The following announcement wass written by the folks at MyHeritage:

LiveMemory™ just got even cooler — and I think you’ll love what’s new! We’ve added 11 creative new effects to the feature that turns your family photos into short, animated video clips. From Selfie with Lincoln to Deep-sea Diver and Synchronized Dance, these additions bring even more personality and fun to your old family snapshots. Plus, the AI tech behind LiveMemory™ has been upgraded, so the animations now look more lifelike and stay truer to facial features. Whether you're in the mood for silly or sentimental, there's something here that will spark a smile — and maybe even go viral. We’ve reset the free uses, so even those who have tried out LiveMemory™ before can give it another go at no cost. Give the updated feature a spin and share it with your readers or followers. We’ve included some fun examples in the blog post.

The following is a press release written by the folks at the (U.S.) National Archives and Records Administration:

From the Stacks: An Unsolved Mystery from the Sky The National Archives at Seattle holds the 1971 FBI report for one of the most high-profile U.S. District Attorney’s Cases for the Western District of Washington: Case CR-0451, the infamous skyjacking case involving the alias “D.B. Cooper.”  On Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 bound for Seattle from Portland, OR, Cooper handed a flight attendant a note indicating that he had an explosive device. He demanded $200,000 in exchange for the safe return of all the passengers on board. After receiving the money, he jumped from the back of the plane with a parachute somewhere between Seattle and Reno, NV. Optimistic that the case would be solved quickly, the U.S. Attorney’s office opened the file under this placeholder name, and D.B. Cooper was never found. The investigative case file contains photographs and the initial sketch of the suspect. There are also detailed experiments conducted by the U.S. Air Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to determine how the theft was pulled off. A document from U.S. Attorney’s Case File for the skyjacking case involving the alias “D.B. Cooper,” dated 1971. NAID: 325594129 Dead Sea Scrolls In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd stumbled upon a remarkable discovery in the Judaean Desert–the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Over the next decade, this chance finding would lead to the unearthing of thousands of manuscript fragments from 11 caves near the ancient site of Qumran, dating back two millennia. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, CA, invites you to its Special Exhibit: Dead Sea Scrolls, featuring eight authentic Dead Sea Scrolls and over 200 artifacts from the Second Temple period. The exhibit will remain on display until September 2, 2025. Come see these unique artifacts while you can! More than 200 artifacts–along with eight authentic scrolls–are on display as part of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum's Special Exhibit: Dead Sea Scrolls. Passport to Presidential Libraries The Passport to Presidential Libraries is a special keepsake booklet you can take with you on your travels to Presidential Libraries across the nation. Collect a commemorative stamp from the library at the time of the purchase and collect stamps from every Presidential Library visited in the future. The Passport can be purchased for $10 in person at any Presidential Library within the National Archives system via either the admissions desk or museum store. Alternatively, visitors can purchase the Passport via some NARA Presidential Library online stores. National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408

The following is a press release written by the folks at Roots Revealed, a professional genealogist service in County Antrim, Northern Ireland:

The next Exploring Your Roots Genealogy Course will commence on 25 September 2025 and will run for 2 hours each week for 10 weeks, finishing on 27 November 2025. The course is delivered via Zoom.

Comprehensive course materials are provided and you will have access to course recordings for 3 months. 

This is the 14^th course delivered by Natalie Bodle of Roots Revealed, a professional genealogist based in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. 

The course focuses on Irish and Northern-Irish records; it is suitable for novices as well as those who have more experience in research.

Early Bird pricing of £140 applies until 31 August and thereafter the cost will be £160. 

Places are limited to allow for plenty of interaction and time for questions. For more information and to register your interest, please visit https://rootsrevealed.co.uk/genealogy-courses/

 

Leslie Weir

Leslie Weir became the Librarian and Archivist of Canada on August 30, 2019. She is the first woman to be appointed to the position since the National Library of Canada and the National Archives of Canada merged to form Library and Archives Canada (LAC) in 2004.

