It is an understatement for me to say that the workshop I attended today with Marian Pierre-Louis and 13 other talented, dedicated, professional genealogists was an excellent way to spend 3 hours on a day when there is certainly no lack of many projects to attend to. For those who know Marian, you'll agree with me that she is as professional as they come.
Today's workshop was aptly entitled, "Setting Business and Marketing Goals for 2015." As the workshop opened and all the participants came into the webinar, we all had already come to know just a little bit about each other. Since Marian always comes prepared, she wanted all of the rest of us to come prepared as well. Part of our pre-workshop preparation was to visit each other's website, blogs and any other social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. That was a great strategy to get to know each other before any of us met.
But that's not the only part of our pre-class assignment. A little soul-searching was in order. Describe your strengths; your weaknesses. Did you have goals written for 2014 and did you have a plan to achieve them? And it certainly didn't stop there. Not painful, just introspective.
Here are a few of Marian's websites and blogs:
Fieldstone Common: www.fieldstonecommon.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/marianpierrelouis
The Genealogy Professional www.facebook.com/marianpierrelouis
On-Line House History: www.fieldstonehistoricresearch.com/
Marian's Roots and Rambles: rootsandrambles.blogspot.com/
She'll be presenting the same workshop webinar to another group on Saturday. I'm not sure if there's room, but if there is and I know it's short notice, but I recommend you sign up! Click here to read about it.
I believe I speak for every participant that it was a great 3 hours, especially being led by a professional of Marian's caliber. If nothing else, it's a name to remember. If the opportunity presents itself to spend some time to learn with her, make sure you put in your schedule.
As a matter of fact, make it a goal!
12 December 2014
08 December 2014
Updated Website at NEHGS
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| New England Historic Genealogical Society headquarters at 99-101 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Now, there not just throwing it out there as some search sites do thinking that we're all smart enough to figure it out ourselves! NEHGS has a great deal more sense than that! You may register for an informational webinar here which will be broadcast 16 December 2014 at 2:00 pm eastern.
See you there...
Now, go climb your family tree!
23 November 2014
AncestryDNA Sale???
Image from AncestryDNA website
Since the start of their DNA project, I have been cynical (or maybe the right word is skeptical) about their early results. After all, it's hard to tell someone who is obviously of Asian descent that they were 98% Scandinavian. Now I don't know if they tried to get away with that result specifically, but I do know that the early results were, at best, questionable. But after reading Judy G. Russell, Blaine T. Bettinger, Roberta Estes and others, Ancestry seems to have gotten their act together. They've even tweaked their autosomal results creating a significant trimming of possible matches. Nice job Ancestry!!
As a result of all this and other factors, I'll certainly check them out again this Friday and see if the "hint" from Tech Support pans out. Or should I say the "shaky leaf" from Tech Support!!
By the way, my original issue was resolved...I think!
I'll leave you with my new mantra: "Climb YOUR tree!"
22 November 2014
There's a Whole Lot Happening!
It's been a while since I've had any time to post a new blog. Some might be happy about that but then again, some might be waiting at their computers, anxiously awaiting more words of wisdom from Old Bones. But for what it's worth, here goes!
The Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society conducts monthly meetings from September through the following June. I've been the Vice President for about a year now and as I see it, we've made some great progress. First, I offer membership applications to everyone who attends my genealogy classes. That has garnered for us at least a dozen new members in the past few months. An conversely, some of the members have signed up to take some classes with me! To make our program more interesting, we've been conducting a few of our meetings via Google+ Hangouts. Actually, the first real "virtual" meeting with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, was via SKYPE. We've had 2 others so far, one with Dick Eastman author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and the other with Dear Myrt, your friend in genealogy. Dick gave us a very comprehensive look at MyHeritage.com, a very competent competitor for Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. It's worth a look. Dear Myrt challenged us in an interactive night of learning how to completely organize your genealogical research in 3 months. Really! 3months!!
Next up is the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, better known as (and easier referred to) NEAPG. This group is composed of members of the parent association, the APG, who live in New England and find it worthwhile to meet and network with other professional genealogists throughout the region. As of January 1, 2015, I will move from the Vice President seat to President of NEAPG. This one's a little nerve wracking for me. Although I operate as a professional and have several years of professional experience, I find many of the members to be people that I've known and respected for many years, some with national or even international reputations. Nice to be rubbing elbows with this crowd!!
