An important piece of Japanese Canadian history is at risk of disappearing from BC.

The archive of The New Canadian newspaper, which published from 1938 to 2001 and shared stories of the Japanese Canadian experience, is currently available for online access through Simon Fraser University. But it’s set to be removed from online hosting this fall (along with over two dozen other papers by and for minority groups). A new petition aims to raise awareness about the issue and preserve The New Canadian archive access for BC residents.

The New Canadian began in BC as an English-language paper, and thus holds the unique distinction of being the only Japanese Canadian newspaper that was allowed dto be published in the province during the Second World War.

“It began as ‘The Voice of the Second Generation,’” the organizers of the petition explain, “and served as a forum for young Japanese Canadians to share ideas and formulate their Canadian identities at a time when those in power saw them as un-Canadian.”

The archive is currently owned by the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, meaning the files will still be able to be viewed in-person at the society’s York University headquarters; however, being removed from online platforms will make it extremely difficult for BC residents to access this important part of our province’s history.

Being unable to use this resource in BC also serves as a painful reminder that the reason why the paper initially moved out of province was due to the BC Government’s forced rehoming of Japanese Canadians post-war.

Arizona's ballot will include a major reproductive rights measure this fall alongside the presidential, Senate and other battleground races, putting a key issue directly before voters in the swing state.

JP Martin, the deputy communications officer for the Arizona secretary of state's office, told NBC News on Monday evening that the Arizona for Abortion Access Act will go before voters this election cycle, after organizers shattered the record for the number of valid signatures gathered for a ballot initiative in the state.

The secretary of state's office estimates that 577,971 valid signatures were turned in by Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of reproductive rights organizations that includes the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona. The signature haul far surpassed the 383,923 signatures required to make it onto the ballot. The Arizona for Abortion Access Act will go before voters under the title "Proposition 139."

“This is a huge win for Arizona voters who will now get to vote YES on restoring and protecting the right to access abortion care, free from political interference, once and for all,” Cheryl Bruce, campaign manager for Arizona for Abortion Access, said in a statement. 

You can read more in an article by Alex Tabet and Adam Edelman published in NBC News at https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/arizona-certifies-abortion-rights-initiative-november-ballot-rcna166321.

A close up of the front page of the The New York Times newspaper dated Aug. 10, 1974, with The New York Times reporting Vice President Gerald R. Ford sworn in as the 38th president of the United States, following the Watergate scandal. - iStock

Grand Rapids — On the 50th anniversary of Gerald R. Ford’s swearing in as the 38th president of the United States, his museum and library launched a new website with expanded features for educators and visitors alike.

The new Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum website launched Aug. 9. The website includes expanded access to a growing Digital Artifact Collection, more access to research tools for students and teachers, and a streamlined school visit registration form. The site covers both the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids and the Ford Library, which is in Ann Arbor.

The Ford Museum is currently hosting an original temporary exhibition called “Ford at 50: Decisions that Defined A Presidency,” which tells the stories of some of President Ford’s most difficult and controversial decisions during his time in office.

https://bit.ly/3AnPDRB

“She would be so honoured.”

Carol Miller was close to tears. She and her brother, Robert Williamson, came down from Sydney to witness their mother’s wartime service records being added to the National Archives of Australia digital collection.

It marks the end of a five-year, $10-million project to digitise the more than one million World War II service records kept by the archives.

“We’re just everyday people,” Carol told Region.

“Of all the people who served overseas or at home like our mother – she was just a small person supporting those who helped give freedom to our country, for which a lot gave their lives.

“We know she’d be so humbled.”

The National Archives collects Australian Government records to “preserve them, manage them and make them public”.

More than 45 million items are kept in storage facilities across the country, available on request, but there have been efforts in recent years to make digital copies available through the National Archives website.

In 2019, the National Archives was awarded $10 million from the government to digitise its WWII records.

These include enlistment forms (with personal details like age, medical conditions and next-of-kin), service and casualty forms, discharge forms, and negative photographs of the Australian men and women who served in the Army, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal Australian Navy from 1939 to 1945.

Last month, the National Archives put out a call for the public to help locate the family of Margaret (or ‘Peggy’) Williamson, the subject of the last record to be digitised.

Margaret (or Peggy) Williamson. Photo: National Archives of Australia.

“Margaret’s service record represents the culmination of years of effort to digitise these paper records, but also an opportunity to honour the memory of the many individuals who served the country,” project director Rebecca Penna said.

Margaret was born Margaret McCredie in Paddington, NSW, in 1920. She went to Bankstown Domestic Science School and worked in the mail order department at David Jones on Market Street before enrolling on the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) at the age of 20.

During her time in the WAAAF, Margaret worked as a storekeeper and equipment assistant in various locations across Australia, including Robertson, Parkes, Point Cook, Laverton and Sydney.

You can read the full story in an article by James Coleman published in the the-riotact.com web site at: bit.ly/3YCRiNd web site.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky announced it has partnered with FamilySearch to digitize and preserve tens of thousands of primary records, such as birth, death and marriage certificates that are currently on microfilm reels.

The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA) and volunteers from the Kentucky Genealogical Society (KYGS) are now reaching out to the state’s county clerks, the official custodians of these records, to notify them of the opportunity to have their records digitized free of charge by FamilySearch. They can take advantage of this opportunity simply by advising KDLA that their records may be digitized using a records release form. In return, the clerks and KDLA will receive copies of the digitized records, and FamilySearch will post a copy on their free online database.

