Indigenous Peoples Day in 2022. We still aren’t learning from the past.

I have reread the 7 October 2022 Proclamation by President Joseph R. Biden. This, the article mentioned in the paragraph above, and many others should be required reading in schools AND for adults. It begins with these two paragraphs:

     “On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the sovereignty, resilience, and immense contributions that Native Americans have made to the world; and we recommit to upholding our solemn trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribal Nations, strengthening our Nation-to-Nation ties.

     For centuries, Indigenous Peoples were forcibly removed from ancestral lands, displaced, assimilated, and banned from worshiping or performing many sacred ceremonies.  Yet today, they remain some of our greatest environmental stewards.  They maintain strong religious beliefs that still feed the soul of our Nation.  And they have chosen to serve in the United States Armed Forces at a higher rate than any other group.  Native peoples challenge us to confront our past and do better, and their contributions to scholarship, law, the arts, public service, and more continue to guide us forward.”

 
We can continue to honor the memories of ancestors who immigrated to this country but must not forget the Indigenous People who were already here, were forced westward over and over, children taken away from parents, arrests made for observing their own culture and many other horrific things. When are human beings going to learn to be kind, helpful, and respectful of everyone? Too much of that did not happen in the past and still does not happen today. I will observe Indigenous Peoples Day and continue to research this great heritage which alas, I do not have. 

 

Hey genealogists! Legacy Family Tree Webinars top picks for September!

Regular readers know that I love to present educational webinars for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Then I love to listen to the presentations of others, both live or recorded if I missed the live times.  Each month, Geoff Rasmussen releases a list of the top webinars from the preceding month. My 14 September presentation on “Michigan: An Upper Midwest Researcher’s Dream” is number 18 on the list which is pretty good for a state-specific topic. Read the full September list here https://news.legacyfamilytree.com/legacy_news/2022/10/top-10-genealogy-webinars-september-2022.html

 

Grants to history organizations in Minnesota that impact genealogists

From a 20 September 2022 press release from the Minnesota Historical Society:

The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) is pleased to announce the newest recipients of 28 Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Small Grants ($10,000 and less), totaling $264,831 in 15 counties. Small grants are awarded quarterly to help nonprofits, educational organizations, government units and federally recognized tribes to preserve and share Minnesota history. This cycle of awards was approved by the MNHS Executive Council on Sept. 7, 2022.

Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants are made possible by the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008. The Legacy Amendment supports efforts to preserve Minnesota land, water and legacy, including Minnesota history and cultural heritage.

A Selection of the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Small Grant Recipients and it will be immediately evident why family historians should be excited.

Brown County Historical Society, New Ulm, $8,691
To provide better organization of the museum’s archival collections, allowing for greater public access to the community’s historic resources.

Cannon Falls Area Historical Society, Cannon Falls, $10,000
To hire qualified professionals to produce the second half of a manuscript on the history of the Mineral Springs Sanatorium.

Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, Moorhead, $10,000
To provide better organization of the museum’s archival collections, allowing for greater public access to the community’s historic resources.

Le Sueur County Historical Society, Le Center, $9,875
To purchase a microfilm reader/printer/scanner to make microfilmed records more accessible to the public.

Washington County Historical Society, Stillwater, $10,000
To hire a qualified historian to research and write the history of brewing and breweries in Washington County.

To view more of the grant recipients click here

 

Updated speaking calendar with my next genealogy presentation on October 4 for Family History Month

I have added several new presentation dates to my Speaking Calendar. Click on the Speaking tab above or click here to see the full list even into 2023. Next up is this free webinar as we celebrate Family History Month in October here in the U.S. 

October 4, 2022. Free webinar. Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, Houston, Texas. 2:00 p.m. CDT. My presentation and handout “Researching Midwestern River People.” It really applies to research on all river connected people, captain, dock workers, storekeepers, engineers, and their families. Wait for a special connection between Texas and the Midwest!

 

Researching Minnesota Newspapers

Need Minnesota historical newspaper research? Check out these pages on the Minnesota Historical Society’s website. 

 Don’t forget to check newspapers in bordering states and provinces, too. City and county libraries, college and university libraries, and county historical societies have a variety of indexes, microfilmed newspapers, and some have digitized newspapers. Some have subscriptions to major newspaper collection sites. check what is available that way before paying for a subscription. This blog post is not meant to be comprehensive coverage of locating newspapers related to Minnesota but do a bit more digging and you may find some neat surprises. Way before the advent of online newspapers, we had many indexes and abstracts in print form and those are still on many library shelves.

Some major sites with links to, indexes to, and/or searchable images of newspapers covering Minnesota. Don’t forget to check newspapers in bordering states and provinces, too. 

Final reminder, though MNHS is the main repository for historic and current newspapers in the state, many are still in paper format there and at other repositories. Copyright laws also mean many newspapers are not yet free to be digitized unless an active newspaper makes special agreements with a newspaper website. 

 

Chronicling America newspapers now includes all 50 states and more

A press release from the U.S. Library of Congress surprised me. I had not known we still had someThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Chronicling-50-1.jpg holdout states in the National Newspaper Project/Digital Newspaper Project in recent years. It now covers all 50 states+! “The success of the program over the past 18 years has extended the collection scope to the current date range of 1777-1963, to include any language published in the United States, and to include newspapers published in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.”

 

 

From the website:

“The following is a guest post written by Robin Pike, Head of the Digital Collections Services Section in the Library’s Serial and Government Publications Division.

The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) has reached two major milestones this September: the inclusion of New Hampshire as the 50th state to join the program and making 20 million pages freely available to the public on the Chronicling America website.

