Doane Robinson papers added to the South Dakota Digital Archives

Paula Stuart-Warren  Historical Societies  , , ,  Leave a comment

The Brookings Register (South Dakota) of 18 March 2025, carried an article “South Dakota’s historic Doane Robinson papers digitized, put online.” This amazing collection includes a wide array of correspondents and other material related to this well-known historian and author. The finding aid is excellent, and I was able to search by names and places. Now I need some more free hours to investigate further. The digital images are beautiful.

 

 

Watch FREE right now, Neglected Gold in Older Genealogical and Historical Periodicals

Paula Stuart-Warren  periodicals, Webinars  , , ,  4 Comments

I really enjoyed presenting this webinar last Friday. If you don’t have a Legacy Family Tree Webinars membership, you can still watch (or rewatch) it FREE through April 18th. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/neglected-gold-in-older-genealogical-and-historical-periodicals/. We are lucky to have webinar hosts Marian and Geoff to guide us and I appreciate Legacy Family Tree Webinars and MyHeritage for making this education possible.

I highly recommend a year’s membership so you can watch almost 2,400 webinars already presented and access the syllabus material for the next year including for this presentation of mine. My affiliate link (a small amount helps support this blog) for memberships is http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1739

 

 

 

 

Pipestone County Museum in Minnesota adds online newspapers

Paula Stuart-Warren  Minnesota, Newspapers  , , ,  Leave a comment

A news release in the Pipestone County Star from 11 April 2025 brings some welcome research news about free online newspapers. Pipestone County is in southwestern Minnesota, borders South Dakota, and is surrounded by several other Minnesota counties. The newspaper database currently holds the years 1879-1916 and the plan is to add additional years via Advantage Archives. The full story is at https://www.pipestonestar.com/articles/museum-launches-online-newspaper-archive/

One of my favorite parts of the story is this comment from the Museum’s Executive Director, “We don’t want to be gatekeepers of history,” Hoskins said. “We want to be enablers for people.” I hope they are still able to obtain some grants and that users keep contributing to the effort.

Search at https://www.pipestonestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Web-Archive.jpg. Some Pipestone newspapers are already digitized via the free Minnesota Historical Society’s newspaper hub. https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/hub

 

 

Libraries: joy, love, value, history, culture, education, community, and necessary

Paula Stuart-Warren  Libraries  2 Comments

My parents didn’t take my sisters and me to the library when we were children. My paternal grandmother unknowingly made up for that with many gifts of books for me. Once I was old enough to ride my bike about a mile to the Highland Park branch of the Saint Paul Public Library system, I was hooked on what the library held.
I devoured books that were designed for my age group and later progressed to books for teens. This branch didn’t have a large reference section at the time but what the main library in downtown Saint Paul held was akin to providing me with candy. I could take the bus to that library from home or high school. I loved browsing in the stacks, discovered old newspapers on microfilm, and a newspaper clippings index. I took my children and grandchildren to libraries.

City and county public libraries are golden. Many have access to scholarly databases, newspapers, and even some of our usual genealogy subscription sites. My city library, county library, and a neighboring county library system each have some different online sites. Some I can access from home and others with a visit to the actual library. For my county library, that means a chance to browse through the Friends of the Library used book area.

This is National Library Week and it’s in the midst of federal support for our libraries, historical societies, archives, and museums being taken away. We need to make our voices heard so we don’t lose these wonderful institutions.

 

Free BCG-Sponsored Webinar April 15

Paula Stuart-Warren  Board for Certification of Genealogists, Webinars  , , ,  Leave a comment

Press Release from the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG).

“A Matrimonial Advertiser:” Tracing the Treacherous Trail of an Early 20th-Century Romance Scammer by Sharon Hoyt, CG. Tuesday, April 15, 2025, 8:00 p.m. (EDT)

Research on a man’s mysterious second marriage identified his wife as a romance scammer who preyed on Civil War veterans. This case study shows how evidence correlation and reasonably exhaustive research cut through the lies and misdirection in a woman’s records to establish her identity and reveal her sometimes deadly deception.

Sharon Hoyt, CG is a researcher, speaker, and author from California’s Silicon Valley. Her primary research areas include New England, New York, the Midwest, Canada, and England. She is happiest when on the trail of a family story, particularly when it involves the Civil War. Sharon’s research has been published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, and Minnesota Genealogist. She is the winner of the National Genealogical Society’s 2017 Family History Writing Contest and the Minnesota Historical Society’s 2016 Michael Clark Family History Writing Award. She holds a master’s degree in Library and Information Science.

When you register before April 15 with our partner Legacy Family Tree Webinars (http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=9366), you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Anyone with schedule conflicts may access the webinar at no charge for one week after the broadcast on the Legacy Family Tree Webinars website.

“BCG promotes continuing education as essential for competent family history research,” said President David Ouimette, CG, CGL. “We appreciate this opportunity to provide webinars focused on standards that help genealogists and family historians build their knowledge and skills and hone their craft.”.

 

 

Join me in two free genealogy webinars April 9 & 11

Paula Stuart-Warren  Webinars  ,  Leave a comment

April 9, 2025. Wednesday evening free Webinar. 7:00 p.m. EDT, 6:00 pm CDT. Hosted by the Virginia Genealogical Society. My topic is “The WPA Era: Free Records Boon from the Government.” The presentation includes a section related to the New Deal and WPA activities in Virginia and details to find books, records, indexes, and online material from all over the U.S. The handout is available to VGS members as is a recording of this presentation and others in the VGS lineup.


