The following was written by the Augusta (Georgia) Genealogical Society:

When:  Saturday, March 26, 2022

 

Where:  On Line - Webinar 

 

Time:  1:00 to 2:00 pm

 

Cost:  Free to AGS members and $10.00 for non members

 

Speaker:  Curt B. Witcher, MLS, FUGA, IGSF

 

 

Program specifics:   The presentation will cover how to explore the holdings of the Genealogy Center both to plan a research trip to Fort Wayne and, equally, to use the Genealogy Center remotely.

 

Curt Witcher is the Director of Special Collections at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, IN, managing the widelyacclaimed Genealogy Center. He is in his forty-second year of service at the Allen County Public Library.

 

Curt is a former president of both the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society and the founding president of the Indiana Genealogical Society. He has penned many hundreds of articles on topics of interest to family historians, librarians and archivists; and he has presented lectures to historical and genealogical groups across the country. Curt also serves on the Indiana State Historical Records Advisory Board, co-chairs the Indiana Historical Society’s publications committee, and serves as a member of the board of the Friends of the Indiana State Archives.

 

Registration deadline is March 22.  To Register please visit www.augustagensociety.org

It will happen to all of us someday: We'll be gone, but our data will persist. Photo albums are a thing of the past, but your memories don't have to be.

Enough people have been locked out of a dead parents’ device that Apple and Google have now made it possible for you to grant posthumous access. Apple calls the program Digital Legacy. Your selected Legacy Contacts can present the access key you give them along with your death certificate to gain access to any data you have stored on iCloud.

Google takes a slightly less morbid approach. You can configure Inactive Account Manager so that if you ever don’t log in for three, six, 12, or 18 months, your chosen contacts will be emailed with a link to download all your data.

You can read more in an article by Harry Guinness published in the Wired web site at: https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-leave-photos-behind-when-you-die/.

NOTE: This article contains personal opinions.

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. 

In case you have not heard the news, many genealogy libraries are struggling financially these days. For this article, I will focus solely on the larger societies that have their own buildings or perhaps rent a significant amount of space in other buildings. I will also look only at societies that have libraries that are not funded by taxpayer dollars. Many of them have paid employees, although not all do.

An example of one such library would include the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The same may be true of the Society of Genealogists’ library in London. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) library in Washington, D.C. also is a huge, non-profit resource, although the sponsoring organization is not limited to genealogy interests. The DAR library does seem to fit in the same business model as the libraries of large genealogy societies.

You can find hundreds of smaller examples, including the Vesterheim Genealogical Center/Naeseth Library (VGC/NL) in Madison, Wisconsin; the Erie County Historical Society’s Library in Erie, Pennsylvania; and the American French Genealogical Society in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and many more. The Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, Connecticut, may also fit into this category although it is not a part of any society. It is an independent genealogy library, but with business and financial realities similar to the libraries sponsored by societies.

Each of these libraries holds thousands of books of value to genealogists. Yet I believe that each of these libraries is in danger of extinction. Like so many species of creatures that saw their source of sustenance dwindling, some will evolve and others will disappear.

The remainder of this article is reserved for Plus Edition subscribers only. If you have a Plus Edition subscription, you may read the full article at: https://eogn.com/(*)-Plus-Edition-News-Articles/12672036. 

If you are not yet a Plus Edition subscriber, you can learn more about such subscriptions and even upgrade to a Plus Edition subscription immediately at https://eogn.com/page-18077. 

It is with sadness that I send news of the death of Lorine Olive McGinnis Schulze Massey.

After retiring from teaching in 1996 Lorine started her own online business Olive Tree Genealogy which is now one of the oldest online genealogy companies in the world. The author of over 30 books and numerous publications, Lorine was well known and highly regarded in the genealogy community.

You may find Lorine's obituary at: https://www.arbormemorial.ca/nicholls/obituaries/lorine-olive-mcginnis-schulze-massey/79489.

How do you capture the idea of historical memory? History professor Fitz Brundage got the idea over a decade ago to create a comprehensive digital collection of the state’s monuments, shrines and commemorative public art. At the time, he thought the project team might be able to include about 400 monuments in the archive.

Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina, or CommLand, a partnership with University Libraries, now features the stories of over 1,000 monuments across the state in all 100 counties. It is the largest and most extensive curated site devoted to a single state’s historical monuments and memorials. It has become a resource for K-12 and college educators, genealogists, public officials, journalists, historians, activists, historical reenactors, nonprofit groups and others. The content from the site has been incorporated into NCpedia.org.

You can read more in the University of North Carolina web site at https://college.unc.edu/2022/03/a-monumental-visual-history/.

