Digital Genealogies, Local Histories go Online

If you are looking for digital copies of published genealogies and local histories try the University of Michigan's catalog of digital books. Click here to use it.

TIP:
There are more than 20 million books and items in this collection.
All of these books can be searched and read for free.
No fees, no registration - just click and read.

This project has cataloged digital books, journals, portraits and other items that are free and available on the Internet. All genealogists have to do is look in the online catalog for material about their family or town that they are researching. Then just click and start reading. It's that simple!

What can you expect to find online?
Here are some titles I have used:
(Click on the title to read the book)
Hanscom, Constance Franklin Richardson. Ancestors and descendants of James Garcelon and Deliverance Annis : from Guernsey and Gloucester to Maine in the 18th Century.
This genealogy is about the descendants of Sea Captain James Garcelon who was born 4 April 1739 in St. Peter Port, Guernsey. His parents were Rev. Pierre Garcelon and Jeanne Bedat. He married Deliverance Annis, daughter of Isaac Annis and Experience Haraden, 29 February 1760 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. They had seven children. James died 18 November 1813 in Lewiston, Maine. Ancestors, descendants and relatives lived mainly in France, Channel Islands, Massachusetts and Maine.

This index also includes the full-text digital copies of genealogical journals. These are fully indexed. I did a search for anything written about County Cavan, Ireland and quickly found this citation:

(Click on the title to read the book)
Notes and Queries. Volume CXLVI, Number May17. pp. 353-355
Click here to see this issue
This article gives details about the soldiers and officers that were stationed in County Cavan in the 17th & 18th Centuries. Their names; spouses; dates of marriage, death etc.

(Click on the title to read the book)
Runnels, Moses Thurston. History of Sanbornton, New Hampshire. Boston, MA: Mudge, 1882.
This is the standard history of Sanbornton, New Hampshire. It includes biographical sketches, genealogies and a history of the town.

TIP:
Libraries may catalog these digital books and add them directly into their own online catalogs. Instantly expand your genealogy collection and offer these free digital books to your researchers.

Let's make it easy for genealogists to find and use these eBooks.

No doubt about it -
It is a great day for genealogy!

Tom

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Allen County Library (Ft. Wayne, IN) - Receives $10 Million gift

The Genealogy Center of the Allen County Library (Ft. Wyane, IN) has received a $10 million gift - to be given as $1 million payments each year over 10 years from the Edward D. and Ione Auer Foundation.

The announcement is in the Ft Wayne News Sentinnel 1 August 2008

This landmark library has been active in genealogy for decades.

The Center will host a Military Records Symposium

Friday & Saturday, September 26 & 27, 2008
Speaker: Marie Varrelman Melchiori, CG, CGL

Friday, September 26, 2008
3:00 PM "Using Records at the National Archives: A Researcher's View"
This session will cover National Archive records, some that have been microfilmed or digitized, from a researcher’s point of view. The session will explain how and why the records are arranged the way they are. Ms. Melchiori will also discuss “archijive,” the short-cut phrases used by archivists that genealogists need to know in order to understand what they are being told.

6:30 PM Dinner, speaker Curt Witcher, Genealogy Center Manger, “Our Military Heritage Website: Record, Recall, & Revere”

Saturday, September 27, 2008
9:30 AM “If Grandpa Wore Blue: Union Records in the National Archives”
This session will be a look at commonly used records as well as some of the lesser
used records for researching an ancestor who was a Union soldier. Some of the records covered will include correspondence, carded medical files, and the investigative records of Baker and Turner.

11:00 AM “If Grandpa Wore Gray: Confederate Records in the National Archives”
This session will be a look at Confederate records, both microfilmed and original, at the National Archives. Records created by the Union Army may help locate information on your Southern soldier as well as male and female civilians.

1 – 6 PM: Individual consultations
Genealogy Center staff and other researchers will be available to assist one with specific research challenges, and recommend sources and methodologies to find more records and data.

Click here to register for this important conference.

New York Genealogical & Biographical Society entrusts entire library to NY Public Library

The venerable New York Genealogical & Biographical Society sold its building (2007) and has now given its entire library collection to the New York Public Library (NYPL).

The New York Times reported this morning that even though the NYG&B had sold their building for $24 Million that they would not undertake the effort to relocate and maintain the library but instead has given the 75,000 volumes, 30,000 manuscripts and 22,000 reels of microfilm to the NY Public Library. The NYG&B was founded on 27 February 1869.

