Several justice experts are now calling for reform of the U.S. census after its bureau admitted in a recent report that it undercounted Black, Latino and Indigenous Americans as part of the 2020 census, while overcounting white and Asian Americans.

The census results are far-reaching throughout the federal government and American society. The data, collected once a decade, is used to determine how much political representation communities receive, how districts are drawn, and how more than $1.5 trillion in federal funding is allocated across the country for basic services like education, food and health care.

“[The census] is the foundation of our democracy,” Kelly Percival, senior counsel and census expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, told Yahoo News. “And so when we know inequalities are happening like this, we're baking inequity into our democracy from the start if we don’t fix this problem.”

You can read more in an article by Marquise Francis published in Yahoo News at https://yhoo.it/3u5GZjN. 

Want to find when your great grandmother was born? Or the date your grandparents tied the knot?

These records and more may be part of 9.3 million pieces of historical vital data just added to the city’s website.

The city Department of Records & Information Services launched a new online vital records platform that lets visitors search and view historical New York City records of birth (1866-1909), death (1862-1948), and marriage (1866-1949). 

Access to the records is free of charge.

High-quality copies can be downloaded and printed from the site at no charge.

The new online vital records platform may be reached at https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/.

Beyond the reports of undercounts and overcounts in population totals, there is another takeaway from the post-mortem of 2020 census data issued on Thursday: This could be the last census of its kind.

The next census will be taken in a nation where Amazon may have a better handle on where many people live than the Census Bureau itself.

For some advocates of a more accurate count, the era in which census-takers knock on millions of doors to persuade people to fill out forms should give way in 2030 to a sleeker approach: data mining, surveys, sophisticated statistical projections and, if politics allows, even help from the nation’s tech giants and their endless petabytes of personal information. The Census Bureau itself has yet to leap very far into that new era. But it has hinted recently at a “blended” approach in which official census figures could be supplemented with reliable data from government records and other sources.

You can learn more in a YouTube video at https://youtu.be/S3YbdaJJaQ8.

The Law Reform Commission, through the Statute Law Revision Programme (SLRP), has launched its public consultation on statutory and prerogative instruments made between 1821 and 1860. The SLRP is the national programme to identify and remove obsolete and spent primary and secondary legislation from Ireland’s legislative stock…

Of particular interest to local and family historians will be the 2,503 proclamations offering rewards for apprehending suspected criminals around the island of Ireland.

This is a PDF file at: https://www.lawreform.ie/_fileupload/press%20releases/PR%20-%20SLRP%20-%202022.pdf.

I have written often about the need for genealogists (and others) to make frequent backups of their databases. The exact method of making these backups isn't the most important factor involved; any method that reliably produces the required results is a good method.

Having said that, I must also chime in with two more critical and related suggestions: (1.) Making only one backup is insufficient (backups often become corrupted and that usually isn't discovered until the moment of maximum need: when you need to restore some critical bit of information and (2.) keeping backups in the same place as your computer doesn't provide protection against fire, floods, earthquakes, blizzards, and other natural in-home disasters. (Off-site backups are much safer and therefore better.)

It was with delight that I recently discovered an article written by Fergus O'Sullivan and published in the How-To Geek web site:

The 5 Best Free Cloud Storage Services

As the title suggests, O'Sullivan lists the better-known cloud-based file storage services, the allotment of free storage each service offers, and what extras are included with each offer.

The amount of free storage space varies from one service to another, ranging from 5 gigabytes to 20 gigabytes (for the first year only). You probably should back up more than that but starting with the various free services allows you to "try it before you buy it" and also to first become accustomed to the service(s) that you try.

My recommendation: every genealogist (and others) should read this article. This article isn't written just for genealogists but it certainly does apply to genealogy record-keeping.

You can find "The 5 Best Free Cloud Storage Services" at: https://www.howtogeek.com/787191/best-free-cloud-storage-services/.

