The following is an announcement from Findmypast:

• • Findmypast announce a variety of new tools and features designed to enhance user discoveries
  • Major update improves accessibility to detail rich genealogical resources
  • Users can now locate and decipher the hidden details within images of original documents 

Leading family history website, Findmypast, have today announced a major new update to their record image viewer.

Now available to all users, the upgraded viewer introduces a raft of new tools and features all designed to enhance user discoveries.

For both beginner and expert family historians, digitised images of original documents are an essential resource that often provide significantly richer levels of detail than transcripts alone.

With many millions of images available to explore and with millions more being added to the site each month, Findmypast have launched this upgrade to help users make the most of this vast genealogical goldmine by making the contents of historical documents easier to access and understand.

These new features and tools include;

• • Brightness and contrast adjustors – to help improve the legibility of difficult to read documents. Also included is the option to ‘invert colours’ for those who prefer to read light text on dark backgrounds
  • Previews of previous subsequent pages - Thumbnails of the images either side of an individual record have now been added. This helps users understand what might lie beyond the page they’re initially looking at - whether a volume cover, new volume or record. For the 1911 Census, Findmypast have also created thumbnails for additional information about each volume
  • Page numbers - where available, page numbers have also been made visible. To help navigate volumes in their entirety, users can now see exactly where they are within the document, the total number of pages available, and can jump to any one of them immediately
  • Easier access to transcripts - Where an image has transcripts available, Findmypast now enables users to access any transcript for a person featured in that image from within the viewer itself. This enhances users’ ability to ability to see what names are included in any given image, particularly helpful in cases where old handwriting may be difficult to read. This is available on many record sets such as the 1939 register, Crime and Punishment record set, Passenger Lists etc. 
  • View transcript on the page within the 1939 Register - Findmypast have used data coordinates to show users transcripts in situ when viewing on desktop, making it much easier to identify individuals and households at a glance
  • Enhanced viewing on mobile or tablet devices – including an improved interface and the ability to flip documents for improved viewing of landscape images
  • Simplified access to important tools – Findmypast have grouped the most popular user actions such as printing, downloading and adding to tree at the top of each image and have added explanations for new users

As well as making it easier for users to quickly and accurately access the information they need, today’s announcement also lays solid foundations for future updates.

Following significant and continued investment in the development of new tools and features, Findmypast will continue to work hand in hand with their passionate online community to further enhance their unique offerings and deliver the best possible experience for all.

I received an email message a while ago from a newsletter reader asking about an experience she had with a county records clerk. I answered her in email but decided to also publish my reply here in this newsletter because I suspect her experience is going to become more common with every passing year.

I deleted the name of the city, county, and state because I believe this is a nationwide and even international issue. It could have happened anywhere. Let's focus on the issues, not on the location:

"Hi, Mr. Eastman

"I wanted to share this with you. I am researching genealogy for a friend of mine. He told me that his parents were married in {city and state deleted} and he wanted proof of that. He did not have any more information than that.

"Today, I contacted the County Clerk of that location to verify that they were married there. The clerk found the record. I asked how much would it would cost to obtaine a certified copy. She said that 'I will mail the original to you.' I said, 'The original?' She replied, 'Yes, we do not keep original documents anymore. We scan them into the computer system and mail them to the nearest family member.'

"I just wonder how many genealogy seekers know this about {city deleted} or is it this way throughout {state deleted}? I thought I would let you know about this."

My reply:

That is still unusual but not unheard of. I have heard that a number of other places do the same thing.

All government offices are cost-constrained. Buying filing cabinets to keep millions of pieces of paper is expensive. However, creating new buildings or expanding present buildings to provide space for all the filing cabinets, along with the required climate controls (heating, air conditioning, and humidity controls), building maintenance, and salaries of people to maintain the place are cost-prohibitive… always costing millions of taxpayer dollars. In addition, storing paper is a poor method as it is sensitive to fires, floods, mold, insect damage, theft, and other problems.

Storing digital copies (with backup copies stored in second or even third locations) is more reliable, safer, easier to handle (such as giving copies to those who ask), and is always much cheaper for the taxpayers.

My guess is that, within 25 or 50 years, no government office will be storing paper, except for a very few exceptions of important historical documents, probably kept in a local museum.

Just think… if that marriage certificate had already been digitized in the past, when you recently talked to the clerk, he or she could have asked, “What is your email address?” and you then would have received your copy within 15 or 20 seconds. Faster, more convenient, and much cheaper for the taxpayers of the county.

- Dick Eastman

What is your opinion? Should government offices keep purchasing filing cabinets, expanding their buildings or making new buildings for their archives, and pay for the “required climate controls (heating, air conditioning, and humidity controls), building maintenance, and salaries of people to maintain the place?”