In the mid 1960s I would train down to New York City to use both libraries. It made quite an impact to be in the NYG&B Library - with it's impressive reading room and open stack collection - to walk the marbled halls of the NYPL, lined with paintings and be able to research my family history in both locations.

The NYPL's genealogy collection - more formally called: The Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy has long been known for its strong collection of research materials gathered for over a century - from the founding of the NYPL in 1848.

When I first began using the NYPL in the 1960s it was administered by Gerald D. McDonald who served from 1945-1969 and then by Gunther Pohl (1969-1985) and John Miller (1985-1987). The Division is currently under the capable leadership of Ruth Carr long serving Chief of that Division.
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Library of Congress & National Archives Team-up for World Digital Library

The National Archives and the Library of Congress announced today that they have begun loading digital copies of their materials on a new site called the World Digital Library.

Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein and Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced today that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has become a founding partner in the World Digital Library (WDL). NARA will contribute digital versions of important documents from its collections to the WDL, which will be launched for the international public in early 2009.

These documents include Civil War photographs, naturalization and immigration records of famous Americans, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, and photographs by Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and Lewis Hine. Examples of the images that NARA is contributing to the World Digital Library are now available online.

Example of a naturalization document - Declaration of Intent of Maria von Trapp, 01/21/1944 - that was put online in the WDL collectiton by NARA. NARA ARC Identifier 596198.

The WDL will include representative examples from these document categories - not the complete backfiles of these documents.

The complete run of the

American State Papers is already available on GenealogyBank. See GenealogyBank's Historical Documents collection where you will find military records, casualty lists, Revolutionary and Civil War pension requests, widow's claims, orphan petitions, land grants and much more including the complete American State Papers (1789-1838) and all genealogical content carefully selected from the U.S. Serial Set (1817-1980). More than 146,000 reports, lists and documents. GenealogyBank has the most comprehensive collection of these US Government reports and documents available to genealogists online. GenealogyBank is adding more documents to this collection every month.

Proposed in 2005 by the Library of Congress in cooperation with UNESCO, the WDL will make available on the Internet significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. The project’s goal is to promote international understanding and to provide a resource for use by students, teachers, and general audiences."We are pleased that our fellow Federal cultural institution, the National Archives, is joining the Library of Congress in the early stages of this project," said Billington.

"NARA’s participation not only will ensure that the World Digital Library contains a full record of the American experience, but it also will encourage archives around the world to join with their counterparts from the library world in this important initiative."

"The mission of the National Archives is to make U.S. Government records widely accessible," said Weinstein. "The World Digital Library will be a valuable conduit for us to share some of our nation’s treasures with others around the world. We look forward to working with the Library of Congress on this important project."In addition to NARA and the Library of Congress, the WDL project partners include cultural institutions from Brazil, China, Egypt, Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia and many other countries. Click here for more Information about the WDL.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest Federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Founded in 1800, the Library seeks to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections.

The Library seeks to spark the public’s imagination and celebrate human achievement through its programs and exhibits. In doing so, the institution helps foster the informed and involved citizenry upon which American democracy depends. The Library serves the public, scholars, members of Congress and their staffs through its 22 reading rooms on Capitol Hill. Many of the rich resources and treasures of the Library may also be accessed through its award-winning web site and via interactive exhibitions on a new, personalized web site.

New Journal Articles - Arizona, Family Chronicle, California

Arizona History
Autumn 2007 (vol. 48, no. 3)
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Articles
DeJong, David H. "The Granary of Arizona": The Civil War, Settlers, and Pima-Maricopa Agriculture, 1860-1869. pp. 221-256.
Turner, Danette L. Arizona's Twenty-Four Hour War: The Arizona Rangers and the Cananea Copper Strike of 1906. pp. 257-288.
Jackson, Jane E. Monumental Tasks: Flagstaff's Mt. Elden Civilian Conservation Corps Camp. pp. 289-304.


