by Lisa Cooke | Aug 31, 2011 | Google, Research Skills
Podcast Listener Joan wrote me recently: “I get to spend a day at the National Archives. What should I do to prepare to take full advantage of the visit? I checked their website, but it was not as helpful as I hoped. Any suggestions?”
While this first resource is from the National Archives in the UK, it’s applicable to archives in other countries as well. Check out their video series called Quick Animated Guide.
Another good approach is to search for presentations on archive visits using Google. By conducting a ‘file type search’ in Google you can uncover presentations posted on the Web that are geared to doing research at the National Archives.
I conducted the following search in Google:
.ppt national archives research and came up with a Powerpoint presentation called
Beginning Your Genealogical Research at the National Archives which comes from the US National Archives website. When you click the link above you’ll be prompted to RUN the presentation, and I found that it detected Powerpoint on my computer and opened the presentation in my Powerpoint program.
This little genealogy search gem can come in quite handy. Sometimes you know exactly what kind of file or document you are looking for online. By searching for the keywords of the subject and then adding .ppt (the file extension for Powerpoint presentations) Google will pull up only Powerpoint presentations that include those keywords.
You may not be able to get out to genealogy conferences very often, but some creative searching may bring up presentations that cover topics that interest you right from your home computer. That’s a little gem you need to add to your search toolbox for sure! For more search gems check out my book
The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox at my
Genealogy Gems store at Lulu.comAnd finally, when it comes to preparing for and making a trip to an archive or library Margery Bell of the Family History Centers offered some great ideas for preparing for a research trip, regardless of whether it is to the National Archives or the Family History Library. The interviews are episode 17, 18 & 19 in the
Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast.
Great question Joan and have a wonderful time! Happy hunting everyone!
by Lisa Cooke | Aug 31, 2011 | Research Skills, Travel
When my husband Bill and I travelled to England earlier this year, I was as excited about visiting the old stomping grounds of his ancestors as I was about speaking at the
Who Do You You think You Are? LIVE event.
If you listened to Genealogy Gems Podcast
Episode 106 then you heard about the amazing experiences we had, both planned and unplanned!
In the newest
Episode #115 I’ve got the scoop on what it takes to put together a Family History Trip of your own from an expert in the field.
You can listen right from here, or download the podcast for free in iTunes. (Need more info on how to use the free iTunes media player. I’ve got answers for you here)
by Lisa Cooke | Aug 31, 2011 | Inspiration
Old newspapers are a treasure trove of genealogy gems for the family historian. The Chronicling America free online newspaper collection is one I turn to regularly. Today I unearthed a 100 year old article that provided insight into one of my ancestors person passions.
My family history research has revealed that my Grandma Burkett adored the “picture shows.” She meticulously documented all the moving pictures she went to see starting back in the Silent Film era. Those pages outlining her visits to the now historic California Theater led me to give silent films a whirl and now I’m hooked!
Last week my husband Bill and I went to see a Buster Keaton double feature at the renovated
Stanford Theater complete with the mighty Wurlitzer organ masterfully played by Dennis James. We were floored by the antics Keaton pulled off, some of them absolutely hair raising in their danger and split second timing.
100 years ago today on
July 23, 1911 the New York Tribune ran a full page feature declaring
“Sometimes It’s a Real Horror That the Film Presents for Your Gaze.” After reading this article I’ll be taking a much closer look at the expressions that cross the faces of the silent stars as they race across the screen.
Old newspapers are an invaluable genealogy source for folks tracing their family tree, and this week the Library of Congress updated Chronicling America to include newspapers from 3 new states added to the program in 2010 and additional coverage for 1836-1859.
New Mexico, Tennessee, and Vermont are now included with 22 other states and the District of Columbia in Chronicling America’s almost 4 million pages of historic newspaper pages, published between 1836 and 1922.
by Lisa Cooke | Aug 31, 2011 | Census, Research Skills
Hot off the press and on the heels of my post yesterday, Steve Morse and Joel Weintraub announce an update on the 1940 census:
PRESS RELEASE
The National Archives (NARA) has recently uploaded the 1940 Enumeration District (ED) maps to their website. These ED maps will be very useful for searching rural and small urban areas.
The maps can be located using NARA’s Archival Research Catalog (ARC) at http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/BasicSearchForm . The ARC search form isn’t the easiest to use, so Steve Morse has produced a simpler search form for rapidly getting to these maps. The new utility entitled: “Viewing 1940 ED Maps in One Step” is at http://www.stevemorse.org/census/arc1940edmaps.html
We have revised our tutorial/quiz at http://stevemorse.org/census/quiz.php to reflect this new locational resource for the upcoming 1940 census.
This little genealogy search gem can come in quite handy. Sometimes you know exactly what kind of file or document you are looking for online. By searching for the keywords of the subject and then adding .ppt (the file extension for Powerpoint presentations) Google will pull up only Powerpoint presentations that include those keywords.
