Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Sony's New PRS-500 E-Book Reader

For nearly twenty years, futurists have been predicting the imminent demise of printed books. The “conventional wisdom” has been that digital “e-books” were on the verge of replacing paper books. There are many reasons why: lower expenses, ease of ordering and receiving books, reduced storage space, and more. There's only one problem: none of the predictions have yet come true. Now Sony finally has a new device that may hasten the demise of paper-based books.

ProQuest Unveils Updated Full-Image Online Newspaper Collection Software

The following press release was written by ProQuest, Inc.:

PressDisplay 3.0 Introduces Cross-searching, Article Rank, Sound Integration, and Library Administration Tool

ANN ARBOR Mich., September 13, 2006— ProQuest Information and Learning, exclusive distributor of NewspaperDirect products to libraries in North America, announces the launch of PressDisplay 3.0. The latest version of PressDisplay adds features and functionality – including cross-searching of the entire archive of titles – to the collection of more than 300 titles in the online newspaper collection.

Tuttle Antiquarian Books Sold

Long-time genealogy book retailer Tuttle Antiquarian Books is no longer in business. The company closed its doors effective June 9, 2006. The company's entire book inventory, including genealogies and regional history, (excluding miniature books) has now been sold to:

Report on First Genealogy Society Management & Promotion Skypecast

On Monday evening a group of fifteen or more genealogists plugged their headsets into their computers and joined an audio conference call on Skype, hosted by this newsletter. The results were interesting to me, and, hopefully, to all the other attendees.

Iowa Genealogical Society Experiences Delays with $600,000 Interest-free Loan

Polk County (Iowa) supervisors have delayed a vote on a nearly $600,000 interest-free loan to the Iowa Genealogical Society. Supervisors had agreed in principle last week to loan the Society enough money for the organization to pay off its mortgage, which had cost the small volunteer group more than $100,000 in interest since 2003. However, this week some county supervisors expressed doubts.

Find a Family History Center Near You

I probably have written the following words several hundred times in past newsletters:

   "… or at a local Family History Center near you."

Family History Centers are branch facilities of the huge Family History Library in Salt Lake City that is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). Each local Family History Center provides access to most of the microfilms and microfiche that are available in Salt Lake City. In fact, you can access all these genealogical treasures without calling your travel agent.

Public Invited to Sept. 20 Groundbreaking for New Arizona State Archives

The following is an announcement written by the Arizona Library Association and Friends of Arizona Archives:

PHOENIX, Sept. 11 -- Arizona history buffs, researchers, and genealogists are invited to attend the groundbreaking for the Polly Rosenbaum Archives and History Building on Wednesday, September 20, 2006. The building site is located on the west side of 19th Avenue between Jackson and Madison streets. The ceremony will be at Noon at the site. At 12:45 p.m., a Supporters Sculpture will be unveiled in the 1938 addition of the State Capitol. At 1 p.m., Friends of Arizona Archives (FAzA) will host a reception in the Capitol's museum parlor.

New Shetland Archives to be Open Soon

Shetland's impressive archive collection will be open to the public in two months, for the first time in more than a year. Archive staff have spent the past few months been moving their vast collection of documents recording the past 500 years of island life into the new Shetland Museum and Archives building.

(+) Free Online Word Processors

Why would you spend hundreds of dollars for a word processing program? That seems silly in this day and age. You can use a very powerful word processor right now without touching your pocketbook and also without installing any software.

History of Slave Trade Shipments to go Online

James Hair bought a man and two girls. Joseph Bee plunked his money down for a boy and a girl.

The purchases are included in a detailed account of a 1784 slave sale in Charleston, S.C. The slaves — 563 men, women and children — arrived in South Carolina aboard the Comte du Nord, a British slave ship that carried its human cargo from the West African port of Malembo, north of the Congo River.

Genealogy Society Management Discussion

We will hold a Skypecast dedicated to the topic of managing genealogy societies. The subjects to be discussed will include attracting new members, fund raising, creating society web sites, and any other society management-related topic that you care to discuss. Like most of our other Skypecasts, there is no person in charge as group leader. Instead, this is strictly an open discussion in which the attendees can swap ideas. The Genealogy Society Management Discussion will be held on Monday, September 11, at 10:00 PM Eastern time. You may convert that to your local time zone at http://tinyurl.com/q3xnn.

The start time is from right now.

At the appointed time, you may join the online conference call at https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/skypecast/detailed.html?id_talk=29651

10,000+ Genealogists' Signatures Delivered to NARA

This is a follow-up report to several recent newsletter articles concerning efforts to petition the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The petition asks NARA to reconsider a proposal to reduce the hours that the agency's research rooms are open to the public. If you are not familiar with the proposal and the genealogists' response, you can find details at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2006/09/only_a_few_hour.html and at the other articles referenced there.

As we approached the Friday deadline for filing comments, the petition had collected more than ten thousand signatures in only six days. I am very proud of the genealogy community for supporting this effort on very short notice. It is gratifying to see this level of mobilization and response.

Lolita Thayer Guthrie inducted into the Ruth C. Bishop Volunteer Hall of Honor

The following announcement was written by the Federation of Genealogical Societies:

Lolita Thayer Guthrie has been chosen as the 2006 inductee into the Ruth C. Bishop Volunteer Hall of Honor. Mrs. Guthrie was nominated for this honor by the Ohio Genealogical Society (OGS), of Mansfield.

Genealogy Librarian Wanted in Fort Wayne

The Allen County Public Library is one of the largest genealogy libraries in the world. That library now has a new job opening, looking for someone with genealogy expertise as well as library qualifications. If you have the qualifications, you could become a valuable member of the team.

Here is the job posting:

A Free Online Index to Griffiths Valuation

UlsterAncestry.com has a free service that should interest almost anyone with Irish ancestry: an index to Griffiths Valuation is available online.

Ireland's Valuation office conducted its first survey of property ownership in Ireland from 1848 to 1864. The surveyors started this enormous task in the very south of the country so the valuations for Cork or Waterford date from 1848 while the Province of Ulster was last to be valued between 1858 and 1864.

Google Offers Old Newspapers Online

Want to look for great-granddad's obituary? How about a birth announcement from the early 1800s? You may soon be able to find all that and more on Google. However, the articles may not be free.

Google announced yesterday that the company is indexing 200 years of newspaper content. Everyone will be able to search the indexes free of charge. However, purchasing the full article may cost a modest amount of money. The content will come from publishers and aggregators such as The New York Times, Time magazine, The Guardian, LexisNexis, and Factiva, many of which charge fees for archived content.

World Vital Records Launches First International Data Set

The following is a press release written by World Vital Records:

Scottish Death Records from 1747-1868 are available at WorldVitalRecords.com containing 13, 585 records

Provo, UT -- 09/06/2006 -- World Vital Records launched its first international data set today containing 13, 585 Scottish Death Records from 1747-1868.

Only a Few Hours Left to Sign the Petition

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) recently proposed a reduction in the number of hours that the agency's research facilities are open to the general public. Weekend and evening hours would be especially curtailed. The result will be a major hardship on genealogists, especially those who cannot visit during normal business hours.

This will result in a major limitation of genealogy research.

ProQuest Partners with Iron Mountain for Perpetual Access Content

I have written several times about the issues of long term storage of digital content. Now ProQuest and Iron Mountain have partnered to add a new offering for libraries.

The following press release was written by ProQuest, the company that offers HeritageQuest Online:

Ancestry.com Launches New Family Tree Building Tools

The following is a press release written by MyFamily.com, the parent company of Ancestry.com:

Ancestry.com Launches New Family Tree Building Tools With Powerful Search, Save and Share Features

PROVO, Utah, Sept. 6  -- Ancestry.com, the world's largest online family history source, today announced it has significantly enhanced its website's search, save and share features, creating a more personalized, collaborative, family history research and social networking experience.  The revamped site provides more advanced tools to utilize the wealth of digital content available on Ancestry.com, including its more than 23,000 databases with 5 billion searchable names, which includes the recently added digitized and indexed U.S. Federal Census collection from 1790 to 1930.