Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Happy New Year!

I would like to wish you a Happy New Year. I hope that 2011 will reveal several new ancestors for you.

RootsTech 2011 Announces Lineup of Keynote Speakers

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

SALT LAKE CITY—The RootsTech 2011 Conference announced its keynote speakers today. The national speakers reflect the conference’s focus on creating a forum where genealogy technology users can discover exciting new research tools and technology creators can learn the latest development techniques from industry leaders and pioneers. The conference will be held February 10–12, 2011, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Future-Proof Your Data Archive

Writing in CNET.com, Dennis O'Reilly has published an article about preserving your files for a long, long time. He writes, "It's easier than ever to make sure copies of your most important records, documents, photos, videos, and other personal data will be readable/viewable/playable long after the hardware and software used to create the files have bitten the dust.

However, I found the article to be a mix of great information and some that was not-so-great. For instance, O'Reilly writes, "choose file formats that won't become obsolete." That strikes me as impossible, especially if you wish to preserve information for 50, 100, or more years. He also writes, "use storage media that won't deteriorate or become inaccessible," which is impossible with today's currently available technology. There are promises of some new disks that will last 1,000 years or more but such technology is not yet commonly available. (See my earlier articles at http://goo.gl/kesdk and at http://goo.gl/sgNA8). However, I have to agree completely with O'Reilly's suggestions to "make multiple copies stored apart, and check your archived data regularly to ensure it's still readable."

Momma, Don't Take My Kodachrome Away

I hope you managed to get all your old rolls of Kodachrome film developed. As I mentioned last July at http://goo.gl/7uf5x, processing for the film is ending. The last processing machine, located at Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas, is being shut down and sold for scrap at the end of business today. There are no other Kodachrome processing plants left in operation.

Skype Video Chat for the iPod Touch and iPhone

I have written numerous times (at http://goo.gl/QQs5S) about Skype, a great method of making both voice and 2-way video calls across the Internet, using either your computer or external hardware. I have also written (at http://goo.gl/y04Z6 and at http://goo.gl/mS6jC) about FREE 2-way video conferencing where you may talk with and see your grandchildren or other friends or relatives by using your computer or an ASUS videophone. Now Skype is expanding again by making video calling available to Apple iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad devices.

That’s right, Skype users on the iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch fourth generation, with iOS 4.0 or higher, can receive FREE Skype video calls over a WiFi or 3G connection. Actually, the iPhone 4 and the iPod Touch fourth generation are the only ones with two video cameras, one facing forward and one facing back. As a result, those devices can handle two-way video. All the others can receive video calls and can watch the person on the other end, but cannot send video.

Goodbye Rosie...

Geraldine Doyle died Sunday. She was 86. Doyle was just 17 when she took a job at a metal pressing plant near Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1942. She was there when a United Press International photographer came to the factory while documenting the contribution of women to the war effort. The picture of Doyle was later used by J. Howard Miller, a graphic artist at Westinghouse, for a poster aimed at deterring strikes and absenteeism.

The poster was not widely seen until the 1980’s when it was embraced by the feminist movement as a potent symbol of women’s empowerment. The image now graces a US postage stamp and has been used to sell lunch boxes, aprons, mugs, t-shirts and figurines.

Doyle didn’t realize she had a famous face until she was flipping through a magazine in 1982 and spotted a reproduction of the poster, her daughter told The New York Times.

 

Vermont Library's Books, Papers and Photographs Salvaged

In the December 17, 2010 newsletter, I reported that the Rockingham (Vermont) Free Public Library was flooded and the History Room's historical records, local books, and genealogical records, many of which are irreplaceable, were soaked. However, there's a happy ending.

Terrence Punch Named to Order of Canada

Genealogist Terrence Punch, who appears on CBC Radio's Maritime Noon answering questions about genealogy, been named to the Governor General's New Year's Order of Canada list. He was named in recognition for his contributions to the development and popularization of genealogy.

Punch is well known for his many genealogy books, including Genealogist's Handbook for Atlantic Canada Research, Genealogical Research in Nova Scotia, and a muti-volume series of books entitled, Erin's Sons Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada.

U.S. National Archives to Require Use of Locked Bags

The following was written by the National Archives and Records Administration and covers the research rooms at Archives I and Archives II:

Beginning December 27, 2010 all researchers will be required to use locking bags for removing reproductions, personal notes, and other papers from the Research Center.

All researchers are required to have staff inspect their personal property before they exit each Research Room (RR). This procedure makes mandatory the voluntary inspection and bagging of the papers of researchers that has been available for the past 4 years. We are making the use of the document security bags mandatory in an effort to tighten records security procedures throughout the entire research complex.

From the In-box: Question About Online Genealogy Databases

A newsletter reader asked a question today. It strikes me that perhaps others have the same question so I decided to answer it here where everyone can see the answer.

Here is the question I received:

I am new to the genealogy game and am considering subscribing to a genealogy search service such as ancestry.com, archives.com, footnote.com, etc. Do all these services feed off the same databases? Is subscribing to one enough? Are there services that are complementary? To be more specific, if I were to subscribe to Ancestry.com would there be much benefit to subscribing to Archives.com also?

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Great question! I suspect the answer is not obvious to anyone who is new to genealogy.