Book Reviews - pp 305-318
Hayes, Allan, and Carol Hayes. The Desert Southwest: Four Thousand Years of Life and Art. Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, 2006.
Botham, Fay, and Sara M. Patterson. Race, Religion, Region: Landscapes of Encounter in the American West. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2006.
Fleek, L. Sherman. History May Be Searched in Vain: A Military History of the Mormon Battalion. Spokane, Wash.: Arthur H. Clark Company, 2006.
Mueller, Jerry E. Autobiography of John Russell Bartlett. Providence, R.I.: John Carter Brown Library, 2006.
Hurtado, Albert L. John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.
Christen, William J. Pauline Cushman: spy of the Cumberland. Roseville, Minn.: Edinborough Press, 2006.
Ninnemann, John L., and Duane A. Smith. San Juan Bonanza: Western Colorado's Mining Legacy. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006.
Hunt, Geoffrey R. Colorado's Volunteer Infantry in the Philippine Wars, 1898-1899. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006.
Harmon, David, Francis P. McManamon, and Dwight T. Pitcaithley. The Antiquities Act: A Century of American Archaeology, Historic Preservatio, and Nature Conservation. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2006.
Thorson, John E., Sarah Britton, and Bonnie G. Colby. Tribal Water Rights: Essays in contemporary Law, Policy, and Economics. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2006.
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Published by Arizona Historical Society
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Family Chronicle
November/December 2007 (vol. 12, no. 2)
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Articles
Douglass, Mary Clement. Land Records: An Introduction. pp. 11-15.
Nickerson, Janice. Home Children - British Child Immigrants to Canada. pp. 16-19.
_____. Early Canadiana Online. pp. 21-23.
Brown, Frances Susanne. The Photograph's Ghostly Infancy: The Daguerreotype. pp. 24-26.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Planning a Genealogical Research Trip. pp. 29-33.
Meates, Susan C. DNA Q&A. pp. 35-37.
Family Chronicle Forum. pp. 39-40.
Nickerson, Janice. How to Read Between the Lines of the Census. pp. 41.
Hait, Michael. Getting the Most from "the Rest" of the US Federal Census. pp. 42-45.
The Best Websites You've Never Heard of! pp. 47-48.
Knights, Edwin M. Genome-wide Studies. pp. 49.
Norris, David A. Genealogy Web Sites Worth Surfing. pp. 52-53.
Nickerson, Janice. Secrets to Researching Smiths. pp. 54.
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Published by Family Chronicle
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California History
Spring 2007 (vol. 84, no. 3)
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Articles
Collections: Philopolis: "Love of the City". pp. 3-4.
Most, Stephen. Salmon People: Crisis and Continuity at the Mouth of the Klamath. pp. 5-22.
McCovey, Shaunna OIteka. I Still Eat All of My Meals with a Mussel Shell. pp. 13-17.
Oppenheimer, Helene H. Mattz Family Interviews: Oral History Transcripts. pp. 18-19.
Clements, Kendrick A. Managing a National Crisis: The 1924 Foot-and-Mouth Disease Outbreak in California. pp. 23-42.
Parkman, E. Breck. Missiles of Peace: Benny Bufano's Message to the World. pp. 43-60.


Book Reviews - pp. 65-76
Runte, Alfred. Allies of the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservatin. Kirksville, MO.: Truman State University Press, 2006.
Schiesl, Martin, and Mark M. Dodge. City of Promise: Race and Historical Change in Los Angeles. Claremont, CA.: Regina Books, 2006.
Beauchamp, Cari. Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary: Her Private Letters from Inside the Studios of the 1920s. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
Putnam, Jackson K. Jess: The Political Career of Jesse Marvin Unruh. Lanham, MD.: University Press of America, 2005.
Hart, John. Legacy: Portraits of 50 Bay Area Environmental Elders. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 2006.
Parson, Don. Making A Better World: Public Housing, the Red Scare, and the Direction of Modern Los Angeles. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
Meyer, Amy. New Guardians for The Golden Gate: How America Got a Great National Park. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
Lesley, Lewis Burt. Uncle Sam's Camels: The Journal of May Humphreys Stacey, Supplemented by the Report of Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1857-1858). San Marino, CA.: Huntington Library Press, 2006.
Vettel, Eric J. Biotech: The Countercultural Origins of an Industry. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
Farris, Glenn. Visit of Cyrille Pierre-Theodore Laplace to Fort Ross and Bodega Bay in August 1839. Jenner, CA.: Fort Ross Interpretive Association, 2006.
Taylor, Henry. From Lead Mines To Gold Fields: Memories of an Incredibly Long Life. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006.
Johnson, David H. Sonora Pass Pioneers: California Bound Emigrants and Explorers, 1841-1864. Sonora, CA.: Tuolumne County Historical Society, 2006.
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Published by California Historical Society
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