National Park Service: Buffalo Soldiers Study

Paula Stuart-Warren  Military  Leave a comment

Many Buffalo Soldiers interacted with Native Americans in Nebraska, South Dakota, and other places. In my research, the names of some have been found. I am glad to see that in many places, both private and government, attention is being given to these soldiers.

According to the National Park Service’s website, “The National Park Service (NPS) is conducting a study of alternatives to commemorate and interpret the role of Buffalo Soldiers in the early years of the national park system, recommend ways to enhance historical research, education, interpretation, and public awareness of their stewardship role in the national parks, and identify ways to further connect the Buffalo Soldiers story to the development of national parks and African-American military service following the Civil War. The NPS would like your help to enhance our understanding of the Buffalo Soldiers story, current efforts underway to tell the story, and potential opportunities to improve public awareness.”

Click here for more details.

Lyfmap is hitting the big time news in the StarTribune!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Lyfmap  1 Comment

Lyfmap has been noticed by the media! Thank you Star Tribune and James Lileks. I especially liked the article because it was published on my birthday! Click on the StarTribune link to read what James had to say about Lyfmap.

Today is a good time to share your Twin Cities memories and photos. We have positive things to share. We need those right now. Once you are signed up you can read the genealogy blog and ask questions about how to trace your family history or what to do next if you have already started! http://www.lyfmap.com/

Need ideas of what to share? Tell the story of a house, business, or of the family that lived or worked in those places. Add photos you may have. I added a 1940 photo of all the kids in my mother’s 8th grade class at St. James school in Saint Paul.

Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2017 registration begins Saturday July 9

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment
Registration is only two days away! This Saturday, July 9th, registration opens for the January 2017 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy at 9:00 a.m. MDT. The 2017 SLIG week is January 22-27.

There are many courses to choose from. Descriptions of the courses and registration details are found here. slig.ugagenealogy.org

Saturday is also the day when you may begin reserving your hotel rooms at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center where SLIG takes place. That is done via the SLIG website

I am the coordinator and one of the instructors in the revamped course, “Taking Your Research to the Next Level.” You won’t be sitting and listening all week. Several sessions are interactive and a computer lab at the FHL plus consultations will keep you involved.

Debbie Mieszala continues as an instructor and students in this course will also learn from Luana Darby and Cyndi Ingle in 2017. The full day-by-day class list is on the SLIG website.

If you have any questions about the course, let me know in the comments.

 

Findmypast celebrates 4th of July with free access to 1 billion+ records

Paula Stuart-Warren  findmypast.com  1 Comment

The following press release is from Findmypast.com. Get ready for some searching this weekend and more, a total of 8 days!

Findmypast celebrates 4th of July with free access to more than 1 billion records

  • From June 29th until July 6th 2016, over 1 billion UK, US and Irish records will be completely free to search and explore on Findmypast
  • This includes all 118 million “Travel and Migration” records, 116 million US marriages, and all UK, Irish and US censuses
  • Over 7 million new US Naturalisation records and over 1.7 million US Passport Applications have also been released, marking the first phase of two brand new collections ideal for uncovering early immigrant ancestors

 Salt Lake City, Utah, June 27th 2016

Leading family history website, Findmypast, has just announced that they will be granting 8 days of free access to over 1 billion records as part of a new campaign designed to help US family historians learn more about their family’s path to red white and blue. This will include free access to their  entire collection of Travel and Migration records, all US, UK and Irish censuses and all US marriage records.

The campaign has been launched to coincide with this year’s 4th of July celebrations and will provide customers with exciting new opportunities to uncover the pioneering immigrant ancestors who started their family’s American story.

Researchers will be provided with daily getting started guides, expert insights and useful how to videos designed to help them trace their family’s roots back to their earliest American ancestors and beyond. A special webinar will be hosted by expert genealogist, Jen Baldwin, at 11:00 MDT, July 1st, in which she will be sharing essential tips and tricks for getting the most out of Naturalisation records.

The campaign also coincides with the release of two new record sets that will prove incredibly useful to those looking to explore their family’s pre-American roots. Over 2 million US Passport Applications & Indexes (1795-1925), and over 7 million US Naturalisation Petitions have just been released in the initial phases of two brand new collections that will allow family historians to learn more about the first members of their family to become US citizens.

Over 1.1 billion records  will be free to search and explore on Findmypast from June 29th until July 6th 2016. This will include free access to:

  • Over 106,000 US passenger list records
  • Over 116,000,000 US marriage records
  • Over 690,000,000 US & Canada census records
  • Over 265,000,000 UK & Irish census records
  • Over 10 million new and existing Naturalisation records
  • Over 1.7 million brand new US Passport applications
  • Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960
  • Over 827,000 convict transportation records

(more…)

It’s nice to get an extra pat on the back for my job

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  4 Comments

I love my chosen profession. I work hard, but enjoy what I do. Sometimes, that hard work gets me some nice pats on the back.

