item, answering the questions: “What is this item and why is it significant?” This information, written by curators and other experts, provides vital context for users and is designed to spark the curiosity of students and the general public to learn more about the cultural heritage of all countries.
3. Multilingualism: The metadata, navigation, and supporting content (e.g., curator videos) are translated into seven languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. This feature lengthened site development and complicates maintenance, but brings WDL closer to the goal of being truly universal.
4. Digital library technical development: The WDL team's work with state-of-the art tools and technologies led to advances in cataloging and multilingual Web site development:
* A new cataloging application was developed to support the metadata requirements.
* A centralized tool with a translation memory was used, which prevents translators from having to translate the same word or phrase twice.
* An interface was developed, which features the WDL content in ways that are appealing to nontraditional users and that encourage exploration of primary sources.
* New technologies continue to be developed, improving workflow and reducing the time elapsed between content selection and availability on the site.
5. Collaborative network: The WDL emphasizes openness in all aspects of the project: access to content; technology transfer for capacity building; and partner, stakeholder, and user participation. Technical and programmatic networks are seen as vital to WDL's sustainability and growth.

Partners
See a current list of partners.

Partners are mainly libraries, archives, or other institutions that have collections of cultural content that they contribute to the WDL. Partners may also include institutions, foundations, and private companies that contribute to the project in other ways, for example by sharing technology, convening or co-sponsoring meetings of working groups, or contributing financially.
Digitization Centers

While many of the partners or prospective partners that wish to contribute content to the WDL have well-established digitization programs with dedicated staff and equipment, others, particularly in the developing world, do not have access to these capabilities. Over the years, the Library of Congress has worked with partners in Brazil, Egypt, Iraq, and Russia to establish digital conversion centers to produce high-quality digital images. Much of the content on the WDL was produced at these centers.

The WDL supports UNESCO's mission of capacity building in developing countries, and intends to work with UNESCO, partners in these countries, and external funders to establish additional digital conversion centers throughout the world. These centers will produce content not only for the WDL, but for other national and international projects as well.
WDL Working Groups

WDL Working Groups established after the December 2006 Experts Meeting include the Content Selection Working Group and a Technical Architecture Working Group. These groups are comprised primarily of representatives from partner institutions.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the Library of Congress have co-sponsored a working group to develop guidelines for digital libraries, including the WDL.

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, in cooperation with the Library of Congress and UNESCO, sponsors an International Advisory Committee on the History of Arabic and Islamic Science to identify important scientific books and manuscripts from the Arab and Islamic world, and to facilitate inclusion of these items on the WDL.

10 Years of Family History Technology Workshops

2010-01-15T23:37:00.002-06:00

There is now 10 years of transcripts of previous Family History Technology Workshops for you to download FREE.

Center for Family History and Genealogy

2010-01-15T23:08:00.003-06:00

The Center for Family History and Genealogy offers many FREE resources and guides to your family history and genealogy research. The Center for Family History and Genealogy is a large organization with many aspects. Click below on any topic for a brief overview and in-depth resources.

Resources
The Center for Family History and Genealogy have collected and published many for use by its patrons. The following are some of the resources available.
* Area/Topic Specific Guides
* Family History Lab
* BYU Family History Library
* Family History/Genealogy Conferences at BYU
* Family History Fireside Transcripts
* Family History training for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
* PAF Tutorial
* Script Tutorials - Resources for Old Handwriting & Documents
* U.S. Census Tutorial
* FamilySearch Indexing
* Internet Resources

BYU - Immigrant Ancestors Project

2010-01-15T23:03:00.002-06:00

An Introduction to the Immigrant Ancestors Project: An Emigration Perspective to Immigration

Between 1821 and 1924, the world saw one of the greatest migrations ever, as approximately fifty-five million Europeans emigrated. The vast majority went to the Americas-- 33 million to the United States, 5.4 million to Argentina, 4.5 million to Canada, 3.8 million to Brazil and the rest in smaller, but significant numbers to countries from Mexico to Chile as well as to Australia and other Pacific rim countries. These immigrants, emigrants--migrants all--melded with indigenous and previous immigrants to enrich and forever change the recipient countries and their cultures. While Ireland, Germany, Italy, and England top the list in terms of numbers departing, every country in Europe contributed to the flow. These statistics and associated studies are only a black-and-white sketch of the rich tapestry of individual experiences that make up this great migration.
Arrival records: Only a Part of the Story

For those tracing the story of an individual immigrant, even the best passenger lists tell only part of the story, and most do not even do that. Over half of those in the United States do not give key details such as place of birth, and few give story details such as reasons for emigrating. In Latin America, even where arrival records are preserved, the information given is less. For example, in passenger lists for the years 1891- 1930 for the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina, during only four years was the place of birth for the immigrant given. For all of these reasons the European records of emigration, which are at the heart of the Immigrant Ancestors Project, need to be consulted to give a more complete understanding of the emigration process and its individual stories.

Read Old Handwriting and Documents

2010-01-15T22:53:00.004-06:00

Free Script Tutorials: Resources for Old Handwriting & Documents
How do I read an old document? Languages covered:
English
Germany - Deutsch
the Netherlands - Nederlands
Italy - Italiano
Franch - Français
Spain - Español
Portugal - Português

This website offers guidance in the deciphering of manuscripts and other old documents that were printed in old typefaces or written in old handwriting styles. Languages covered here include English, German, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The content of this website may be useful for genealogical, historical, and literary research.

Family Photoloom is now an Official Affiliate with NFS

2010-01-11T22:47:00.004-06:00

Big things are happening at Photoloom! Just for starters, we are now an official software affiliate with New FamilySearch, and are working to become “New FamilySearch Certified.”

With our upcoming 3.0 release, Family Photoloom members will be able to import information from New FamilySearch* and tag their pictures with New FamilySearch IDs, enabling their pictures to be associated with records stored in New FamilySearch.

What does this mean for you?

# You can import your genealogy information into your Family Photoloom account directly from New FamilySearch, so you will no longer need to type it in.
# You can help ornament the global New FamilySearch tree with your pictures and documents. You have complete control over what is kept private and what is made available to other researchers.
# Together we are paving the way for a new generation of "image-enriched genealogy."

Call for 3.0 Beta testers: If you are a New FamilySearch user, we need your help! We are in need of Beta testers to help us polish our upcoming 3.0 release. Your efforts will take very little time and will help us immensely. All Beta testers will receive an expanded Free Family Photoloom account. Please contact us at support@photoloom.com, or call 503.628.1922 for more information.

* FamilySearch is a family history website provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It provides its resources free of charge to the public and is one of the most heavily used genealogy sites on the Internet. A new website, now known as New FamilySearch, that gives users the ability to edit data was launched in 2007, and is incrementally becoming available to genealogists worldwide. For more information, click here.

Read more: Family Photoloom

Family Photolooms

2010-01-11T22:41:00.002-06:00

With our upcoming 3.0 release, Family Photoloom members will be able to import information from New FamilySearch* and tag their pictures with New FamilySearch IDs, enabling their pictures to be associated with records stored in New FamilySearch.

What does this mean for you?

# You can import your genealogy information into your Family Photoloom account directly from New FamilySearch, so you will no longer need to type it in.
# You can help ornament the global New FamilySearch tree with your pictures and documents. You have complete control over what is kept private and what is made available to other researchers.
# Together we are paving the way for a new generation of "image-enriched genealogy."

Read more: Family Photoloom

75 Years of National Archives Treasures

2009-12-28T00:29:00.002-06:00

Renowned journalist Cokie Roberts moderates a group of distinguished speakers as they describe how they have used the National Archives' nine billion documents.

75 Years of Discovering Archival Treasures in the National Archives - Part 1

75 Years of Discovering Archival Treasures in the National Archives - Part 2

75 Years of Discovering Archival Treasures in the National Archives - Part 3

75 Years of Discovering Archival Treasures in the National Archives - Part 4

National Archives 75th Anniversary

Standard Finder

2009-12-27T01:18:00.003-06:00

With Standard Finder you can search for a standardized name, date or place based on your input. The Standard Finder will present the standards that will be used in future releases of new FamilySearch. Come and try out your historical and current entries and understand how the system will interpret your input. Use filtered results to see what we think the best match would be or uncheck filtered results to see all the possible standards. Then send FamilySearch feedback on how the system can do better. Recently compiled (September 2009), a new data catalog has been uploaded for use in Standard Finder. Incorporated into this catalog are extensive jurisdictional additions for European and African countries, as well as United States County areas. As it continues to develop and expand, your comments are welcomed and help influence priority.

Community Trees

2009-12-27T01:07:00.003-06:00

Community Trees are lineage-linked genealogies from specific time periods and geographic localities around the world. The information also includes the supporting sources. Most of the genealogies are joint projects between FamilySearch and others who live locally or have expertise in the area or records used to create the genealogies. Each Community Tree is a searchable database with views of individuals, families, ancestors and descendants, as well as printing options.

The scope of partner projects may be a small, grass roots village or township working together to form a family tree of all the known residents of its community for a given time period. Some are genealogical and historical societies working with FamilySearch to index several sources of data to link them to common, lineage-linked genealogies of a targeted geographic area of interest.

The scope could also be focused on a particular record set and locality. The goal may be to identify and reconstitute all families of a particular place from a village, county, or even a country. Many of the current projects were produced by FamilySearch's Family Reconstitution team and date back to the medieval times. One even has the audio of the oral genealogies attached.

GEDCOM downloads of the community trees may be available depending on any records access restrictions. No living information is available in this public view. Edits and corrections to these databases are usually restricted by the partners, but please contact them to offer suggestions, corrections and new information. Some partners may have additional information or enhanced versions of the genealogies on their own website. These databases will be updated if they are a work in progress.

If you have a database you have created from original source material that you think would be a good addition to the FamilySearch Community Trees or would like to participate somehow, contact Raymond W. Madsen at madsenrw@familysearch.org.

Current Collections

British Isles: Peerage, Gentry and Colonial American Connections: This database was compiled from 15 reputable publications. These lines are very important because they connect to many immigrants to America. Updated 5 December 2009

Canada: Manitoba: Winnipegosis: Lineage-linked community tree who lived in Winnipegosis and their descendants as far as can be identified. Ancestors may be included except and until they connect with another community tree, such as for instance the Icelandic Community Tree. 30 November 2009

Canada: New Brunswick: Southampton: Millville Communities Family Tree: The Millville Community Family Tree is a joint project with the community of Millville, New Brunswick and FamilySearch International to preserve the heritage of the communities of Southampton parish and other communities including some in Bright and Queensbury parish, through genealogy. Updated 8 December 2009

Canada: Nova Scotia: Kings County: Community Family Tree: Kings County Community Family Tree is a joint project with the Kings Historical Society and FamilySearch International to preserve the county heritage through genealogy.

Canada: Toronto: Youngs in Toronto: Extracted and linked records of Young families in Toronto, Ontario from provincial civil registration: births (1869-1909), marriages (1869-1924), and deaths (1869-1934). Also includes allied families.

England: London: Residence of London: The London Project consists of individuals living in London extracted from Boyd's "Citizen's of London"; controlled extraction records from the International Genealogical Index (IGI); and other records dealing with London.

England: Norfolk Visitations, 1563: The Visitation of Norfolk conducted by William Harvey, Clarenceux King of Arms. This database contains lineage linked families.

England: Todd Knowles Jewish Collection: Jewish database from the British Isles

Europe: Royal and Noble Houses (predominately England and France):This database contains ancestors and descendants of Charlemagne; Louis IX of France; Edward I of England; Charles I of England; Scandinavian and Spanish Royal families; plus many other royal, noble and gentry lineages.

Europe: Royal and Noble Houses (predominately German): This database was first compiled by the previous Medieval Families Unit and has been updated and corrected using on-line databases, Schwennicke, and other nobility sources.

Iceland: Iceland Historical Family Trees: Linked Genealogies of Iceland from 100 A.D to the 1800s extracted from sagas, parish registers, census records and compiled family histories.

Norway: Oppland County: Sor-Aurdal Clerical District: Norway project by FamilySearch International Family Reconstitution team to build community family trees for the several clerical districts of Norway.

Pacific Islands: Cole Jensen Collection: This important collection is one of the best sources for family records, pedigrees, and historical information that is available for the Pacific Island People.

Pacific Islands: French Polynesia: Atuona Island: Atuona, located on the southern side of Hiva Oa island, is the centrer of the of Hiva-Oa. Atuona was the capital of all the Marquesas Islands but it has been replaced by Taiohae (on Nuku Hiva). Atuona comprises the valleys of Atuona, Taaoa, Tahauku and Hanamate.

Pacific Islands: New Zealand: Maori: Meha Genealogy: Information entered from Maori pedigree charts, 13 B.C. 1790 A.D.

Pacific Islands: Tonga: Oral Genealogies and Community Trees: Tonga Oral History, Siosifa Tu'Iketei Pule of Kolofo'ou, Nuku'alofa. Tape 2 Interviewer: Tevita 'Uatahausi Mapa Dates 4th July and 25 August 1973.

Peru: Community Family Tree: Extracted from compiled family and historical records. Many of the notes are in Spanish.

