Tell Us Your Favorite Undiscovered Web Site
Do you find yourself returning to the same little-known Web site again and again for your genealogy research? Have you stumbled across a genealogical gem whose value other researchers might not immediately recognize? Let us know about it!
Family Tree Magazine is looking for genealogy's top undiscovered Web sites for this year's 101 Best Web Sites list, coming in the August issue. Just e-mail the site's name, Web address and why you like it to
ftmnews-editor@fwpubs.com.
Back Issues
The media firm Amalgamated Publishers and Ninestars Information Technology Ltd. have announced a project to digitize the archives of more than 200 African-American newspapers—many older than 100 years—and make them available online.
It might be difficult to find information on your African-American ancestors in mainstream newspapers because many didn't thoroughly cover black communities. And frequently underfunded black newspapers had little means to preserve their historical information,
so microfilmed copies are hard to come by.
Eventually, you'll be able to access an online portal to fully searchable article archives for each paper. The article database will work similarly to others, such as the New York Times (
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nytimes/advancedsearch.html):
Searches will be free, but you'll pay to see the full article.
Otherdays of Our Lives
Several E-mail Update readers have asked us what's up with the Irish records subscription Web site Otherdays.com (http://www.otherdays.com). For the past two weeks, visitors who tried to access it
would see a pop-up window demanding a username and password instead of the usual Otherdays home page.
Our e-mails to Otherdays.com staff went unanswered, but according to a thread of postings on Dick Eastman's genealogy blog (http://eogn.com), site administrators say unknown problems have knocked the site offline,
and a team of experts is trying to get it back up and running.
Otherdays.com offers more than 100 databases, including the popular Griffith's Valuation, for $51.95 annually. Last year it partnered with the Godfrey Memorial Library (http://www.godfrey.org) and the
New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS; http://newenglandancestors.org) to offer access to members of those organizations. NEHGS briefly posted a notice about OtherDays.com's technical
difficulties on its own site.
New Archivist Sworn In
After surviving a contentious confirmation process, Dr. Alan Weinstein was sworn in yesterday as national archivist of the United States.
His nomination stirred up controversy last year when former archivist John Carlin, who resigned in December 2003 pending replacement, revealed the Bush administration had asked him to step down. Legislation requires the president to notify Congress before
removing a national archivist. The Society of American Archivists (http://www.archivists.org) and 28 other groups issued a statement last April refusing to endorse Weinstein.
(See the Aug. 5, 2004 E-Mail Update at http://net.fwpublications.com/newsletters/
NewsletterArchive/Family_Tree_Magazine_E-Mail_Update/8_5_2004.htm
for our coverage of the controversy.)
Most recently, Weinstein was a senior advisor at Maryland’s International Foundation for Election Systems (http://www.ifes.org). In 1984, he founded the non-profit Center for Democracy (
http://www.centerfordemocracy.org), which provided assistance for countries transitioning to democratic governments, and ran the organization until it suspended activities in 2003. He’s also held many academic professorships and published several
books.
As national archivist, Weinstein will oversee the National Archives and Records Administration (http://www.archives.gov), the independent federal agency created that preserves federal government records
and makes available to the public.
Find Your Way in the Library of Congress
If your research calls for frequenting Library of Congress (LOC) resources, the new Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress: For Congress, the Nation & the World edited by John Y. Cole and Jane Aikin (LOC and Bernan Press, $125) could help you navigate
LOC holdings, administrative units and people to get at the research answers you need.
The one-volume reference contains articles and statistical appendices on collections, functions and services of the nation's top library, from its origin in 1800 through late 2004. If you have relatively deep pockets, you can order the book for $125 from
the Library of Congress at (888) 682-3557 or http://www.loc.gov/shop. Otherwise, check your local library's reference section.
Civil War Sources
Having trouble tracking down those elusive ancestors? In this biweekly, Web-exclusive column, contributing editor Nancy Hendrickson points to new and helpful ways to do your computer-related genealogy research. This week, she names her favorite resources
for learning about Civil War ancestors. Read more at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/ancestornews/current.html.
Hendrickson is a family historian, freelance writer and the author of the book Finding Your Roots Online, on sale now at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/display.asp?id=70583.
Browse the archive of her AncestorNews columns at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/ancestornews/previous.html.
Friends and Family Plan
This week's tip comes from Debbie Stauffer:
When searching 1930 census records on Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), never underestimate the importance of the Family and Neighbors link. I'd searched for my Brewer great-grandparents and couldn't
find them . I could, however, locate my Landers great-grandparents. While looking through their family and neighbors, I found my long-lost Brewer family—someone had mistakenly transcribed their surname as Breuer.