“Local records are some of the most irreplaceable resources for the discovery of documentation of the commonwealth’s populace. Records like those of marriage, probate and land ownership have been created from each county’s origins, resulting in some of the most continuous sources of the state’s history,” said Rusty Heckaman, state archivist for KDLA. “Together they are invaluable to the genealogist and researcher alike for the picture they can help paint of our ancestors’ lives. The participation of FamilySearch in the digitization of these records presents a huge opportunity to make these records more accessible to the public. Their increased use can only further promote the value these records hold and increase awareness of the wealth of resources in repositories like KDLA and in the courthouses throughout our state.”

For more information, contact: Rusty Heckaman, KDLA, rusty.heckaman@ky.gov or Susan Court, co-president, KYGS, susancourt@kygs.org.

The man law enforcement officials say is responsible for the long-unsolved death of 15-year-old Danielle Houchins at a popular fishing access site a few miles south of Belgrade, Montana, nearly 28 years ago has been identified.

Investigators, family members and other sources with direct knowledge of the details of the case told Montana Free Press that cutting-edge forensic DNA genome sequencing and forensic genetic genealogy recently led authorities to the man they say killed Houchins: 55-year-old Paul Nathaniel Hutchinson, of Dillon.

Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer confirmed that at a Thursday press conference in Bozeman that was streamed live on the department’s Facebook page.

According to Springer, Hutchinson died by suicide on July 24, 10 hours after Gallatin County investigators approached him outside his office in Beaverhead County to interview him about Houchins’ death. Days later, DNA collected from Hutchinson after his death matched DNA evidence collected from Houchins’ body, providing what Springer described as “100% confirmation” that Hutchinson was the killer.

You can read more in an article by John S. Adams published in multiple news sources by The Associated Press at https://bit.ly/3yMBM6G and elsewhere.

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

Comments posted to this newsletters' website recently have highlighted a common problem: not all the information on the World Wide Web is available worldwide. For example, many television programs are converted to computer videos and made available online. However, the audiences often are restricted. Web users in the United States are blocked from watching the BBC version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" This is because the BBC wishes to restrict access to episodes of "Who Do You Think You Are?" to U.K. residents, and the web server in the U.K. knows whether you are in the U.K. or not by looking at your IP address– that is, the Internet Protocol address your computer is using while you are online. 

Actually, many websites do the same, even if they are not providing television programs. For instance, I have been told that web users in Australia are frequently blocked from accessing some of the books on Google Books in the USA. In this case, the reason for the blockage is that Google Books has to deal with copyright laws in all countries, and those laws vary from one country to the next. Google doesn't always know all the laws in all the countries; so, the company takes a conservative approach. Google typically complies with U.S. laws and therefore allows U.S. residents to access all content. Users in other countries often are blocked from some books because Google cannot guarantee compliance with all copyright laws in each country. 

As one newsletter reader wrote, "It is disappointing to see a book mentioned on a genealogy mail list only to find we can't download it because we don't live in the USA." 

These examples of blocked web access point to a reality of the online world: your connection to the internet has an IP address (Internet Protocol address). This is your online identity, and it is exposed every time you visit a website. 

When you try to visit a desired web page, web servers can look at your IP address and, if it is not an acceptable address, decide to block your access.

If your IP address causes a web server to block your access to a TV show, a book, or any other online content, you still may be able to get to that content. All you have to do is use an IP address that shows it is in the country where such information is displayed. 

Can you change your IP address to appear to be located someplace else in the world? Yes, in fact, the process is actually quite simple. However, once you have an IP address showing in another country, you can access all content available to residents of that country. For instance, with an American IP address, you can access all of Google Books' U.S. content even though you might be in Australia. If you have a British IP address, you can watch the online version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" even though you may be in the United States.

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/13392239 (A Plus Edition password is required to access that article.)

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. 

A man suspected in a violent rape in Framingham more than 34 years ago was taken into custody in Los Angeles Thursday, according to 7News sources.

In May, the Middlesex District Attorney announced they had linked Stephen Paul Gale to the cold case using DNA, with the help of forensic genealogy. However, they did not know his location.

In December 1989, investigators said Gale robbed and raped two female employees at gunpoint inside a women’s clothing store at Shoppers World on Route 9 in Framingham.

Sources told 7News it is unclear when Gale will return to Massachusetts.

Lilith Dorsey is an American citizen living in New Orleans, but it is in Benin that she could end her days to "feel closer to her homeland".

In the coming months, the author, dancer and filmmaker aims to take advantage of a new law in the West African state granting Beninese nationality to the descendants of enslaved Africans.

Adopted by parliament on July 30, the legislation is Benin's latest attempt to attract people drawn to their cultural and historical roots on the African continent -- a legacy of a slave trade which left a deep mark on Benin.

Millions of enslaved Africans departed from the shores of West Africa, not least from Benin's beaches, to be shipped across the oceans.

The law's text, set to be approved by Benin's President Patrice Talon, will allow "any person who, according to their genealogy, has an African, sub-Saharan ancestor deported as part of the slave trade" to obtain a Beninese passport.

"What the government of Benin has done is extraordinary and will bring us closer to our brothers here," Dorsey told AFP.

Officials say the law is a response to the difficulties of "the search for identity faced by Afro-descendants".