The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether
the vendors like it or not!
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is preparing to launch the largest online presidential digital archive ever created from pre-digital formats. It took more than four years to digitize its 285,000 documents, photographs, audiotape and films.
David Ferriero, archivist of the United States, and Caroline Kennedy, the foundation's president, will officially debut the archive in Washington on Jan. 13 as part of the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s inauguration this month.
The respected medical journal Lancet has taken a retrospective look at the past century and found that despite incredible advances in the field of medicine, some common issues persist. Problems identified in 1911 that strike a familiar chord today include the quest to understand and eventually cure cancer, an economic depression and it's negative effect on healthcare delivery and the plight of African nations. Challenges faced in first world countries included the impacts of illicit drug addiction, occupational health and workers' compensation issues, the need for better education of doctors, and the continued prevalence of curable and preventable diseases.
I was asked to write an "introduction to genealogy" for another web site. I thought it might be appropriate to also post it here. While most people reading this newsletter already know the information presented here, I will invite you to print it or send it via e-mail to anyone who expresses an interest in genealogy or asks why you have such an interest. Also please feel free to reprint this article in newsletters, newspaper articles or anyplace else that you feel might be appropriate. (I would appreciate your giving credit to the author, however. Thanks.)
Do you have a curiosity about your family tree? Many people do. Some may have their interest piqued because of an heirloom, an old picture, or perhaps an unresolved family mystery. The reasons people get hooked on genealogy are many and varied, but each person's search is unique. After all, the search for your ancestors really is a search for yourself.
If you think that family history research requires hours of rummaging through libraries, trekking through cemeteries, and writing letters to government bureaus, you're in for a pleasant surprise. Finding your family tree is simpler than what many people imagine. To be sure, you may encounter some intriguing obstacles. However, most of them can be overcome.
MacFamilyTree is now available available at the Mac App Store and, as of a few minutes ago, is the 26th most popular program sold. That's a comparison against ALL the programs available, not just the genealogy products. Not bad!
Even better, Synium Software is offering a 50% discount until January 13th 2011. Instead of the normal $49.99 price, you can purchase MacFamilyTree for the next few days for only $24.99.
Yesterday, I wrote about a news report that seemed to indicate some changes in release of the 1940 census records by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). I questioned the report. Today, Rebecca Warlow of NARA's Digital Strategies and Services Staff and a member of NARA's 1940 Census Working Group kindly took the time to clarify the article.
The big news in the Macintosh world is the new Mac App Store that went online today at http://www.apple.com/mac. It is a fast and easy way for Mac users to purchase, download, and install new software. Ancestry.com became the first genealogy vendor to make its Macintosh product available on the Mac App Store.
The following was written by Ancestry.com:
Downloadable Version of the #1-Selling Family History Software Available Today
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., January 6, 2011– Ancestry.com today announced the launch of Family Tree Maker® for Mac on the Mac App Store. Family Tree Maker for Mac provides an easy way to save and organize your family tree conveniently on your Mac and has a variety of tools that can help you share your discoveries with family and friends.
This is going to be a great resource for genealogists! The Balch Collection has long been recognized as one of the premier sources of information about immigrants but has been difficult to access. Now it is going online. The following announcement was written by Readex:
Partnership with the leading ethnic research center in the U.S. presents new opportunities to explore the American immigrant experience
(NAPLES, FL) – Ethnic American Newspapers from the Balch Collection, 1799-1971, will be released by Readex, a division of NewsBank, in spring 2011. Featuring more than 130 fully searchable newspapers in 10 languages from 25 states—including many rare 19th-century titles—this online collection will provide extensive coverage of many of the most influential ethnic groups in U.S. history. With an emphasis on Americans of Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovak and Welsh descent, this unique resource will enable students and scholars to explore often-overlooked aspects of this nation's history, politics and culture.
The following announcement was written by the Admiral Nimitz Foundation:
The Admiral Nimitz Foundation would like to announce the creation of the Society of Sons & Daughters of World War II Veterans. The organization just started accepting applications January 1, 2011. It’s goal is to preserve the stories of sacrifice and achievement of America’s “greatest generation”—those who fought and won WWII. It will also enable individuals to prove family ancestry from an American veteran of World War II. The Society of Sons & Daughters of World War II Veterans will also be an asset for educators and students as it will create a public database of military records from WWII veterans that will be accessible to historians, authors and students.
The Dale Funeral Home was at one time the largest black-owned funeral home in Toledo, Ohio. Most African-Americans in Toledo will have some family connection to it. The funeral home has records available, all presently on paper. Thousands of records, written in ledgers, typed on index cards, and stored in paper files -- document the names, family ties, and biographical information of each person who has passed through the traditionally African-American funeral home since 1912.
Sheryl Riggs, managing director of the Dale-Riggs Funeral Home, is trying to make those records more widely available.