Under Ms. Weir’s leadership, LAC embarked on a major transition in 2020 to improve its services to Canadians and to better fulfill its mandate of acquiring, preserving, making accessible and sharing Canada’s documentary heritage, specifically through significant service and technological shifts. To focus its efforts, LAC developed Vision 2030, a strategic plan unveiled in 2022 that is intended to foster reconciliation, reflection, analysis and planning to chart the institution’s course over the next 10 years, and beyond.

Providing access, supporting democracy and working in partnerships endure as some of the Librarian and Archivist of Canada’s main focuses as LAC sets out to remain a world leader among memory institutions. During Ms. Weir’s tenure, LAC has been able to plan for a future that reflects the collective ideas of the documentary heritage community, shaped by the needs of its users, the realities of the institution and the benefits of its experience.

In her role as Librarian and Archivist of Canada, Ms. Weir has guided LAC to several significant and innovative achievements, including the opening of its Preservation Storage Facility in the National Capital Region in 2022. This state-of-the-art building is the first net-zero carbon archival preservation facility in the Americas and the largest automated archival facility in the world.

In addition to increasing its preservation capacity under Ms. Weir’s leadership, LAC is revolutionizing its services to the public with a second major infrastructure project: Ādisōke, the joint facility that will be home to LAC and Ottawa Public Library in 2026. The result of an ongoing collaboration in the spirit of relationship building, decolonization and reconciliation, Ādisōke represents an unprecedented partnership between governments. It promises to be a cultural showplace for the country’s heritage and a prime example of the federal government’s commitment to building sustainable infrastructure.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Weir was University Librarian at the University of Ottawa from 2003 to 2018. She also held positions at the National Library of Canada, the Statistics Canada Library and the Côte Saint-Luc Public Library in Montréal.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Weir has demonstrated vision, dedication and outstanding service by encouraging connections both within and outside the world of librarianship. She guided many transformative moments at the Canadian Research Knowledge Network and research libraries in Canada. Ms. Weir is one of the founding architects of Scholars Portal, the state-of-the-art research infrastructure in Ontario universities that brings together information resources and services in support of research and learning. Ms. Weir served as President of Canadiana.org, where she oversaw the introduction of the Heritage Project, in collaboration with LAC, to digitize and make openly accessible some 60 million heritage archival images. As well, she was President of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries from 2007 to 2009 and the Ontario Library Association in 2017.

Ms. Weir is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Forum of National Archivists, Vice Chair of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, and President-elect (2023–2025) of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

The following is a press release written by the folks at the (U.S.) National Archives and Records Administration:

William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum 
Little Rock, AR 

Friday, August 15, 2025 - 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. CDT

"Presents for the President: Happy Birthday, President Clinton!" Join us on Friday, August 15, 2025, for our next "Ask an Archivist, Converse with a Curator" event at the Clinton Library and Museum. In celebration of President Clinton's 79th birthday, we will highlight the gifts and birthday cards given to him during his administration. The program "Ask an Archivist and Converse with a Curator" is held on the third Friday of every month at 11 am and 2 pm. Admission to the library is required, but the program is free.

All events listed in the calendar are free unless noted.

The following is a press release written by the folks at Ancestry:

 Ancestry, the global leader in family history, today announced its acquisition of iMemories, a pioneer in media digitization and cloud-based content preservation. This is an important next step in enabling Ancestry to deliver on its mission to connect everyone to their past so they can discover, preserve and share their unique family stories.

iMemories transforms analog media—including home movies, films, videotapes, photos, slides and negatives —into high-quality digital formats that can be streamed on your smartphone, tablet, computer, or Smart TV with the iMemories app.

The acquisition brings powerful capabilities into Ancestry's ecosystem, accelerating the growth of user-generated content to enhance personalized, AI-powered storytelling, and directly complements Ancestry's family history–focused strategy, providing added value to current subscribers while expanding appeal to new customer segments.