Scotland: Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: Lineage linked families for ministers of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation. Updated 16 Novermber 2009

United States, Oregon, Hood River: Community Tree: Hood River County Oregon Genealogy Database Currently this database includes information on deceased individuals from histories of Hood River County, Oregon, the Hood River County portion of the 1860-1900 Wasco County, Oregon Census, and 1910-1930 Hood River County, Oregon Census. In addition, available marriage, death records, and information from various other sources are included. 23 November 2009

United States: Washington: Lewis County: Community Family Trees: This database contains the records of families listed in the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 US Census for Lewis County, Washington. We have merged families that appear in multiple census records together to provide a better view of the family over the years. The data that came from each census can be seen in the source citation for that record. This is a preliminary version of the merging and will be updated with an improved version containing additional records from the History of Lewis County, Washington (by Nix) in October 2009.

Wales: Medieval Records Primarily of Nobility and Gentry: This Welsh database, when complete, will include lineage linked data for approximately 350,000 individuals, living from about 100 A.D. to 1700 A.D. The base data was extracted from Peter Bartrum's "Welsh Genealogies." Updated 5 December 2009

Library of Congress Wise Guide

2009-12-27T00:13:00.003-06:00

History’s mysteries, hidden treasures, fascinating facts, scintillating stories … the Library of Congress has a little bit of everything. We uncover the best each month on the Wise Guide to loc.gov—your entry into one of the world's most extensive websites that is sponsored by the world's largest library. And, it’s all free and available to people around the world.

The Library’s holdings range from prints, photographs, films, audio recordings, maps, manuscripts, music and digital materials to (of course) books. We are also a place that sponsors concerts, lectures, dance performances, film screenings and poetry readings. All this and more will be featured on the site. So, take a look, play around and be inspired by the wonderful world of the Wise Guide.

The National Archives Digital Vaults

2009-12-27T00:03:00.002-06:00

The National Archives holds more than 10 Billion Records and they have selected more than 1,200 Records of Photos and Documents in their Digital Vaults for you to explore. You can search for key words and move the results to the center and see related documents and photos.

The Internet Archive & Wayback Machine

2009-12-26T22:52:00.003-06:00

Web Archive
The Internet Archive is a complete snapshot of all web pages on every website since 1996 till today. Since the average lifetime of a page on the Internet is 100 days, this snapshot is retaken every two months. The Internet Archive at BA includes the web collection of 1996 to 2006. It represents 1.5 petabytes of data stored on 880 computers. The entire collection is available for free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.
Wayback Machine:
The Wayback Machine is the tool that allows users to use the Web archive to surf the web as it was. This historic collection is invaluable to scholars trying to understand the interactions between people and events. We expect to build special collections that reflect the interests of the patrons of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The International School of Information Science (ISIS) research institute was founded in order to maximize creativity and foster innovations within the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA).
Guided by BA goals to:
* preserve the heritage for future generations in digital form; and
* provide universal access to human knowledge
ISIS acts as an incubator for digital and technological projects, promoting and nurturing innovations that encompass the spirit of the BA’s mission.
Mission
ISIS was founded to initiate, develop, carry out and promote research and development of activities and projects related to building a universal digital library. The Institute is viewed as an incubator of IT projects that will ultimately contribute to the knowledge capacity of Egypt and the world.
Vision
ISIS aims to be the focal point where scholars from around the globe will group to study and develop new technologies serving BA’s mission of becoming a true library for the digital age. Using state-of-the-art technology, ISIS aims to join hands with other organizations, institutions and IT centers around the world to research and implement pioneering digital ideas for the benefit of the international knowledge community. In fact, the Institute has already created partnerships and adopted a number of major projects in accordance with BA mission.

Add photo's of your family's places

2009-12-26T22:29:00.006-06:00

Do you ever want pictures of places your ancestors or family members have lived? Check this site out. You type in the location and you have a number of great photo's that you can download.

SixDots Mosaik Family Photo

2009-12-22T12:55:00.002-06:00

Foto-Mosaik-Edda

With Foto-Mosaik-Edda you can create mosaic-pictures, which are composed of many small pictures (tiles), from your own photos.

The single pictures will be analysed and copied into one or more databases. You can use your holiday photos, pictures of the last family celebration or even take over whole picture-CDs into the database.

A simple to use wizard will guide you through the program and will turn the creation of your own photo-mosaic into a piece of cake. Amaze others with this extraordinary effect.

Just try it!

FamilySearch Online Research Series

2009-12-22T11:42:00.005-06:00

United States of America Research

* U.S. Courthouse Records Overview
o Lesson time: 35 minutes
o Watch video (uses Microsoft® Silverlight™)

Give us your feedback about this online class.

* U.S. Military Records: Civil War
o Lesson time: 35 minutes
o Watch video (uses Microsoft® Silverlight™)

Give us your feedback about this online class.

* U.S. Military Records: Pre-WWI Pension Applications
o Lesson time: 16 minutes
o Watch video (uses Microsoft® Silverlight™)

Give us your feedback about this online class.

* U.S. Military Records: Revolutionary War
o Lesson time: 34 minutes
o Watch video (uses Microsoft® Silverlight™)

PAF Pal is now FREE!

2009-12-22T11:27:00.005-06:00

PAF Pal is Now Freeware

Steve Cannon, the developer of PAF Pal, passed away a few years ago. He was a good programmer and a good friend.

PAF Pal was designed with the old TempleReady work flow in mind, although some of its functionality continues to be useful in some situations. Now that new FamilySearch is being used by so many people, we have contacted Steve's family and they have agreed to allow us to offer PAF Pal at no cost. To get your copy, go to Ohana Software and click on the Purchase menu. Scroll down to find the free license for PAF Pal. Once you have your license you can download PAF Pal by going to the Download menu and choosing the Freeware/Shareware link.

Merry Christmas from the Cannon family and your friends at Ohana Software

PAF Pal 5

PAF Pal 5 is software you can use with your existing Personal Ancestral File 5 data. It adds additional features that are not available in the PAF software.
PAF Pal 5 runs from the tools menu in PAF5

* Clear unwanted information from fields >>
* Search and replace information >>
* Expand or abbreviate place names >>
* Print lists and reports >>
* And much more!! >>

Get a PAF Pal 5 shareware license>>

Clear unwanted information from fields

* Remove "Submitted" or "Sub" dates from LDS date fields
* Clear Custom ID fields, Ancestral File Numbers, or all LDS fields

Search and Replace

* Search and replace in all notes
* Search and replace parts of names
* Search and replace LDS temple codes

Expand or abbreviate places

* In a single step you can abbreviate USA states, Canadian provinces, and/or Great Britain county places
* Expand abbreviations for USA states, Canadian provinces, and/or Great Britain counties
* Automatically add or remove "USA" or "U.S.A." from places in the United States of America

Print lists and reports

* Reports of which records are changed can be created when clearing fields or searching and replacing
* Display or print statistics about the people in your file
* Print lists, by date, of records that have been changed or records that have been submitted to Ancestral File

PAF Pal will do much more

* Play genealogy songs
* Enable additional Internet searches (Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com)
* Use pre-defined color schemes
* Add temple ordinance information from TempleReady

PAF Pal 5 by PAL Software
Easy to install and use. Includes on-line help.
For IBM and compatible computers with Windows 95 or higher
Shareware. No cost

World Vital Records - Family History Bulletin

2009-08-31T06:55:00.005-05:00

A Misunderstood and Underutilized Resource: Using FamilySearch
By Tami Osmer Glatz (World Vital Records)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka LDS Church, or the Mormons) sponsors several valuable genealogical resources including the Salt Lake City Family History Library, hundreds of smaller "satellite" libraries called Family History Centers, as well as their free online resources which include the Family Search pilot and wiki websites, in addition to the well-known www.FamilySearch.org genealogy website.
I'd like to take this opportunity to clarify some of the questions I hear people ask about the FamilySearch website. Is it just a 'names' database? Where do the records come from? Can I trust the information? How can it help my genealogical research?
In the past few years, the website FamilySearch has undergone major changes. Some features have remained the same, but others have been added that make it one of the most valuable free genealogy websites available today. With the addition of digitized books and original documents, it is definitely much, much more than just a 'names' database.
FamilySearch offers several valuable resources right on the main web page. Under the title "Free PAF Family History Software", you can download a free genealogy program for your computer. Personal Ancestral File (PAF) is a fairly simple, user-friendly program that is a great place to begin organizing your names and research data. Under the "News & Events" heading on this main page you can read the latest news about what the folks at FamilySearch are up to, and what new records they are adding to the site.
Also from this main "home" page, as with previous versions of the website, you can "Search Records for Your Ancestors". By entering an ancestor's name in the search boxes, a search will sift through the billions of names in the IGI (a database comprised of both personal submissions and extracted names from vital records), Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File (both databases of user submitted names); transcribed records of the 1880 US Census, the 1881 British Isles & 1881 Canadian Censuses; the US Social Security Death Index; and the Vital Records Index (transcribed vital records from Mexico and Scandinavia only).
If you find your family in this database be sure to scroll down towards the bottom of each individual's page to see if the source of the information is recorded. As with any user-submitted records, there is always the possibility of error and incorrect data. If the source says extraction, it means that the person that entered the information was looking at the original record when they extracted the names and dates. If you want to be sure, you can usually locate that original record yourself (in the Library Catalog) and verify the information on your own. But whatever the source, you may at least get an idea of what direction to take your own research in order to prove or disprove these pedigrees. In my opinion, however, this "Search" feature definitely takes a back seat to most of the newer additions to FamilySearch.org, which now include many original records, and digitized images.
The tabs that run across near the top of the webpage in blue are your gateway to these new and valuable genealogical records. It's a great idea to spend a few minutes and click through all of the options they offer, but I will summarize what is available here.
The "Search Records" tab contains my favorite resources on the website. This tab enables a drop down menu, and by then choosing "Record Search Pilot", you can search through millions of newly indexed records from the Family Search Indexing program, or browse through some that are not completely indexed yet. Volunteers around the world are participating in this project, indexing vital records microfilm from the Family History Library collection. Many of the search results include access to the actual original images associated with the record -- birth, death or marriage certificates, census images or church records from the US and around the world -- all made available to you for free. This incredible resource is continually being updated and added to, so check back from time to time for the latest additions. Or better yet, sign up under the "Index Records" tab at FamilySearch.org and volunteer yourself!
From the "Record Search Pilot" screen, you can enter a name and dates into the search boxes to search from all of the records currently available. If you would rather do a more specific search, you may click on the map of the country you are interested in, and the next screen will bring up a list of all of the currently available records for that country. A red asterisk next to a record indicates that it is a new addition. Some records will indicate that they are not complete, or that images are not available. If you find a set of records that interest you, you can click on it and search only within those records. I think I lost an entire night's sleep when I discovered that Ohio Death Certificates were available!
Another great option under the "Search Records" tab is "Historical Books". This takes you directly to the Family History Archives of the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University. By typing in a surname, author, title or keyword, you can browse or search through thousands of full-text digitized books -- local & family histories, genealogies and journals -- from several major collections across the US. Lately it seems that every time I go to this site, another thousand resources have been added, so check back from time to time.
Back along the main bar of tabs, the "Share" tab is worth mentioning. From this tab, after clicking the only option, "Share My Records", you will be taken to a screen that requires you to sign in. Registering is completely free, and does not commit you to anything. You will also never be contacted by the church, nor receive e-mails from signing up here either. However, once you are signed in, you may upload a .gedcom file of your family ancestry, which will be permanently stored in the Granite Mountain Records Vault near Salt Lake City, and more than likely made available for others to peruse by being added to the Pedigree Resource File. Once submitted, you cannot make changes to this file, so it is best if you first check through your genealogy file for any obvious errors. When you make the .gedcom from your genealogy program, it is also a good idea to exclude living individuals as well as your notes (unless you are absolutely sure you want to share them), but be sure to include your sources.
Under the tab titled "Research Helps" you will find hundreds of blank forms, maps, charts, articles and research guides for every state in the US and every country in the world (or at least many of them)! These guides include records availability, repository information and in the case of foreign research, often language help and word guides. They will give you direction and guidance on how to proceed with your research in any given location, and are a great place to start when you begin any research project.
The "Library" tab not only has information about the Salt Lake City Family History Library, which is the largest genealogical library in the world, but this tab also includes free online research classes under "Education". Classes currently include Research in England, Germany, Italy, Hispanic (in Spanish), Russia and US.
One of the best features under the Library tab is the access to the Family History Library Catalog. (You can also access the Library Catalog from under the "Search Records" tab, but to me, it is more intuitive to find the Library Catalog, under the "Library" tab.) From "Library Catalog" you can search the library's collection of 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records, 727,000 microfiche, and over 350,000 books.
The microfilm & microfiche collection are films of a variety of original documents, including books and diaries, handwritten family histories, as well as birth, death and marriage registers and deed books from courthouses and other repositories around the United States. Many of the biographies and local histories in the microfilm collection have already been digitized, and if you are lucky, when you locate a film that interests you, the Film Notes will include the phrase (in red) "To view a digital version of this item click here" which will redirect you to the Family History Archives site, and you can have instant access to the film online!
The microfilm and microfiche collection also includes original documents from many foreign countries, including church parish registers, civil registrations and other valuable documents. I've used these microfilms to trace my own family through parish registers from tiny churches in England (some handwritten in Latin) going back to the 1500s. Absolutely amazing!
The indexing program is working to put these filmed images online, but until the project is complete, you may search the catalog to determine which films or fiche you may want to rent from your local Family History Center or public library with FHL privileges. There is a small rental fee of about $5.50 per film or .15 per fiche. You can locate your nearest FHC under the "Library" tab by going to "Family History Centers" and typing in your country, state, county and city. A list of centers nearest you will appear, along with their telephone number and hours of operation. It is highly recommended that you phone ahead to verify the hours, since all Family History Centers are volunteer staffed and sometimes the hours change.
As you can see, the FamilySearch.org website is definitely more than just a "names" database. The FamilySearch.org website can be an invaluable resource for your genealogical research, by helping you locate and view original documents relating to your ancestors. Spend some time there today yourself! World Vital Records

FamilySearch Education English Research Plus More

2009-08-25T16:44:00.010-05:00

As part of our ongoing initiative to make training available throughout the world, we are pleased to announce that several new training materials have been added to the England Research Series Classes Online page of the FamilySearch website. These include the following: Reading German Handwritten Records, Italy Research, Principios básicos para la investigación genealógica en Hispanoamérica (México), Russian History, Geography, Records and Resources and three U.S. Military Records classes.