A committee of Louisiana lawmakers will take another week to decide whether to advance a bill that would allow adopted people to obtain copies of their original birth certificates once they reach age 24.

State law currently provides adopted individuals only limited access to the information from their birth records, mostly connected to vital health data.

The author of the bill, Rep. Charles Owen, R-Rosepine, voluntarily deferred the legislation Tuesday after a morning of emotional testimony in the House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure from adoptees and adoptive parents in support of the bill and an anti-abortion group that opposes it.

One’s ability to access their own vital records might seem like a fundamental right of every American citizen, but that’s not the case in Louisiana, adoptive mother Tyler Koch said.

You can read more in an article by Wesley Muller, publioshed in the RawStory web site at: https://bit.ly/3igQ9o3.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

The following was written by the (U.S.) National Genealogical Society:

Our Best Pricing Ends this Week Join Us for Our First In-Person National Conference in Two Years Register Now for Early Bird Pricing

The NGS 2022 Family History Conference is the first in-person national genealogy conference in two years. We are looking forward to seeing many of you in Sacramento in just a few short weeks. If you are planning to attend, this is the last week to get $50 off the regular conference registration rate. If you're still unsure, here are three terrific reasons to register by 18 March. You get $50 off the regular price of registration. Airfares are generally less expensive the earlier you book your flight. You can lock in reservations for popular Guest Speaker luncheons, Featured Events, and Tours. Best of all you don’t have to worry if you need to cancel your registration prior to 18 April. We will give you a complete refund, no questions asked, minus a $50 service fee. For up-to-date information about conference hotels and COVID-19 policies and other rules, visit the conference website. Be sure to sign up for the NGS conference blog to receive conference news and announcements. Once you register, make sure to book your hotel room.   Have you already booked your hotel reservation? We recommend contacting the hotel to confirm that your reservation dates are correct. If you are holding multiple reservations or reservations at multiple hotels, we encourage you to solidify plans and release any dates or rooms that you will not be using. Room blocks are filling up fast and we want to make sure everyone is able to book at our discounted rates. Registration closes 18 April 2022. Register Now for Early Bird Pricing

Founded in 1903, the National Genealogical Society inspires, connects, and leads the family history community by fostering collaboration and best practices in advocacy, education, preservation, and research. We enable people, cultures, and organizations to discover the past and create a lasting legacy. The Falls Church, Virginia, based nonprofit is the premier national society for everyone, from the beginner to the most advanced family historian. Copyright © 2022 National Genealogical Society, All rights reserved.

A $10,000 federal grant is expanding the Springfield-Greene County Library's online digital collection of photographs "vividly documenting a period of rapid change in Springfield and the Ozarks."

Part of the digital collection “From the Darkroom,” library staff will add 5,000 more digital images to the nearly 29,000 images already acquired. Those images originate from the Springfield News-Leader’s estimated 2.7 million photographs and negatives from 1945 to 2011.

The project began in 2016, and the library and the Springfield News-Leader expanded their partnership in 2021 to relocate photographs and negative images to the library district’s Local History & Genealogy archives.

You can read more in an article by Andrew Sullender published in Yahoo News at https://news.yahoo.com/federal-grant-expands-librarys-online-165022772.html.

The following announcement was written by the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA):

DATE: 16 March 2022

Following the announcement last year that AGRA had instituted an annual bursary award in memory of Associate Dr John Burt, we are delighted to reveal the first bursary under the scheme has been awarded to Associate Dr Sophie Kay. She will use the money towards funding her studies with the IHGS.

Dr John Burt was an Associate of AGRA, based in Scotland. His sudden death last year came as a great shock to all at AGRA. His enthusiasm and willingness to help made a huge impact on the organisation and all his colleagues. Well-loved and much respected in both the medical and genealogical communities, AGRA wished to recognise his work in the form of an annual bursary. This £250 award is made to an AGRA Associate progressing to full membership. It goes towards the expenses of furthering their genealogical education.

Dr Sophie Kay, this year’s bursary award winner, said: “I’m honoured to have been chosen as the inaugural recipient of AGRA’s John Burt Bursary.”

“I never had the chance to meet John, but I do know he was held in high esteem by so many in our family history research community.”

“I’m keen to do justice to this generous award in his name through my studies for the IHGS Higher Certificate in Genealogy.”

“My thanks to AGRA for this wonderful support in my professional development.”

Congratulations from all at AGRA to Sophie on her achievement.

Applications from Associates for the next award will need to be submitted by 31 December 2022. AGRA will issue details in due course.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

More information about AGRA can be found at its website at https://www.agra.org.uk/