Consultant Newsletter 2 June 2010

The following is from FamilySearch.

2 June 2010

Dear family history consultants, center directors, and priesthood leaders:

We would like to draw your attention to a number of items that can help you in your family history calling or as family history consultants. Please feel free to share this information however you would like.

1.       Modern technology provides blind individuals an easy method for working on their family history. The new.familysearch.org Web site can be accessed using the JAWS (Job Access With Speech) screen reader. Keyboard commands support signing in to the site, searching for ancestors, combining duplicates, adding new individuals, and clearing names for ordinance work. Blind individuals can also access PAF (Personal Ancestral File) using JAWS.  

You can find documentation on how to access new.familysearch.org with JAWS in the Help Center (from the new.familysearch.org main menu, select Help Center,  and then use JAWS as your search term). Also, blind individuals can receive personal training on how to use new.familysearch.org from a FamilySearch Support missionary at 1-866-406-1830 or by sending an e-mail to support@familysearch.org.   

2.       A series of online interactive courses on how to read handwritten genealogical records in different languages is available on familysearch.org. Additional lessons for each of the courses are currently being developed. The courses provide instruction and practice in reading documents written in 11 different languages or scripts.

To access the training, go to www.familysearch.org, click on the Library tab, clickResearch Classes Online, scroll down to find the Reading Handwritten Records series, and select the lesson you want to complete.

3.       FamilySearch has announced a new test site where anyone can go and see the next generation familysearch.org Web site being built test-drive the site, and give early feedback so that changes can be made before the new site becomes official. To access the new test site, referred to as “Beta FamilySearch,” go to beta.familysearch.org. 

4.       One of the treasures that can be found at the Beta FamilySearch Web site is the following page: https://fch.ldschurch.org/WWSupport/23things/. The description for this valuable and informative page follows:

Listed below are “23 Things” (or small exercises) that you can do as a “possible” way to enhance your skills with Family History and/or Genealogy on any level. The exercises will expand your knowledge of the Internet and Web 2.0 technology. Please provide comments at the end of the various exercises and if so desired in your own blog which is covered in week 2. As in all educational endeavors of this type, the extent of your participation is your own personal decision.

We hope that this news brief has been informative and beneficial. Watch your inbox for more of these in the future.

Sincerely,

FamilySearch

Mark Your Calendars - UVPAFUG Meeting!

UTAH VALLEY PAF USERS GROUP MEETING

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Users Group will be on Saturday, 12 Jun 2010, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. For directions to get there see the map on the group's website http://uvpafug.org .

The main presentation for this meeting will be by Andrea Schnakenburg on HOW TO LIGHT A FIRE UNDER YOUR WARD. This presentation is geared toward family history consultants and family history center directors. Join us as we share some fun and fabulous tips for getting everyone excited about doing genealogy. We'll talk about how to get ward leaders involved, beginners excited, and research moving forward. Come learn how to motivate and inspire everyone, including the people who "just don't have the time".

Andrea Schnakenburg is the Training Coordinator at Ohana Software where she organizes and teaches various free web seminars. After graduating from BYU with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2007, she started work with Ohana Software as a graphic designer. That's when she really caught the genealogy bug and she has been learning and teaching ever since. She recently returned to Utah after living in Hawaii where she started her work with Ohana Software. Following the main presentation there will be several classes taught concerning technology and family history with topics for all levels of expertise and interest.

The teachers and classes presently scheduled for this meeting are as follows.

1. Using the NFS Help Center and Sandbox to Solve Problems by Duane Dudley
2. FamilyInsight: Separating Incorrectly Combined Individuals and More by Andrea Schnakenburg
3. The Basics of Photoshop Essentials by Barry Ewell
4. Mac or PC - The Best of Both Worlds by Larry Hudgins
5. Individualized Help with PAF and NFS by Don Engstrom & Finn Hansen
6. Video of last month's main presentation, Freeware and Shareware for Family History by Don and Diane Snow
7. Ancestral Quest by Gaylon Findlay
8. Legacy by Dean Bennett
9. RootsMagic by Sue Maxwell

All meetings of the Users Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Users Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Don Snow, 1st VP; Laurie Castillo, 2nd VP; Liz Kennington, PAFology Editor; Kay Baker, Gerry Eliason, and Don Engstrom working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD Library. Several of these will be there to help with membership, answer questions, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter PAFology, and check out DVD's of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Information about the Users Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on the Group's website http://uvpafug.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvpafug.org/ . For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvpafug.org (801-225-6106) or 1st VP Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu or 2nd VP Laurie Castillo at laurie@everythingisrelative.net. Don Snow, 1st VP of Utah Valley PAF Users Group

500,000 Chelsea Pensioner records now available at findmypast.co.uk

The following is from FindMyPast.