Do you have Wyoming ancestors? If so, you will be interested in an announcement from the Wyoming State Library:

University of Wyoming Libraries and the Wyoming State Library have partnered to launch the Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection online.

This collection of historic newspapers combines the digital holdings of both institutions with a new interface that is more robust, providing easier, customizable searches and better results. More than 800,000 pages are now available, with new content added monthly. To search the Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection, go to www.wyomingnewspapers.org.

“This collaboration is yet another example of libraries working together to bring additional information resources to the people of Wyoming and bringing the world to Wyoming,” says Thomas Ivie, Wyoming State Library research and statistics librarian.

The Wyoming State Library has long been home to the Wyoming Newspapers database, which includes more than 340 historic newspapers with over 800,000 pages consisting mostly of newspapers from 1849-1922. Along with this existing content, the Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection includes content digitized by UW. In 2019, UW received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to digitize 100,000 pages of Wyoming newspapers -- dating from 1863-1963 -- as part of the state’s participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program.

“Combining the newspaper holdings of both the Wyoming State Library and University of Wyoming Libraries gives users an opportunity for increased access through a single point of contact,” says Bryan Ricupero, UW Libraries metadata librarian and interim department head of Digital Collections. “This should make for a much improved research experience.”

UW Libraries and the Wyoming State Library also teamed up with the Colorado State Library to launch the Plains to Peaks Historic Newspapers database, a one-stop collection that combines the Wyoming and Colorado historic newspaper collections. The combined regional collection can be found at www.ppc-historicnewspapers.org.

Monument on top of the gravestone for Malcolm Alexander MacLean, the first Mayor of Vancouver, at Mountain View Cemetery

An article by Eve Lazarus probably will interest anyone with relatives buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is a brief history of why the cemetery was formed and the burial, exhumation, and reburial practices of that cemetery.

The article also states, "Mountain View Cemetery may have been Vancouver’s first official cemetery when it opened in 1886."

You can read the article at https://evelazarus.com/the-lost-cemetery-of-stanley-park/.

My thanks to newsletter reader Jim Benedict for telling me about this article.

Verogen is a company in the DNA business that is attempting to assist in solving violent "cold cases" by the use of DNA samples taken at the crime scene. The company released a new press release yesterday that describes DNA testing procedures that I don't fully understand. What really caught my eye, however, was the mentions of GEDmatch PRO,  described as "providing secure access to the largest source of voluntarily contributed profiles for law enforcement matching."

Here is the press release:

SAN DIEGO--Verogen Inc. announced today that it is expanding capabilities for the NDIS-approved MiSeq FGx® Sequencing System with the commercial launch of the ForenSeq® Kintelligence Kit, a solution optimized for low input and degraded samples. The kit targets 10,230 forensically curated SNPs, alleviating genetic privacy concerns by minimizing medically informative markers. The seamless integration of this workflow with GEDmatch® PRO, a dedicated forensics portal for investigative comparisons, will empower the criminal justice community to maintain chain of custody while generating deeper investigative insights.

GEDmatch PRO advances the genealogy database of consumer site GEDmatch, which was acquired by Verogen in 2019, by providing secure access to the largest source of voluntarily contributed profiles for law enforcement matching. “The launch of GEDmatch PRO delivered on our commitment to data privacy and best-in-class kinship analysis tools in an environment designed for forensic labs," said Brett Williams, Chief Executive Officer at Verogen. "ForenSeq Kintelligence is built on a forensically validated sequencing platform designed to simplify the workflow and yield more informative data, enabling our customers to truly realize the promise of forensic genetic genealogy while retaining the best practices and high-quality standards essential to their operation."

“Our mission is to employ the most advanced technology tools to aid investigations. Cold case samples are usually severely degraded, inhibited and have very low inputs, which is why we have invested in the ForenSeq Kintelligence workflow,” noted Danny Hellwig, Laboratory Director at Intermountain Forensics, one of the first labs to utilize the new technology. “It is a targeted sequencing technology that can enhance our ability to provide robust results without compromising on our mission."

The ForenSeq Kintelligence Kit and the ForenSeq Kintelligence Analysis Module in Universal Analysis Software are now available for purchase. For more information, visit verogen.com.

ABOUT VEROGEN

Verogen is a dedicated developer of human identification products for sequencing and analysis of forensic genomic samples. Working closely with the forensic community, Verogen places exceptional value on flexible, scalable solutions that deliver reliable results.

Footnote: “ForenSeq Kintelligence is built on a forensically validated sequencing platform designed to simplify the workflow and yield more informative data, enabling our customers to truly realize the promise of forensic genetic genealogy while retaining the best practices and high-quality standards essential to their operation.”

