Following is a News Release from FamilySearch:

New patron film scanning station in the FamilySearch Family History LibraryThe FamilySearch Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, announced it will begin a phased reopening starting 6 July 2021. The popular destination service has been closed since March 13, 2020, due to precautions pertaining to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The library serves beginner and professional family history patrons from all over the world and is a popular tourist attraction for the state of Utah. Initially, hours will be from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, with plans to extend to additional days and hours soon. “While billions of our records are available online, we realize that many researchers—including professional genealogists whose livelihoods depend on reliable records—are anxious to access records in-person within the library. We know the extended closing has created difficulties, and we are excited to welcome our guests back into a safe environment for continued research and discoveries,” said David Rencher, director of the Family History Library and FamilySearch’s Chief Genealogical Officer. Rencher says as one of the most popular attractions in the state, it has been tough to be closed for so long, but necessary to ensure the health and safety of staff and guests. When the library reopens, patrons will be asked to respect any prevailing safety precautions at that time. In addition, sanitizing stations are placed throughout the library, and continuous cleaning procedures will also be in place. New patron workstations at the FamilySearch Family History Library.The library has taken advantage of the prolonged closure to make needed renovations to the facility that will be very exciting to patrons when the doors reopen. “Guests will return to an environment that will significantly improve discovery and research experiences,” said Rencher. Crews have been busy preparing to welcome guests back by remodeling, adding new features like state-of-the-art patron workstations with multiple monitors and adjustable height desks to accommodate sitting or standing preferences, enhanced workflow throughout, and nearly 40,000 books from new acquisition and long-term storage. The library has added or upgraded the following new, free patron services. They are accessible through the new Family History Library web page. Guests can sign up for free, online, one-on-one virtual consultations with a research specialist (available in languages). Library look-up services. If you can’t come to the library, a staff member can retrieve a book from its shelves and help you find what you’re seeking. In FamilySearch Communities online, guests can get assistance from volunteers worldwide, including locating or interpreting ancestor records, asking questions, or sharing their expertise with others. Check out the growing menu of popular free online classes and webinars. New selections are offered and recorded weekly and made available on-demand. In the library, take advantage of improved services to digitize your family photos and artifacts or convert family audio and video tapes to digital media. FamilySearch family history centers and libraries will open based on the direction of their local ecclesiastical leaders and government guidelines. If you plan to visit a FamilySearch center soon, please call ahead to ensure it is open and its hours of operation. From: https://media.familysearch.org/familysearch-family-history-library-reopening/ Related: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/temple-square-reopening

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Uncover important facts about your ancestors this week on FamilySearch in more than a half million Netherlands Vital Records Indexes 1600–2000, and nearly 2M more Catholic Church records from Argentina beginning 1576, plus Bolivia 1566–1996, Chile 1710–1928, Costa Rica 1595–1992, the Dominican Republic 1590–1955, Puerto Rico 1645–1969, Spain 1307–1985, and Venezuela 1577-1995. 

Peruse the Liberia Census 2008, and expanded collections for the US (Louisiana Voter Registrations 1867–1905, US Bureau of Land Management Tract Books 1800–c. 1955, and Iowa Military Records ca.1862–ca. 1978).

Search these new records and images by clicking on the collection links below, or go to FamilySearch to search over 8 billion free names and record images.

Note: The full list of newly-added records is very long, too long to be published here. However, you can find the full list at: https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-7-june-2021/.

The following announcement was written by Graham and Emma Maxwell:

[Glasgow, Scotland 7 June 2021] Learn how to trace your Scottish family history. The 11th Scottish Indexes Conference will be held on 11 July 2021. This ‘timezone friendly’ event is free to watch on Zoom and Facebook.