NARA Launches an Online Public Access Prototype

The National Archives and Records Administration’s new Online Public Access prototype is now available to the public. The agency is asking everyone to please try it out and to send your comments and feedback to search@nara.gov.

Quoting from the NARA announcement:

The National Archives’ flagship initiative in our Open Government plan is to develop online services to meet the 21st century needs of the public. It is also a key component of our agency’s Transformation Plan, to be customer-focused and ensuring our nation’s heritage is accessible to all.

First Polish Indexing Project Now Available on FamilySearch.org

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

FamilySearch Indexing now has projects available in 11 languages, with the addition of the first project in Polish. If you would like to help index Polska Ksiegi Metrykaine Diecezja Lublin, 1902–1945, please contact FamilySearch to learn more.

Recently completed projects that will soon be available to search on FamilySearch.org include records from the Czech Republic, Spain, Nicaragua, and the United States.

New Projects in the Past Three Weeks

Genealogy Roadshow on Irish Television

Until now, the only genealogy television program in Ireland has been Who Do You Think You Are?, a programme that concentrates on celebrities and their ancestors. A new spin-off, the Genealogy Roadshow, hopes to change all that by focusing on "ordinary folk" and their ancestors.

Big Mountain Productions, the company behind RTE's Traffic Cops, is filming the pilot show next month in Kildare in the hope the show "will do for genealogy what The Antiques Roadshow has done for antiques". The programme will be presented by Derek Mooney.

8th Annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise Announced

How would you like to take a cruise and to attend genealogy lectures and classes at the same time? Legacy Family Tree sponsors a genealogy cruise every year. An announcement has been made for the 2011 Legacy Genealogy Cruise for September 29 through October 8. You might want to make those days on the calendar.

The 8th annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise starts and ends in New Jersey, and visits the following ports: Cape Liberty Cruise Port, New Jersey; Portland, Maine; Bar Harbor, Maine; Saint John, New Brunswick; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Boston, Massachusetts. The cruise will be on Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas ship. Prices begin at US $789 per person, based on double occupancy.

You can read more at http://goo.gl/Qbzln

Maori Genealogy Questioned

A New Zealand historian says the idea of Maori being indigenous may need to be reconsidered. Research led by Janet Wilmshurst from New Zealand's Landcare Research, and Atholl Anderson, from the Australian National University, suggests Maori first settled in New Zealand between 1210 and 1385 AD. That is in contrast to traditional Maori genealogy, which traces the first arrivals back to 800 AD.

(+) Lifestyles in the Seventeenth Century

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

We all have read history books about the brave and noble heroes who helped shape today's world. Hearty explorers, brave immigrants, exemplary church-goers and the like did indeed create today's modern world. Yet these same history books rarely describe the everyday world of those heroes and heroines. Sometimes their lives were not all fame and glory. In fact, their lives were often repulsive by today's standards. I thought I would focus for a bit on everyday life in the 1600s in Europe, in England, and in the newly-created colonies in North America.

University of Minnesota Captures Recent Immigrant History

History is filled with tales of immigrants leaving the old country and settling into ethnic neighborhoods where they could struggle to master a new language and culture without obliterating their identity. In many cases, the immigrants were not welcomed by those who arrived in earlier generations. That remains as true today in the United States as it ever did in the past 400 years.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Immigration History Research Center spent nine months capturing the Facebook conversations of young Hmong, Mexican and Somali immigrants in Minnesota to create a new digital archive of recent immigrants' experiences.

Steal These Articles!

I frequently receive messages from newsletter readers asking permission to republish articles from this newsletter. To answer that question, I thought I would re-publish an article today that I wrote some time ago:

Unlike many other web sites, I invite you to copy the articles from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter Standard Edition and to publish them elsewhere. You can publish them in your own web site, in newsgroups, in your society's (printed) newsletter, or most anyplace else, as long as it is for non-commercial purposes. I do ask that you attribute the source of the article(s) you publish.

You do not need to ask for permission in advance to republish articles. As stated in the Nike ad, "Just Do It."

From the In-box: Which Online Software to Use?

I received the following message from a newsletter reader and decided to share the answer in the newsletter itself:

My cousin has begun documenting our family tree, and I am going to help her document the data electronically, but we are confused as to which software to use. We both need to be able to access the software online and make changes and updates, so that is a deal breaker. We would also prefer software that allows us to link documents, PDFs, photos, etc. to individual family members in the tree. We took a look at ancestry.com, and my cousin even used it to do some of the research, but the monthly fee seems a little steep. Your article piqued our interest in other alternatives like onegreatfamily.com. Could you point us in the right direction?

Great question! This is an issue that many people and societies are facing today as they work together in collaborative projects. In fact, there are at least a dozen products that will meet your needs, and probably more. However, some of those products will meet your needs better than will others.

U.S. Archivist David Ferriero Talks About Using Social Media

The National Archives and Records Administration is making historic documents accessible to everyone through social media. "We need to meet the users where they are," said U.S. Archivist David Ferriero in an interview with Federal News Radio.

NARA now has blogs, a Facebook page, Twitter accounts and more than 7,000 photographs on Flickr, Ferriero said. The agency also started a wiki for people to post what they have learned through doing research. NARA staff verifies that the information posted is accurate, Ferriero said.

You can listen to the interview with David Ferriero at http://media.bonnint.net/wtop/20/2040/204044.mp3