Reading German Handwritten Records includes two lessons taught within a self-paced, interactive experience that includes narration and several learning and practice activities.

The Italy Research class introduces the major record types available for researching Italian ancestors, as well as how to find and use such records. It also addresses historical events that affected the record keeping practices in Italy.
The Principios básicos para la investigación genealógica en Hispanoamérica (México) series is given in Spanish and includes an introduction to the key sources for family history as well as instruction regarding Parish Registers and Civil Registration.

Russian History, Geography, Records and Resources is a great introduction to the peoples and events important to genealogists researching ancestors in Russia.

The U.S. Military Records classes cover the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and Pre-World War I Pension Applications. The first two classes introduce the many types of military records, their relevance to the particular war, and how to use and find them. The last class discusses the value of military pension records, the many records included in pension applications, and how to find or acquire pension applications.

We invite you to visit familysearch.org, view these classes, and then give us your feedback by using the feedback links.

Simply click on the link below or copy and paste it into your browser.
FamilySearch Research Education

NARAtions - Online Public Access to NARA

2009-08-20T23:21:00.001-05:00

About NARAtions

We began this blog because we are hoping to talk with you about online public access to the records held by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). We care about improving your researcher experience.

NARA has custody of more than 9 billion pages of records. How do we provide online access to it all? It’s a big challenge. Everyone would love to see all of the records available online as high-resolution scans with full-text searchability and a variety of ways to tag, search, browse, and discover the documents, photographs, maps, and films. And how about we get this completed by yesterday?

We think numerous strategies will have to come together as a multifaceted solution to providing better online access to NARA’s treasures and the vast array of federal records. NARA already has started to implement some approaches (like making descriptions and digital copies available in our online catalog, forming digitization partnerships, and developing an Electronic Records Archives), but we are still looking to the future and would like your input on how things are now and how you would love for them to be.

If you have suggestions for questions we should ask our researchers and the public, please send them to us at socialmedia@nara.gov.

FamilySearch Help Center

2009-08-07T00:03:00.002-05:00

Sunday, August 2, 2009
FamilySearch Help Center more than New FamilySearch
Users of the New FamilySearch program are hopefully familiar with the program's Help Center. But it is important to realize that the Help Center is more than just assistance to New FamilySearch. The Help Center includes information on all of the family history products products from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here is a list of the programs supported:
Ancestral File
Census
FH Library Catalog
FamilySearch 2.27
FamilySearch Internet
Family Tree
Freedman's Bank Records
HelpCenter
IGI
inContact
Indexing
Mormon Immigration Index
New FamilySearch
PAF (Personal Ancestral File)
PAF Companion
Pedigree Resource File
Record Search
Resource File Viewer
SourceGuide
Temple
TempleReady
UDE
Vital Records
Web conferencing tools
Some of the programs require purchase or download of the program, such as Personal Ancestral File and some have been discontinued, such as TempleReady. Other of the programs requires registration, like New FamilySearch and are available only to church members. However, presently if you have no access to the New FamilySearch program, you cannot get to the Help Center.
Posted by James Tanner at 8:24 AM on Genealogy's Star

Update New FamilySearch (Genealogy's Star)

2009-08-06T23:24:00.002-05:00

Updated perspective on New FamilySearch
With the imminent introduction of New FamilySearch to the rest of the LDS community in Utah, I believe an update perspective would be valuable. I have now worked with the program since October of 2007, going on two years. I have had many opportunities to teach classes on New FamilySearch and provide many, many hours of one-on-one support. By and large the program functions admirably and is highly useful. The two opposite poles of users, those with no family data in the database and those with thousands of names of ancestors, have a completely different experiences with the program. Those with few, if any, ancestors have a simple and elegant interface that immediately allows them to enter information into the database and accomplishes the goal of the program to simplify preparing names for performing LDS Temple ordinance work. Those with pioneer or legacy families have the exact opposite experience, they are frustrated, angry, upset, or hopelessly discouraged. It is not my purpose to criticize New FamilySearch at all, but all the legacy users have about the same reaction.

The reaction of the legacy users is not a result of anything particular in the program itself, but the confusion caused by having combined multiple databases with contradictory information. The legacy users find that merely combining or separating records does not solve many of the data problems. Those problems most disturbing to legacy users include relatives entered with the wrong gender, non-relatives included in families, having a person shown as their own father or mother or grandfather or grandmother, and no easy or convenient way of making corrections.

There is also a significant number of users of the program who are so unsophisticated about the program and computers in general, that they do not even grasp what they are looking at on the screen and assume they need to add in all their information from scratch.

I am concerned that the negative reaction of legacy users will discourage new users of the program. I am also concerned that much of the work done by my relatives in sorting out the information over the past two years will be lost when the Utah folks get into the program and starting making their own changes before they understand what is going on.

Of course, a lot of this discussion is meaningless to those outside the Church or who do not have access to the program. But it is my experience that many people who do not presently have access to the program have been given access by those already registered. Since New FamilySearch will ultimately become one of the most complete genealogical databases in the world, it should be of interest even to those will not have access to the information until sometime in the future.

There are many online services, including Ancestry.com, that attempt to provide a service for the sharing of family trees. But none of them attempt to combine multiple family trees into one reference database. As far as I know, every other online program allows each user or collaborative users to upload their family history files, but except for New FamilySearch, there is no effort to combine all the files into one huge database. Ancestry.com's Family Tree program comes close to combining information from multiple trees but New FamilySearch does not maintain separate family trees at all. All of the information entered goes into the one huge database.

I agree, in part, with the Ancestry Insider's recent post about the possible directions New FamilySearch could take. The first suggestion for the ideal family tree system was the ability to easily correct information. Because of the restriction in New FamilySearch concerning ownership of the information, there is no easy way to correct any information you have not personally contributed. Although I must state that the FamilySearch support staff are remarkably responsive in making corrections when asked. But making a simple correction is neither easy and in some cases not even possible. I find a great deal of dissatisfaction from people who cannot correct obvious, to them, errors.

One of the original goals of New FamilySearch was to attempt to limit the duplication of LDS Temple ordinances. Although I have heard reports that the number of duplicate ordinances has been decreased, my personal experience is just the opposite. I believe that many people are using the system to duplicate many, many, many more ordinances. In a recent meeting where a large group of people were shown an introduction to New FamilySearch, the entire group was told that when they went onto the program all they had to do was click on the green arrows and take the names to the Temple. In many cases where New FamilySearch shows a green arrow for an existing name, there are uncombined individuals who show that the ordinance work has been done. I see stacks of cards from Family Ordinance Requests that are nothing but duplicates. We speculate about how long it will take to mine out all of the duplicates already in the system and what efforts are going to be made to limit the additional duplicates created by users adding in their own information rather than checking to see if the information is already in the system.

The long introduction process has given us an opportunity to work through many issues with the use of the program and the data. The programmers have been very responsive in overcoming many of the early problems with the program, but have not been so successful in overcoming the problems with the data. As noted by the Ancestry Insider, the system needs to move towards the following goals:

* sources are used as evidence,
* they can see who changed the data and why they changed it,
* they are able to contact those making changes,
* they can optionally be notified when changes occur,
* they can hook reliable and verified sources to their data, and
* sources are protected and can be modified only by the contributor.

These are laudable goals and I do hope that the program will continue to move in that direction.
Posted by James Tanner at 11:02 AM

GenealogyWise Launches

2009-07-11T01:19:00.001-05:00

Though it doesn’t “officially” launch until July 17, GenealogyWise opened for business earlier this week, and already has several hundred new members. Deemed a “Facebook for genealogy,” the new social networking site has shown tremendous content growth and promise.

GenealogyWise was created by FamilyLink.com, the company behind WorldVitalRecords.com, FamilyLink.com, the “We’re Related” Facebook application, and the highly anticipated GenSeek.com partnership with the Family History Library.

Like most social networking sites, signing up for GenealogyWise is free. Once you are a member, you will want to “make friends.” It works just like sites like MySpace and Facebook. You can send a “Friend” request to other members (or import your email contacts to invite them to join) and then they will confirm you as their friend. This is a great way to network with other genealogists.

Once you are a member, there are several genealogy-related benefits. Each member has the ability to create or join a Group. There are already a few hundred created by various members. Each Group focuses on one specific topic. For example, Groups exist for surname studies and specific locations, but others include “Obituary Fans,” “Genealogy Tips and Links,” “Genetic Genealogy,” and “American Revolutionary War Ancestors.” Within a Group, you can start Discussion threads, or leave comments.

Other aspects of the site are the Blog, Videos, and Forum. Each user can also write their own Blog on the site, which other users can read and comment on. Users can also upload genealogy-related videos, like on Facebook. And in the Forum, users can start general discussions, that will take place outside of the various Groups, including “Your Favorite Free (or Low-Cost) Genealogy Resources,” and “How to Make Sure Your Research Won't Be Lost or Forgotten.”

As this site is so new, there are still relatively few African-American genealogy-related resources. The USF Lowcountry Africana project has created a Lowcountry Africana Group, and several prominent African-American genealogy bloggers are already members. But the ability for each user to create Groups, start Forum discussions, and invite their friends provides the necessary structure for users to create an African-American genealogy presence.

GenSeekers Wanted

2009-06-29T23:23:00.001-05:00

June 26, 2009 by paulballen
Filed under: GenSeek, Genealogy, History

A few months ago I twittered about wanting to hire someone to travel for the next 365 days throughout North America for a special project (which is still in the works.) I even suggested the person may have to legally change their name, in the publicity-stunt spirit of Half.com, Oregon or DotCom Guy from Texas.

Within an hour or so I had 9 candidates who direct messaged me on Twitter or replied on Facebook wanting to learn more! This amazed me, and a few of them have reminded me over the past few months of their strong interest in such an adventure — an all-expense paid year of travel to every state, learning, blogging, meeting people, getting local publicity, doing deals.

As I said, this project is still in the planning stages, but we are now considering another project for a different division of our company that may also attract the interest of some adventurous retired couples or young couples who want to travel for a year and help us form partnerships all across the country.

I call this the GenSeeker Project.

GenSeek.com is a forthcoming website being built in partnership between FamilyLink.com and FamilySearch.org. It features a new version of the FamilySearch Catalog, and a myriad of social and Web 2.0 features that will enhance the usefulness of what is already the largest catalog of genealogy sources in the world.

There are millions of sources of genealogical and local history contest that have not yet been catalogued by the team in Salt Lake City. The new web site will enable libraries, archives and societies to add their unique content to the catalog, which will bring it to life in a new way and make more people aware of it for the first time.

But how shall we make libraries, archives, and societies all over the world aware of how GenSeek can help them bring awareness to their unique holdings?

While driving through Idaho and Montana last week, I stopped at a couple of small towns, checked out some historical sites and even tried to visit a pioneer museum. (It was closed.)

I love travelling to places I’ve never been before. And I realized, as I travelled, that in every town, city, and county across this country (and the world) there are interesting local historians and genealogists, librarians and archives in every location. Someone in every community feels a need to preserve and organize historical records.

In Sweden, there are nearly 2,000 local historical societies that preserve records. And from a population of 9MM people, there are 450,000 paying members of these local historical societies. That is 5% of the population. Astonishing really. But many families in these towns and villages have lived on the same land for centuries. Same is true of much of Europe.

With the western migration and the mobility of modernity, we don’t seem to develop such deep roots here in the U.S. But in the smaller communities we still do have roots. And individuals that are knowledgeabout about local history and genealogical records and are devoted to preserving them and providing access. Mostly these local history savants are probably old-timers with family ties to the area.

A lot of people live not too far from where they were born. (Source: FamilyLink survey, March 26, 2009)

How far do you live now from where you were born? (5071 responses)

* Less than 50 miles

18%
* Less than a mile

9%
* Less than 10 miles

15%
* Less than 100 miles

8%
* Between 100 and 1,000 miles

26%
* More than 1,000 miles

24%

I love driving to new places and meeting new people and discovering local history. I look up Wikipedia articles for virtually every place I visit (on my blackberry or iPhone) and am always excited to discover famous people or events, or in particular, entrepreneurs or inventors from these places. I love the stories that make local communities interesting.