The 16 hour conference (7am to 11 pm BST) hosted by genealogists Graham and Emma Maxwell will include:

• ‘Merchant and Trades House Records’ by Dr. Irene O’Brien
• ‘Tracing Scottish Women’ by Kirsty Wilkinson
• ‘Tracing Scottish Ancestors Before 1855’ by Alison Spring
• ‘Overcoming Brickwalls: Case Studies’ by Emma Maxwell

A full list of presentations can be found on www.scottishindexes.com.

The Q&A sessions are always a highlight of a Scottish Indexes Conference. These are an opportunity for the attendees to ask questions and receive help from our panel of experts.

Cinda Baxter, professional genealogist says, “A huge and hearty thanks again to Emma and Graham for providing the virtual conference. What a labor of love (and terrific gift) during these crazy times.”

Emma Maxwell, genealogist and co-founder of scottishindexes.com says, “By hosting a 16-hour marathon event we’re able to engage with people the world over.”

Registration is free on Zoom and Facebook. Follow the directions on www.scottishindexes.com.

About www.scottishindexes.com:

www.scottishindexes.com is run by husband and wife team Graham and Emma Maxwell, both experienced Scottish genealogists. As well as helping clients with their family history, Graham and Emma also index historical Scottish records and make them available for free on their website.

When Michigan State Police began submitting DNA from unidentified remains for genealogy testing, the agency was elated by how quickly the process achieved results.

“We knew she was a white female, but we didn’t know who she was,” Lt. Scott Ernstes with Michigan State Police said about the remains found on October 12, 1988, in Van Buren County’s Covert Township.

“Within six weeks, we had her identified. She was from Oklahoma. And with the other 2010 case out of Wayland, same thing. White male, (and) we had it identified very quickly,” Ernstes said.

But that wasn’t the case when it came to three other sets of unidentified remains found over three decades in Covert Township.

“It was quite shocking that (the genealogy testing) was taking so long,” recalled Ernstes.

“That’s where conversations with DNA Doe (Project) came in. They said, ‘this is why. The populations you’re looking for are underrepresented in the system,'” he said.

You can read the full article by Susan Samples in the WOODTV.COM web site at: https://www.woodtv.com/news/target-8/genealogy-sites-lack-diverse-dna-struggle-to-id-people-of-color/. 

The following announcement was written by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro:

UNC Greensboro University Libraries, along with faculty partners across the state, has received an $150,000 digital extension grant from The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) to expand its Digital Library on American Slavery (DLAS) to three more campuses in North Carolina: North Carolina Central University, UNC Pembroke, and East Carolina University.

As part of the 2021 ACLS Digital Extension Grant program, the grant will allow the University Libraries team, led by Richard Cox and Dr. Claire E. Heckel, to expand the digital infrastructure of the DLAS through local, community-engaged digital humanities research and engage new audiences. Principal investigators Dr. Charles Denton Johnson, NCCU; Dr. Jarvis L. Hargrove, ECU; and Dr. Jaime Amanda Martinez, UNCP will lead a distinct research project that builds on their own scholarship and existing programs of study at their respective institutions and on existing relationships with local communities.

“It’s always been important to me that the Digital Library on American Slavery be a resource that is demonstrably beneficial and openly available to both researchers beyond UNCG and the broader community,” said Cox. “This grant, led by Dr. Johnson, Dr. Martinez, and Dr. Hargrove, will allow DLAS itself to grow as well as provide funding for their important work at their institutions and in their local North Carolina communities.”

DLAS is an expanding resource compiling various independent online collections focused on race and slavery in the American South, made searchable through a single, simple interface. It houses one of the largest databases of slave names on the internet, and has been used by historians, genealogists, and other scholars and researchers across the world, including Colson Whitehead, author of the Pulitzer-winning novel “The Underground Railroad.”

To learn more and to view the digital library, visit library.uncg.edu/slavery.

From an article by Zachary Crockett published in The Hustle web site:

"Earlier this year, Ryan Klein had a near-death experience.

"While cleaning out a gutter at his California home, the 32-year-old IT professional took a misstep and tumbled 10 feet off a ladder into a fortuitously placed wintergreen shrub.