Dartmouth College will serve as the New Hampshire state hub, partnering with the New Hampshire State Library, the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the University of New Hampshire Library to identify historical newspapers that reflect the state’s political, economic, and cultural history for inclusion in Chronicling America. Among the first newspapers to be digitized and added to the online repository are

A handful of ways to view my genealogy presentations from your home.

I receive emails and blog messages asking when I will be speaking in someone’s area. I’m still scheduling only virtual presentations. That can be 1-4 topics on one day/evening or more over a couple days. I’m still avoiding air travel and long car rides.

Virtual presentations also present savings for the sponsoring organization. No big hall rental, no airplane fare, baggage fee, parking cost, hotel stay or mileage cost to pay for me. traveling there. The organizations pay my speaking fee, and that’s it!

In the next two months, I will be appearing virtually in seven states and in all states and countries on your computer or tablet. In January, I will go to Illinois and Florida virtually. https://genealogybypaula.com/speaking/speaking-calendar/ Many of the organizations provide free access to the presentation(s) initially but to view it again or to access the handout requires membership in the organization. The initial free viewing opportunity is both a public service and a way to fulfill the educational aim of these organizations. That’s still a bargain. Some groups charge a fee for viewing presentations to recoup their costs and to provide future educational endeavors. Other groups require membership to view the presentation from the start. We need to support all historical and genealogical organizations. They also need to pay for equipment and for the platform such as Zoom or GoToWebinar for such presentations. Each has different levels of subscriptions and thus the reason some cut off registration at a certain point.

Another question is how do I view some of your future and past presentations? Several answers for that!

  1. Check my website https://genealogybypaula.com/ under the Speaking tab for “Paula’s Upcoming Presentations” and click on the name of the organization for details on joining the event.
  2. Then scroll down that page for a list of the last few years of my presentations. You will see the name of the organizations for which I presented. Then check that group’s website for a webinar library and the requirements to view them.
  3. Do a google search on my name and many past and upcoming dates appear.
  4. Check Conference Keeper https://conferencekeeper.org/ for not just my upcoming presentations but those by others.
  5. Check Legacy Family Tree Webinars for their humongous library of past webinars by a wide variety of speakers including me. The bulk of the first viewings are free. To review or view even months later, purchase a subscription for just $49.95 and that includes all syllabus (handout) material. My affiliate link for subscriptions is http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1739and that also helps support this blog.
  6. Check the free handful of recorded presentations I did for Ancestry Academy https://www.ancestryacademy.com/browse where you’ll find the free presentations and handouts I did on Native American records, Railroad Records, and WPA research.
  7. Check Research Write connect Academy for my course on “Researching U.S. Government Records (101).” There is a fee but also a lengthy handout and a private Facebook group for questions and discussion.  https://www.researchwriteconnect.com/researching-u-s-government-records-101

  8. Next June 18-23, I will be instructing virtually in two courses at the annual Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh. Watch https://www.gripitt.org in a couple months for full details on the courses offered.

Addendum to my recent webinar, Michigan: An Upper Midwest Researcher’s Dream

When I presented this webinar for Legacy Family Tree Webinars on September 14, I promised to add some things to my blog that weren’t in the syllabus but mentioned in the webinar. I thank Jamie W. for the reminder of that promise. 

Michigan genealogy research? View my webinar for free for a week.

I had a great time last night presenting live my webinar, “Michigan: An Upper Midwest Researchers Dream.” It is now available to view at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com for free for a limited time.

Webinar Description

Michigan is a state of many people: Native Americans, fur traders, French explorers, British military, and then settlers from all over the world including many from Canada and the Northeast U.S. The records and indexes are amazing as are the libraries, historical societies, archives, universities that are filled with resources. Online indexes and record images add to the dream. Learn about the people, resources, businesses, military, repositories, indexes, and vital records.

View the Recording at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

If you could not make it to the live event or just want to watch it again, the 1 hour 28 minute recording of “Michigan: An Upper Midwest Researchers Dream” is now available to view in the webinar library for free for a limited time. The webinar includes the Q&A at the end.

The 9-page syllabus is available only to Legacy Family Tree Webinars subscribers. Join today and you have a year to view all the webinars and syllabus material. Please join via my affiliate link http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1739 which also gives you access to the past 1800+ webinars and thousands of syllabus pages for $49.95 a year. Thank you to Legacy and MyHeritage for hosting it.


Free Webtember continues: join me on September 14th for Michigan genealogy

Michigan: An Upper Midwest Researcher’s Dream. That’s my title for this free webinar on September 14th at 8:00 p.m EDT including Michigan. That’s 7 p.m. for me in Minnesota. Michigan is a state of many people: Native Americans, fur traders, French explorers, British military, and then settlers from all over the world including many from Canada and the Northeast U.S. The records and indexes are amazing as are the libraries, historical societies, archives, universities that are filled with resources. Online indexes and record images add to the dream. Learn about the people, resources, businesses, military, and vital records. Learn about the places to find records online and off, see record content by generation, gather some history, and be ready to find your own ancestors and collateral lines. I’ll tell a bit about my connections to the “Great Lakes State” that is bordered by four of the five Great Lakes!

The presentation is free for everyone. It is accompanied by a 9-page syllabus for those who are members of Legacy Family Tree Webinars. (To join via my affiliate link http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1739 which also gives you access to the past 1800+ webinars and thousands of syllabus pages for $49.95 a year.)

To register for this free webinar: https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/michigan-an-upper-midwest-researchers-dream hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars and MyHeritage.com.