If I had fewer responsibilities holding me back, I’d get a big kick out of getting in a car and driving for the next 365 days to visit interesting places. Someday, I think my wife and I will probably do something just like that. And if there’s a business model to support it, this kind of a road trip could last even longer.

So back to the GenSeeker Project.

What if we found some retired couples or other small teams who were willing to get in a car and travel for the next 365 days to thousands of communities across North America to meet with the genealogists, historians, archivists, and librarians in each community? What if they were armed with smart phones and smart applications that helped them find the right people to meet with in every community, and set up meetings as they went? And what if they had a group of people at company headquarters who helped them plan, communicate, document and publish things they learned along the way?

What if all the expenses were paid for by FamilyLink, including food, fuel and accomodations, and the autos were furnished as well?

Would we want one team, or two, or more?

Should we start by experimenting with a single couple/team for a month or two and see how it works out? Or should we jump in whole hog and recruit 3-4 teams and set them loose on this year-long historical and genealogical information-gathering expedition?

This project is also in the idea stage, but it is likely that if I start finding some interested participants, that we could start an experiment like this, for a month or two, as early as August or September.

So send me an email (PAUL AT FAMILYLINK.COM) if this sounds interesting. Please put GENSEEKER in the subject line, and make sure you explain the skills that you and your companion or team would have that would convince us to choose you to represent us (FamilyLink/GenSeek/WorldHistory.com) in hundreds of meetings with local groups across the U.S. as you immerse yourself in an historical travel adventure.

Newspapers

2009-06-29T06:33:00.002-05:00

This is our Saturday June 27th presentation. Enjoy!

I Remember

2009-05-09T08:28:00.003-05:00

You can Create Facebook Pages for Your Ancestors or Family With New Footnote Application

Footnote has created a new Facebook app that lets you create an “I Remember” Facebook page for someone, with photos and stories about the person. Others can add memories, too, by writing on the person's wall.
Go here to learn more and download the free I Remember app to your Facebook page.

Footnote is a subscription-based historical records site, but it also has free social networking features that let you create Footnote Pages about people, places or events.

You must be be a registered Footntoe member—but you don't have to subscribe—in order to create or add to a Footnote Page. You can search existing Footnote pages here.

Researching the Deep Web

2009-05-09T07:40:00.001-05:00

Meta-Search Engines

Meta-search engines use the resources of many different search engines to gather the most results possible. Many of these will also eliminate duplicates and classify results to enhance your search experience.

Terabyte Hard Drives for under $400

2009-05-08T12:07:00.003-05:00

Desktop Storage - Barracuda 7200.11
Award-winning Barracuda hard drives are the industry standard for computing applications ranging from mainstream, high-performance and gaming PCs to workstations and desktop RAID. Now with over 42 million PMR Seagate drives already shipped, the proven technology and components of the 11th generation Barracuda 7200-Series hard drive enables Seagate to deliver high-volume shipments of the 1TB drive with the highest levels of quality and reliability - essential in ensuring long drive life.

"Seagate is a valued and trusted supplier to Nor-Tech, and has always maintained the highest levels of field-proven reliability with consistent product delivery," said David Bollig, president of Nor-Tech. "We look forward to enhancing our portfolio of offerings using Seagate's new Barracuda drives that will offer even more choice and value for Nor-Tech's customers."

The Barracuda 7200.11 stands alone in performance among high-capacity desktop hard drives, with category-leading 105MB/s sustained transfer rate - the highest ever. And with a low power rating of 8 watts at idle, the Barracuda 7200.11 is not only energy-efficient, but also operates cooler, increasing reliability. Barracuda 7200.11 also delivers industry-leading acoustics, as low as 2.7 Bels, which is nearly undetectable by the human ear.

The Barracuda ES.2 and 7200.11 will begin shipping in volume during the third quarter. The 1TB Barracuda 7200.11 will be offered at an MSRP of $399.99.

1TB Hard Drives for Consumer and Video Applications Expand High Capacity Footprint Even Further
Seagate remains the only hard drive manufacturer dedicated to the digital entertainment, security and surveillance markets with hard drives built to specifically address these unique applications. Seagate will extend its offerings in this area from the new 1TB platform and will provide details as these new products become available.

Videocast: Seagate Reaches Terabyte Milestone
To view the videocast interview featuring Marc Jourlait, Seagate vice president Global Marketing, visit Seagate Terabyte Drives.

100 Genealogy Resources to Discover Your Ancestry

2009-05-08T11:37:00.001-05:00

Research and discover your ancestry with these 100 tools to get you started building a family tree. Trace back as far as you can find and share your results with friends and family. Many of the forums in this list will also garner you a few new friends in the genealogy spectrum. Tracing your roots will give you insight into your family’s past and give you an edge in your own forensic education endeavors.

Family History Made Simple

2009-04-14T23:17:00.004-05:00

I've loved family history since I was 12 years old and here is a video making it simple:
Family History Made Simple

Conceptual Overview of Genealogical Research

2009-03-22T23:36:00.002-05:00

Click Here to View Description of above graphic

Bringing history online, one newspaper at a time

2009-03-07T23:25:00.003-06:00

For more than 200 years, matters of local and national significance have been conveyed in newsprint -- from revolutions and politics to fashion to local weather or high school football scores. Around the globe, we estimate that there are billions of news pages containing every story ever written. And it's our goal to help readers find all of them, from the smallest local weekly paper up to the largest national daily.

The problem is that most of these newspapers are not available online. We want to change that.

Last year Google launched an initiative to make more old newspapers accessible and searchable online by partnering with newspaper publishers to digitize millions of pages of news archives. Let's say you want to learn more about the landing on the Moon. Try a search for [Americans walk on moon] on Google News Archive Search, and you'll be able to find and read an original article from a 1969 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Collecting Old and Historic Newspapers

2009-03-07T23:11:00.005-06:00

Yes! There are actually people who collect old and historic newspapers! Why would people want old newspapers? Actually, the hobby is quite fascinating. There are at least two myths that surround the hobby that need to be cleared up first.

First, non-collectors tend to think of say a hundred-year-old newspaper as being VERY rare and a "museum piece". This is NOT the case at all. In reality, often even an early 1800's ORIGINAL historic newspaper can be purchased for under $10. Why such a low value for something so old? Do you recall the economics theory of "supply and demand"? It applies with newspaper collecting too. There are MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS of old and historic newspapers around for purchase -- and very few collectors. Don't get me wrong, however. There ARE some newspaper editions with values into the hundreds and a few in the thousands of dollars range in value. Read the Primer on Collecting to learn how values are established.

Second, non-collectors are under the impression that even a fifty year old newspaper would be brittle, very delicate, and highly yellowed. Actually, newspapers printed prior to the Custer massacre were printed on a special high grade paper called "rag linen". This paper was made from cloth and contained NO acid like "modern" newspapers. Since there is no acid in rag linen, they do not become brittle or delicate. Often, newspapers printed prior to 1876 seem almost like they came off the printing press yesterday.This is just one of the many History Buff collections you will find on this site. Here is the complete list with links to more "History Buff" history.

About HistoryBuff
Newspaper Collecting
Online Newspaper Archives
Newsletter Archives
Historic Panoramas
Reference Libraries
Primary Source Material
State Facts
Interactive Quizzes

Today's Front Pages Accross the Nation

2009-03-07T11:55:00.003-06:00

Today's Front Pages
The Newseum displays daily newspaper front pages in their original, unedited form. Some front pages may contain material that is objectionable to some visitors. Viewer discretion is advised. There is an archive of events of historical importance but no ability to search for a specific date. You will need to save the pages you want to keep for your family history on the historic day of the event. We will review other searchable Newspaper website next.

New Standards Data Catalog Now Available!

2009-02-27T14:08:00.004-06:00

26 Feb 2009 by Mark Ward
After an almost 4 year hiatus, we are proud to announce the publish of a new Standards data catalog for your use on Standard Finder. It incorporates many years of correction to the existing data which many of you have so diligently emailed us about, as well as expanded and new gazetteers for better global coverage. As always, it’s not perfect, but has made tremendous advancement. Please continue to send us your comments as our goal is to continually improve the data and increase the publish frequency to a quarterly basis moving forward.
Record Search Pilot
Standards Finder

Think Genealogy Predictions for 2009

2009-02-19T10:26:00.002-06:00

What awaits genealogy in 2009. In coming up with this list, I have no insider information. I simply looked at the information publically available and tried to determine what is possible or likely for the upcoming year.

So here is my list of 9 genealogy predictions for 2009:

1. Two more desktop genealogy applications will support source citation templates from Elizabeth Shown Mills’ Evidence Explained. Currently Legacy 7 and RootsMagic 4 support this. The other two might likely be Family Tree Maker and The Master Genealogist.
2. One major online database (Ancestry, WorldVitalRecords, FamilySearch, Footnote) will announce upcoming support for Evidence Explained source citations. Other sites will soon follow with their own announcements.
3. FamilySearch Research Wiki will grow to over 30,000 content pages (excluding talk and stub pages) by the end of the year. As of 28 December 2008, there were 12,573 content pages.
4. FamilySearch will announce a replacement for GEDCOM. GEDCOM will still be supported for many years as software will support it as well as the newer format. Reasons for the new format will be to better support source citations and media.
5. I hope I am wrong about this one, but with the current economic downturn we could see financial pressure force one of the more-recently-started genealogy companies to merge with or be acquired by another company. Worse case scenario, it could go bankrupt.
6. Many more genealogy societies will join the social networking site, Facebook, by adding a group page. Searching groups today for “genealogical society | genealogy society” (the pipe symbol “|” means “OR”) returns 80 results. I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of 2009 the total was over 200.
7. More genealogy applications will be available for the iPod Touch and the iPhone. Currently the iTunes App Store only lists three applications: MobileFamilyTree, FamViewer, and Shrubs. This last holiday season, the iPod Touch was a hot item. I wonder how many genealogists own one now.
8. Through blogs and podcasts, genealogists will hear more about the benefits of Web 3.0 (also called the Semantic Web) and how it applies to genealogy.
9. Genealogists are puzzle solvers when it comes to researching their family history, but do they play games? I expect to see a genealogy-related game released in 2009. It could be a casual game for Facebook or something more interactive for the Wii. How about a Mii Familii Trii? The game might teach research-related concepts (citation, transcription, etc) or (via GEDCOM import) put your ancestors in the game.

What's Comming Soon to Ancestry.com?

2009-02-19T10:18:00.004-06:00

Look at all the history ahead.

Ancestry.com asked members what kind of historical content thy thought would add the most value to their Ancestry.com membership. Thanks to all the feedback they received, they’ll be adding more than ever before to the world’s largest online collection of historical records in the coming years.

Learn about the U.S. and international collections to come by clicking here: Comming Soon

Navigating Research : Genealogical Proof Standard

2009-02-16T10:21:00.005-06:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Navigating Research with the Genealogical Proof Standard

View more presentations from Mark Tucker. (tags: proof evidence)

At the Mesa Family History Expo 2008 held in November, Mark Tucker presented “Navigating Research with the Genealogical Proof Standard.” On February 27, he will be presenting it again at the 5th Annual St. George Family History Expo 2009. He is seeking feedback from those who attended the class in November as well as those who have viewed the presentation slides online:

Library of Congress Map Collections

2009-02-16T10:12:00.001-06:00

The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress holds more than 4.5 million items, of which Map Collections represents only a small fraction, those that have been converted to digital form.

The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection.

Map Collections is organized according to seven major categories. Because a map will be assigned to only one category, unless it is part of more than one core collection, searching Map Collections at this level will provide the most complete results since the indexes for all categories are searched simultaneously.

1914 County Maps

2009-02-16T10:03:00.002-06:00

This is posted on RootsWeb and is from a book found while tearing down an old shed. There was no cover, and the last page was missing, which it is believed was Nevada and Washington. The maps are dated 1910-1914. That is why they are called 1914 maps, that's when it ended. The name at the top says Atlas of the World.

Ancestor Cards for Children

2009-02-13T16:43:00.005-06:00

Ancestor Cards for Children was a post I found on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog that I thought was a really great idea. Here is the blog comments:

Recently I've been mulling over how to present the genealogy I've done on our family so that it would grab my 9 year old grandson's attention. My good friend Illya of Genealogy Today suggested I use a baseball or hockey card format with one ancestor per card.

I loved the idea and created cards 6 cm x 9 cm. Each card features one ancestor's picture or a picture representing that ancestor. The back of each card has ancestor stats - their relationship to my grandchildren, date and place of birth, date and place of death, spouse's name, parents' names and a tiny blurb about that person (hopefully something unique or of interest to an 9 year old!)

After laminating the cards, I presented them to my grandson and granddaughter (who is 7) when they came for their annual summer week long holiday with us. They loved them and not only read every bit of information about each ancestor, they began figuring out who was the oldest ancestor.... who died at the oldest age... who died at the youngest age... which parents went with which ancestor.. and so on.

Then they decided to play a game, which we called simply "Ancestor Game". They each chose an ancestor card and played it, with whoever had the furthest back ancestor winning both cards. The next day they begged me to make more cards!! I now have 48 cards made for them with many more to go. To add even more interest I also created cards that were not direct ancestors, but had some small claim to fame or something historical or interesting to a child. Thank goodness for my Family Tree Maker Genealogy Program which tells me if a person is a 3rd cousin 5x removed or something else!We decided I should also make double cards wherever possible, that is, two cards for one ancestor but with different photos or representative pictures on each one. Then they can play "Go Fish for Ancestors".