April 11, 2025. Friday Afternoon Free Webinar. 2:00 EDT, 1:00 CDT. Legacy Family Tree Webinars. My topic is “Neglected Gold in Older Genealogical and Historical Periodicals.” To register using my affiliate link helps support my website and blog. http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=9377.

A $49.95 annual membership in Legacy Family Tree Webinars provides handouts and access to almost 2,400 past webinars and 9,500 pages of accompanying syllabus material. My affiliate link for memberships is
 http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1739

Fold3 Update on Digitization of War of 1812 Pension Files

Paula Stuart-Warren  Ancestry, Federation of Genealogical Societies, FGS, fold3.com, Uncategorized  , , ,  3 Comments

The War of 1812 U.S. pension records have been on subscription site Fold3.com for many years. It’s an ongoing project that began under the auspices of the former Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the U.S. National Archives. FGS embarked on a fund-raising project to ensure these were digitized and then remain FREE for researchers. We owe a big thanks to Fold 3 and its parent company, Ancestry.com for hosting these records on Fold3. My email today contained the following notice. These can be found at US, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, 1812-1815 (https://www.fold3.com/publication/761/us-war-of-1812-pension-files-1812-1815. The “Read on” refers to https://blog.fold3.com/update-on-the-war-of-1812-pension-files.

 

 

 

Genealogical and historical research in the Great Lakes Region

Paula Stuart-Warren  Education, GRIP, GRIP Genealogy Institute, Institutes  , , ,  Leave a comment

If you live in the Great Lakes region in either Canada or the U.S., this course has some superb education for you. If some or all of your ancestral families resided in the region, this course will assist you in learning more about them. If family members worked in the region, this course will fill in details you didn’t know you were missing. Take a look at the lineup of sessions offered during June 23-27, 2025, in this course. https://grip.ngsgenealogy.org/courses/the-spirit-of-the-inland-seas-research-in-the-great-lakes-region/. Register while on that link!

The syllabus for this course is almost a full education in itself and is only available to course registrants. The camaraderie between the four instructors and students in this course rises to an amazing level. I am fortunate to be one of those instructors. Don’t wait too long to register. After the course ends, there will be recordings of the sessions available for two weeks. Then there will be plenty of summertime after that to take a boat ride on the Lakes, watch the ocean going ships, see wheat and coal loaded, wave at ship crews, have a beach lunch lakeside, or simply listen to the waves, and be a part of the Spirit of the Inland Seas.

May be an image of 1 person and text that says 'GRIP GENEALOGY INSTITUTE SPIRIT OF THE INLAND SEAS: RESEARCH IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION Virtual Course June 23-27, 23-27,2025 2025 This course will take students through genealogical and historical research in the Lakes region of the United States and Canada. Great COORDINATOR: Cari Taplin INSTRUCTORS: Cyndi Ingle, Judy Russell, and Paula Stuart-Warren Stuart- grip.ngsgenealogy.org Registration opens February 2025'

 

Digitizing Vital Railroad History

Paula Stuart-Warren  Railroads  ,  1 Comment

The Chicago and North Western Historical Society is truly becoming more known as a trailblazer in the preservation of a variety of records, maps, and equipment. Its new building is at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, McHenry County, Illinois. A 14 March 2025 press release tells of how the C&NWHS organization is preserving much of its collection. It has already worked with Ancestry.com to share “Chicago and North Western Railroad Employment Records, 1935-1970.” I discuss this collection in some of my presentations about genealogy and railroad records, especially because it includes some of my relatives who worked for the “Omaha” railroad (Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway, later a part of the C&NWR) in Wisconsin and Minnesota. For dates when I am doing a railroad presentation online, check my Upcoming Presentations under the Speaking tab above.

This part of the press release is a teaser to read more about the scanning equipment and what is being done already. https://whattheythink.com/news/123227-digitizing-railroads-rich-history/

 

 

More grants to preserve historical court records in Virginia

Paula Stuart-Warren  Archives, GRIP Genealogy Institute, Preservation  , , , ,  Leave a comment

I occasionally post about national and state organizations providing grants to local historical societies, courts, and other concerns in regard to preserving history. The grant might be used to purchase archival shelving, add a new roof, digitize newspapers, prepare finding aids, repair books, or some other vital tasks. Most of my posts result from information I receive in emailed newsletters, blogs, Facebook pages, or other social media. The March 2025 Newsletter from the Library of Virginia is another example of the great things we learn from staff at various historical societies, archives, and university libraries.

In fact, this June I am teaching a session on that value and type of missives and articles from such repositories as part of a virtual course. What an array of amazing information they share. My title is “Mining the Written Words of Repositories, Societies, and their Staff” and is part of my course Beyond Digging Deeper: Sources, Methods, and Practices. For more information on this GRIP Genealogy Institute course https://grip.ngsgenealogy.org/courses/beyond-digging-deeper-sources-methods-and-practices/

Now back to the Library of Virginia newsletter and more than a hundred grants across the commonwealth to professionally conserve records dating back to the 1690s!

Click to access Media_Release_Library_of_Virginia_announces_2025_preservation_grants.pdf