Another aspect of my role in NEAPG is as the delegate to the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium's biennial conference. The next NERGC convention will take place in Providence, Rhode Island April 15th through 18th. If you're interested in attending, click here for a conference brochure and registration form. And I suppose I should mention that I will be speaking there on Saturday, April 18, 2015. Not that you'd come just to listen to me, but I'll be presenting "Search Strategies You Haven't Tried - Search Sites You Never Thought Of." There'll be plenty of "BIG" name genealogists giving presentations in many areas of genealogy and genealogy research. Some of the tracks include Colonial New England, Skill Building, Telling Family Stories, Researching Women, Technology, Heirlooms, Migration (from other countries and across the US), Photographs, Military Research, Immigration/Naturalization, Ethnic Genealogy, DNA, Advanced Methodology and a great deal more!
Quite a bit more to talk about, but I think I need to save a few items for another day.
"Climb YOUR tree!"
The Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society conducts monthly meetings from September through the following June. I've been the Vice President for about a year now and as I see it, we've made some great progress. First, I offer membership applications to everyone who attends my genealogy classes. That has garnered for us at least a dozen new members in the past few months. An conversely, some of the members have signed up to take some classes with me! To make our program more interesting, we've been conducting a few of our meetings via Google+ Hangouts. Actually, the first real "virtual" meeting with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, was via SKYPE. We've had 2 others so far, one with Dick Eastman author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and the other with Dear Myrt, your friend in genealogy. Dick gave us a very comprehensive look at MyHeritage.com, a very competent competitor for Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. It's worth a look. Dear Myrt challenged us in an interactive night of learning how to completely organize your genealogical research in 3 months. Really! 3months!!
Next up is the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, better known as (and easier referred to) NEAPG. This group is composed of members of the parent association, the APG, who live in New England and find it worthwhile to meet and network with other professional genealogists throughout the region. As of January 1, 2015, I will move from the Vice President seat to President of NEAPG. This one's a little nerve wracking for me. Although I operate as a professional and have several years of professional experience, I find many of the members to be people that I've known and respected for many years, some with national or even international reputations. Nice to be rubbing elbows with this crowd!!
Another aspect of my role in NEAPG is as the delegate to the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium's biennial conference. The next NERGC convention will take place in Providence, Rhode Island April 15th through 18th. If you're interested in attending, click here for a conference brochure and registration form. And I suppose I should mention that I will be speaking there on Saturday, April 18, 2015. Not that you'd come just to listen to me, but I'll be presenting "Search Strategies You Haven't Tried - Search Sites You Never Thought Of." There'll be plenty of "BIG" name genealogists giving presentations in many areas of genealogy and genealogy research. Some of the tracks include Colonial New England, Skill Building, Telling Family Stories, Researching Women, Technology, Heirlooms, Migration (from other countries and across the US), Photographs, Military Research, Immigration/Naturalization, Ethnic Genealogy, DNA, Advanced Methodology and a great deal more!
Quite a bit more to talk about, but I think I need to save a few items for another day.
"Climb YOUR tree!"
13 October 2014
Massachusetts Society of Genealogists - Middlesex Chapter
Saturday, 11 October 2014
Great day today and well worth the hour and a half drive to the Acton Memorial Library in Acton, Massachusetts. Acton is about 20 miles north-west of Boston. I made a practice run at the Middlesex Chapter of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists with a new presentation thanks to Deborah Lee Stewart, Sharon Christenson, Erica Dakin Voolich, Patricia Stano-Carpenter, Jeff Carpenter, Paul Keeler and all the members of the Middlesex Chapter. I met a few more of my "Genealogy Facebook Friends" such as Elizabeth Pyle Handler,Midge Frazel and a few Bassett and Chapin cousins! Looks like "Search Strategies/Search Sites..." was well received but I'm still tempted to tweak, tweak and tweak some more! And now off to present it at the NERGC conference in the spring. Thanks, MSoG, for the support!
For me, at least, there's always something to learn in spite of the fact that I'm the one that's supposed to be doing the "teaching." This is an important element to any subject that's not driven by science or even logic. Genealogy is an on-going study. Who are (or were) the people, where did their lives take place, how to locate the records (and document them!) and understanding that in spite of the marketing by Ancestry.com and its shaky leaves, "it's not all on the internet!!" I've heard highly respected experts proclaim that anywhere from 5% to perhaps less than 10% of the available data can be found on line. That's a lot of information that no amount of on line searching will uncover. That number is changing daily as more and more records are digitized, indexed and uploaded. But the goal is not a static one as each day bring millions, perhaps billions of new records that have been created and need to be processed.
Even with all that can be discovered in libraries, archives, attics and tag sales, we spent nearly 2 hours fine tuning our collective research techniques with the theme "Get out of that rut!" We hardly mentioned a library, even though the meeting took place in one! Nor did we talk about NARA, the Boston Public Library or any other off-line resource where that other 90-95% of our research should take place.
And I've got to admit, I was in a rut myself...no more!
Great day today and well worth the hour and a half drive to the Acton Memorial Library in Acton, Massachusetts. Acton is about 20 miles north-west of Boston. I made a practice run at the Middlesex Chapter of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists with a new presentation thanks to Deborah Lee Stewart, Sharon Christenson, Erica Dakin Voolich, Patricia Stano-Carpenter, Jeff Carpenter, Paul Keeler and all the members of the Middlesex Chapter. I met a few more of my "Genealogy Facebook Friends" such as Elizabeth Pyle Handler,Midge Frazel and a few Bassett and Chapin cousins! Looks like "Search Strategies/Search Sites..." was well received but I'm still tempted to tweak, tweak and tweak some more! And now off to present it at the NERGC conference in the spring. Thanks, MSoG, for the support!
For me, at least, there's always something to learn in spite of the fact that I'm the one that's supposed to be doing the "teaching." This is an important element to any subject that's not driven by science or even logic. Genealogy is an on-going study. Who are (or were) the people, where did their lives take place, how to locate the records (and document them!) and understanding that in spite of the marketing by Ancestry.com and its shaky leaves, "it's not all on the internet!!" I've heard highly respected experts proclaim that anywhere from 5% to perhaps less than 10% of the available data can be found on line. That's a lot of information that no amount of on line searching will uncover. That number is changing daily as more and more records are digitized, indexed and uploaded. But the goal is not a static one as each day bring millions, perhaps billions of new records that have been created and need to be processed.
Even with all that can be discovered in libraries, archives, attics and tag sales, we spent nearly 2 hours fine tuning our collective research techniques with the theme "Get out of that rut!" We hardly mentioned a library, even though the meeting took place in one! Nor did we talk about NARA, the Boston Public Library or any other off-line resource where that other 90-95% of our research should take place.
And I've got to admit, I was in a rut myself...no more!
07 August 2014
"It's All Online and It's All True!" --- Abraham Lincoln
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| Arthur andersen draft card (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The whimsical quote in the title of this blog is something I found somewhere...probably online... and I thought I'd share it with you. I was hoping it would be a humourous segue into today's subject.
It occurred to me as I was watching WDYTYA, that if anyone took a tally of what was discovered on line, specifically by the show's sponsor, Ancestry.com, and what needed to be researched in libraries, archives, repositories, church records, town halls, private collections, et al, that it would clearly demonstrated that no, as a matter of fact, it's NOT all online!
The amount of data that can be discovered at home by logging in to a variety of websites both free and subscription is quite definitely increasing, seemingly by leaps and bounds. We see numbers such as so-and-so "...has added 3,500,00 records..." with some more and some less. Without knowing how many more records there are to index and post, it almost seems as though we're nearly done so who needs the libraries, archives, repositories, church records, town halls, private collections, et al?
I've seen estimates that the internet contains 5% or less of the available data. Others estimate upwards of 15%. But the fact remains that even the sponsor of a very popular program dealing with genealogical research which is itself an internet based research resource still employs dozens of professionals to get the job done. If Ancestry.com needs professionals to put their program together, how can any hobbyists or private family researcher or professional genealogist hope to do better?