It was a genealogist's dream come true - for 5 days they asked for "more ancestor stories please Grandma!" and "Can you make us more Ancestor Cards?" When their mom called to see how they were doing, the first words out of my grandson's mouth were "Mom, you won't believe about one of our ancestors!" and he proceeded to quote from the Ancestor Cards.

I thought I'd like to share this in case you are looking for something to capture your little one's interest, because it was fabulous and my grandchildren loved it!

(Howard says - go to the above link and find out how to make Ancestor Cards for Children and more about the games they can play).

How the Early Census was Counted

2009-02-13T16:25:00.005-06:00

The first commercial data processing machines were punched card tabulating systems. Herman Hollerith (1860-1929) worked at the US Census Bureau during 1879-82. While there he began designing machines that could reduce the labor and time that would be required to process the data that would be collected in the 1890 Census. In 1884, Hollerith applied for his first patent. He proposed to store information in the form of holes punched through a strip of paper. "Holes punched in a strip of paper were sensed by pins or pointers making contact through the holes to a drum. The completion of an electric circuit through a hole advanced a counter on a dial." (G. D. Austrian, Herman Hollerith: Forgotten Giant of Information Processing, 1982, p. 23)

Hollerith switched to punched cards in 1886 and obtained a second patent in 1887. Punched paper cards had previously been used to program silk looms and difference engines. (James Essinger, Jacquard's, 2004) The photograph below shows one of several models of c. 1800 punched card silk looms in the Musée des Tissus in Lyon, France. Also, punched paper rolls had been used in player pianos. The Hollerith Electric Tabulating System consisted of punching, reading, sorting, and tabulating machines.
Early Hollerith Tabulating Machines and Card Readers

The tabulator was a counting machine. It kept a running count of the number of cards with a hole punched in a particular position. It had 40 counters and hence could simultaneously count the number of cards with holes punched in up to 40 positions. An experienced operator could tabulate 50 to 80 cards a minute. There was no printer. The results of a tabulation had read on the counter dials and written down by hand.

Check this site out to see a lot more early office machines and how the census was taken. The 1940 census due to be released in 2012 will be the first one I will be on as a child! Howard.

Countdown to Monday, April 2, 2012

2009-02-13T16:11:00.006-06:00

For many genealogists, the countdown to access the 1940 Census has already begun.
There are ???? days remaining until Monday, April 2, 2012. Click on the link above and find out exactly how many days remain.

The official date for the 1940 Census was April 1st, but since that day will fall on a Sunday in 2012, it is unclear whether reseachers will have weekend access to film at the National Archives or will instead need to wait until Monday to satisfy their genealogical curiosity. (No — this isn't an April Fools joke, you can check your calendar)
The following questions were those included on the Population Schedule for the 1940 Census.

The header of each Population Schedule reads "Department of Commerce — Bureau of the Census, Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940" and includes fields for State, County, Incorporated place, Township or other division or county, Ward of city, Block Nos., Unincorporated place, Institution, Supervisor District Number (S.D. No.), Enumeration District Number (E.D. No.), date of ectual enumeration, name of enumerator, and sheet number.

1. LOCATION: Street, avenue, road, etc.
2. LOCATION: House number (in cities and towns)
3. HOUSEHOLD DATA: Number of household in order of visitation
4. HOUSEHOLD DATA: Home owned (O) or rented (R)
5. HOUSEHOLD DATA: Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented
6. HOUSEHOLD DATA: Does this household live on a farm? (Yes or No)
7. NAME: Name of each person whose usual place of residence on April 1, 1940, was in this household.
8. RELATION: Relationship of this person to the head of the household, as wife, daughter, father, mother-in-law, grandson, lodger, lodger's wife, servant, hired hand, etc.
9. PERSONAL DESCRIPTION: Sex — Male (M), Female (F)
10. PERSONAL DESCRIPTION: Color or race
11. PERSONAL DESCRIPTION: Age at last birthday
12. PERSONAL DESCRIPTION: Marital status — Single (S), Married (M), Widowed (Wd), Divorced (D)
13. EDUCATION: Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940 (Yes or No)
14. EDUCATION: Highest grade of school completed
15. PLACE OF BIRTH: If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession. If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937. Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland.
16. CITIZENSHIP: Citizenship of the foreign born
17. RESIDENCE APRIL 1, 1935: City, town, or village having 2,500 or more inhabitants. Enter "R" for all other places
18. RESIDENCE APRIL 1, 1935: County
19. RESIDENCE APRIL 1, 1935: State (or Territory or foreign country
20. RESIDENCE APRIL 1, 1935: On a farm? (Yes or No)
21. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Govt. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No)
22. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No)
23. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Was this person SEEKING WORK? (Yes or No)
24. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No)
25. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Indicate whether engaged in home housework (H) in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (O)
26. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940
27. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Duration of unemploymen up to March 30, 1940 - in weeks
28. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work
29. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Industry: Industry of business
30. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Class of worker
31. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks)
32. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: INCOME IN 1939: Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions)
33. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: INCOME IN 1939: Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary? (Yes or No)
34. Number of Farm Schedule

Census Records
Each 1940 Population Schedule has 40 numbered lines (numbered along both the left and right edges of the form). There is a list of SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS, which would be asked of those individuals recorded usually on Lines 14 and 29 (although other lines were also designated for such use and was presumably to ensure a random sampling).
The Supplementary Questions were as follows:

35. NAME
36. PLACE OF BIRTH OF FATHER AND MOTHER: FATHER
37. PLACE OF BIRTH OF FATHER AND MOTHER: MOTHER
38. MOTHER TONGUE (OR NATIVE LANGUAGE): Language spoken in home in earliest childhood
39. VETERANS: Is this person a veteran of the United States military forces; or the wife, widow, or under-18-year-old child of a veteran? If so, enter "Yes"
40. VETERANS: If child, is veteran-father dead (Yes or No)
41. VETERANS: War or military service
42. SOCIAL SECURITY: Does this person have a Federal Social Security Number? (Yes or No)
43. SOCIAL SECURITY: Were deductions for Federal Old-Age Insurance or Railroad Retirement made from this person's wages or salary in 1939? (Yes or No)
44. SOCIAL SECURITY: If so, were deductions made from (1) all, (2) one-half or more, (3) part, but less than half, of wages or salary?
45. USUAL OCCUPATION
46. USUAL INDUSTRY
47. Usual class of worker
48. FOR ALL WOMEN WHO ARE OR HAVE BEEN MARRIED: Has this woman been married more than once? (Yes or No)
49. FOR ALL WOMEN WHO ARE OR HAVE BEEN MARRIED: Age at first marriage?
50. FOR ALL WOMEN WHO ARE OR HAVE BEEN MARRIED: Number of children ever born (Do not include stillbirths)

2009 BYU Conference on Computerized Family History & Genealogy

2009-02-13T12:39:00.005-06:00

March 13-14, 2009
Canadian Records and Research Online
Southern European Research Online
What’s New on Ancestry.com?
Fun Family History Websites You May Have Missed
Know Your Ancestor’s Locality
Using a TiddlyWiki for Organizing Genealogical Research
Keynote Presentation - Susan Easton Black
O Canada! Canadian Research and Resources on the Web
Genealogy & Family History – The Perfect Social Media
The Life of a Digital Record
Electronic Resources for Solving United States Problems
Too Many with the Same Name
Genealogy Hacks: Tricks to Crack Seven Top Genealogy Web Sites
Online Family Trees: Billions of Names at Your Fingertips
The National Archives Web Site: A Guide for Genealogists
Read All About It – A Guide to Newspapers Online
Can You Hear Me Now? – Voice Recognition Software and Genealogy
Beyond Ancestry – Overlooked and Underused Subscription Sites
My Ancestor on eBay®?
Loretta Internet Sources for the Midwestern States
Digital Photography for the Genealogist REPEAT
Digital Photography for the Genealogist
Keeping Your PAF Data in Sync with new.FamilySearch.org
Database Mining: Exciting New Techniques for Disc. Your Family History
Forensic Genealogy –CSI Meets Roots
You Will Never Look at Your Old Photos the Same Way Again!
Family History Archive: Strategic Overview
Using Your Digital Camera to Copy Records
Comparing online alternatives for census searches for England and Wales
Exploring the English National Archives online
Smart Matching Technology
Family Tree Builder 3.0
Comparing Genealogy Database Programs: Certified Affiliates of FamilySearch
Generation Maps
Data Recovery from Corrupted/Damaged Floppy Disks and Thumb Drives
No Experience Needed: Beginner’s Guide to FREE Family History Websites
German/Internet: Town Genealogies and Parish Indexes
Internet Sources for Locating Your 19th Century German Emigrant
England Jurisdictions Project
Tracing Your English Ancestors on the Web
Celtic Fringe: Internet Resources for Ireland, Scotland, and Wales
Beyond Database Software
Making Sense of the Census
Demystifying Microsoft® Excel
Humor, Drama, Suspense: Capture it all with Microsoft® PowerPoint
Putting it all Together with MSWord2007
Using Google Books for Genealogy Research
Google News Archives and Google Alerts
Google Images, Video and Other Tools for Genealogists
Introduction to Google for Genealogists
The Future is Change: New and Emerging Products and Technologies
What’s New in Family History Technology
Tips for using the Internet more effectively
Family Websites: What They Are and How You Can Use Them
Electronic Publishing: for electronic and paper venues
Blogs, Wikis, & Social Networking: What they are and Why they’re for Genealogists
How to find and how to use vital records online
Online Tools to Create, Improve and Publish Your Family History
Research Logs 2.0 Go digital with research logs using MS OneNote
You Need a Search Strategy (limitations & keys to databases)
Digitized German Records: On-line and on disc
Genealogy Jeopardy: Technology Edition
Cemetery Research Online: Pitfalls and Promises
50 Most Popular Genealogy Websites
Genealogy Data Online: A Report Card
Naturalization Records Online
Library and Society Collections Online!
Using DNA to Solve Genealogical Mysteries: A Case Study
Family History Library Desktop – A Gold Mine of Data
Film Your Family History!
Accessing Books via the Internet
Disasters Happen! – Data Protection & Recovery
How Genealogy Software Programs Handle Source Citations
Citations Made Easy
Technology and Land & Property Records
Creating Your Own Digital Archive
Freeware and Shareware for Family History
A Comprehensive Guide to Online Military Records
Harnessing the Power of DNA: DNA Methodologies
FamilyInsight: Making the FamilySearch Transition Easy
4 Simple Steps – Your life story in book form

Family History Library Cataloge 2.0

2009-02-05T14:54:00.005-06:00

GenSeek - Family History Catalogue 2.0 - FamilyLink

GenSeek.com is an upcoming FamilyLink website. Paul Allen recently mentioned the site in several tweets. Geneablogger Mark Tucker guessed that it might the website for the Family History Catalogue 2.0 that had been mentioned in the past, and Paul Allen commented on his blog post to confirm that.

Googling and Guessing

There is a bit more information in some of Paul Allen's tweets, and there is a job posting on the new corporate site for Chief Genealogy Officer for GenSeek.com.

Paul Allen seemed unwilling to reveal more. That's understandable for a work in progress, but it is amazing how much a little bit of investigative journalism, nothing more than some googling and guessing, will uncover.

Public Information

There is a lot that is public already. If you follow me on twitter, or read Mark Tucker's blog post, you will have noticed my question about genseek.net. Let's start with that.

MORE INFO

Digitizing Granite Mountain Records Schedule

2009-02-05T14:08:00.005-06:00

From: "Nancy Scott"
Subject: Re: [LDS-WC] Sources/checking routine

The schedule for digitizing the church records at the Granite Mountain is 5 years according to Steve Brey, our Area Family History Manager from the Salt Lake City Library, who spoke at a FH conference this past October held in Kentucky. That will be wonderful news in regards to lag time in searching, funding the transportation of films, and ability to search most productively.

As it is, if you go to the library catalog and search for a film number, there will be some sort of red bar come across the screen and if this is the case you can look at the film online at that very moment. I have not been so lucky to have had the ones I am searching appear but I keep checking before ordering the films anyway.

Nancy Scott
Cincinnati, Ohio

The Ancestry Insider continues: That was news to me! Several people inside FamilySearch have told me that no such links exist from the catalog into Record Search because it is still a pilot. But if you search for film Film 953959, you will indeed see a red message, shown in the illustration above or to the right, and a link to the Record Search pilot.

However, this may have been an isolated test. The catalog actually needs separate links to the 1855 and 1865 Massachusetts State Censuses. And when the pilot is over, any links entered into the catalog will have to be fixed. Further, I've checked close to a dozen of the other collections from Record Search and none have the red notice.

So don't feel bad, Nancy. You're not the only one who isn't lucky enough to see this link.

FamilySearch Alpha

2009-02-05T11:00:00.003-06:00

Visitors to the FamilySearch Labs website can also find a link to see a sneak preview of the current concept design for the FamilySearch Alpha website. As work proceeds, updates will be made every 2 to 4 weeks.

