Labor Day weekend in the U.S. means more special prices from online genealogy companies. . Ancestry has announced a sale on 6-month subscriptions, DNA testing, and the new Pro Tools. Check the details https://www.ancestry.com/. Ancestry has been posting on major social media platforms about this. These offers expire on Monday, 3 September 2024.
Chronicling America, which includes fantastic and free access to digitized newspapers, grows constantly and is gearing up for a whole new website. It includes newspapers that are digitized by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) which works with newspaper repositories around the United States. It operates under The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LOC). https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov and https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/migration/?loclr=eacam
I see a press release and tell myself I need to keep on with my work before checking out new genealogy things. That lasts about ten minutes. Today I spent some time looking at my new updates from MyHeritage’s Theory of Family Relativity™. From the press release “adding millions of new theories to help you uncover how you’re related to your DNA Matches.” Then it told of more numbers. Read more on the MyHeritage Blog. While there, be sure to check out the DNA test sale!
This Wednesday, August 28, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, I will be presenting “What’s Next? Developing Step by Step Research Plans.” It is an online event hosted by the The Villages Genealogical Society. I love doing this presentation because it involves the participants, sound advice, and methodology. It shows many reasons why we need the assistance of others to analyze a record, draft the Research Plan, and then ways to put it to work. One vital reminder will make an impression on everyone. https://www.vgsfl.org/eventListings.php?nm=117
Join me online this Saturday morning, 17 August 2024. Learn about general resources for locating the correct railroad, where records might be located, how to find “buried away” records, with some added touches for Irish railroad workers. A six-page handout with tips, resources, links, and more accompanies my presentation. https://irishgenealogical.org/
It’s been a busy summer of work for me, and blogging has fallen behind. It’s been a week since the courses for the 2025 GRIP Genealogy Institute (GRIP) were announced. Here’s a quick timeline for some GRIP details including dates you can place on your own calendar. Thank you to the National Genealogical Society for including GRIP in its educational offerings. In the next few days, I will tell more about the “Beyond Digging Deeper” course I am coordinating in 2025.
2024 August 2: Announcement was made on Facebook Live about the 2025 Virtual GRIP courses.
2024 August 2: Announcement was made on Facebook Live about the 2025 In-Person GRIP courses.
2024 September: Around mid-month, the GRIP website will have more information about each course, sessions, and faculty. That’s the time to think about which course(s) you will take.
2025 Early Year: Registration opens for both weeks of GRIP.
2025 June 23-27: GRIP Virtual courses take place online. The syllabus for your course will be available about a week before.
2025 July 13-18: GRIP in-person courses take place at LaRoche University in Pittsburgh. The syllabus for your course will be available about a week before.
I’m excited. I only know about two of the courses. What are the others? Join live on Facebook at Noon EDT, 11:00 CDT, 10:00 MDT, and 9:00 PDT for the announcement. No registration open yet but at least you will know the course titles and the dates when each will be offered. One week virtual again. facebook.com/GRIPGenealogyInstitute
Have you attended a genealogy institute course this year or in recent years? Maybe it’s been a few years. What have you done with the syllabus? Whether it is in Dropbox, in a file on your computer, printed and on a shelf in your genealogy workspace, it’s time to pay more attention to it. Hundreds of pages of education.
I am continually amazed at the breadth of information that institute faculty add to the syllabus for a course. The things they know about that I may have missed or don’t yet know about! I do refer to those from courses I have taken or been involved with as an instructor.
Why am I posting about this today? I had a meeting earlier today with four women whose institute contributions are extensive. We are working on something that is not yet public information but will be soon. I was astonished at the thinking, ideas, and how much we all nodded or said “thought that too” in agreement to almost every statement made. We had ideas to help the course, ideas to help each other’s sessions, and ways to make it all work together. I ended the meeting with a feeling of exhilaration.
It doesn’t stop there. Use the syllabus for each course you have been a part of or in which you were an instructor. Education continues at all times.
In case you don’t know, I am a big fan of the Minnesota Twins. Thanks, Dad, for taking me to Twins games when the Twins arrived in Minnesota. In 1987, I attended three World Series games here at the old Metrodome. I am a big fan of my birth and home city, Saint Paul, Minnesota. Baseball games on playgrounds and high school fields everywhere in the city. I grew up a few blocks from the Ford Little League Fields and watched some games there. I’ve watched my kids and grandkids play baseball and softball. My great grandson is a pretty good baseball player.
I’ve been to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York and saw the displays for Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Kirby Puckett and others who I was fortunate to have watched in the game. Thank you to my friend and colleague Karen Mauer Jones for that and our genealogy trip. I now go to 6-8 Twins games a year with my friend and genealogy colleague Alice Eichholz. Thank you for moving to Minnesota and being a baseball fan, Alice. We enjoy the game and also have some genealogy discussions. I get to talk baseball with other friends on Facebook. I am going to a game soon with one of my grandsons and another one with most of my family. Special times. Then a game in August honoring Joe Mauer for what took place today.
Speaking of special times and today, today was one of those in a big way. I listened to one more St. Paul connection, Joe Mauer, be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Thanks to MLB for broadcasting that online today. I was fortunate to see him play for the Twins many times and to be inducted into the HOF today. FOUR St. Paul boys playing baseball over time at fields in close proximity to each other grew into men who excelled at the game and are now Hall of Famers. Joe Mauer, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris, and Dave Winfield. Baseball and Saint Paul. That’s quite a history for one city. some links for more on the Twins and the Hall of Fame:
https://baseballhall.org/nine/minnesota-twins
https://www.mlb.com/twins/history/baseball-hall-of-famers
Still planning some U.S. summer and fall travel for family history research? A few things to think about: