New Home for American Indian History
Some 20,000 North and South American Indians, many in traditional dress, marched along the National Mall last week in a procession to celebrate the opening of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI, http://www.nmai.si.edu)
in Washington, DC.
NMAI offers a unique view of history: Staff at the $219 million museum say it's the first dedicated exclusively to American Indians that presents the past from their own perspective. If you have American Indian ancestors, you'll find the insight into their
world particularly valuable. (For tips on researching your American Indian roots, see the April 2004 Family Tree Magazine, available at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/magazine_apr04.asp.)
Three main exhibits cover history, the stories of eight contemporary American Indian communities and spiritual worldviews of indigenous cultures. Nearly 800,000 artifacts—clothing, tools, masks and pottery—are on display, covering 10,000 years
and 1,000-plus native cultures. By allowing unprecedented practices, NMAI manages to avoid some of the animosity such collections have inspired in American Indians who view the objects as tribal property. For example, tribal elders are allowed to "feed"
cornmeal
to some masks, showing spirits that the objects are being cared for. Sacred artifacts are displayed with the approval of the tribes that created them, and some items are lent out for ceremonies. NMAI has promised that human remains, sacred objects or items
acquired illegally will be returned to groups than can prove a claim to them.
The museum building (shown above) reflects American Indian values, with an east-facing main entrance, orientation to the cardinal directions and curved shape. Four habitats—forest, meadow, wetlands and crops that Indians cultivate using traditional
techniques—surround the building. Inside the entrance, a Welcome Wall greets visitors in hundreds of American Indian languages. Master Indian boatbuilders, displaying an ancestral craft that's become the centerpiece for some native communities' cultural
revivals, construct canoes, reed boats and dugouts.
You even can snack on Indian-inspired food, such as quahog clam chowder, Peruvian mashed-potato cakes, smoked seafood and bison chili, at the Mitsitam Café. (That's "let's eat" in the Piscataway and Delaware languages.)
Located just south of the US Capitol, NMAI is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free, but you'll need an entry pass to get in. A limited number of same-day passes are available at the museum right after it opens each day, or you can reserve
them by calling toll-free (866) 400-6624 or visiting http://americanindian.si.edu/tickets.cfm (you'll pay a $1.75 service charge per ticket).
Ancestors Road Show to Reappear in NYC
Those lucky New Yorkers! The Big Apple's 15th annual Family History Fair, planned for Oct. 17, will once again feature the Ancestors Road Show. This genealogical version of PBS' popular "Antiques Roadshow" offers free, one-on-one professional help
for specific genealogical problems.
Brick wall-stricken fair attendees will form a "triage" line, where members of New York City's Association for Professional Genealogists (APG, http://www.apgen.org) chapter will help them fine-tune their research dilemmas
and send each person to the right expert.
"If there is one thing I think we all experience, it is that we sometimes get overwhelmed with too much information on too many ancestors," says APG member and event organizer Nancy Coleman. "I always encourage my clients to focus on one branch at a time,
and if that gets too large, break it down even further [to one ancestor]. Then, if you get bored or hit a wall that you'd rather not scale at the moment, you can move on. . . . The idea behind the Ancestors Road Show promotes this 'focused' approach."
The Family History Fair offers workshops on topics such as computer research, using libraries and archives, and document preservation. Visitors also can talk with 40 exhibiting genealogical societies, historical agencies, repositories, booksellers and
genealogy product vendors. Admission is free. The fair takes place from noon to 5 p.m. at the City University of New York's Graduate Center in Manhattan. Log on to http://www.nycarchivists.org/fhf.html
or
call for information.
The event is the highlight of New York Archives Week, a city wide history celebration held October 10-17. Read about other Archives Week events at http://www.nycarchivists.org/awevents.html.
Networking in the UK
The UK genealogy data site formerly known as Origins.net has given itself a new name, Origins Network (http://www.originsnetwork.com), to accompany its broader coverage and its switch to a subscription payment
system.
Webmasters dubbed their English records collection British Origins and plan to add non-English records such as the 1871 census of Glamorgan, Wales. The Irish and Scottish collections also contain new databases. The free Origins Search, a genealogy-specific
search engine that previously found Irish Web sites, will now find English and Scottish sites for you, too.
A subscription service has replaced the Origins Network's credit system, in which a user "spent" pre-purchased credits each time he viewed a record. The cost for access to all collections ranges from 7.5 pounds (about $14) for three days to 34.5 pounds
(about $64) per year; you also can purchase separate subscriptions to the British, Irish or Sottish collection. You'll have to stay on top of things, though: Unless you cancel your account, your subscription automatically renews when it ends.
Jumping Off
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 recommends sites to visit
when you're getting started—or getting back to basics. 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.
Caught on Tape
This week's tip comes from Leora Lee of Beloit, Wis.:
I invested less than $20 in a pocket-size tape recorder. I take it whenever I go "genealogy-ing." It fits easily in my tote bag, and I'm always prepared.