Create a Family Tree Chart in PowerPoint 2007

2009-02-05T00:57:00.003-06:00

Want to illustrate your family background and ancestors? You can create a family tree in a SmartArt graphic, and format it to look just how you want. Creating a Family Tree Chart in PowerPoint 2007 is simple and Wendy Russell in an article on About.com: Presentation Software shows you step by step how to make your own Family tree. It is created using the the SmartArt icon on the Title and Content slide layout in PowerPoint 2007. You can also watch the following video from Microsoft to do the same thing: Microsoft Office 2007.

I'm My Own Grandpa

2009-01-28T00:41:00.006-06:00

Some of you more mature readers will remember this song but I know a lot of you young ones haven't been exposed to it. Click on the title above to view the video and then enlarge the following picture to see the relationship chart. Those of us involved in Family History will appreciate this oldie and goody.Then there is this chart to help you find out how you are related to whomever:

Add Military Pictures to Your Ancestors History

2009-01-27T11:18:00.009-06:00

I ran across the above link to the United States Army's history in Art and Photographs and then started looking for our other branches of service. Of course you can use coloris or google images, but these are also very graphic to download and add to your Family History. Check them out:
US Army History
US Naval History
US Air Force
US Marine Corps
US Coast Guard Pictures
By: Howard Camp

How to Use Google Reader

2009-01-23T10:41:00.002-06:00

Here’s a quick video that explains how to use Google Reader. Get all your news and blogs in one place with Google Reader. With Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your email.
* Stay up to date Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content.
* Share with your friends Use Google Reader's built-in public page to easily share interesting items with your friends and family.
* Use it anywhere, for free Google Reader is totally free and works in most modern browsers, without any software to install.

Genealogy In Time

2009-01-23T10:23:00.004-06:00

Genealogy In Time™ is a free online genealogy magazine containing genealogy news, articles and links.
We continuously monitor thousands of news and genealogy sites worldwide and then:
* summarize the best genealogy news stories.
* provide links to the most recent genealogy records.
* present original genealogy articles.
Genealogy In Time™ will help you:
* track down your ancestors.
* gain a better understanding of genealogy.
* provide insight into broader family history issues.
* have fun.
Genealogy In Time™ is a free online genealogy magazine with 100% original content. Take a look around our web site today! And thank you for selecting Genealogy In Time™ as your source for genealogy news, resources and links.

Why Mormon's do Genealogy

2009-01-23T09:58:00.005-06:00

This is a rare look inside the newest LDS Temple and to see why the church offers such great Family History resources free to the public. ABC Nightline news recently met with two Apostles from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and toured the Draper Utah Temple.

10 Things Genealogy Software Should Do

2009-01-16T15:53:00.005-06:00

Mark Tucker on his ThinkGenealogy Blog
prepared this slide show - 10 Things Genealogy Software Should Do - Click here to view the slides: Slideshow
Click here if you want to download the above Genealogy Research Process Map.

10 Most Amazing Google Search Tricks

2009-01-15T16:39:00.005-06:00

Searching on Google can be a magical experience once you find out how to make your search queries efficient. By making efficient, I mean using some tricks or the cheat sheet provided by Google itself to quickly find what you actually require. Having being hooked onto Google for a long time now, I have come across some amazing search tricks, which can change the way you look at Google today.
In this article, I will list down the search tricks which I use quite frequently. Be it finding time, meanings or watching the cricket score, searching PDF’s, with Google as the search engine life cannot be simpler. Here are the 10 most amazing Google Search tricks:
1. Different Types of Files at your will
How many times would you have asked for materials (PDF, PPT, DOC) for a particular topic from a friend? It’s almost every day that we might have the necessity to ask them either for knowledge, preparing a presentation, white-paper or for case studies. Such times it mostly difficult to look out what to exactly search for because most of the times you don’t know about the topic at hand. But this petty keyword unleashes its lethal power at such occasions.
Let’s say I want to implement a case study on SOA which means I have to read a lot of information for SOA. So I just have to find materials which might have already been uploaded on the web in the form of PDF’s, DOC’s or PPT’s. These materials can be easily obtained by doing a search for:
• PDF - service oriented architecture filetype:pdf
• PPT - service oriented architecture filetype:ppt
• DOC - service oriented architecture filetype:doc
2. Scholarly Search
If you want some authenticity of the materials then it would be better to find the materials from educational institutes or universities. For this use the Google scholar search. But suppose you don’t like to switch to Google scholar search you can add the same query with an additional parameter to the normal Google search box,
• service oriented architecture filetype:pdf site:edu
3. Meanings of any word in an instant
Now you do not have to carry a dictionary or install a dictionary software just for the purpose of finding out a meaning of a word. With the wealth of information in Google’s hands, its a piece of cake to find out the meaning of the word. Just use the define: keyword. The meaning would of course be displayed but also a set of other links, which might have an alternative definition, are also given out with the link to read more about it.
• define:beureaucracy
You would argue here that, a dicitionary gives out more information than this. But what about words that don’t actually fall within the vocabulary. Suppose you want to know what SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is then you would have no choice. Google Search comes to your rescue in this case,
• Abbreviations - define: SOA
• Jargons - define: Web 2.0
• SMS language - define: LOL
4. Find the time of any location
Many of us might be probably working for client which are based at different locations. And communication has to be carried out frequently carried out in such cases. But before a communication you have to know which time zone the location is falling into otherwise you would be causing a disturbance.
I have seen people installing time zone software for showing the time of the location they would be calling to. But with Google at your hands you don’t have to install any software. It would be just simple to use a query for finding the current time such as,
• time new york
psst….look closely the time on the little clock graphic. It also shows the perfect time!
5. Weather at your fingertips
I had been to GOA for a Christmas vacation in the last week of December. But I made a mistake of not finding out the temperature of GOA before leaving. Had I known that it is hot even in the winter I would not have made the mistake of carrying additional luggage consisting of blankets and jackets.
If you are thinking to visit a place it is useful to know what the temperature of the place is before hand, it can make efficient packing. Google helps you here too. Just use this query without asking anybody or waiting for the news to make a weather report. I wish I had thought of this!
• goa weather
6. Google does live commentary too!
Indians are cricket fanatics. But its amusing to see the organizations here trying to put together tactics to devoid cricket lovers from wasting time to watch the cricket scores instead of doing their work. What I think they fail to understand is that by blocking the live cricket scoring sites they are actually making the employees more curios and provoking them to hunt for proxy networks or listen to the radio or chat with their friends elsewhere.
Jokes apart, you actually don’t need proxy networks to view the live cricket scores if you at least have access to Google. If you want to find the latest info about all the cricket matches then just type,
• cricket
But if you want to find out only about a particular match then use only the names of the two playing nations,
• India Australia
Remember that the scorecard will come only when the play is going on.
7. Calculate with your browser
Every OS has a calculator inbuilt but when the browser is the thing which is constantly open whey bother to open up a calculator. Open Google and straight away type your mathematical expression. You can go all the way from basic arithmetic to trigonometrical expressions. This is simply amazing stuff accomplished by Google.
• 26 * 9000
• sin(90) / cos (90)
8. Compare your currency with others
Now that the dollar is declining, the rest of the world must be busy trying to check the impact of the dollar on their currencies. But first of all one must know how much a particular currency amounts to when cashed in another currency. Google’s inbuilt currency converter just does this.
• 1 USD in INR
• 1 EUR in INR
9. Keep track of the stocks
With the booming stock market it is very important to track the stocks on a day to day basis. Putting a stock ticker in the search box is the most obvious thing you would think of. But it is not always you would remember the stock ticker, you should add the keyword “stocks:” to the company name.
The best part of the obtained result is that it provides a chart which shows the trend in the company’s stock along with important statistics.
• stocks: INFY
Note: Currently the results are restricted to the companies listed in the US stock markets.
10. Wanna find some faces?
This is most interesting trick. You might be needing images for various occasions and searching for images is the most difficult thing because what we expect might not be possibly mapped to a query. But Google has a parameter in place for images in situations we need an image which describes a face.
Suppose I search for the term “happy” then the Google results page displays smileys. But I would like to use images of happy people. Even if I choose the term as “happy face” the results don’t show images which contain people. For this there is a parameter “imgtype” which you can use with the URL. For this put in the URL as follows:
• http://images.google.co.in/images?q=happy&imgtype=face
There are many more variations which can be bought about with the above tricks thus making your search experience not only enriching but also exciting. If I have missed any tricks of common usage, feel free to mention it.
Update 1: Google keeps on experimenting new ways of searching. If you liked the above tricks then don’t miss out my article which mentions how to use the new search experiments introduced by Google. Believe me, they are brilliant!
Update 2 : Search for your favorite movie information with Google and enjoy it even more. Have fun with the 5 Most Fantastic Movie Search Tricks With Google.
Update 3 : Why not carry out the search for exactly what we are looking for? Get excited for trying out 5 Most Exciting Search Tricks with Google Operators.

British History Online

2009-01-14T00:07:00.003-06:00

British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.

Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, we aim to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research.

Sources included are Local Histories, Historical geography, Maps, Urban & Metropolitan, Parliamentary, and Ecclesiastical & Religious.

Regions covered are:

East - The historic counties of Beds, Cambs, Essex, Herts, Hunts, Norfolk and Suffolk

London - The area now covered by the 32 London boroughs. Includes the historic county of Middlesex, and parts of Surrey, Essex and Kent

Midlands - The historic counties of Derbys, Leics, Lincs, Northants, Notts, Rutland, Salop, Staffs, Warks and Worcs

North - The historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancs, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorks

Scotland - The 32 historic counties of Scotland.

South East - Includes the historic counties of Berks, Bucks, Hants, Kent, Oxfords, Surrey and Sussex. Parts of Surrey and Kent are included in the London region

South West - The historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucs, Somerset and Wilts

Wales - The 13 historic counties of Wales.

Subjects include Administrative and Legal history, Ecclesiastical and Religious History, Economic History, Intellectual, Scientific and Cultural History, Local History, Parliamentary History, and finally Urban and Metropolitan History.

The Periods covered are from the 11th and 12th Centuries down through the 19th Century.

FamilySearch is tapping into a world of resources by moving archives to online

2009-01-13T00:06:00.004-06:00

100 Years of Record Gathering and Preservation - FamilySearch, historically known as the Genealogical Society of Utah, is dedicated to preserving the records of the family of mankind. Our purpose is simple—help people connect with their ancestors through easy access to historical records. We gladly join with others who share this vision.

For over 100 years, we have served record custodians around the world. We pioneered industry standards for gathering, imaging, indexing, and preserving records. Advances in technology and the emergence of our digital world now provide an opportunity for us to combine the resources of GSU and FamilySearch.org under a single name: FamilySearch.

FamilySearch works together with records custodians to help them provide timely, economic, secure, and broad access to their records while maintaining access control and identity.

More Access to More Records for More People

The FamilySearch Records Access program is designed to significantly increase the number of genealogical records available to people around the world. Through the program, FamilySearch teams up with records custodians and other organizations to gather, preserve, digitize, index, and post the records online. The records can then be shared via the Internet for convenient public access.

The program provides a platform for FamilySearch and records custodians to combine and integrate their efforts. FamilySearch acts as both a facilitator and a participant by leveraging its knowledge, resources, and relationships in the process. The strength of the program is its collaborative approach—an approach that ensures participating organizations can more effectively and economically meet their goals.

Where practical, the program allows FamilySearch to work directly with the records custodians. Where circumstances warrant, FamilySearch will join with records custodians and third-party organizations to provide access. The resulting free flow of records provides the foundational data needed for people to identify their ancestors, link their families, and build a family tree.

Questions, Questions, Questions

Records custodians seek to preserve the past while preparing for the future. Such challenges pose important questions:

* Which trends and events will impact your record preservation and access efforts?
* Which technologies can help meet your needs?
* How can you provide better access to records?
* What role should the Internet play?
* How can costs be lowered?
* How can costs be recovered?
* Where can reliable advice and help be found?

FamilySearch may have answers to your questions and solutions to help you meet your challenges. Records custodians from over 100 countries turn to us for help with their records preservation and access needs. As a nonprofit organization and the world leader in genealogical resources, you know you’re getting the right information and assistance while avoiding prohibitive costs.

Records Services

The following list includes some of the services we can offer your organization:

* Image Capture
Obtaining a preservation quality image is often the most costly and time-consuming step for records custodians. Microfilm has been the standard, but digital is emerging. Whether you opt to do it yourself or use one of our worldwide camera teams, we can help.
* Digital Conversion
For those records custodians who already have a substantial collection of microfilm, we can help digitize those images and even provide digital image storage.
* Preservation
Preservation copies of microfilm, microfiche, and digital records from over 100 countries and spanning hundreds of years are safely stored in the Granite Mountain Records Vault—a long-term storage facility designed for preservation.
* Online Indexing
Once an image is digitized, key data needs to be transcribed in order to produce a searchable index that patrons around the world can access. Our online indexing application harnesses volunteers from around the world to quickly and accurately create indexes.
* Online Access
Whether your goal is to help fund your operations or simply to make your records freely available to the public, FamilySearch can assist you every step of the way. We can even host and post the information for you to help minimize your costs and increase your effectiveness.

To better meet the needs of records custodians, FamilySearch has established relationships and working agreements with government, libraries, societies, churches, and commercial companies. Working together we can offer a greater range of assistance than any one organization.