"We're thrilled to welcome iMemories to Ancestry as we make family history more visual, emotional, and accessible," said Howard Hochhauser, President & CEO of Ancestry. "By combining Ancestry's leadership in family history with iMemories' expertise in media digitization, we're empowering people to preserve their most meaningful moments and bring their family stories to life in powerful new ways."

Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, iMemories has built a trusted reputation for over 20 years, serving over one million customers and digitizing more than 100 million assets. Their expertise brings advanced preservation tools and a scalable media platform to Ancestry's global audience.

"Joining forces with Ancestry opens an exciting new chapter for iMemories," said Mark Rukavina, Founder and CEO of iMemories. "Together, we're redefining how families experience their history—making it easier than ever to preserve treasured memories and pass them on for generations to come."

Looking ahead, with iMemories, Ancestry will not only digitize family photos, videos, slides, and films, but enable customers to seamlessly add them to their family tree, enhancing discoveries with a new layer of emotional richness. And with the help of AI-powered tools, those family stories will become even more vivid, dynamic, and personal.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. JEGI CLARITY + LEONIS represented iMemories in this transaction.

About Ancestry

Ancestry, the global leader in family history, connects everyone with their past so they can discover, preserve, and share their unique family stories. With our unparalleled collection of more than 65 billion records, over 3 million subscribers and over 27 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Over the past 40 years, we've built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.

About iMemories

iMemories is the largest and most trusted digitizer of analog home movies and photos. A pioneer in streaming personal memories on any device via its iMemories Cloud, the company pairs industry‑leading scanning with proprietary AI enhancement to revive decades‑old reels, tapes, and prints in stunning clarity and resolution. Honored among Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies 2023, iMemories has safeguarded more than 100 million memories since 2005 from its Scottsdale, Arizona headquarters. Discover how iMemories preserves, enriches, and shares life's moments at www.imemories.com.

Wesley LePatner, board member for UJA-Federation of New York and The Abraham Joshua Heschel School, mourned by loved ones as ‘uniquely brilliant’

US Jewish institutions in New York City are in mourning after a well-known and beloved communal figure was one of the victims of a mass shooting Monday in Midtown Manhattan.

Wesley LePatner, 43, was a board member for UJA-Federation of New York and The Abraham Joshua Heschel School, where her name is now inscribed with the Hebrew acronym for “may her memory be a blessing” in memoriam. She also was the recipient of UJA’s Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award in 2023.

A few weeks ago, LePatner went to lunch with her synagogue’s co-founder and rebbetzin, who on social media wrote they were catching up about “the future, our children, women’s leadership, Torah, our love for Israel and all of the uncertainty of this moment in time.”

No one could have imagined that LePatner would be gunned down, in a mass shooting at the office building in Manhattan where she had climbed to one of the city’s most elite investment firms.

The office building and shooting target was home to the headquarters of the NFL and Blackstone. The alleged shooter, identified by authorities as Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, killed four people, including a LePatner and a New York City police officer, and wounded a fifth before killing himself.

While a motive has not been officially announced, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said police were investigating a note from the suspected gunman that reportedly referred to potential links to the NFL and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease associated with head trauma.

“We’re still investigating, this is relatively new,” Adams said. “There’s no more than just a note at this time and as you indicated he talked about CTE.”

In the aftermath of LePatner’s murder on Monday, many who knew her are mourning the loss of a Jewish leader who had demonstrated care for everything she and her luncheon companion had been discussing.

“There are no right words for this unfathomable moment of pain and loss,” head of school Ariela Dubler and board president Ben Archibald wrote in an email to the community of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, the Upper West Side school where LePatner was a parent and a board member.

“It was a rare z’chut, a rare privilege, to know Wesley and to learn from her,” they continued. “She was a uniquely brilliant and modest leader and parent, filled with wisdom, empathy, vision, and appreciation. Quite simply, Wesley made the world — and all of the institutions that she touched, including the Heschel School — a better place.”