To find the link, click on one of the people in your search results. Look under under Personal Information for Family and Neighbors, then click the View Results link next to it.
Do you have a great idea for discovering, preserving or
celebrating family history? E-mail us your tip at
ftmnews-editor@fwpubs.com with "TIP OF THE WEEK"
in the subject line. If we publish it, you'll win a free
copy of Digitizing Your Family History
by Rhonda McClure, also available for purchase online at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/display.asp?id=70660.
Overwhelmed by the number of family history-related Web sites popping up? FamilyTreeMagazine.com sorts through them all—whew!—to bring you only the very best. We recently recommended the following as Sites of the Week:
• Passenger and Immigration Lists: Irish to America, 1846-1865
http://www.freegenealogylookups.com/cd357.htm
Request a free lookup for Irish immigrants to Boston and New York City.
• Family History Project
http://www.familyhistoryproject.com
A free trial on this site helps your relatives collaborate on your family story.
• King County Snapshots
http://content.lib.washington.edu/imls/kcsnapshots/index.html
Enjoy a photographic heritage of Seattle and surrounding communities.
• Save Our History
http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/save/soh.html
This History Channel inititive promotes history education and historic preservation.
Blog Basics
Blogs—short for Web logs, or online journals where you can post anything on your mind—are some of the newest ways genealogists are posting family information and research updates online. In the February 2005 Family Tree Magazine,
contributing editor Nancy Hendrickson gives tips for starting your blog:
First, you need to select a blog host. Some of the most popular are Blog-City (http://www.blog-city.com/bc), Blogger (http://www.blogger.com), eBloggy
(http://www.ebloggy.com) and tBlog (http://www.tblog.com). The setup's about the same regardless of which host you choose. You pick a user name and password,
then a name for your blog—for example, "Sullivan Genealogy Research" or "Ross Genealogy in Florida." Choose a name that reflects your subject matter, so fellow genealogists will be able to find you. Then pick a template (most blog hosts offer attractive
ones) and start posting.
Blogs typically comprise short daily entries arranged in chronological order. The home page will contain your most recent entry as well as links to the last five or 10 messages (depending on your blog host). Blogs usually archive articles by month and
make them accessible through links on the home page.
Of course, a major advantage of posting to a genealogy blog is that other researchers can connect with you via search engines. Each article you post has its own Web page, and the blog software gives the page the same name as the article. So your article
titled "Coleman Surname Research in Bismarck, North Dakota," will be on a Web page with that title, too. If an online genealogist searches for the phrase coleman genealogy "north dakota", your blog probably will show up in the search results.
For more on creating a genealogy blog, see the February 2005 Family Tree Magazine. It's available for purchase at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/magazine_feb05.asp. Nancy Hendrickson's
AncestorNews column appears in each edition of the Family Tree Magazine E-mail Update.
Relatively Mysterious
Expert photo historian Maureen A. Taylor helps readers analyze old family pictures in her Web-exclusive column Identifying Family Photographs. This week, she tackles two cases of "Which relative is it?"
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/current.htm.
If you have a family photo mystery for Taylor to solve, check out our Submission Guidelines at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm.
Centerville, Ohio
Allison Stacy
Feb. 26
Ninth Annual Family History Jamboree
- Topic: Nine Steps to Writing Your Family History
For more information, see users.ameritech.net/cenfhc/fhj.htm.
Dallas, Texas
Emily Anne Croom
March 5
Dallas Genealogical Society seminar
Topics:
- Their Place in Time: Broadening the Perspective Beyond Dates and Places
- Likely, Logical, Convincing: Resolving Conflicting Evidence
- You're Known by the Company You Keep: Cluster Genealogy, an Essential Tool for Research
- Scaling the Brick Wall
Contact Teresa Tatyrek at president@dallasgenealogy.org.
You'll find more opportunities to catch our genealogy experts at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/speakers.html.
RootsMagic Genealogy Software - "An excellent choice for any genealogist" says Family Tree Magazine. Get a free trial copy at http://www.RootsMagic.com
Searching for ancestors
in Virginia or Michigan? Stay on course with Carol McGinnis' MICHIGAN GENEALOGY. New 2ND Edition
http://www.genealogical.com/item_detail.asp?afid=&ID=3525
or VIRGINIA
GENEALOGY: Sources & Resources.
http://www.genealogical.com/item_detail.asp?afid=&ID=3526
GenSmarts Automated Genealogy Research - "the best
genealogy add-on software " says Eastman's Newsletter. Only $24.95 at http://www.GenSmarts.com/ftmagDeals.asp
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