Writing in the Ancestry.com blog, Jen Hodnett describes a change in Ancestry.com's Tree Viewer. Jen writes:
Last November, we launched a new tree viewer in an optional preview. If you chose to view your tree using the new view, we gave you the opportunity to tell us what you thought of the changes we’ve made. Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback, we’re turning off the old view and making the new tree viewer a permanent part of our site tonight at 2am MST in conjunction with the scheduled tree maintenance that was blogged about yesterday.
Are you planning to attend the Arizona Family History Expo in Mesa, Arizona on January 21 and 22? If so, I'd like to invite you to dinner on Saturday evening. This will be a dinner of genealogists. Please be aware that the dinner will be informal... VERY informal.
When I attend genealogy conferences, I like to hold dinners for newsletter readers and their invited guests. I have been hosting dinners at the end of genealogy conferences for the past 23 years, even before this newsletter first appeared. Wow! It doesn't seem that long. These are usually Dutch Treat events with little or no formal plans. There are no agendas, no presentations, no speeches, and as little planning as possible. For lack of a better name, I call these the EOGN Dinners. "EOGN" stands for Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.
Are you planning to attend the RootsTech Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 10 through 12? If so, I'd like to invite you to dinner on Saturday evening. This will be a dinner of genealogists. Please be aware that the dinner will be informal... VERY informal.
You may have noticed the dinner invitation I posted earlier for a dinner at the Arizona Family History Expo in Mesa, Arizona. I will soon be posting the details of a similar dinner at the RootsTech conference. A few details have yet to be ironed out (including the menu); so, I am not quite ready to post all the information just yet. However, I can confirm there will be an EOGN Dinner on Saturday evening, February 12.
The dinner in Salt Lake City will be similar to previous dinners, but with a few major differences:
The following announcement was written by Elyse Doerflinger:
Learn to Organize Your Genealogy Papers
5 January 2011 - Los Angeles, CA. Elyse Doerflinger - author of the popular e-book Conquering The Paper Monster Once and For All - has released a video recording of the Conquering The Paper Monster Lecture. Elyse has presented this lecture at various genealogy societies and has finally recorded it for all the world to see!
The following announcement was written by the Riverton FamilySearch Library:
The Riverton FamilySearch Library Hosts Event on January 15
RIVERTON, UTAH — A new year is an ideal time to set a goal to dig into your family history and the Riverton FamilySearch Library can help. This state-of-the-art facility offers research tools and personal assistance six days a week, in addition to a monthly Saturday seminar. On Saturday, January 15, 2011, the Riverton FamilySearch Library will host a three-hour seminar from 9:00 a.m. to noon featuring a keynote speaker and eight classes.
I didn't know you could do this. What were they going to do, evict the "residents?"
The historic Middleton Tate Johnson Plantation Cemetery in Arlington, Texas and an African-American cemetery connected to it were sold to two local businessmen as part of a larger parcel of land. The businessmen had no idea they had purchased a cemetery until after the property transfer was completed. Then local tax authorities demanded payment of back taxes.
Federal News Radio published an interesting article today concerning the National Archives and Records Administration's efforts to place documents online for genealogists, historians, and others. The article appears to be a follow-up to the brief announcement from the National Archives that I published last week under the title of NARA Launches an Online Public Access Prototype at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/12/nara-launches-an-online-public-access-prototype.html.
The latest article from Federal News Radio adds numerous details but the one item that really caught my eye is the one statement, "NARA will make public the 1940 Census data and receive about 40 terabytes of electronic records from agencies in 2011 significantly increasing their electronic holdings."
In 2011? I suspect that is a typo, as Federal laws prohibit the release of that information until some time in 2012. I might guess that NARA might RECEIVE the data in 2011 but not make it public until the following year.
The following announcement was written by Geni.com:
Geni.com, a world leader in collaborative genealogy, today announced the addition of the 50 millionth person to its World Family Tree, also known as “The Big Tree” within the genealogy community. Among the cutting edge features that allowed this tremendous growth are:
A Wikipedia-style collaboration environment including more than 50 “Curators”, which are the equivalent of a Wikipedia Administrator
Advanced merging features that allow users with common ancestors to connect their family trees
An alpha version of the Geni Developer API, which allows automation of some common merging tasks
Over 9 million family history records available online today
Findmypast.co.uk to host Society’s collection in centenary year
Today the Society of Genealogists in London and leading family history website findmypast.co.uk have published online over 9 million records from the Society’s unrivalled collection at findmypast.co.uk.
The following is the second in a series of articles in a new section entitled, "The Organized Genealogist." This is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.
I'm not sure why, but I really hate spam mail. Just seeing one of those crappy messages makes my blood pressure go up a few points. You can find dozens of anti-spam products and services that claim to filter out the junk. In my experience, they vary widely in effectiveness. Some work well; others do not. Even worse, some of the anti-spam products will also occasionally delete legitimate, non-spam messages. This is known as "false positives," blocking something that should not be blocked. While I dislike spam, I positively cannot tolerate having legitimate messages blocked.
I have found two great solutions that block 99% of the junk and yet allow most of the legitimate messages through. In fact, the two solutions are variations of the same thing but with slightly different methods of implementation.
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