Popular 1900 US Census Now Free Online

2009-01-10T11:45:00.007-06:00

SALT LAKE CITY 7 January 2009 FamilySearch International continues to feed the growing appetite of family historians and researchers worldwide with the release of its free 1900 U.S. Census online. The free collection allows users to search the entire population of the U.S. in 1900 — over 76 million people — and view high quality images of the original census at www.FamilySearch.org.

Using the online census, President-Elect Barack Obama would learn that public speaking skills and stage presence run in his family — his maternal great-great-grandfather, Charles Payne, was noted as an auctioneer by profession in the census. With just a few keystrokes, he’d find that Charles and his wife Della were born respectively in Missouri and Ohio and living with their six children in Johnson County, Kansas, in 1900. Obama’s great-grandfather, Rolla, was listed as their second child.

Famous inspirational writer and lecturer, Dale Carnegie (1888 to 1955), can be found as a mere 10-year-old farm boy in Nodaway County, Missouri. Researchers might notice that Mr. Carnegie’s family name was spelled Carnagey in the census. He would later change the spelling of his last name, perhaps to capitalize off of the popularity of tycoon Andrew Carnegie (no relation).

“The 1900 U.S. Census is such a significant collection for several reasons,” said Paul Nauta, public affairs manager for FamilySearch. “The 1890 U.S. Census was mostly destroyed in a fire. The 1900 census included information not captured from other censuses — like the exact month and year of birth of every person enumerated, years married, the number of children born to the mother, how many were still living, and how long an immigrant had been in the country along with their naturalization status,” added Nauta.

Researchers can also explore when and where a person was born, as well as the place of birth of that person’s parents. Such information is particularly helpful in trying to determine or document ethnic origins.

The 1900 U.S. Census is also a very important collection for Native Americans because it was the first to include separate Indian Population Schedule sheets for a county. Native Americans living in the general population were enumerated there. The 1900 census included the individual’s Indian and English name, tribal affiliation for the individual and his or her parents, percent of Indian blood in the individual and the parents, education, and land allotment information.

FamilySearch manages the largest collection of genealogical records worldwide. In 2007 it announced plans to begin digitizing and indexing its collection for broader, more economic online access — starting with popular collections like the U.S., Canada, and U.K. censuses. FamilySearch has created free online indexes to date for the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 U.S. Censuses. FamilySearch is working with The Generations Network to provide enhanced, free indexes for the remaining U.S. censuses.

From early in its history, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encouraged its members to research their family history. Recognizing that millions of people throughout the world have their own reasons to be interested in family history, the Church makes its collections of microfilmed and digitized records freely available to everyone.

Searching Ancestry.com

2009-01-05T18:18:00.006-06:00

New Ancestry Tutorial

Professional genealogist Barbara Renick has created a tutorial video slide show called "Searching at Ancestry Part 1," which explains how to use the new Ancestry.com search engine.

Ancestry.com is accessible free if you're a member of the Hillsborough County public library system (Tampa, Florida). It should be one of your first stops online when you begin research of any new line.

Find Barbara's tutorial at www.zroots.com.

FamilySearch Road Map: Past, Present, and Provisional Future

2008-12-23T08:30:00.011-06:00

The FamilySearch Road Map: Past, Present, and Provisional Future
December 21st, 2008
Paul Nauta, Public Affairs Director for the Family History Library, was the dinner speaker at the Annual Banquet for the Salt Lake Christmas Tour. He outlined the FamilySearch Road Map: Past, Present, and Provisional Future.

Director Nauta diagrammed the Past: Preserve Genealogy Records–Collaboration with Archives and Libraries to ensure genealogy records survive–Access Records–Collect and Film Records–Check Records for Quality Control.

The Family History Library maintains more than 200 camera teams throughout the world (more than 45 countries at one time) and makes the records available to the public through over 4500 Family History Centers in 80 countries, including over 200 affiliate public libraries.

The Present approach includes: Collect and Preserve Genealogy Records directly in digital format–convert previous microfilm to digital format–Create Online Indexes to digital records–Distribute film and digital images.

New FamilySearch is being tested in several areas of the LDS Church using a temporary URL open to selected users only.

FamilySearch Indexing which, on 31 October 2008 alone, launched more than 30 million newly-indexed images to online public use. FamilySearch Pilot More than 150,000 indexers are at work producing more than 1 Million new names a day.

And indexers are actively recruited: members of the LDS Church, qualified volunteers from local genealogy groups and commercial research services, patrons of Family History Library facilities. If you are an indexer, you get access to indexed records–whether they have been released to the public or not. To learn more and view current projects visit: FamilySearch Indexing

Family Tree, where you can post your genealogy for personal and public access, will open to the world at large next year (2009).

All of these resources post works-in-progress. They are intended to provide access to data as they become available–not when they are completed. You can check them frequently to speed-up your own work and increase your ability to share your genealogy with others.

The Provisional Future will give us online digital access within 24-hours from the time the records are digitized! Such a time frame is needed to counteract the record loss that occurs at an alarming rate: Nauta estimated that there is no record of existence for 1/2 of the children in the world. Less than 5% of genealogy records are online.

The FamilySearch goal: More records for More people using More effective technology. 25 high-speed machines are currently at work at the Records Vault to prepare records in digital format. The next step is to create a digital microfilm reader online to provide a digital expressway to your home. This will give you access to over 1 Billion digital images now available and not yet indexed.

For example, there are over 1 million books in the Family History Library. 25,000 only are now available online. Family History Library Books

With 20 Billion images stored in the LDS Records Vault, more than 70 Billion images stored in the world at large, and more than 500 million images being created every year–lots of genealogy volunteers are needed. Sign-on today and access what is available. All they ask is 30 minutes of your time each week! Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-12-21T00:20:00.003-06:00

Where Did Your Surname Come From?

2008-12-19T09:14:00.002-06:00

Do you know where your surname comes from, or how many people you share it with? To find out more about your history, click on 'Search for Surname' and you will open the National Trust Names website which presents the findings of a project based at University College London (UCL) that is investigating the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current and historic. It allows users to search the databases that we have created, and to trace the geography and history of their family names. On each page of the website, you will find a Help link on the top-right corner which We hope will answer any questions you might have.

New England Ancestors Free Online Seminars

2008-12-19T07:06:00.005-06:00

NEHGS ONLINE SEMINAR SERIES
We are excited to announce our new online seminar series. Lectures will be presented by our staff of genealogists. We will be offering new seminars on a regular basis so please check back frequently for updates.
Online Seminars
Seminar Links
Researching Your Newfoundland Ancestors Part One
Bridging the Atlantic - Methods of Tracing Your 17th Century New England Ancestors Across the Water
An Overview of the NEHGS Manuscript Collection
Library resources at NEHGS
Finding Your Ancestors Online
Who Was Your Mother's Mother's Mother's Mother?
Getting Started in Irish Genealogy Part 1
Applying to Lineage Societies
Genealogical Tips: Transcribing Gravestones
Getting Started in Genealogy - Part 1
Getting Started in Genealogy - Part 2
Getting Started in Genealogy - Part 3
Civil War Pension Research: Union Soldiers
Methods of Finding a Wife's Maiden Name

Web Search Strategies

2008-12-18T06:54:00.005-06:00

CommonCraft Show Sachi LeFever is the project manager, video editor, and "chief party pooper". She gets things done. You can find Sachi on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Lee LeFever is the communicator and idea guy. You can connect to him on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
About the Show
Each new video we publish appears as a free version on this link. You are free to share Common Craft Show videos for non-commercial purposes.
Downloadable, licensed versions can be found in the Common Craft Store.

Small Inexpensive NetBook's : Great for FamilyHistory

2008-12-17T09:11:00.012-06:00

Small is beautiful - Dec 4th 2008 From The Economist print edition
Computing: Netbooks are small computers that are cheaper and lighter than full-scale laptops. They have their merits—but do not ask too much of them

STEVE JOBS says Apple does not know how to make a $500 computer “that’s not a piece of junk”. Yet this article was written on a small computer that costs less than that—and barely a quarter of the price of the Apple iMac that sits on the desk beside it. Small, cheap mini-notebooks like this, or “netbooks” as they have come to be called, are not as fast or as capable as a big computer like an iMac, and in performance terms they trail behind most laptops. But they are certainly not junk, and for some people they may be the best computers money can buy.

Netbooks are a hot-selling consumer product. The first to appear on the market, a year or so ago, were aimed at children. But now they are proving popular not just with families and first-time computer buyers but also with power users who want something small, lightweight and cheap.

They typically have screens measuring seven to ten inches diagonally. They have built-in wireless networking, but lack an optical drive for CDs or DVDs. Some use flash memory for storage instead of a hard disk, which makes them more robust and extends battery life. Netbooks generally cost less than $500. IDC, a market-research firm, reckons worldwide sales of netbooks will reach 10.8m in 2008 and more than 20m in 2009, during which they will represent 11-12% of the entire laptop market.

Keep it simple: Most current models, including Samsung’s NC10, much of the Asus Eee range, the MSI Wind and the Acer Aspire One, use Intel’s Atom as their central processor. This is the chipmaker’s smallest processor, designed specifically for low-cost and portable devices, not for intensive number-crunching. But because a lot of things that people do with computers, such as e-mail, writing and web browsing, do not require fancy graphics or lots of processing power, netbooks can still be extremely useful.

The number of netbooks available is growing as more producers pile into the market (but not Apple—at least, not yet). But if you are buying one, avoid the temptation to get the slickest, most powerful machine available. Much advice on offer online suggests souping up the specification of a netbook so it can run Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system, rather than the free, open-source Linux system that is offered as standard on many netbooks.

Yet increasing the specification only makes sense for people who want to run (and to pay for) Windows and specific Windows-based applications. The extra hardware and software costs start to push the price of a netbook towards that of a standard laptop, which will invariably be better because it has a bigger processor and superior graphics. For many users, the basic, free software shipped with a netbook will be quite enough.

The most basic model of the Acer Aspire One can be found for £179 in Britain and around $300 in America. It simply switches on and runs with the minimum of fuss. It has 8 gigabytes (GB) of flash storage and 512 megabytes of RAM, which is a bit puny. But that is perfectly adequate to run the customised version of Linux that comes pre-installed on it, along with a suite of software, including Open Office. With no hard drive, and a switch to turn off the wireless connection (not the fastest in the world), power can be conserved. So a bigger, bulkier battery may not be necessary either, unless you want to use the computer untethered for long periods. Because it boots up in a few seconds, rather than thinking of the Acer as a mini laptop it might make more sense to view it as a beefed-up personal digital assistant, such as an old PalmPilot or Psion, but with a better screen and a proper keyboard.

But what about the lack of storage? Again, the way the machine can be used addresses this problem. First, netbooks are designed to be used with the net, which is where an increasing number of people now store a lot of their stuff, such as e-mail, videos and photos, and where people do other work with online applications. Second, with three USB ports it can always be plugged into devices, such as a portable hard drive, to store things locally. Storage space can also be boosted by plugging a small SD-card flash memory (16GB versions are now widely available) into one of two ports, one of which is designated to act as semi-permanent storage.

As for the software, Open Office was surprisingly easy to use—a doddle for anyone who has used Microsoft Office. Moreover, the ability to save work in different formats presented no compatibility problems when sending files to a Windows-based machine. Photo software and other applications were simple to use too. The machine is not up to much for playing games, but then a dedicated games console beats most computers when it comes to games anyway.

The Acer has a built-in webcam, which makes it ideal for video-calling services such as Skype. Admittedly, installing third-party software can be a bit of a fiddle, and some of the advice available online threatens to lure users into the tangled depths of the Linux undergrowth, where few people will want to venture. But as netbooks become more prevalent, such difficulties are likely to ease.

The upshot is that netbooks are great as cheap, simple and small computers for performing basic tasks—especially if the pre-installed software does what you want it to. They will never satisfy power users who want to edit video and play elaborate games, but they are not meant to. Provided they do not expect too much, most users will be delighted with them.

25,000 Historical Titles Now Free Online

2008-12-16T06:45:00.006-06:00

FamilySearch Digital Preservation Initiative Hits a Milestone

Salt Lake City, Utah—FamilySearch International reached a milestone today with the digitization of its 25,000th publication online. It began the initiative in 2007 and is ramping up to do even more—and faster. The effort targets published family, society, county, and town histories, as well as numerous other historical publications that are digitally preserved and made accessible for free online. The digital publications can be searched at www.FamilySearch.org (Go to FamilySearch.org, then click Search Records, then click Historical Books).

The 25,000th digitized publication was A History of Lewis County, in the State of New York, from the Beginning of Its Settlement to the Present Time by Franklin B. Hough. The book was published in 1860. The lengths of titles digitized to date vary in length, but the average is about 350 pages. There are even publications in Spanish, German, French, and Russian.

FamilySearch has nearly a million publications in its famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and there are millions of similar publications elsewhere in the United States. “The problem with the collection [of out-of-print titles] is limited access,” said Ransom Love, FamilySearch senior vice president of Strategic Relations. “To view the publications, patrons have to travel to Salt Lake City or one of FamilySearch’s affiliate libraries. If you are lucky, you might be able to order a microfilm copy, but then you have to wait for it to arrive at your local family history center. And there’s the inconvenience of having to read it on a film reader,” added Love.

