MyHeritage is delighted to announce the launch of a breakthrough technology for the family history market – Record Matching.
Record Matching is designed to automatically find and match historical records (from our growing collection of 4+ billion records) to the 23 million family trees on MyHeritage…but with a twist! It’s the first and only technology to automatically search newspaper articles, books and other free-text documents.
So in addition to traditional records such as birth certificates, marriage documents, census records and many more, Record Matches of newspaper articles from our 300 year old newspaper archive, the largest historical newspaper collection in the world, can help you shed new light on the actual lives, personalities and achievements of your ancestors.
Way back in 2007 (I know, it’s ancient times in online terms) I started recording a little show called The Genealogy Gems Podcast. My studio consisted of a desktop PC and a $10 Radio Shack microphone. Back then I worked all week long to come up with 15 or 20 minutes of broadcast content. My first genealogy Gems were about techniques I was using in my own research and the technology that was moving faster every day.
Before I moved to my new website earlier this year I removed the first 20 episodes from the podcast feed for a variety of reasons – hosting costs, sound quality, etc. Now with the new site we’ve got lots of room to stretch, and with some restoration the episode sound quality has been improved. So every so often I march a couple of episodes out of the vault, and in Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 140 you’ll hear Episodes 3 and 4.
Episode 3 highlighted one of my favorite research strategies at the time which is still a favorite today: eBay Favorites eBay is not just for dvds and kitchy knick knacks. Like Google Alerts, eBay Favorites does the searching for you. Auctions delivered to your inbox could feature hard to find history books, yearbooks, and even photos of your ancestors and family bibles. Later in the episode we take those found genealogical items and talk about how to incorporate them into creative and meaningful family history displays.
Episode 4 originally aired on St. Patrick’s Day in 2007 and understandably touches on Irish genealogy. Then we move on to using YouTube for genealogy. YouTube was just a 2 year old toddler back then, but it was already showing it’s strength as an addition to our genealogy toolbox.
A “virtual” conference is an online event which you can attend from the comfort of your own home. If you haven’t attended one before the upcoming Fall Virtual Conference presented by Family Tree University September 14-16, 2012 is a great opportunity to get involved. It’s your chance to head back to school this Fall, gaining new research strategies, and brushing up on proven genealogical research techniques. Click here to Register and enter the coupon code FRIENDSOFLISACOOKE
I’ve been an instructor since the first Virtual Conference, and this time around I am really jazzed to bring you some of the best websites for finding historic maps. I’m passionate about using Google Earth for genealogy, and creating historic map overlays is one of the techniques I teach in my Google Earth for Genealogy video series on CD. So I always have an eye out for great digitized historic maps available for free online, and I’ll be sharing my favorites in this 1/2 hour video class.
One of the things that really makes FTU’s Virtual Conference a stand out is that the classes are on video! This means you can download them to watch now, and later down the road. During the conference weekend there will also be “virtual exhibit booths” to visit and live chats to participate in.
As a presenter at the conference I have the opportunity to offer my listeners and readers a 20% savings on Family Tree University’s upcoming Fall Virtual Conference. Click here to Register and enter the coupon code FRIENDSOFLISACOOKE
You can get to know a little more about me and the Historic Maps class by reading the Q&A chat we did on the Family Tree Magazine Facebook fan page wall the other day.
The following was announced today by FamilySearch:
More than 160,000 volunteer indexers made the 1940 U.S. Census available for searching in just five months. The project was an unprecedented success that dramatically illustrated what the genealogical community can accomplish when united in a common cause.
Now many volunteers are turning their attention to the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Community Project, an indexing effort to make passenger lists, naturalization records, and other immigration related records freely searchable online. Hundreds of thousands of North American volunteers are expected to contribute over the next 18-24 months, focusing initially on passenger lists from the major US ports.
Individuals, societies and other groups that want to participate should visit familysearch.org/immigration to learn more.
The question of copyright is one that pops up on a regular basis for family historians, and one that we’ve covered on the Genealogy Gems Podcast. In fact Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast Episode 14 with Cath Madden Trindle is devoted to guidelines and resources for the genealogist in using copyrighted material in family history works.
Here’s a fun and interesting look at the story behind copyright law:
