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Using the NEW Internet Archive for Genealogy? Free Video Tutorials!
Are you using Internet Archive for genealogy? Internet Archive is exactly what it sounds like: a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, and more.
Founded in 1996, the Internet Archive offers:
- over 150 billion web pages (archived in the Wayback Machine),
- about 240,000 movies,
- over 500,000 audio items (including over 70,000 live concerts),
- over 1,800,000 texts, 1600 education items, and over 30,000 software items.
There’s no way we can show you in a single blog post how to find everything you’d want for genealogy on Internet Archive, from family histories to all the U.S. censuses (search from the home page on “Census of the United States” plus the year) , to a digital book collection from the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Its resources are so huge you can easily get lost or distracted: you start by looking for something related to your ancestors and find yourself listening to an old radio program.
Your best bet is to schedule yourself an hour to just buy medication cheap start browsing! (Try not to get TOO distracted by the movie and audio archive, unless this is where you want to be. Maybe pick something and start listening, then open a new screen and keep searching for family history goodies.) Lisa has already zeroed in on some items: “I searched within the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center collection on Internet Archive and found a couple of old digitized books about Huntingdonshire, England that I can’t wait to comb through in search of Cookes!”
Before you start digging, we recommend this series of free new videos by Internet Archive. The site has changed over the past six months–great news especially for those who access it via a mobile device. Our Tip: We’d start with these short videos, in this order:
- Site Navigation
- Search Tools
- Site Tour
- Downloading Files
- Favorites (Bookmarks)
What will YOU find on Internet Archive for your family history? Share your discovery on our Facebook page or email us at genealogygemspodcast@gmail.com with what you’ve found!
Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 179 Now Available
Episode 179 of the free Genealogy Gems podcast is now available for your listening pleasure! In this episode, Lisa shares:
- stories of TWO inspiring family history discoveries: a stash of photos and documents AND a long-lost birth mother;
- highlights from meeting many of YOU at recent conferences across the U.S., from New England to Texas to Alaska and then to NGS in Missouri;
- tips on creating an Evernote genealogy library;
- more on Genealogy Gems Book Club selection The Lost Ancestor (The Forensic Genealogist)
by Nathan Dylan Goodwin;
- and Lisa’s thoughts from recent “Tornado Central” Texas on backing up your computer data.
The Evernote tip is easy and SO useful: Lisa gives you a quick idea for creating a list of all the genealogy books on your bookshelf. No, you’re not creating a tedious bibliography–all you do is snap a few pictures and let Evernote do the work. Just click on the episode link at the beginning of this post and listen (or read the shownotes!).
As always, Lisa takes all that genealogy buzz and technology noise out there and distills it down into the best, most usable genealogy gems. That’s what the free Genealogy Gems podcast is all about. If you love it and wish you had MORE podcast episodes to listen to, consider becoming a Genealogy Gems Premium member. You’ll get a full-year’s access to monthly Premium podcast episodes with MORE in-depth news, conversations and inspiring stories–and access to ALL the archived episodes from the past! Premium membership gives you access to an entire series of full-length videos, too. Click here to learn more.
Lost WWII Medals Returned 15 Years After Stolen
Navy/Marine Corps Purple Heart Medal with gold 5/16 inch star and lapel button in presentation case. World War II. Wikepedia Commons image; click to view full citation.
Fifteen years after a Purple Heart and other lost WWII medals disappeared during a robbery, they have been returned to the family from whom they were stolen.
The medals belonged to James Dillion Adkison, a Lubbock, TX soldier killed at Pearl Harbor in 1943. A niece of James’ told a reporter that “Uncle JD’s” death left a huge hole in the family. Her mother grieved the loss of her brother for years, particularly on the Pearl Harbor bombing anniversary and Memorial Day.
The entire town and police department are credited in this news article for helping to reunite the medals with JD’s family.
We love stories like these! They shine the spotlight on the often-invisible efforts of family historians, antique collectors, and others who try to return lost items to their families. You can click here to read about a WWII dog tag that was returned to a family after many years. That post also tells how you can help a blogger who dedicates efforts to returning lost dog tags to families. It’s inspiring!