The following is a press release from Forces War Records, an organization in the United Kingdom:

An exciting ‘new’ collection of records has been added to the Forces War Records database that may contain your WW2 Royal Air Force ancestor. A collection of over 178,000 records from the ‘Air Ministry - Casualty Communiques 1939-46’ are now available to view online.

Search the ‘Air Ministry - Casualty Communiques WWII’

Throughout the Second World War, the Air Ministry regularly published Casualty Communiques through the Ministry of Information which announced, or updated the status of missing Air Force personnel. Once the next of kin had been informed these reports were then released to various newspapers and periodicals of the era including The Times, many Daily Gazettes and magazines such as Flight.

Services covered are:

• • Royal Air Force

  • Royal Australian Air Force

  • Royal Canadian Air Force

  • Royal New Zealand Air Force

  • South African Air Force

  • Royal Indian Air Force

  • Women’s Auxiliary Air Force

The size and scope of WW2 Records held by Forces War Records makes them a fascinating resource for genealogists. These records, cover Armed Forces personnel injured or killed in action, those receiving awards, mention in dispatches or those captured as a P.O.W. and so much more!

You may not be aware of this, but the Ministry of Defence has a 100-year disclosure rule on service records, this applying to all service post 1921. Although, at Forces War Records we have over 7 million WW2 Records.

Are you looking for the war heroes in your family?

Do you know enough about your ancestors and their military past?

Why not log on to Forces War Records and search our vast collection of records to find out more – there could be a war hero in your family just waiting to be discovered, and remembered…

SEARCH - https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/

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

FALLS CHURCH, VA, 16 FEBRUARY 2021—The National Genealogical Society (NGS) will host a new Focus on Societies Day on Friday, 21 May 2021, as part of its weeklong virtual NGS 2021 Family History Conference.

NGS recognizes that genealogical societies, historical societies, and family organizations are the backbone of the genealogy community and are an important source of information and knowledge for budding family historians. The all-day event is devoted to presentations offering expert advice for society leaders on managing and growing their genealogical or historical societies. Jill Morelli will kick off the event with ideas and new opportunities for societies based on lessons learned during the pandemic. The day will feature fourteen session topics to choose from focused on sharing best practices, building leadership, attracting new members, planning online meetings and events, developing newsletters and other publications, and more.

Societies are invited to fill out an online form to hear their societies mentioned during the event. NGS will record some portions of the workshop and make them available to member organizations on its website.

Registration for the Focus on Societies Day is now open. To learn more about the NGS 2021 Virtual Family History Conference’s weeklong events, 17−21 May, visit the conference website. A discounted Early Bird registration fee is available through 15 March 2021.

The following is an extract from the IAJGS Records Access Alert mailing list and is republished here with permission:

The IAJGS Records Access Alert previously wrote about the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) approved closing its facility in Seattle—without any public input. The sale is due to the recommendation for sale by the Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB) and approved sale by the Office of Management and Budget. This would severely hamper access for people in the Pacific Northwest: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington State. See: https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2020/nr20-37. There was a public hearing on January 19 where over 300 were in attendance- as the Zoom call maxed out at 300, so some testified and then left so others could testify- therefore we are uncertain as to the total number of people who participated. RPAC, of which IAJGS is a sponsoring member, submitted a statement to Washington State Attorney General Ferguson supporting his position in opposition of relocating the NARA records outside of the Pacific NW.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued a statement after John C. Coughenour, Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, blocked the federal government’s plan to expedite the sale of Seattle’s National Archives facility and ship the undigitized records 1,000 miles away to Southern California. The statement says Judge Coughenour will issue a preliminary injunction next week in which he will rule that Ferguson’s coalition was likely to prevail in its lawsuit asserting that the federal government acted unlawfully when it moved to sell the National Archives facility and scatter the archival records thousands of miles away.

Ferguson, working with a coalition of regional tribes, community organizations, the City of Seattle and Oregon’s Attorney General, asked the court in January to enjoin, or block, the sale while the litigation continues. The coalition filed nearly 600 pages of declarations from 79 individuals see: https://agportal-s3bucket.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/CombinedDecls_Reduced.pdf

AG Ferguson filed a lawsuit earlier this week asserting the sale violates the conditions Congress placed on agencies’ ability to sell federal properties on an expedited basis and fails to appropriately account for the records’ importance to the Pacific Northwest region. Further, the federal government refused to consult or cooperate with local stakeholders, including tribal governments, in deciding to sell the property. Twenty-nine federally recognized tribes, Alaskan tribal entities, and tribal communities from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska, as well as nine community organizations, historical preservation societies and museums and Oregon joined Ferguson’s lawsuit.