FamilySearch aims to change all of that. Working with volunteers and select affiliate libraries, it plans to create the largest digital collection of published histories on the Web. It is targeting a wide range of historical publications—for example, users might be pleasantly surprised to find digital copies of Hawaii Sugar Planters Association Filipino Laborer files (1909-1949), medieval family history resource titles, and oral history abstracts (mostly from Hawaii), and numerous gazetteers.

“These are publications that were usually limited in the number originally printed and therefore only accessible in a few libraries or special collections worldwide. Yet there can be some great information of genealogical significance in the publications that only a few people would have access to prior to now,” said Love.

Through its Records Access Program, FamilySearch is digitally preserving a copy of the publications and making them available online for the masses. Once digitized, the collections have "every word" search capability, which allows users to search by name, location, date, or other fields across the collection. The search results are then linked to high quality digital images of the original publication.

FamilySearch is not stopping with its own collection either. Over the past year, it announced that it is also helping to digitize and publish collections from the Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University—Hawaii Joseph F. Smith Library, Allen County Public Library (ACPL) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Houston Public Library, in Houston, Texas, and Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri. When all is said and done, there will be over a million publications in the digital collection online. It will be the largest free resource of its kind.

New FamilySearch (Where we are now)

2008-12-16T00:19:00.003-06:00

New FamilySearch (NFS) is a single family tree that all of us share and work on in common, as if we all shared one PAF file. FamilySearch is temporarily calling it New FamilySearch and it is temporarily located at http://new.familysearch.org. But eventually it will be called FamilySearch Family Tree and will be relocated to www.familysearch.org. The 1.0 version will be available to all, members of the Church and non-members alike.

However, the first priority for NFS was to stop the flood of duplicate temple ordinances by replacing TempleReady and the associated need to check the International Genealogical Index (IGI) to avoid duplication. Accordingly, a version 0.9 was written to this end. It lacks many niceties considered standard in a genealogy product, but those features are not central to replacing TempleReady and can wait for a 1.0 product.

After alpha and beta testing were complete, a multiple-phase rollout was commenced on 26 June 2007 when St. Louis started using NFS. From that moment on, NFS has not been in some extended beta test as some suppose, but has been in real use in real temples.

Early users of NFS found bugs, of course, as well as user interface problems. That is one reason for doing a phased release. But these problems were nothing, in retrospect. Like the hero of a tragedy, NFS 0.9 contained an unknown fatal flaw that doomed it to failure as soon as the rollout began. Ironically, the flaw arises out of the problem that NFS is designed to avoid: too much duplication.

Our hero's tragic flaw

Somewhere along the line, two conflicting mantras were established for NFS. Our hero's fatal flaw results from an unforeseen interaction between the two.

No one can change your data except you.
To keep things simple, New FamilySearch combines Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File and the International Genealogy Index into one database.
Not knowing the number of duplicates beforehand, the first mantra was kept by keeping a full copy of every piece of data, no matter how often duplicated. After the rollout began, users began combining duplicates from these three databases. Some individuals were duplicated many, many more times than expected and when NFS users combined them, "individuals of unusual size" (IOUS) started to grow.

Steps were taken to slow IOUS growth. The addition of PRF disks was halted. The import of complete GEDCOMs was frowned upon. And NFS continued to perform its primary function, adequately replacing TempleReady.

The Arizona

Then on 5 February 2008 the rollout hit Arizona. Because of the large number of Church members there who are descended from early Church members, the growth rate of IOUSes exploded and IOUSes became large enough to swamp the computer servers running NFS. The system was sometimes too slow to use. I'm sure within a week FamilySearch knew they had big problems. The decision to freeze would have been gut wrenching and probably had to reach to the highest levels. On the 19th, word first leaked out. On the 21st, official word was sent out. The rollout was stopped, frozen solid.

Emergency steps were taken to rehabilitate system performance. Hard limits were placed on the number of duplicates that can be combined. (I believe it is currently 85?) GEDCOM import size was restricted. I imagine the length of the delay was predicated on how long it took database engineers to scan through all the millions of individuals in NFS to find and split the IOUSes into pieces small enough for the system to handle.This had to be done while the system was in operation, actively serving 26 temples.

The result was an NFS that worked near flawlessly as a TempleReady replacement for anyone who doesn't have ancestors that were famous or were members of the Church. These ancestors were the ones becoming IOUSes. When the freeze thawed, the rollout could continue only in districts where most members didn't have many ancestors fitting this characterization. By 14 October the tragedy had run its course. Utah, Idaho and Las Vegas have been on hold ever since, waiting for a true fix to the IOUS problem. Rumors have pointed to Q3 or Q4 of next year before this newer than New FamilySearch will be ready.

Family Tree

While all this was going on, work on a 1.0 user interface was progressing. Developers are using a system called Agile Development that encourages regular user interaction during iterative development. This allows us, the future users of the program, to try things out along the way, identify design flaws and influence the product before it is set in stone. If you have a New FamilySearch account, you should feel a responsibility to do this at labs.familysearch.org.

That brings you up to the unexpected announcement that Vegas was going live without the rest of us! What does that mean? Obviously, FamilySearch feels like the system is robust enough to handle the additional traffic and that letting Las Vegas start using the system is worthwhile, despite members inability to combine all duplicates together.

Originally published on "The Ancestry Insider" Blog.

Genealogy Spot

2008-12-12T14:50:00.003-06:00

About GenealogySpot.com

Simplifying the Search for the Best Genealogy Resources Online

You will find this site to be a useful and time-saving tool for researching your family history online.

"What's nice about GenealogySpot is the editorial picking-and-choosing that guides the site's content."
- Family Tree Magazine

"GenealogySpot finds references around the Internet that will help you with your genealogical searches."
- Ancestry.com

GenealogySpot.com is a free resource center that simplifies the search for the best online genealogy resources for beginners and experts alike. Sites featured on GenealogySpot.com are hand-selected by our editorial team for their exceptional quality, content and utility.

From the site, quickly and easily find the best resources to perform ancestor searches by state, country, ethnicity and religion, browse historical records, access reference tools, locate lost family members, join genealogy communities and much more.

Surname Distribution Maps

2008-12-12T14:44:00.003-06:00

Enter a surname (last name) into the form on this link and you'll get a map of the United States showing the distribution of people with this surname within the 50 United States.

Family Tree Searcher

2008-12-12T14:36:00.002-06:00

Easiest way to search family trees

Use Active Searches. This allows you to search major sites by entering your information just one time. Also, this determines the best type of search for you at a particular site (all sites are not created equal).

World Vital Records

2008-12-12T13:03:00.004-06:00

Internet Genealogy Magazine Reviews WorldVitalRecords.com

Internet Genealogy, July 2008 We simply couldn't have said it better ourselves! The most recent issue of Internet Genealogy magazine includes a 4-page article by Diane L. Richard detailing the incredible growth and benefits of an online subscription to the worldvitalrecords.com content collection. Read the entire article. Here are a few quotes:

"UK BMD and Census Records. The addition of these records helps make the World Collection comparable to Ancestry's World Collection."

"Each subscription service on its own was just a bit too narrow for my limited needs, or had enough overlap with other databases that I currently subscribe to, to make it hard to justify individual subscriptions. That is now a moot point as I can 'one-stop-shop' at WorldVitalRecords.com"

FamilySearch Affiliates and Product Certification

2008-12-11T10:16:00.004-06:00

FamilySearch Certified Affiliates are third-party companies and organizations that provide products and services with features that are compatible with FamilySearch programs. Certification indicates the affiliate’s declaration of compliance with FamilySearch requirements. Note that these products and services are independently developed and supported by their respective organizations, not by FamilySearch.

Certified PAF Add-Ins are programs that allow PAF users to access, print, update, and sync with online information in the new FamilySearch program. These add-ins are intended primarily for patrons who wish to use their PAF 5 program to read and write PAF 5 and Gedcom files in conjunction with the online family tree at new.FamilySearch.org

Summary of Certified Features
Access - Search and read new FamilySearch family tree

Print - Print multiple reports using data from new FamilySearch family tree

Update - Publish to new FamilySearch family tree in addtion to Access. Also includes request to combine matched individuals.

Sync - Sync both ways, match/combine persons in addition to Access and Update

Ability to keep FamilySearch family tree current with Affiliate's application for selected persons and information ("Sync-up")

Ability to Affiliate's application current with FamilySearch family tree for selected persons and information ("Sync-down")

Multi-Language - Ability to have Navigation, Content, Help and all messaging translated in at least the languages supported by FamilySearch family tree. These translations, when available, can be easily installed by users.

PAF Add-In - This Add-In to FamilySearch PAF program makes it possible for the PAF program to Access, Print, Update, and Sync with new FamilySearch family tree. PAF user can continue to load and save information to the PAF file format.

Civil War Soldiers & Sailors

2008-12-11T10:10:00.002-06:00

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System is a computerized database containing very basic facts about servicemen who served on both sides during the Civil War. The initial focus of the CWSS is the Names Index Project, a project to enter names and other basic information from 6.3 million soldier records in the National Archives. The facts about the soldiers were entered from records that are indexed to many millions of other documents about Union and Confederate Civil War soldiers maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration.

Other information includes: histories of regiments in both the Union and Confederate Armies, links to descriptions of 384 significant battles of the war, and other historical information. Additional information about soldiers, sailors, regiments, and battles, as well as prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records, will be added over time.

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a cooperative effort by the National Park Service (NPS) and several other public and private partners, to computerize information about the Civil War. The goal of the CWSS is to increase the American people's understanding of this decisive era in American history by making information about it widely accessible. The CWSS will enable the public to make a personal link between themselves and history.

Civil War Soldiers & Sailors

2008-12-11T10:10:00.001-06:00

Free GEDCOM Estimator

2008-12-10T23:50:00.004-06:00

The GEDCOM Estimator was developed by Vegard Brox as part of his 3rd year project at University of Newcastle upon Tyne during the academic year 1999-2000. The supervisor for the project was Professor Brian Randell.

At this page, you can get information about the GEDCOM Estimator, download the program, view the help pages, download source code and even view the dissertation for the project.

Google Your Family Tree

2008-12-10T18:44:00.002-06:00

Table of Contents

Following are the chapter headers as they appear in the Table of Contents for Google Your Family Tree. The 352-page text includes numerous screen shots, tables, and other diagrams that combine to make this a must-have book for every family historian — hobbiest or professional.

Foreword by Paul Allen, CEO of FamilyLink.com, Inc.; Co-Founder Ancestry.com, Inc.
Introduction by Dan Lynch

Chapter 1 — Search Engine Basics
Chapter 2 — Interpreting Web Search Results
Chapter 3 — Advanced Search Techniques
Chapter 4 — Language Tools
Chapter 5 — Google Books
Chapter 6 — Google News Archive
Chapter 7 — Blog Search
Chapter 8 — Images & Video
Chapter 9 — Google Alerts
Chapter 10 — Google Maps
Chapter 11 — Google Earth
Chapter 12 — Google Notebook
Chapter 13 — The Google Toolbar & Google Chrome
Chapter 14 — Other Tips & Tricks
Appendix A — Getting Started in Genealogy
Appendix B — Top Sites for Genealogists
Appendix C — Other Internet Search Engines
Appendix D — Web Search Engine Defined
Appendix E — Syntax Summary & Quick Reference
Index

Rare Opportunity: See the other half of the LDS Church's Family History Equation

2008-12-02T16:55:00.005-06:00

If you're planning a visit to the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City in the next several months, an opportunity is available that you shouldn't miss. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced an open house and public tours of the Draper Utah Temple. The open house will extend from 15 January 2009 until 14 March 2009.

Unlike chapels of the Church, temples are normally closed to all but worthy members of the Church. The completion of a new temple provides a rare opportunity for the general public to view the interior of these buildings, each revered by Church members as the House of the Lord. The Draper Utah Temple will be just the 129th operating temple of the Church worldwide.

Open house tours are free but require tickets, and convenient times may be scooped up quickly. Tickets may be obtained starting Monday, 1 December 2008 at 10:00 AM MST by contacting 1-800-537-6181 (toll-free), 1-801-240-7932 (toll) or online at www.lds.org/reservations.

If you're planning on visiting the FHL during the open house, call right away to get your tickets. I don't know if the FHL will provide a shuttle between the library and the new temple for visitors who are not members of the Church. I'll suggest it to Don Anderson. But, first worry about getting tickets and if this is your first tour inside a temple, I'll drive you myself if I have to. I think it's that important of an opportunity to see the other half of the Church's family history equation. The Draper Utah Temple is a 23 mile drive south of the FHL and Google estimates a drive time of 33 minutes.

There is no preaching, no sermon and no pressure. In fact, talking inside the Temple is discouraged. Individuals walk through the temple in a long, continuous line. Wheelchairs are typically accommodated. No guide will accompany you and there is no audio tour. Prior to entering the Temple a short video (8 to 15 minutes?) introduces basic information about the Temple and its place in Church doctrine. Placards placed throughout the building identify the names or purposes of rooms as you walk through the building. While Church volunteers are present throughout the building, they provide crowd control and maintain reverence. Questions should be held until after exiting. Like I say, no pressure.

And in my opinion, a definite "not to be missed." The Ancestry Insider

More Google : How to Subscribe to RSS Feeds

2008-11-29T01:48:00.003-06:00

You can get all of the new PAF-LUG Blog posts automatically in your GOOGLE READER.
Click here