I'm just sayin'!
28 July 2014
MGC Annual Seminar
The Massachusetts Genealogy Council (MGC) held their Annual Seminar this past Saturday in Mansfield, Massachusetts. As usual, there was a great crowd of genealogists from all over New England and a few "foreigners" from New York who I ran into. As members of the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG), Kate Lowrie and I attended representing NEAPG as a Gold Sponsor. I also moderated a discussion group at lunch. My topic was learning interview techniques to build family history "right from the horse's mouth" so to speak!
The day consisted of a number of presentations from some highly respected genealogists. It's too bad we all couldn't attend every session. Although it was my responsibility to greet people and answer their questions about NEAPG, I snuck into 4 of the presentations right around the corner from our booth. I listened to Walter Hickey twice. He spoke about immigration and naturalization from a very informed view. He had a career at NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration, and could give us some interesting tips on getting to the right sources quickly. Later in the day, his presentation concerned census records. While I'm pretty knowledgeable myself in that area, he brought up some good ideas. Julie Michutka instructed us with her expertise in my next favorite software application, Scrivener. And finally, I always like to hear Morehead's DNA presentations. She had a very interesting analogy on distinguishing the role of Y-DNA versus mtDNA by comparing it to a space shuttle! The rockets represent the energy of the mtDNA driving the rest of the cell towards its goal of fertilization while the shuttle itself represents the Y and all the other autosomal elements. That's a really short version of her explanation!
Between Kate and myself, we talked with dozens of people who, we hope, will consider joining NEAPG! We were definitely a busy group!
Here's a shot up the lobby in between sessions.
The day consisted of a number of presentations from some highly respected genealogists. It's too bad we all couldn't attend every session. Although it was my responsibility to greet people and answer their questions about NEAPG, I snuck into 4 of the presentations right around the corner from our booth. I listened to Walter Hickey twice. He spoke about immigration and naturalization from a very informed view. He had a career at NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration, and could give us some interesting tips on getting to the right sources quickly. Later in the day, his presentation concerned census records. While I'm pretty knowledgeable myself in that area, he brought up some good ideas. Julie Michutka instructed us with her expertise in my next favorite software application, Scrivener. And finally, I always like to hear Morehead's DNA presentations. She had a very interesting analogy on distinguishing the role of Y-DNA versus mtDNA by comparing it to a space shuttle! The rockets represent the energy of the mtDNA driving the rest of the cell towards its goal of fertilization while the shuttle itself represents the Y and all the other autosomal elements. That's a really short version of her explanation!
Between Kate and myself, we talked with dozens of people who, we hope, will consider joining NEAPG! We were definitely a busy group!
Here's a shot up the lobby in between sessions.
It was a long day for me. I left Chicopee at 5:15 in the morning, got to the hotel to set up around 7. Non-stop until it was time to go home around 4:30.
I always appreciate the opportunity to "blend in" with my fellow genealogists. Always something to learn, to share, and to experience. Other than local events and meeting, the next "big one" is the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium's conference in Providence, RI affectionately referred to as NERGC or "NERK". That's in April of 2015. And the big news for me is that I'll be one of the speakers!
Speaking of speaking, I need to start getting ready! It'll be April before you know it! See you there!
Related articles
10 July 2014
Cousins united!
Every Thursday, you can find me at the Chicopee Library's Reference Department. The Library has set aside their computer lab for genealogy research. Myself and a few others "staff" the lab to help patrons with their research. Also, I get to conduct classes and workshops 4 or 5 times a year there.
Perhaps the most interesting thing that I've seen happen there, other than some amazing discoveries, was what happened this afternoon.
A woman walked in slowly, looking around the room. There were only about 5 or 6 people in there at the time. Since I'm the volunteer of the moment, I asked if I could help. "Yes," she said. "I'm supposed to be meeting my cousin here between 12 and 12:30." Her name is Ellen and she went on to say that she had engaged a professional genealogist in Poland. He informed her that she had some relatives right here in the area, a woman she had never met this woman! While we were talking about that, I had to pitch our "Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society" since she told me that where she lived and it's very close to out meeting location. Turns out, she's a former member and was interested in getting involved again. Needless to say, I handed her an application! I just happened to have about 50 or so apps in my bag...