For nearly six months Ferguson sought public records related to the proposed sale. The agencies refused to produce the public records. the PBRB demanded that taxpayers pay more than $65,000 for records redaction before producing them. In response to the agencies’ refusal to comply with Ferguson’s records request, Ferguson filed three Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits in August 2020 and a fourth in September. The PBRB dropped the demand for the $65,000 but requested until March 31 to produce its responsive documents — a date by which the Archives building may have already been sold.

On January 5 the judge ruled in favor of Ferguson ordering the PBRB to turn over previously identified, non-exempt documents within 14 business days and all other responsive non-exempt records within 21 business days.

The Seattle archive facility houses original case files for people who entered the country through ports in Portland and Seattle. These case files include identification photographs, biographical information, interrogation notes, copies of federal and local court records, as well as personal letters and photographs. These files, created to discriminate against Chinese workers, have become a critical resource to Chinese Americans looking for information about their ancestors.

To read more see:

https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/79-individuals-share-their-personal-stories-part-ag-led-coalition-s-motion-halt.

Thank you to Barbara Jean Mathews, CG, FASG and president of the Massachusetts Genealogical Council for sharing the aforementioned article with us.

To read the previous IAJGS Records Access Alert postings about the Seattle, WA NARA Building pending sale and removal of documents to 1,000 miles away go to the archives of the IAJGS Records Access Alert at: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/private/records-access-alerts. You must be registered to access the archives. To register for the IAJGS Records Access Alert go to: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/listinfo/records-access-alerts. You will receive an email response that you have to reply to or the subscription will not be finalized. It is required to include your organization affiliation (genealogy organization, etc.)

Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

LDSGenealogy.com is pleased to announce that we just completed a large update to our online U.S. newspaper listings. We're now cataloging the newspaper titles of 1,183 different websites with digitized newspapers or newspaper indexes. The listings include all of the major newspaper sites, as well as offline listings from WorldCat, the Family History Library, and the U.S. Newspaper Directory from the Library of Congress.

The newspaper titles are arranged by county and city and include the year range of the digitized newspapers. You simply find the county you're interested in and find all of the newspapers in one easy stop. https://ldsgenealogy.com/newspapers-obituaries/

LDSGenealogy.com is a free website that is designed to help anyone quickly locate more record sources for U.S. ancestors. The site catalogs over 1,500 websites so that rather than visiting all of those websites individually, you can come to the U.S. genealogy records directory and find the record sources in one place. There are currently over 1.1 million record sources listed in the directory which are organized by state, county, city, and record type. The site also features dozens of in-depth articles to help you learn to do genealogy research more effectively.

Note: The LDSGenealogy.com web site is privately owned and is not an official site of FamilySearch International or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

The following announcement was written by the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, Inc., also known as IAJGS:

The Call for Applications from candidates interested in serving on the IAJGS Board of Directors is now open. This year, as it is an odd-numbered year and in accordance with our bylaws, we will elect four Officers: President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary. In addition, we are seeking one new Director to fill the one year remaining of a two-year term.

IAJGS Officer and Director candidates must be members in good standing of at least one IAJGS member society at the time of their nomination for election or appointment and must continuously maintain such membership during their term of office. We are seeking candidates who will contribute to advancing the Association in fulfilling its objectives (listed below).

We invite all candidates who are interested in serving as an Officer or Director on the IAJGS Board to submit a completed Board Application Form online at BoardApplication.iajgs.org.

Information about the election and nomination process is at elections.iajgs.org. The deadline for receipt of Board Application Forms by the Nominating Committee is March 12, 2021, 7:00 pm EDT.

The term of those Officers elected begins at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting on August 4, 2021, and ends at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting two years later. The Director position will serve out the one year remaining of the two-year term. Candidates should be aware that serving on the board requires a commitment of time and travel expenses.

Elections will be held through electronic voting procedures, which will be completed by July 12, 2021.

Objectives of the IAJGS

The objectives of the Association shall be:

1. To collect, preserve, and disseminate knowledge and information with reference to Jewish genealogy

2. To assist and promote the research of Jewish family history

3. To provide opportunities for the sharing of Jewish genealogical information

4. To aim toward the publication of worthy material in the field of Jewish genealogy

5. To promote membership in member Jewish genealogical societies

6. To act as spokesperson for Jewish genealogical societies in areas of mutual interest

7. To provide member societies with services to help them become more effective organizations

8. To elevate Jewish Genealogy among Jewish people and in the academic community

9. To promote public access to genealogically relevant records

10. To foster creation of Jewish genealogical organizations in new geographical areas