Catching up on RootsTech Gems

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Lynda

I am gradually following up on the wealth of information that was my RootsTech experience. One of the presenters I had particularly enjoyed was Josh Taylor, of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, who did an excellent presentation on what genealogists need software tools to do for us in the future. Near order neurontin overnight future, please! I was delighted to find another of his presentations online, one that I had missed. See Geneabloggers for a link to Josh Taylor explaining some of the clever uses of PDFs for genealogy research and file management. Even for me, a longtime PDF fan, this was very useful.

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RootsTech wrapped up

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Lynda

Brewster Kahle of Internet Archive fame kicked off the final day here in Salt Lake City with timely reminders about the value of personal histories and the great value of preserving and sharing them. The rest of the day’s sessions kind of riffed on that theme in interesting ways. An 1848 daguerreotype panorama held by the Cincinnati Library has given up secrets no one imagined thanks to modern microscopy. Patricia Van Skaik walked us through all that had been and will be done to protect and share it.
Lisa Louise Cook of Google for Genealogy did a step by step session on building a mini history tour in Google Earth.
And to end the day, we heard about the phenomenal project to digitize the newspaper, periodical and journal holdings of the British Library. As Curt Witcher said yesterday in his keynote, it’s the best of times to be a genealogist!
And now I’m off to the library.

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RootsTech Day 2

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Lynda

My second day here at the conference started with an inspiring keynote from Curt Witcher of the Allen County Public Library in Indiana. He spoke knowledgeably and with passion about the technology-fueled future of genealogy. All of the day’s sessions were good, but two stand out especially. I heard some good news, that is, not all bad, about Irish records that might become available online. And I learned enough about geocoding pictures, even vintage ones, to make my collections much more useful.

But the crowning experience of the day was this evening’s five-hour visit to the Family History Library. After a group viewing of Who Do You Think You Are, I was blissfully immersed in books on 19th century English Catholicism until almost midnight.

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First day of RootsTech

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Lynda

The first day of sessions at the RootsTech conference made my brain hurt, but in a good way. The keynote was shared with two speakers and I could have done without the first, Shane Robison of HP walking through a slide deck he’d given to countless other hapless audiences, telling us very little new. Fortunately Jay Veckler of FamilySearch followed with a more buy prednisone 5mg online relevant and well presented piece. The sessions I attended ranged from excellent to pretty good, not a bad average for a first day.
To finish off, I just watched a fabulous 3D IMAX film at the Clark Planetarium about the Hubble. Gave me a thrill of pride to see Canada on the Canadarm doing its job in space.

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Off to RootsTech tomorrow!

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Lynda

I had some great advice from a friend last week about my first trip to Salt Lake City this week. I’ve allowed a couple of extra days just for the Family History Library, but I know that time will pass way too quickly. Janet advised me to concentrate on books, rather than films, to get the most out of my time. So smart! I can request most films from home to my local FHC, but books and other buy neurontin overnight delivery non-circulating material will be my focus while I am on the spot. With that in mind, I spent some time on the weekend compiling a list of books that might help my quest for more info about my focus family: my Gradwells of Birmingham and Kendal. I doubt they were important enough to interest any author specifically, but I hope to understand what their lives were like, as a poor Catholic family in 19th century England.

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Getting ready for RootsTech

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Lynda

One week from today I’ll be on my way south, but not for the weather. I’m going to RootsTech, my first international genealogy conference. This one appeals to my enthusiasm for technology that is useful, especially if it works well for non-tech people, while feeding my appetite for genealogy research. Up to now, I’ve been too busy with non-genealogy work to do any more than basic planning. But with only a few days to go, it’s time to get ready for my first-ever visit to Salt Lake City. Where does one start at the original Family History Center?

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Photo rescue accomplished

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Lynda

With the help of a nifty tool I got from Sally Jacobs, the Practical Archivist, last night I managed to ever-so-gently liberate my sister’s collection of autographed 8×10 glossy photographs from one of the dreaded sticky “magnetic” albums. We scorn these albums and warn people against them, but I think we should acknowledge that any effort to safeguard valuable photographs is commendable, even if misinformed. It’s up to people buy gabapentin for dogs uk like us who make a hobby (or a career) of learning best practices to evangelize to friends and family, the ones who just need to get those photos taken care of. We need to give them better information, but more important, we need to give them easy solutions. I hope I can secure my sister’s collection and give her reproductions she can enjoy and share with friends.

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A Trio of 2011 Genealogy Goals

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Lynda

As a relative beginner in genealogy, I have lots of potential research goals. To work effectively, however, I need focused objectives. As in many other disciplines, the New Year is an ideal time to set new targets and fortunately there are experienced genealogists to guide me. Two of them, Denise Levenick and Amy Coffin, came up with a three-goal approach:

One Research Goal

One Organizational Goal

One Writing Goal

This is an excellent starting point for me. My research goal will be to verify and document my direct can i buy gabapentin over the counter in spain lines, starting with the Gradwells, then the Kembles, then the Pryors. My organizational goal? Get the photographs scanned, tagged and filed — I can follow the same priority order as the families. And my writing goal will be to work with my mother on her memoirs. She is doing the writing herself, but I’m sure I can help and support her in that effort. Of course, another writing goal that permeates all of these is to write this blog.

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Family stories illuminate real events

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Lynda

The family tapes I am preparing to be digitized continue to yield unexpected treasures. I have several from visits between my mother and two of her aunts, who share wonderful details of their own lives and memories of the family matriarch, Nana. But one that I heard yesterday, probably from 1990, was an interview buy gabapentin 100mg with a cousin, describing her experience as an ambulance attendant in 1944, when she was assigned to help survivors of a bombing at the Aldwych Theatre in west end London. Moved by her heartfelt description, I found official reports and photos as well as a novelist’s rendering of the horrific event.

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Wordless Wednesday – My great grandfather

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Lynda

My great grandfather looks like a young man with prospects in this picture. Sadly, he died at age 35 in a Warwickshire workhouse, leaving his young widow with six children under the age of 10.

Edward William Gradwell.jpg

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