In cemeteries I can dictate the exact location of a grave (three roads in, turn left and it's the fifth grave) and the exact wording from the gravestone. In courthouses, too, I can dictate information to enter in my computer program at home. In the library
I whisper tidbits of information that I don't want to take the time to photocopy. I've also dictated the name of a book, publisher, publication date and page number for information that I do copy.
I was thankful to have my recorder with me when I happened to meet a 90-year-old second cousin who had known the relatives I was researching. He talked (and I taped with his permission) for an hour and a half about our family history. I've transcribed
what he told me, but I still have his actual voice to listen to. It was the best $20 I ever invested—and I never do genealogy without 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 the September 2004 Trace Your Family History, special issue of Family Tree Magazine focusing on genealogy basics. It's also available for purchase at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/trace04.asp.
Be first to check out these new articles on our Web site:
Finding Missing Parents
Q. My grandfather, George Tolson Jones, was baptized Episcopalian by a traveling minister in Melville, La., on July 7, 1896. How would I go about getting records that show his parents?
A. In tracing your ancestry, gather documents that link you to your parents, them to their parents, and so forth, working back in time. Many families have records, such as birth and death certificates, that name parents and
children. Federal census records also are essential tools. Since George was baptized in 1896, he might have been enumerated with his parents in the 1900 census. Census records are available on microfilm in many libraries and online from the subscription
site Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.
com), or through a library that subscribes to HeritageQuest Online (see http://www.heritagequestonline.com for information)
or
Ancestry Library Edition (a libraries-only version of Ancestry.com).
I searched for your ancestor's family in HeritageQuest Online, which includes an index to heads of household in the 1900 census. Under Search Census, I selected Advanced Search to narrow the results by criteria such as the head of household's name, age,
sex, race and birthplace. Without more knowledge of the head of the Jones family, I added only the surname and race to my search of St. Landry Parish, La., where Melville is located. (I didn't use a period after St in my query—the search doesn't
work with the period.) The results listed seven white Joneses. Of these, the family of Richard and Elizabeth Jones includes a 4-year-old son, Tolson.
You also can borrow the 1900 census microfilm from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Family History Library (FHL; http://www.familysearch.org) in Salt
Lake City. Request the roll (film number 1240581) through an FHL branch Family History Center near you. The Jones family's 1900 entry is on National Archives microfilm T623, roll 581, St. Landry Parish, La., enumeration district 57, sheet 17, family number
342.
Don't stop there. Other censuses can help you trace the family's movements and will likely provide additional information since enumerators asked different questions in each census.
—Emily Anne Croom
See Emily Anne Croom's article on focusing your research with family timelines in the December Family Tree Magazine, on newsstands Oct. 19. Croom is the author of the classic genealogy guide Unpuzzling Your Past, 4th edition, available at
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/display.asp?id=70526. View post-production updates to the book on Croom's Web site, http://www.unpuzzling.com.
Read more Q&A with the experts at
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/nowwhatonline/previous.html.
Planning for Disaster
Expert photo historian Maureen A. Taylor helps readers analyze old family pictures in her Web-exclusive column Identifying Family Photographs. This week, she explains how to prepare your photo collection for a natural disaster—and how to save
your precious pics once a hurricane, fire or other event has occurred.
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.
Kansas City, Mo.
Sharon DeBartolo Carmack
Oct. 7-9
Pursuing Our Italian Names Together Conference
Topics:
- From Italy to America: Starting Your Italian-American Research
- Flesh on the Bones: Putting Your Italian Ancestors into Historical
Perspective
Contact Danny Zangara at pointkc_2004@yahoo.com.
Tyler, Texas
Emily Anne Croom
Oct. 9
East Texas Genealogical Society seminar
Topics:
- Old Dominion Research: Our Virginia Ancestors
- Proof and the Paper Trail: Documenting Your Research
- Scaling the Brick Wall
- The Other Half of the Story: Researching Female Ancestors
Visit www.rootsweb.com/~txegs.
INTERESTING OLD TOWN MAPS WITH FAMILY NAMES from Pennsylvania, New York, New England. 1860s-1880s. Quality reproductions $11-15. www.oldmapsne.com
Genealogical Publishing/Clearfield
Company's 2004 illustrated catalogue describes 1,500 books and CDs! Get your FREE copy of the best catalogue in genealogy. Email your home address to info@genealogical.com.
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Reunion Chalets - 1-8 BR's. Reunion packages, facilities and coordinator. 1-800-561-5691 www.yoursmokymountainreunion.com
RootsMagic Genealogy Software
- "An excellent choice for any genealogist" says Family Tree Magazine. Get a free trial copy at http://www.RootsMagic.com
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GenSmarts Automated Genealogy Research - finds missed research opportunities.
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