"Sprawled out on the ground, gazing up at the cerulean sky, a terrifying thought crossed his mind."

“I realized that my wife didn’t have access to my cryptocurrency,” he told The Hustle. “If I’d died that day, that money would’ve just disappeared.”

OK, now think about your situation. Do you have everything you own documented so that your heirs can find them. Do you own any cryptocurrencies?

If so, you will want to read the lengthy remainder of Zachary Crockett's article at https://thehustle.co/what-happens-to-your-bitcoin-when-you-die/.

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

This time of year is stressful for genealogists who live in areas where hurricanes are an issue. The hurricane season in the southeastern United States last from June 1^st through November 30. High winds, flooding, downed trees, and more are common. During hurricanes, the news media often reports numerous cases of homes and the contents of homes that were damaged or destroyed.

The hurricanes of recent years should teach all of us many lessons. One lesson concerns preparedness; waiting until a hurricane is bearing down on you is not the time to start planning!

Of course, hurricanes are not the only disasters we face. Other parts of the nation face tornadoes, wildfires, flooding, and other threats. While not as common in the U.S., I well remember the 1980 volcano explosion of Mount Saint Helens.

Some years ago I remember watching a television news story from California when a reporter interviewed a woman in front of her burning home during a wild fire that leveled the entire neighborhood. The woman was obviously crying and, when asked about her losses, she moaned that she had lost years of genealogy work in the flames.

Widespread disasters are not the only threat to your genealogy records. Of course, anyone can suffer from a burst water pipe or even a local fire that ruins documents, photographs, fabrics, and many other precious items.

You may be covered by homeowners insurance, but have you "insured" your many hours of genealogy searches? If a disaster does strike, will you be able to replace your genealogy records once you get your life back in order?

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/10592708.

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.

An article in the 23andMe Blog will interest many genealogists:

"Researchers at 23andMe have identified a new genetic variant associated with COVID-19 induced loss of smell and taste.

"The findings, published in a preprint released on medRxiv, note that the genetic variant is near two olfactory genes.  Loss of smell and, or taste — also called anosmia — is a hallmark symptom of COVID-19. It is often the earliest indication of infection, and in some cases, the only symptom. An individual with one copy of the variant is about 11.5 percent more likely to lose their sense of smell or taste if infected compared to someone with zero copies.

"The research adds another piece to the COVID-19 puzzle, and it builds on the work already done by 23andMe over the last year that includes new findings around the role blood type plays in severity and susceptibility to the virus. This piece of the puzzle is intriguing because the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 first enters the body and accumulates in olfactory support cells. The findings may offer researchers important insights into the biological pathway for infection.

"For these findings, the researchers again used data from more than one million people who consented to participate in 23andMe’s COVID-19 Study.  By examining the differences in the genome between COVID-19 cases who did and did not experience loss of taste or smell, our scientists identified an association on chromosome 4 near the olfactory genes UGT2A1 and UGT2A2."

You can read the entire article at: https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/scientists-find-genetic-link-to-loss-of-smell-among-covid-19-patients/.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

This week’s Findmypast Friday sees the leading family history website expand their exclusive collection of Scottish parish registers with over half a million new Roman Catholic sacramental registers.

Also new to the site this week are monumental inscriptions from England’s largest county as well a whole host of historical newspapers. 

Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Registers

646,933 new Scottish baptism, marriage, burial and congregational registers have been added to Findmypast’s exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive.

Only available to search on Findmypast, the majority of these records cover the Archdiocese of Glasgow. This includes;

• • Over 307,000 new Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
  • Over 158,000 new Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Marriages
  • Over 15,000 new Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Burials
  • Over 164,000 new Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Congregational Records

Each record includes both a transcript and scanned colour image of the original document. The amount of information listed in these detail rich records may vary, although most results will reveal key biographical details as well as the date, parish, and location of the event that was being recorded.

