History and genealogy books, periodicals, and more from home

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  ,  2 Comments

This is not a list of all the websites that offer digitized books and periodicals for us, but is a list that will get you started from the comfort of your own home. This list of free websites is abstracted from my oft-requested presentation Your Anytime Library: Success in the Virtual Stacks. We can do a lot of U.S. historical and genealogical research from our home.

Do some searching by various terms: surname, city, county, state, occupation, laws, vital records, bibles, and other keyword terminology. I will add another post soon about some websites that lead you to both free and fee-based websites.

Subscription based genealogy databases have some free material as do many genealogical societies. Many public, college, and university libraries and special collection departments have digitized books. County and state historical societies often have digital collections. Worldcat.org is what I call a library catalog of library catalogs and it’s easy to set a parameter to search for books and other items that are available online.

There’s no reason to be bored with all the research that we can do right now from our homes as we wait for our libraries, historical societies, and archives to reopen.

MyHeritage opens colorization tool for FREE with no limit

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized    1 Comment

MyHeritage sent this today: “we’re giving everyone FREE and unlimited access to MyHeritage In Color™ from March 23 to April 23, so that people everywhere can join in the fun of colorizing their black and white photos. Ordinarily only 10 photos can be colorized by users who do not have a Complete plan, but now, you can colorize as many photos as you’d like for free. “

Daniel Horowitz also said: “Colorizing photos is the perfect activity for anyone who is isolated at home. We invite everyone to pull out their family photo albums, colorize their photos, and start reminiscing. Over the coming month, anyone who shares their colorized photos on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram with the hashtag #ColorBeatsCoronavirusBlues and tags @MyHeritage will enter a weekly draw. Each week we’ll select one lucky winner who will receive a free MyHeritage Complete subscription!

Please share the news on your social channels and with your audience so they can make the most of this opportunity and colorize their photos.

I also invite you to join me this Tuesday March 24 at 1:00 pm EST for a 30-minute session on how to work with this incredible feature. Feel free to register here and prepare your questions in advance.”

My genealogy presentations cancelled

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In conjunction with the Goodhue County Historical Society, Red Wing Community Education, and the Dakota County Historical Society, my presentations scheduled over the next week in Red Wing and South St Paul, Minnesota have been cancelled. We hope to reschedule in the future.

March 14, 2020 Red Wing, Minnesota

Goodhue County Historical Society and Red Wing Community Education, 1:00 p.m. I will be presenting “Research Rewards in County Courthouses and Town Hall Records ” accompanied by an extensive handout. Click on the society name to register.

March 19, 2020 South St. Paul, Minnesota

Dakota County Historical Society Lawshe Memorial Museum 7:00 p.m. I will be presenting “Researching Midwestern River People.” and it is accompanied by a handout.

3 upcoming genealogy presentations in MN and WI

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March 12, 2020 Hudson, Wisconsin

Hudson Area Public Library Genealogy Presentation at 10:30 a.m. I will be presenting “Farmer in the Dell . . . and in Many U.S. Records” accompanied by a handout.


March 14, 2020 Red Wing, Minnesota

Goodhue County Historical Society and Red Wing Community Education, 1:00 p.m. I will be presenting “Research Rewards in County Courthouses and Town Hall Records ” accompanied by an extensive handout. Click on the society name to register.


March 19, 2020 South St. Paul, Minnesota

Dakota County Historical Society Lawshe Memorial Museum 7:00 p.m. I will be presenting “Researching Midwestern River People.” and it is accompanied by a handout.

CyndisList.com is 24 years old!

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March 4th marks the birthday of Cyndi’s List. It’s 24 years old! I hope you have been using it for your family history research. New to you? It is a FREE categorized and cross-referenced list of more than 337,000 links for genealogical research. Visit the Categories page and browse to find the links arranged by localities, ethnic groups, occupations, religions, record types, methodology and more.
https://www.CyndisList.com/categories/

It’s constantly added to, old website links changed, and categories added, and, and, and! It’s a one-woman operation accomplished by Cyndi Ingle. You can submit new links and tell her about broken links via the website. After all, she can’t check each link every day. Join the CyndisList page on Facebook, too! https://www.facebook.com/CyndisList/

(Cyndi’s List is a full time job for her and is maintained on advertisements and donations:
https://www.cyndislist.com/donate/)

Hotel registration open for the 2020 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  , ,  2 Comments

I have reserved my room at the conference hotel! Now it’s your turn to be in the midst of the activity at the 2020 FGS conference. It’s also the last FGS conference ever! Join us in Kansas City!

The Kansas City Marriott Downtown is now taking reservations for the 2020 FGS Family History Conference, “Blazing Trails in the Heart of America” The conference will be held September 2-5, 2020. This hotel is set in the heart of the downtown district and connects via walkway to the Kansas City Convention Center where the conference will be held.

FGS 2020 Conference room rates are available Saturday August 29, 2020 until Tuesday September 8, 2020 (subject to availability). Reservations must be made by August 3, 2020 to secure the conference rate. These dates give you lots of extra time at the conference rate to do some research in the area.

Kansas City Marriott Downtown
200 West 12th Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64105

Full details and links for FGS discounted reservations can be found on the FGS website.

Next up will be the program info on the FGS website. I will post that link when I head that it’s available.

ArchiveGrid has a new URL to bookmark!

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My favorite website for searching manuscript collections has a new address (URL). ArchiveGrid carries descriptions of more than 4 million manuscript collections. These include personal letters, diaries, journals, farm records, membership records from organizations, church records, family history records, prison records, insane asylums records, poor farms listings, and other items that assist in our family history research.

These records are held by state and local archives, state and local historical societies, public libraries, university libraries, museums, and other institutions mainly located in the United States. ArchiveGrid tells where the collection is held and often links to more detailed finding aids on the institution’s website.

To learn more on the background and sources of the descriptions, check here.

Change your bookmarks, lecture handouts, or your list of favorite websites to reflect the URL change: https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/

Only 18 more days till registration for excellent summer in-person genealogy education!

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February 5, 2020. My calendar is marked. See my earlier blog post about registration for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh three weeks of education for genealogists. Choose 1 course or choose a course for each of the three weeks. I will be there the third week teaching and consulting in Digging Deeper: Records, Tools, and Skills.