LePatner was also a board member for UJA-Federation of New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as one of the highest-ranking women at Blackstone, where she led the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust.

“She was the most loving wife, mother, daughter, sister and relative, who enriched our lives in every way imaginable,” her family said in a statement.“To so many others, she was a beloved, fiercely loyal and caring friend, and a driven and extraordinarily talented professional and colleague. At this unbearably painful time, we are experiencing an enormous, gaping hole in our hearts that will never be filled, yet we will carry on the remarkable legacy Wesley created.”

LePatner had deep roots in New York’s Jewish community, where she grew up and returned after college to make an impact on religious, educational and charitable organizations.

In December 2023, shortly after she led a solidarity mission to Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attacks, UJA honored her with the Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award at its annual Wall Street Dinner. The award recognized LePatner for her commitment to the Jewish community “and her remarkable achievements, all the more notable as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field,” the organization said in a statement.

“She lived with courage and conviction, instilling in her two children a deep love for Judaism and the Jewish people,” UJA added.

For her part, LePatner said at the time that UJA had been central in her development as a business executive with a thriving Jewish identity.

“As one of the only female analysts in my investment banking group at Goldman Sachs and as a liberal arts major who studied the Ming and Qing dynasties of China in college and Pre-Raphaelite art in Great Britain, rather than complex accounting and excel models like the rest of my adult class, I felt different and alone in the early months of my career,” she said in her comments at the 2023 dinner. “UJA stepped in early and fixed my feeling out of place by connecting me with senior Goldman Sachs women who were further along in their careers and personal lives, but equally committed to their Jewish community and identity.”

First responders gather on 52nd Street outside a Manhattan office building where four people were killed in a shooting, including a New York police officer, July 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis) 
Born Wesley Meredith Mittman, LePatner was an alumna of the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, where she remained engaged in various fundraising campaigns after graduating.

She went to Yale, graduating in 2003 with a degree in history and working as head of tour guides for the admissions office while a student. She met her husband, Evan, on the first day of student orientation at Yale, according to the couple’s 2006 wedding announcement in The New York Times.

LePatner remained involved with her alma mater after graduating. She served on the Yale University Library Council, which fundraises for the library, along with writer Bruce Feiler, who mourned her loss in a post on Facebook.

“At 43, she was the most effortless and impressive person — you wanted to follow her wherever she went,” Feiler wrote. “A mentor to young women and generous friend to everyone who knew her, she was on the board of her children’s Jewish day school, recently joined the board of The Met, and just felt in every way like the kind of leader we all want and need in these unsettling times. I howled when I heard the news and haven’t stopped shaking since. Godspeed to her family. God helps us all.” 

Upon graduating from Yale, LePatner became an investment banker working at Goldman Sachs, where she remained for 11 years before heading to Blackstone in 2014. There, in addition to rising in the real estate division, she became the chair of Blackstone’s Women’s Initiative.

“Words cannot express the devastation we feel,” the company said in an emailed statement to NBC News New York. “Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed. She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous, and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone. “Our prayers are with her husband, children and family. We are also saddened by the loss of the other innocent victims as well, including brave security personnel and NYPD.”

LePatner and her husband settled on the Upper East Side, where they had two children. Benny Rogosnitzky, cantor at Park East Synagogue, recalled in an interview that she was “a very active, very involved parent” when her children attended the school affiliated with his congregation. In 2019, the congregation and school bestowed their annual “Youth Enrichment Center Award” on the couple.

“She was very practical, down to earth, very much wanted to make a difference, not just in giving ideas, but to actually realize them,” Rogosnitzky said. “She was someone we could rely on. She was someone that we could call even when the children graduated.”

Rogosnitzky recalled that LePatner once told him she felt at home when she came into the Park East Day School building.

“This is where she took her kids every day, and she dropped them off on the way to work,” he said. “And it was just — it was home. It was a second home. And we’ll miss her terribly.” 