Baptisms will reveal the names of godparents and parents, enabling you to uncover details of previous generations as well as the identities of family friends or relatives. Marriages will provide the name of your ancestor’s spouse, father and witnesses while burials allow you to discover the final resting place of your ancestors, their age at death, marital status and in some cases even cause of death. 

Congregational records are packed with other fascinating facts surrounding your ancestor’s relationship with the church such as details of their confirmation, first confession or even the location of their seat rental. 

Visit the Scottish Catholic parish list for precise details on the churches and timeframes covered by each update.

As many of the original registers were written in Latin, Findmypast have applied a Latin dictionary to the name search field. This gives their search the capability to search for the English and Latin versions of a name when the name variants option is selected.

Today’s release marks just the latest update to the Catholic Heritage Archive, Findmypast’s ground-breaking digitisation project to bring millions of records from across Scotland, England, Ireland and American online for the very first time.

The Roman Catholic Church holds some of the oldest and best-preserved family records which, until now, have remained locked away for centuries. By working with partners at various Archdiocese, Findmypast has enabled millions of users across the world to explore their Catholic roots online.

Yorkshire Monumental Inscriptions

Chosen by Findmypast users in last week’s community poll, more records have Been added to this rich resource. A must-search for anyone with Yorkshire roots, the collection can reveal essential information about your Yorkshire relatives' lives, deaths and families. See Findmypasts Yorkshire parish list for more information this handy list.

Newspapers

Five English and Irish newspapers are brand new to the site this week, along with updates to 11 other publications. Online for the first time are:

• • Ballymena Advertiser covering 1873-1892
  • Boston Spa News covering 1873-1878, 1880-1882, 1884-1895 and 1898-1900
  • Galway Express covering 1853-1920
  • Isle of Wight Journal covering 1877, 1879 and 1889
  • Western Star and Ballinasloe Advertiser covering 1845-1869 and 1888-1902

While the following existing titles have been supplemented with additional pages:

• • Beverley Independent from 1888-1893, 1895-1896 and 1898-1911
  • Englishman’s Overland Mail from 1906
  • Glossop-dale Chronicle and North Derbyshire Reporter from 1895-1896, 1898-1910 and 1913
  • Halifax Comet from 1895
  • Lynn Advertiser from 1926-1928
  • Middleton Albion from 1857-1867 and 1869-1880
  • Pontefract Advertiser from 1865, 1873 and 1889
  • Swindon Advertiser from 1900
  • Torquay Times, and South Devon Advertiser from 1934-1949 and 1951-1961
  • Weekly Journal (Hartlepool) from 1907-1908
  • West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser from 1983-1990

The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder has documented daily life in the Twin Cities’ Black community for more than 85 years. But until recently, finding stories from that rich past meant slogging through stacks of old newsprint.

Now, that history can be found with a few clicks. Archives reaching back to 1934 are online now at the Minnesota Historical Society's digital newspaper hub.

"We've, over the years, have had a lot of phone calls about old articles. Because our archive system is kind of archaic, it wasn't very user-friendly. You'd be back there digging through old papers forever,” said Tracey Williams-Dillard, owner and publisher of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, the state’s oldest Black-owned newspaper.

“With it being digitized, now you can put a name in and all the articles that have that name, and it will pop up now,” she said. “This is super cool."

Almost 11,000 pages of the Minneapolis Spokesman, one of the forerunners of today’s Spokesman-Recorder, can be accessed through the hub, said Anne Levin, the digital newspapers manager at the Minnesota Historical Society.

Issues of the St. Paul Recorder, Twin-City Herald and Timely Digest will also be added to the digital hub in the next few months. Currently, about 8,530 pages of the Recorder are available, covering the years from 1934 to 1941. About 1,800 pages of the Herald and more than 200 pages of the Timely Digest are also digitized.

You can read more in an article by Matt Mikus published in the MPRnews web site at: https://bit.ly/3z35HDd.

The Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub may be found at: https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/hub.