Back to the story: As we spoke, another woman walked through the door and I immediately thought that although she looked familiar to me although I had never seen her at the Chicopee lab. It was Ellen's mystery cousin, Cathy! Ironically, they were both wearing a pink top! Small detail, but I found it interesting. Somewhat like long lost cousins who both like Caesar Salad! Cathy attended one of my classes a couple of years ago....another coincidence!
Here they are at their first meeting! On the left is Cathy with Ellen on the right....
Perhaps the most interesting thing that I've seen happen there, other than some amazing discoveries, was what happened this afternoon.
A woman walked in slowly, looking around the room. There were only about 5 or 6 people in there at the time. Since I'm the volunteer of the moment, I asked if I could help. "Yes," she said. "I'm supposed to be meeting my cousin here between 12 and 12:30." Her name is Ellen and she went on to say that she had engaged a professional genealogist in Poland. He informed her that she had some relatives right here in the area, a woman she had never met this woman! While we were talking about that, I had to pitch our "Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society" since she told me that where she lived and it's very close to out meeting location. Turns out, she's a former member and was interested in getting involved again. Needless to say, I handed her an application! I just happened to have about 50 or so apps in my bag...
Back to the story: As we spoke, another woman walked through the door and I immediately thought that although she looked familiar to me although I had never seen her at the Chicopee lab. It was Ellen's mystery cousin, Cathy! Ironically, they were both wearing a pink top! Small detail, but I found it interesting. Somewhat like long lost cousins who both like Caesar Salad! Cathy attended one of my classes a couple of years ago....another coincidence!
Here they are at their first meeting! On the left is Cathy with Ellen on the right....
09 July 2014
DDOS, sync'ing FTM and other genealogy subjects
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| Diagram of Stachledraht attack (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
For those who are wondering, I un-linked my tree this morning, re-uploaded FTM to Ancestry and I now have a new "sync-able" data base, with a name that ends in "(1)".
So from here, I'm going to re-invite all my previous guests and see who stays and who goes. It's like this blog. I tried to make a shift from one service to the other and lost 3/4 of the content. I guess that means it's time for a fresh start in a lot of areas.
The only other thought that's on my mind tonight is my schedule. It has slowly crept up on me. For the first time, I had a minor panic attack thinking that as I was sitting here in my office I was supposed to be somewhere teaching something to someone!
Well, don't worry! It's next week, not this week. The rest of July has a few "engagements" but then August, September and October will be the busiest I've ever been. The Yellow House Center of Community Learning, Hitchcock Free Academy, Wistariahurst, 4 public libraries and a few other locations! On top of that, in response to "popular demand", I'm putting together an advanced genealogy program which I think will be 5 or 6 sessions in all. Should be interesting!
The big announcement for me is coming up in the spring. I'll get the details and post about that later.
03 July 2014
How would you find them without an index?
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75"]
English: 145-volume stack of the 1959 World Book Encyclopedia printed in Braille. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
How's that for a question? Back...way back...when I first began researching on the internet, there weren't
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"]
Advertisement for Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1913 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
very many records that were "indexed." What that means specifically can be explained best by thinking back ....way back....when we had giant sets of books like the Encyclopedia Brittanica or World Book Encyclopedia. There were thousands and thousands of pages of articles that talked about everything you can possibly imagine. Have you ever used an encyclopedia? If not, I can tell you that they were usually 20 to 25 volumes, each of which contained 400 or 500 pages of information.
Now picture having an encyclopedia in place of Google. Except that this imaginary encyclopedia isn't even arranged alphabetically. Everything is just sort of piled in there, stuck every which way with the first article about watermelons followed by zebras then something else totally unconnected to what came before or what came after. How long would it take you to find the article about Hawaii? I can tell you, you'd be late for dinner! But these volumes were "indexed" so that you could go to the back of the book and look up your subject in an alphabetical index. That would send you not only to the right volume, but the exact page you needed....a primitive Google, if you will! No bells and whistles....just words and pictures.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"]
English: Google Logo officially released on May 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
Welcome to the world of un-indexed US Census records or un-indexed city probate files or un-indexed anything!. How is it that finding what we're looking for is so easy today? The answer is simple: indexing!