500,000 Chelsea Pensioners' Service Records Go Online for the First Time at findmypast.co.uk

*       Chelsea Pensioners' British Army Service Records 1873-1900 now available to search online
*       In-depth and colourful insight into the lives of ordinary ranking soldiers
*       Records include servicemen born in the UK and throughout the world, including India and Jamaica

Leading family history website findmypast.co.uk has published online for the first time nearly half a million service records of men who were pensioned out of the British Army between 1873 and 1900 and who received a pension administered through the Royal Hospital at Chelsea.Findmypast.co.uk has been working in association with The National Archives of the United Kingdom for nearly two years to scan, transcribe and publish online these records.

Known as "WO 97" at The National Archives, the first tranche of these most frequently viewed records are now available to search online at www.findmypast.co.uk for the first time ever. Once complete, the entire collection will comprise over six million full colour images of the service records of soldiers in the British Army in receipt of a pension administered by The Royal Hospital Chelsea, and who were discharged between the dates 1760 and 1913.

Many of the soldiers listed will have served in some of Britain's most significant wars, including the Battle of Waterloo (1815), the Crimean (1853 - 1856) and both Boer Wars (1899 - 1902). Each individual soldier's record consists of a bundle of a minimum of four pages, full of fascinating personal details, and could even be up to 20 pages long.

The details that can be found in these records are invaluable to family and military historians, providing a rich and colourful story of our ancestors' lives, with a level of detail that is hard to find in any other historical records. Among the information included in these documents are the soldier's date and place of birth, name and address of next of kin, height, hair and eye colour, distinguising features such as tattoos, rank and regiment, occupation before joining the army, medical history and countries where, and dates when, the soldier served.

The records not only relate to servicemen born in the UK, but also throughout the world, with many soldiers born in India and even the Caribbean. These records are also invaluable to Irish, Scottish and Commonwealth researchers, as many men joined the British Army from these countries throughout the centuries.

The records list only those soldiers who either completed their full service in the army or who were wounded and pensioned out of the army. The records do not include those killed in action or army deserters or officers. The connection with 'Chelsea Pensioners' is that the pensions were administered through The Royal Hospital at Chelsea. The great majority of pensioned soldiers were out-pensioners and did not reside at the Hospital itself.
The first half a million records from the Chelsea Pensioners' British Army Service Records collection are now online, comprising nearly 3 million images covering the period from 1873 - 1900 and can be searched at http://www.findmypast.co.uk/chelsea-pensioners-service-records-collection-search-start.action.  The remaining records will be rolled out online over the next 18 months.

Debra Chatfield of findmypast.co.uk said: "The Chelsea Pensioners' British Army Service Records are a rich resource for family historians. For each soldier you'll find a minimum of four pages of information, including a physical description and even details of other family members, such as their dates of baptism and marriage. These fascinating records enable you to find out so much about your soldier ancestors, including what they looked like, long before the invention of photography."



Notes:

The term 'pensioner' refers to an ex-soldier to whom a pension was paid, and not just to a resident pensioner at Chelsea Hospital.

WO 97 is the classification of the Chelsea Pensioners at The National Archives - WO stands for War Office and 97 indicates the shelf location of the records.


About findmypast.co.uk
Leading UK family history website findmypast.co.uk (formerly 1837online.com) was the first company to make the complete birth, marriage and death indexes for England & Wales available online in April 2003.

Following the transcription, scanning and indexing of over two million images, the company launched the first website to allow the public easy and fast access to the complete indexes, which until then had only been available on microfiche film in specialist archives and libraries. The launch was instrumental in creating the widespread and growing interest in genealogy seen in the UK today.

Findmypast.co.uk has subsequently digitised many more family history records and now offers access to over 750 million records dating as far back as 1538. This allows family historians and novice genealogists to search for their ancestors among comprehensive collections of military records, census, migration, occupation directories, and current electoral roll data, as well as the original comprehensive birth, marriage and death records.