According to an article in the Daily Post Athenian web site:

"The Tennessee State Library & Archives will host a full-day summer camp, Historians in Training: Junior Archivist, for rising fourth to eighth grade students from June 13-17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

"The camp, presented by the Library & Archives Education Outreach team, will take place at the new Library & Archives, located on the northeast corner of Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park at 1001 Rep. John Lewis Way N. in Nashville. The cost to attend is $125 per camper, with an additional charge if before or after care is needed.

"During the week-long camp, participants will explore historical topics and people while learning how archivists care for and protect historical documents for the future. As junior archivists and historians, campers will learn how history is preserved through hands-on activities, games and field trips to other local historical sites."

You can read more at: https://www.dailypostathenian.com/news/article_65cde6fe-44c5-52d2-9e34-875941a3c64d.html.

Retiring U.S. national archivist David Ferriero allegedly gave the Biden administration some strict instruction in recent weeks on what type of person should be nominated to replace him — only it had nothing to do with qualifications.

Instead, the outgoing archivist told administration officials his primary concern is that the new archivist fit a certain demographic; namely, not white and male.

"That's advice I've given to the White House already: that you better not hire another white male. ... We've had 10 white males," Ferriero said during an interview during the National Archives annual Sunshine Week event.

You can read the full story about Ferriero's advice in an article by Phil Shiver published in the the Blaze web site at: https://www.theblaze.com/news/retiring-us-archivist-better-not-hire-white-male.

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

Gain Proficiency at the NGS 2022 Family History Conference

Register Now.

Early Bird Rates End 18 March

If becoming a professional or certified genealogist interests you, the NGS 2022 Family History Conference has excellent educational opportunities delivered by nationally recognized experts to bring you closer to that goal. The In-Person conference in Sacramento, California, 24-28 May, is designed to offer lectures on subject matter in which you will need proficiency to meet those requirements. The five-day program features:

* Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) Education Fund pre-conference, full-day workshop. Tuesday, 24 May. Limited capacity. Register now.

* BCG Skillbuilding track with eighteen lectures during the four-day conference including methodology lectures and case studies.

* Additional lectures throughout the conference from BCG credentialed speakers covering a wide range of essential topics to broaden your education.

* Fourteen presentations by Accredited Genealogists (AG) are scheduled throughout the program, the majority giving lectures on regional records in which they specialize. In addition, there are more than 150 lectures on methods and records to increase your competency in DNA, land records, probate, solving challenging problems, and much more. Register now.

In-Person registrants receive a compendium of all handouts for every lecture which will continue to provide new learning in the months and years ahead.

Meet and visit with genealogists at every skill level who are eager to share their passion and connect with others after a long hiatus.

Have questions about the NGS In-Person conference and virtual options? Contact the NGS Registrar at registrar@ngsgenealogy.org. Visit conference.ngsgenealogy.org or call our staff at 1-800-473-0060.

Register Now.

Early Bird Rates End 18 March.

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.

Many people of Irish ancestry love to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. on March 17. After all, it is a great way to celebrate one's Irish heritage. However, some of the celebrations are a bit questionable. In fact, many of the commonly-held beliefs about St. Patrick are wrong. Before making plans, you might want to consider a few facts:

St. Patrick wasn't Irish

Patrick was probably born in what is now England, Scotland or Wales around A.D. 390. Different historians have different beliefs about his date and place of birth. After all, the borders moved a bit over the years as well. Most agree that St. Patrick's parents were Roman citizens living in the British Isles. Therefore, Patrick himself was a Roman citizen even though he was born somewhere in what is now Great Britain.

At the age of 16 he was enslaved by Irish raiders who attacked his home. He was held in captivity in Ireland for six years. Patrick later fled to England, where he received religious instruction before returning to Ireland to serve as a missionary.

St. Patrick did not bring Christianity to Ireland

Christianity was introduced into Ireland by a bishop known as Palladius before Patrick began preaching in Ireland. However, St. Patrick apparently had more success at converting the Irish to Christianity than did Palladius.

