A County Fair, A Pony, Babies, and a Wedding

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Family, Federation of Genealogical Societies  Leave a comment

I knew I had this picture somewhere. Organizing my bookshelves helped to find it. The 78th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is “Ride ‘Em Cowboy – Share Your Pony Pictures.” This event is sponsored by Jasia of the Creative Gene blog.

I don’t always have the opportunity to participate in the various themes, special postings, carnivals, and other wonderful Geneablogger events but this one came at the perfect time. I will be participating in-person at a large event involving Geneabloggers at the FGS Conference in Little Rock in a few weeks.

Way back in 1958 my Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Bill took me to the Ramsey County Fair. Imagine what happened to my ten year old ego when the St. Paul Sunday Pioneer Press published a picture of me! Apparently I even had to circle my own picture so I would recognize myself.

My aunt and uncle are at the very back of the picture. Bill is holding their oldest son, Rick, and Jeanie is obviously very pregnant. In fact, that baby, my cousin Maureen, was born on August 11th. I am so glad I found this picture today as Jeanie and Bill’s youngest daughter, Patti, is getting married tomorrow. I know my Aunt Jeanie would be so proud and is looking down at Patti and smiling.

August 26th deadline for FGS Genealogy Conference

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Federation of Genealogical Societies  Leave a comment

It has been almost a year since we began telling people about the 2009 edition of the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Little Rock. The local host, the Arkansas Genealogical Society, is waiting for us. The Statehouse Convention Center is a beautiful place. Now it is less than 3 weeks till the conference begins on September 2d.

Four days of learning about genealogy, how to use the records, where to find the records, new online databases and digitized images, an Exhibit Hall full of things to browse, buy, subscribe, and join. Whew! The presenters at the scheduled sessions are among the top genealogists, librarians, and archivists. As always happens with FGS Conferences, the registrants are coming from all over the U.S. and some from Canada. If you are a beginner, this conference is the place for you. If you are already well into family history research, this conference will serve your needs, too. If you are at a point where you have already used all the “usual” resources, this conference even has sessions for you.

  • Online registration ends August 26th!
  • August 26th is the last day to add luncheons, the banquet and the Night at the Ballpark.
  • August 26th is the last day to register online for the APG PMC which is geared toward professional genealogists.
  • Yes, you may still register at the door. See you there.

Appearance on Twin Cities Live

Paula Stuart-Warren  TV shows  Leave a comment

I did my bit on TV yesterday. The staff at Twin Cities Live was great. I took my almost 16 year old granddaughter with me. The male host of the show, John Hanson, took her to meet the afternoon drive on-air personalities, Moon & Staci, from KS95 radio station. Talk about a neat experience for a teen. I told her she owes me for life.

I jump at chances to share the wonderful experience of researching family history. If you are interested in seeing me in action in various places around the U.S. check the links in the right hand column for my upcoming appearances.

If you have any interest in seeing the segment, it is at: http://twincitieslive.com/article/stories/s1080536.shtml?cat=10698. The is supposed to be a link to an 11 page handout about genealogy that includes many live links. You can read this directly by clicking here.

National Archives Launches Blog

Paula Stuart-Warren  Blogs, National Archives  Leave a comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 13, 2009

NATIONAL ARCHIVES LAUNCHES NARATIONS BLOG
New blog to focus on online public access to records of the U.S. National Archives

Washington, DC . . . On Wednesday, August 12, the National Archives launched the NARAtions blog to begin a discussion with researchers on the future of online public access at the National Archives. The public is invited and encouraged to share opinions on ways to enhance the online researcher experience and to increase access to archival materials.

This online community will continue to be a work in progress as we develop new features and content. Questions will be posted to invite discussion, and the blog welcomes feedback and suggestions for new questions to raise. The blog will also inform researchers about newly available online records descriptions and digitized archival materials.

We would like to hear from you! What sort of things would you find valuable from NARAtions?

* Should we allow the public to tag descriptions in our online catalog? Why or why not?

* What groups of photographs should we post on Flickr next, and why?

* Do you have a favorite NARA photograph or document? Is it already available in our catalog or on our website?

The URL is http://blogs.archives.gov/online-public-access/. Please visit often and share this web address with others.

Minnesota Genealogical Society Conference

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences/Institutes, Minnesota Genealogical Society  Leave a comment

The Minnesota Genealogical Society’s North Star Genealogy Conference takes place September 18 & 19, 2009. The educational sessions will be held at the Minnesota Genealogical Society Library and Office location at concord Avenue in South St. Paul. The main speaker is Clare Mire Bettag, Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Lecturer. Clare is a nationally known genealogical educator. I count Clare as a friend and colleague and she is a fantastic lecturer.

For all the details on Clare’s presentations and some by other speakers visit the MGS website by clicking here.

August 12th on Twin Cities Live

Paula Stuart-Warren  TV shows  Leave a comment

If you happen to be within viewing range of Twin Cities TV station KSTP on Wednesday, August 12th, you might catch a glimpse of me on Twin Cities Live. The segment features two half-sisters who met because of “an afternoon on the Internet.” Ancestry.com was apparently the impetus for the connection. The station wants me to tell the viewers how to get started in family history research. How much info can I squeeze into a few sentences? I do hear you folks laughing at the thought of me trying to say only a few sentences. I just happen to be overly passionate about the subject.

Religious distribution in the U.S. today

Paula Stuart-Warren  Maps, Religion  Leave a comment

Today’s Boston Globe has a story about the distribution of religions in the U.S. today. You can read the entire story here. The story is accompanied by a series of maps showing the distribution of Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Mormons, and those who consider themselves non-religious. I saw a few states that surprised me, but overall the map is what I expected.

This is the work of the polling company, Gallup. Gallup has a more complete article here. The survey was compiled via telephone.

For historic religious distribution maps check these websites:

  • The Library of Congress website has scanned images of religious distribution in 1890.

Many such maps and atlases can be found in map libraries and in the reference sections of public, historical and university libraries.

1930 Census Free during August at Footnote.com

Paula Stuart-Warren  census, Footnote.com  Leave a comment

I received this press release from Footnote.com yesterday. Today on Facebook, Footnote.com is saying that they are receiving a lot of traffic and that the site is operating a bit slowly but they are working on improving it. Footnote is a great subscription site. Just browse their content list that is constantly expanding.

1930 Census Free Through the Month of August

Dear Footnote Member,

The 1930 US Census is one of the most powerful resources available to anyone who wants to learn more about their ancestors.

During the month of August, we’re giving everyone free access to Footnote.com’s one-of-a-kind, interactive 1930 US Census.

With Footnote’s interactive census, viewing, downloading and printing images from the census are just the beginning. You can also add images and comments, spotlight interesting finds, create pages for your ancestors and tell their stories.

Let your family and friends know by simply forwarding this email to them or by pointing them to
http://www.footnote.com/1930census/

The Footnote Team

Google expands its “News Archive Search”

Paula Stuart-Warren  Newspaper Indexes, Newspapers  2 Comments

Have you used Google’s newspaper archive search? It is one of my favorite search capabilities for obituaries and other newspaper items. Many of the links that pop up are to other websites that require a fee. Many of these do have subscriptions for home users. Your public library may have subscriptions to these sites.

Google has also been digitizing newspapers and has recently quadrupled number of articles included in “News Archive Search.”

Try some searches here.

See the full notice on Google’s own blog.