In November 2006 findmypast.co.uk launched the ancestorsonboard.com microsite in association with The National Archives to publish outbound passenger lists for long-distance voyages departing all British ports between 1890 and 1960.

As well as providing access to historical records, findmypast.co.uk is also developing a range of online tools to help people discover and share their family history more easily, beginning with the launch of Family Tree Explorer in July 2007.

In April 2007, findmypast.co.uk's then parent company Title Research Group received the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2007 in recognition of their achievement.

Findmypast.co.uk was acquired in December 2007 by brightsolid, the company who were awarded The National Archives' contract to publish online the 1911 census, which it launched in January 2009.

Michigan eLibrary and Gale Launch Michigana, Sources in U.S. History Online

I received the following press release from Kristina Massari of Cengage Learning.  There is a wonderful slide show on this project available at:
http://streaming.msu.edu/storemedia/packages/jonesr/4a89a35f12e7e/melmovie2.html  
Now if New York would just set up the same thing.

Michigan eLibrary and Gale LaunchMichigana, Sources in U.S. History Online

New Resource Provides Online Access to Michigan History at www.MeL.org

Farmington Hills, Mich. – Michigan eLibrary (MeL), and Gale, part of Cengage Learning, today announced the launch of Michigana, Sources in U.S. History Online, an online resource providing access to primary source documents and contextual essays for the study of Michigan history.

Michigana: Sources in U.S. History Online contains valuable and authoritative content packaged with an engaging user interface, allowing students and researchers multiple ways of accessing historical information.

“We are pleased to make Michigana available to all Michigan residents through Michigan eLibrary,” said Nader Qaimari, Gale’s senior vice president of market strategy.  “This resource includes state and regional histories, biographies, historical maps, speeches and more.  It is a treasure trove for anyone interested in Michigan history.”

Michigana: Sources in U.S. History Online provides access to primary source documents in an online system that is easily accessible by students and researchers of all levels.  For example, a user may enter a search term such as Fort Mackinac to find all references to that word or phrase found on any page within the database. Or a student may choose a subject term from the listing of top subjects that are listed on the home page to quickly find all works that are closely related to that person, place or event – for example, William Hull or railroads.

Another way to access the content is through contextual essays that have been written by Michigan historians specifically for the database. These are accessed through the images at the bottom of the home page which take a user to a list of related essays, all of which include a bibliography of related documents from within the database.

“We are excited to have Michigana, Sources in U.S. History Online added to Mel.org.  We know that researchers of all ages and who are interested in various depth of coverage will find the information useful.  From students simply having fun digging for fun facts, to college students writing in-depth research papers, to genealogists tracking down family history, this resource is invaluable,”  said Deb Biggs Thomas, the Library of Michigan’s MeL Coordinator.

“Anyone interested in any aspect of the history of our state will find this resource a valuable tool,” said Larry J. Wagenaar the Historical Society of Michigan’s executive director.  “Users of Michigana will find it helpful to research family history, learn about the area in which they live and uncover many other remarkable facts.   We are pleased that the Michigan eLibrary is able to provide this wonderful resource.”

MeL is a project of the Library of Michigan in partnership with all Michigan libraries and supported by federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding.  Through MeL, Michigan residents can access electronic resources such as Academic Onefile, Kids Infobits, Educator’s Reference Complete,  Business and Company Resource Center, General Business-File, InfoTrac Custom Newspapers, the New York Times and e-books on all aspects of general reference.

MeL Michigana can be accessed at http://mel.org/michigana

About Cengage Learning and Gale
Cengage Learning delivers highly customized learning solutions for colleges, universities, professors, students, libraries, government agencies, corporations and professionals around the world. Gale, part of Cengage Learning, serves the world's information and education needs through its vast and dynamic content pools, which are used by students and consumers in their libraries, schools and on the Internet. It is best known for the accuracy, breadth and convenience of its data, addressing all types of information needs – from homework help to health questions to business profiles – in a variety of formats.  For more information, visit www.cengage.com orwww.gale.com

About MeL

MeL is a project of the Library of Michigan, an agency of the Michigan Department of Education.   MeL is supported by federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, enhancing library service to all residents of the state.