More recently, LePatner was involved in launching the Altneu synagogue on the Upper East Side, according to co-founder Avital Chizik-Goldschmidt, who described the recent lunch and called her a “dear friend, mentor, community member & builder” on social media.

“Daughter, wife, mother, leader in so many ways,” Chizik-Goldschmidt added. “The kindest & sharpest human being. A nightmare that we can’t wake up from. No words. Holding her family in our aching hearts.” 

The family remained members at Park East, Rogosnitzky said, as well as at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, which announced that it would dedicate a week of learning in her honor.

LePatner also brought her children with her to volunteer locally, said David Greenfield, CEO of the Met Council, a Jewish social services nonprofit.

“Wesley was an amazing person who was also [a] tremendously talented leader,” Greenfield shared on X. “She volunteered with her kids @MetCouncil to feed those in need. Heartbroken that she was murdered yesterday in the midtown shooting rampage. Thoughts and prayers with her family. Baruch Dayan HaEmes.” 

LePatner is survived by her husband, Evan, their two young children, and her parents, attorneys Ellyn and Lawrence Mittman.

History will come to life at Windsor Castle during the family weekend 'Windsor at War' in time for the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.

The living history display will allow visitors to experience what life was like at Windsor Castle during the Second World War on Saturday, August 16 and Sunday, August 17.

As Friday, August 15, marks Victory over Japan Day – the end of the war – the Castle's precincts and grounds will open for the public to celebrate the momentous milestone. 

Windsor at War is part of a summer series of themed family history weekends where between 11am and 4.30pm daily, costumed educators will offer a glimpse into 20th-century castle life.

Drop-in activities throughout the weekend, included in the price of an admission ticket to Windsor Castle, are as follows:

• A living history camp for families to explore and displays of WWII-era objects and replica weapons.
• Performances of wartime music.
• 1940s vehicles, including a Morris C8 truck, the same type that Queen Elizabeth II would have repaired when she served as a mechanic in the war, and a WWII-era ambulance, like the one pictured with then-Princess Elizabeth during the war.
• Home-Guard drills for visitors to take part in and demonstrations with an Anti-Aircraft Gun and historical reenactors.
• Arts and crafts activities in the Quadrangle.

All activities are included with standard admission to the Castle, and a range of concessions are available.

These include half-price entry for children aged 5–17, free entry for under-5s and a Young Person discount for 18–24-year-olds.

Families attending Windsor at War can convert their admission ticket into a 1-Year Pass, offering unlimited re-entry to Windsor Castle for 12 months for upcoming historical family weekends.

For more information, visit www.rct.uk/event/history-weekends-windsor-at-war-08-2025

Interested in your genealogy but unsure where to begin? Come to an informative workshop on Saturday, Aug. 2, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the World Heritage Center, 3106 Roosevelt Ave. in San Antonio.

At the workshop — free and open to the public — representatives from the San Antonio Public Library’s Texana/Genealogy Department will provide tips and guidance to kick-start your family history research.

For more information, visit WorldHeritageSA.com.

The World Heritage Center serves as an information gateway for the historic Spanish missions in San Antonio and the Rancho de las Cabras near Floresville.

By buying iMemories, Ancestry is betting on a future where DNA, old home videos, and AI create personalized family films.

Home-movies-and-photos digitizer service iMemories was scooped up by genealogy company Ancestry, a bet by the ancestry giant that subscribers who already spend their money on DNA kits and pour their time into building family trees will be further enticed by visual storytelling that weaves all those details together.

The transaction will merge Ancestry, with more than 3.7 million subscribers and $1 billion in annual subscription revenue, with iMemories, which bills itself as the “Netflix” of old family memories, with more than 100,000 paying subscribers and has digitized more than 100 million VHS videotapes, photo prints, DVDs, and other video formats over the past 20 years. IMemories was also named to the 2023 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies.

“The goal is to bring all family storytelling together into one spot,” Howard Hochhauser, Ancestry’s president and CEO, tells Fast Company in an interview.

Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed, although Hochhauser says it is Ancestry’s largest acquisition in terms of revenue.

STITCHING TOGETHER RECORDS AND MEMORY 
With its integration of iMemories’ content into the Ancestry platform, the enlarged company will expand on a strategy already championed by Hochhauser to connect 10,000 terabytes of Ancestry data on the nitty-gritty of birth records, marriages, deaths, military service, and immigration with archival family photos and videos.

In the future, Ancestry says it will lean on artificial intelligence to stitch together video clips from iMemories and Ancestry’s own user-uploaded trove of archival materials, along with AI-generated images, to create short films that tell the tales of family lore.

“When a consumer sees a photo versus say, a U.S. census, they retain better, higher engagement, higher retention,” says Hochhauser, who joined Ancestry in 2009 as chief financial officer and has served in an executive capacity at the company for the initial public offering in 2009, a going-private transaction in 2012, and the 2020 sale to asset manager Blackstone.“Visual content is compelling, much more so than reading a document.”

TURNING PARCHED RECORDS INTO AUDIO VISUALS 
This week, and separate from the iMemories deal, Ancestry is also rolling out a beta AI-enabled pilot program to 500 users that can generate audio files from the documents uploaded to Ancestry. Hochhauser says these assets can be a gateway for younger consumers especially.

He recounts how his own 18-year-old son wasn’t too keen to read about an ancestor who fought in World War II. But when the text was converted into audio, Hochhauser says his son was on the edge of his seat when he got to the part of the tale that featured a great uncle in battle, where he talks about lobbing grenades at the enemy and the Purple Heart that he received as a result of his bravery. “That’s pretty powerful,” Hochhauser says. “And so that’s the direction we are taking the company.”

Hochhauser says before the iMemories deal, Ancestry had conducted research that found 40% of its users said they wanted the company to offer a digitization and storage service. It also found a third of non-Ancestry users expressed a similar wish.

AI SPEEDS DIGITIZATION OF HISTORICAL RECORDS 
AI is also already being leaned on by Ancestry to speed the digitization of census records. Back in 2012, when the U.S. Census Bureau first released files for every living person in the country that were taken in the year 1940, it took Ancestry nine months and millions of dollars to digitize all that information. But when the government agency released the 1950 files in 2022, technology had advanced to the point where Ancestry could employ computer vision and AI to transcribe those files in nine days without any manual labor.

The company is using AI in a similar way to parse through records from France, Belgium, and other foreign markets as it looks to speed up the work of digitization.

CONCERNS ABOUT PRIVACY ALSO LOOM 
The Ancestry-iMemories transaction does come at a time of heightened consumer concern over the data privacy of personal DNA information held by genomics companies. The 2023 data breach of rival 23andMe, which later went bankrupt, inflamed fears over who would end up with control of genetic information if one of these genealogy companies went belly up.

“People’s confidence has been shaken, in Big Tech overall, and also in consumer genomics,” says Dr. Brandon Colby, the founder and CEO of Sequencing.com, a biotech company that does whole genome sequencing.“The need to be extra obvious about transparency is really important.There’s no room for people to go and assume that we’re trying to do something shady.”

Sequencing is big on transparency in telling consumers of its “Privacy Forever” commitment to never sell any data to pharma companies, government agencies, or other outside parties, which is how some genomics companies have made money.

Colby says Sequencing makes money from monthly subscriptions and by selling reports it produces based on genome sequencing that can show consumers how they might react to medications, or offer advice on better sleep or nutrition strategies.

Hochhauser at Ancestry makes a similar pledge around DNA. Users control their own biological samples and DNA data, and have the freedom to delete that information from the service if they like. The same approach will be applied with AI-related content that is generated from iMemories data. It’s up to users how they want to share it, he says.

“We are a family history company,” Hochhauser says. “Consumers own their data, control their data, and we have multifactor authentication, as an example, and lots of different security protocols in place to protect and preserve data.”