St. Patrick did not banish snakes from the Emerald Isle

Legend has it that Patrick stood on an Irish hillside and delivered a sermon that drove the island’s serpents into the sea. While it’s true that the Emerald Isle is snake-free, it appears that had been true for thousands of years. Nobody has ever found even a fossil of a snake in Ireland. The assumption is that the waters surrounding the Irish isle are much too cold for cold-blooded snakes to survive the long swim.

Green historically is not associated with St. Patrick’s Day

The Irish countryside may be many shades of green, but knights in the Order of St. Patrick wore a color known as St. Patrick’s blue.

Green has been used by supporters of Irish independence who used the color to represent their cause in the 18th century and later. Indeed, green is often used to denote Ireland today but that has nothing to do with St. Patrick.

The Irish shamrock has THREE leaves, not four.

The original shamrock was used by St. Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity was probably hop clover (trifolium minus), white clover (trifolium repens), wood sorrel (oxalis acetosella) or the black medic (medicago lupulina). All of those plants have three leaves. The plant commonly sold nowadays as shamrock is usually trifolium minus, a small yellow-flowered clover with four leaves.

St. Patrick’s Day is not a time for festivities

Until the 1700s, St. Patrick’s Day was a Roman Catholic feast only observed in Ireland. The faithful spent the relatively somber occasion in quiet prayer at church or at home. The custom of revelry, wearing green and even of drinking green beer was first introduced by Irish immigrants and descendants living in the United States. The customs were later exported to Ireland and to many other counties. In the last few decades, Irish tourist boards have heavily publicized March 17 as a day for festivities.

Corned beef is not a classic St. Patrick’s Day dish nor even an Irish dish.

In Ireland, corned beef has always been a rarity. Instead, a type of bacon similar to ham is more common. According to Irish Cultures and Customs at http://irishcultureandcustoms.com/2Kitch/aCBeefCabge.html, “The truth is, that for many Irish people, Corned Beef is too ‘poor’ or plain to eat on a holiday: they’d sooner make something more festive.” Certainly, there will be many restaurants in Ireland that will be serving Corned Beef and Cabbage on March 17th , but most of them will be doing so just to please the tourists.

In the late 19th century, Irish immigrants in New York City’s Lower East Side supposedly substituted corned beef, which they bought from their Jewish neighbors, in order to save money. However, cabbage is certainly a common Irish ingredient in many meals.

The traditional St. Patrick's day parade is not traditional, at least not in Ireland.

The first documented St. Patrick's Day parade was held in New York City, not in Ireland. Eighteenth-century Irish soldiers fighting with the British in the U.S. Revolutionary War held the first St. Patrick's Day parades. Some soldiers, for example, marched through New York City in 1762 to reconnect with their Irish roots.

Other parades followed in the years and decades after, including well-known celebrations in Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, primarily in flourishing Irish immigrant communities.

And then there is the green beer...

No, it isn't Irish either.

Genealogists have always been taught to record our sources of information. We not only record the name of the book or other source of genealogy information, but we also record the location of the building (repository) where we found it. Typically we record the building’s name, street address, city and state.

With today’s technology, shouldn’t we also be recording the geographic coordinates? With GPS receivers and the plethora of high-quality on-line maps, it is now easy to find the exact latitude and longitude of any address. Unlike street names, the longitude and latitude will never change.

I have written about finding cemeteries and other locations of genealogical interest by using GPS receivers. Shouldn’t we be recording the exact latitude and longitudes of those cemeteries into our genealogy databases? Perhaps the cemetery’s location alone isn’t enough. Should we record the exact location of the ancestor's tombstone.

How about the location of great-great-grandfather’s farm? I believe the latitude and longitude of that farm would be a valuable entry in your database so that future genealogists who have access to your data can find that farm’s location, even if it has since become covered with weeds or perhaps become a high-rise apartment building. In short, I think we should record the geographic coordinates of every location in our genealogy databases.

You can enter the latitude and longitude of any location as a text note into most any modern genealogy program. However, several of the better genealogy programs have specific database fields for these coordinates.

If you own a GPS receiver, the next time you visit an ancestral site of any sort, you should record its geographic coordinates into your database. You can also find similar information by consulting topographic maps.