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75"]
Adriana Hernandez baptized 1925 (Photo credit: GoCal83)[/caption]
So who does all this indexing? Family Search just announced that they have a billion records indexed. That will sure help all of us in our diligent search for any genealogical records. But the mystery remains: Who does all this indexing? The answer is so simple, I'm sure you already know. It's you and me! Well, I can say "you" if you've ever signed up as a volunteer indexer. How did the search engines get the 1940 US Census up and searchable so fast? Indexers, volunteer indexers.
Here's my point: If everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY could find the time to get involved just a little imagine the amazing, mind-numbing volume of records could be indexed in a single day! Family Search has already had one "mass indexing day" back on 2 July 2012 when a total of nearly 50,000 indexers and arbitrators set a record for the most number of indexers working in one day!
Well they're planning on it again and YOU can help! On Sunday, July 20, 2014 at 9 PM eastern time and continuing for 24 hours, Family Search is challenging all genealogists to break that 2012 record and index as many records as possible. Have you been indexing right along? Then please be sure to participate in the "World Indexing Project" by indexing just one record...and more if you can! But they're only asking for 50,000 plus to help with just one record. That's all!
If you've never indexed records for Family Search, click on the "Indexing" tab on the home page and you'll discover how interesting it can be for a researcher to see how it all works. Here's the "Worldwide Indexing Event" page at Family Search and here's "Worldwide Indexing Event" at their Facebook page which was set up strictly for this project. If you've never been to the site, you'll have to establish a user name and password. But there's no cost, no membership fees, no worries!
Good luck! Give it a shot! No one starts out running, there's a short learning curve with plenty of on site assistance every
step of the way. Like the commercial, "Try it! You'll like it!!"
English: 145-volume stack of the 1959 World Book Encyclopedia printed in Braille. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]How's that for a question? Back...way back...when I first began researching on the internet, there weren't
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"]
Advertisement for Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1913 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]very many records that were "indexed." What that means specifically can be explained best by thinking back ....way back....when we had giant sets of books like the Encyclopedia Brittanica or World Book Encyclopedia. There were thousands and thousands of pages of articles that talked about everything you can possibly imagine. Have you ever used an encyclopedia? If not, I can tell you that they were usually 20 to 25 volumes, each of which contained 400 or 500 pages of information.
Now picture having an encyclopedia in place of Google. Except that this imaginary encyclopedia isn't even arranged alphabetically. Everything is just sort of piled in there, stuck every which way with the first article about watermelons followed by zebras then something else totally unconnected to what came before or what came after. How long would it take you to find the article about Hawaii? I can tell you, you'd be late for dinner! But these volumes were "indexed" so that you could go to the back of the book and look up your subject in an alphabetical index. That would send you not only to the right volume, but the exact page you needed....a primitive Google, if you will! No bells and whistles....just words and pictures.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"]
English: Google Logo officially released on May 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]Welcome to the world of un-indexed US Census records or un-indexed city probate files or un-indexed anything!. How is it that finding what we're looking for is so easy today? The answer is simple: indexing!
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75"]
Adriana Hernandez baptized 1925 (Photo credit: GoCal83)[/caption]So who does all this indexing? Family Search just announced that they have a billion records indexed. That will sure help all of us in our diligent search for any genealogical records. But the mystery remains: Who does all this indexing? The answer is so simple, I'm sure you already know. It's you and me! Well, I can say "you" if you've ever signed up as a volunteer indexer. How did the search engines get the 1940 US Census up and searchable so fast? Indexers, volunteer indexers.
Here's my point: If everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY could find the time to get involved just a little imagine the amazing, mind-numbing volume of records could be indexed in a single day! Family Search has already had one "mass indexing day" back on 2 July 2012 when a total of nearly 50,000 indexers and arbitrators set a record for the most number of indexers working in one day!
