This week's news includes: archaeologists are actively working to locate the identities of everyone interred at Fairview Cemetery, an African American cemetery in Staunton, Virginia; DNA Heritage (http://www.dnaheritage.com/) has succeeded in overcoming a patent claim in the U.K. that will allow them to continue providing genetic genealogy testing; Tribal Junction (http://www.tribaljunction.com/) has announced a new social networking and genealogy connections site; Synium Software...
This week's news includes: archaeologists are actively working to locate the identities of everyone interred at Fairview Cemetery, an African American cemetery in Staunton, Virginia; DNA Heritage (http://www.dnaheritage.com/) has succeeded in overcoming a patent claim in the U.K. that will allow them to continue providing genetic genealogy testing; Tribal Junction (http://www.tribaljunction.com/) has announced a new social networking and genealogy connections site; Synium Software (http://www.synium.de), makers of MacFamilyTree software, has announced the release of MobileFamilyTree, an app for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch products -- the app is $4.99 at the Apple iTunes store (http://www.itunes.com); Leister Productions (http://www.leisterpro.com/), makers of Reunion genealogy software, has announced that it is working on a version of Reunion for the iPhone and iPod Touch and, when ready, will offer it as an app in the iTunes store; Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) and the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov) have been collaborating with a project called "The Commons" at http://www.flickr.com/commons/ where people can view photos, comment on them, and tag them. The Commons provides access to the LOC collection and more are being added, making this a premier destination on the web.
Digital Genealogist, a terrific online e-zine, is published 6 times a year and delivered to your e-mailbox in PDF format. Both of The Guys write articles for DG and are joined by some of the greatest, most technology knowledgeable people in the genealogy community. Learn more at http://www.digitalgenealogist.com/.
Our listener email this week includes: Tim Skinner, whose e-mail we read on episode #143 (7/7) concerning using Google Maps to trace ancestors' movements, wrote again to ask us to share the Web address (http://www.familytreeassistant.com) for his software, Map My Ancestors; Judy wrote to ask about the wisdom of adding digitized photos to Family Tree Maker and other programs; Michelle asked if NARA had information about substitute soldiers for both the Union and Confederate armies; Tim wrote about he availability of genealogy-specific back-up sites; Bill also wrote to tell us that FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) has published Ohio Death Records (1905-1953) in their Record Search Pilot; Patti reports that she has been working on the Home Study Course offered by the National Genealogical Society and that, as a result of refocusing on her source citations, she has made a huge breakthrough AND has been doing the Genealogy Happy Dance; and Sharon is a new fan and asked for The Guys' recommendations for the best genealogy database software program.
Joel Weintraub, an association of Steve Morse and the One Step Website, wrote to describe another technique for digitizing microfilm. View the article at Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter of 19 February and please read the comments, especially those of Joel's.
George reviewed a great new book by Timothy N. Pinnick, Finding and Using African American Newspapers. George has been aggressively promoting the addition of African American newspapers and publications to libraries' and archives' collections. The John F. Germany Public Library has been trying to obtain copies of African American newspapers on microfilm and microfilm from the University of Florida's libraries in Gainesville, and has met with resistance and refusal for several years. I and other people believe that the hoarding of such materials and refusing to allow for replication (at the JFG's offered expense) is an unconscionable act that prevents the open access of information to the originating community. Tim Pinnick's book is an excellent reference for every genealogical library collection and for every African-ancestored individual who seeks to learn more about his or her ancestors' records as included in newspapers. More information and an extract of the book are available at Tim Pinnick's website at http://www.blackcoalminerheritage.net and atGregath Publishing Company at http://www.gregathcompany.com/. Congratulations, Tim, on a very fine addition to our reference resources!
The Guys talked about three conferences at which you can meet one or both of them.
- The Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 3-6 September 2008. Online registrations end on 22 August 2008 but registrations will continue on-site at the conference. Look at http://www.fgsconference.org/rebate/ to learn about society discounts when multiple members of your society attend!
- The Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) will celebrate its 50th Anniversary with a full-day Fall Seminar with the fabulous Paula Stuart-Warren giving four excellent lectures. Paula is a master genealogical researcher, author, and speaker. She also will provide the dinner speech at the Gala 50th Anniversary Banquet the night before. (Seating is limited.) For more information, please visit the FGS Tampa website at http://fgstampa.org.
- The Florida State Genealogical Society will hold its annual conference on 14 and 15 November at the Sheraton - Orlando North in Maitland, Florida. The featured speaker is Jana Sloan Broglin, vice president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, author, and nationally-recognized genealogical expert and speaker. Ms. Broglin will be joined by The Guys and 5 other great speakers for a wonderful two-day genealogical conference. For more information, please visit http://www.flsgs.org/.
Stay tuned for The Guys' 150th episode in just a few weeks. We have some surprises for that episode!
