Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Help Wanted: Genealogist - $82,961.00 to $107,854.00 Per Year

The Department of the Interior is looking for a professional genealogist to work full-time researching Indian ancestry. The position is in Washington, D.C. The salary will range from $82,961.00 to 107,854.00 per year, depending on experience and qualifications.

Quoting from the job posting:

Stolen Laptop Catches Its Own Thief

This has nothing to do with genealogy, but it is a great story. Perhaps you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Thieves recently stole an Apple laptop from Kait Duplaga, who works at the Apple store in the Westchester, New York, mall and thus knows how to use all Macintosh bells and whistles. What the thieves did not know is that Kait has remote control software installed on the laptop so that she can access it from any other Macintosh. She can sit at any other Macintosh computer, connect to the laptop across the Internet (wherever it is located), enter a user name and password, and then operate her laptop just as if she was typing directly on its keyboard.

The thief apparently connected the stolen laptop to an Internet connection and started surfing the Web. Kait sat at her home, using another Macintosh, and connected to the stolen laptop that apparently was now in use by the thief. She was able to see what the thief was seeing, and she watched as the thief went from web site to web site. Everything that appeared on the stolen laptop's screen also appeared on Kait's desktop screen.

Preserving the American Historical Record

Congressmen Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Chris Cannon (R-UT) have issued a “dear colleagues” letter to the members of the House of Representatives, inviting them to sign on as original sponsors to the “Preserving the American Historical Record” (PAHR) bill.

PAHR proposed to increase federal support for state and local archival records held by government agencies, historical societies, libraries, and related organizations. This initiative would establish a program of formula-based grants to states for re-grants and statewide services to support preservations and use of historical records. The program, to be administered by the National Archives, will provide a total of $50 million per year nationwide. Each state would receive a portion of these funds for redistribution to organizations within its borders. This program would be in addition to the existing national grants program within the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Vatican Orders Records Withheld from Mormons

The Catholic News Service has published an article about new Vatican orders to not cooperate with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the microfilming of records. The Vatican wishes to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a practice that Catholics, Jews, and some others find objectionable.

Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah.

BCG to Co-Sponsor Skillbuilding Lectures at NGS Conference in the States

The following announcement was written by the Board for Certification of Genealogists:

The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) is pleased to co-sponsor with the National Genealogical Society (NGS) a series of skill-building lectures to be presented at the NGS Conference in the States, Kansas City, Missouri, May 14-17, 2008. These seventeen lectures include topics to help both beginner and experienced genealogists improve their research and writing skills.

National Archives Cuts Back on Web Site Archiving

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is coming under fire for discontinuing its policy of taking a "digital snapshot" of all federal agency and congressional public Web sites at the end of congressional and presidential terms.

NARA, which until this year had collected "harvests" of federal Web sites at the end of presidential and congressional terms, said in a recent memo that it would discontinue the practice at the end of George W. Bush's presidency.

Herbert K. Zearfoss, R.I.P.

Herbert K. Zearfoss was traveling by train to the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania when he died suddenly. He will be long remembered for his passions for genealogy and for patriotic hereditary societies. He held leadership positions in the Philadelphia chapter of the Netherlands Society; the state Colonial Society; the General Society of the War of 1812; the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati; the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States; the Society of Colonial Wars; the Huguenot Society; the Sons of the Revolution and its color guard; and the Welcome Society.

Mr. Zearfoss was an inspirational leader of organizations such as the Boy Scouts, which honored him with the Silver Beaver Award, and the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum, of which he was treasurer.

Jacquelyn Ladd Ricker, R.I.P.

Tom Kemp has sent the sad news about Jacquelyn Ladd Ricker's passing. Tom writes:

Long time office manager of the Connecticut Society of Genealogists has passed away.

A prolific genealogist and writer - she was a long time presence in Connecticut genealogical circles. She is best known for her multi-volume re-publication of the Barbour Index to Connecticut Vital Records which was also issued as a CD-ROM under the title: The Ricker Compilation of Vital Records of Early Connecticut Based on the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records and Other Statistical Sources (Genealogical Publishing, Co.)

See her obituary on my blog post: http://blog.genealogybank.com/

NARA Proposes a Change in the Use of Meeting Rooms and Public Space

The National Archives and Records Administration published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on April 4, 2008, to amend its regulations on public use of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, for meetings or special events.

Comments on this rule will be accepted through June 3.

"A Lack of Effective Communication" Adds $3 Billion to U.S. Census Cost

I have written several times about the upcoming 2010 U.S. census, to be conducted as required by the U.S. Constitution. In the April 05, 2006, newsletter, I wrote about the planned use of handheld computers to "help revolutionize how census information is collected." I also wrote, "For the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau plans to use automated systems to quickly capture information from interviews. That is designed to reduce the need for paper-based processing, improve efficiency and accuracy, and reduce costs."

Today the Census Bureau performed an about-face. Handheld computers are out, paper is in. And “reduced costs?” Well, hardly...