Well they're planning on it again and YOU can help! On Sunday, July 20, 2014 at 9 PM eastern time and continuing for 24 hours, Family Search is challenging all genealogists to break that 2012 record and index as many records as possible. Have you been indexing right along? Then please be sure to participate in the "World Indexing Project" by indexing just one record...and more if you can! But they're only asking for 50,000 plus to help with just one record. That's all!
If you've never indexed records for Family Search, click on the "Indexing" tab on the home page and you'll discover how interesting it can be for a researcher to see how it all works. Here's the "Worldwide Indexing Event" page at Family Search and here's "Worldwide Indexing Event" at their Facebook page which was set up strictly for this project. If you've never been to the site, you'll have to establish a user name and password. But there's no cost, no membership fees, no worries!
Good luck! Give it a shot! No one starts out running, there's a short learning curve with plenty of on site assistance every
step of the way. Like the commercial, "Try it! You'll like it!!"
Related articles
25 June 2014
Index to Collections at the Museum of Springfield History
The Lyman & Merrie Museum of Springfield History is what I would call "The Best Kept Genealogical Secret in Western
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"]
Lyman & Merrie Wood Museum Of Springfield History (Photo credit: pecooper98362)[/caption]
Massachusetts." It is a facility that is part of the Springfield Library system and is situated across the street from the Quadrangle of museums: the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, the Michelle and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum (currently under an extensive remodeling program). The Museum of Springfield History houses the History Library & Archives, the subject of the PVHN blog linked here: Index to Collections.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75"]
The Connecticut River and Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. Looking south from Mt. Sugarloaf in Deerfield, toward the towns of Sunderland, Amherst and Whately. The buildings of the University of Massachusetts Amherst can be seen in the distance to the left, and farther off, the Holyoke range of mountains. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
The PVHN (Pioneer Valley Historical Network) is coordinated by one of the the archivists, Cliff McCarthy. Cliff posts e-mails of historical and genealogical activities throughout the Pioneer Valley by maintaining a large e-mail contact list. What I want everyone to be aware of is the PVHN Research Finding Aids Project. To quote the blog :
Many of the Pioneer Valley’s museums and archives, both large and small, have printed “finding aids” for certain collections, or for their entire holdings. These finding aids, once a standard practice for museums and archives, are used by museum staff to locate specific items from those collections. For the researcher, they provide insight into the holdings of that museum or archives. Frequently, these finding aids are not digitized and are nowhere to be found on the world wide web.
This project will enable researchers and the general public to utilize archival resources of the Pioneer Valley that are currently languishing because finding aids for many important collections have not been made available on the Internet.
It's another site that's well worth the look for anyone researching in Western Massachusetts.
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Lyman & Merrie Wood Museum Of Springfield History (Photo credit: pecooper98362)[/caption]Massachusetts." It is a facility that is part of the Springfield Library system and is situated across the street from the Quadrangle of museums: the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, the Michelle and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum (currently under an extensive remodeling program). The Museum of Springfield History houses the History Library & Archives, the subject of the PVHN blog linked here: Index to Collections.
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The Connecticut River and Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. Looking south from Mt. Sugarloaf in Deerfield, toward the towns of Sunderland, Amherst and Whately. The buildings of the University of Massachusetts Amherst can be seen in the distance to the left, and farther off, the Holyoke range of mountains. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]The PVHN (Pioneer Valley Historical Network) is coordinated by one of the the archivists, Cliff McCarthy. Cliff posts e-mails of historical and genealogical activities throughout the Pioneer Valley by maintaining a large e-mail contact list. What I want everyone to be aware of is the PVHN Research Finding Aids Project. To quote the blog :
Many of the Pioneer Valley’s museums and archives, both large and small, have printed “finding aids” for certain collections, or for their entire holdings. These finding aids, once a standard practice for museums and archives, are used by museum staff to locate specific items from those collections. For the researcher, they provide insight into the holdings of that museum or archives. Frequently, these finding aids are not digitized and are nowhere to be found on the world wide web.
This project will enable researchers and the general public to utilize archival resources of the Pioneer Valley that are currently languishing because finding aids for many important collections have not been made available on the Internet.
It's another site that's well worth the look for anyone researching in Western Massachusetts.
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