From the Washington State Genealogical Society blog about its conference I spoke at a week ago:

“Can’t express enough superlatives about the 2016 WSGS Conference hosted by the Tacoma-Pierce County GS! Kudos to Chair Warren Fisk, Moderator Cyndi Ingle, TPCGS President D Becker and the rest of the Planning Team — you really outdid yourselves! And what about Paula Stuart Warren??!! She was professional, engaging, funny, informative…everything you’d wish for in a keynote speaker. At the end of the day, everyone left armed with inspiration and excitement to find that long-lost ancestor or explore a new resource. If you get another chance to hear Paula at a conference or workshop, don’t miss it — she doesn’t disappoint!”

I blushed a little when I read that. I did enjoy the rest of my time in the Pacific Northwest, too. I had a nice tour of some areas of Tacoma from my host, Cyndi Ingle.

The TPCGS and WSGS volunteers were great. The audience was great, too. Now on to working on PowerPoint slides and syllabus material for my next event, the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh July 17-22. I do have some seats left in my intermediate course, Intermediate Genealogy: Tools for Digging Deeper.

 

More access to digitized books! FamilySearch & Digital Public Library of America.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Books, FamilySearch  Leave a comment

In several of the presentations I have done in the last few months, I have discussed either the digitized books at FamilySearch.org or Digital Public Library of America. If not discusses, they have been in my handouts.

Now, those two efforts are collaborating. As the FamilySearch blog states, “In concert with the American Library Association national conference in Orlando, Florida, this week, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and FamilySearch International, the largest genealogy organization in the world, have signed an agreement that will expand access to FamilySearch.org’s growing free digital historical book collection to DPLA’s broad audience of users including genealogists, researchers, family historians, students, and more.”

These are the libraries currently associated with the FamilySearch digital books. I have also viewed some periodicals.

FS booksBy golly, we may be catching up to some other countries that have extensive materials online at a national level.  Read the post here.

Stereoscopic photos from across the U.S. on New York Public Library website

Paula Stuart-Warren  Photographers  3 Comments

Did you have a View-Master as a child? I still have mine and a variety of slides. These were an outgrowth of the stereoscopic photography that was the rage in the late 19th into the early 20th centuries. Duplicate pictures were viewed through a stereoscope and the image appeared to be 3 dimensional.

These are found in museums, archives, libraries, and historical societies around the world. I have seen modern reproductions of these sold in gift shops.

The New York Public Library is one of the repositories that has a large collection of such photos and has digitized these images. A man named Richard M. Dennis collected such stereo images during his lifetime.  In 1939, his collection of 35,000 images was sold to the New York Public Library. By 1980 he donated another 35,o00 images to the NYPL.

The date range of these photos is about 1850-1930 and cover buildings, people, churches, homes, hotels, railroads, and landmarks all across the United States. I plan to look at the images again and again. I searched by places and names of buildings. I saw one listed as Montpelier, Vermont that had a cat wearing a hat and sitting on a chair at a table. Reading a book. No, I am not kidding. Look for yourself!

The NYPL’s website has an in-depth explanation of the collection and of course, the images.

Join me at upcoming genealogy events. Register soon!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment

It’s a busy genealogy summer for me. I just returned home from California and the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree. It was a fantastic four days. My upcoming travel brings me to many events in different parts of the U.S. and beyond. Please join me for my presentations at these along with the rest of the audiences!

  • 18 June 2016, Tacoma Washington: Washington State Genealogical Society Conference. For more details and registration click here. I will be doing four presentations complete with extensive handouts. Cyndi Ingle of Cyndi’s List will be the emcee for the day. I heard there were some fantastic door prizes and a raffle, too.
  • 17-22 July 2016, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh. Please join us for a week of education, collaboration, problem solving and some fun in my course, Intermediate Genealogy: Tools for Digging Deeper.
  • 5-6 August 2016, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Celtic Connections Conference. DEADLINE for registration is July 1.  Attendance is limited to 400, so register soon!
  • 31 August- 2 September 2016, Springfield, Illinois: Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference. It’s FGS’ 40th Anniversary! Four days of lectures with top notch speakers and a huge exhibit hall. for a significant savings.

Then, let’s do some relaxing, fun, networking, and education on a genealogy cruise in September!

  • 18-25 September 2016, The 3rd Heritage Books Cruise: Join a great group of instructors on the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas. Some of my best friends will be along: Cyndi Ingle, J. Mark Lowe, Paul Milner; David Rencher, and Craig Scott. Sign up soon before it’s sold out.