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Archiver > COHUERFA > 2001-08 > 0998599395


From: "Karen Mitchell" <>
Subject: [COHUERFA] SPICE UP YOUR GENEALOGY, Part 2
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 14:43:15 -0600


"EXCITING FAMILY HISTORY PROJECTS TO SPICE UP YOUR GENEALOGY,
PART 2" by Jake Gehring
====================================================================
Note: Projects 1 & 2 are online at:
http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/news/articles/4392.asp

PROJECT #3: USE HISTORICAL EVENTS TO SHOW CONTEXT

It has been said that genealogists often do not find what they are
looking for because they don't understand the historical context of
the period they are researching. Economic distress, religious events,
and war are all examples of historical events that may have caused
great changes in your ancestors' lives. These events can also add a
great degree of human interest and background to your genealogy.
You might spend time researching a particular time period or
historical event and creating a report on how your ancestors were
affected by it. Not only will such an exercise flex your research
muscles, but it will undoubtedly make your research more interesting
to those relatives who don't "do genealogy."

The Internet has hundreds of Web sites dedicated to the history of
places and events. You might even begin with something as familiar as
the USGenWeb project. Many individual county sites within this
structure offer a good deal of historical background, or at least a
few bibliographic references. Another well-known Internet site for
historical research is the Library of Congress American Memory
project. The wide variety of subjects treated on this government site
includes first-person accounts of general culture, music, folk life,
language, transportation, agriculture, recreation, religion, and much
more. Many of the collections also include scanned images.

Online genealogy subscription services also offer historical data.
Some online services offer a number of local, family, and/or general
histories like Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People. Even
data conglomerate UMI has released, in beta version, a new online
genealogy service based on its Genealogy & Local History collection.

PROJECT #4: CREATE A FAMILY NEWSLETTER TO SHARE FINDINGS

It has never been easier to produce a family newsletter. The days of
light tables, physical cutting and pasting, and other relics of a
bygone technology are in the past. In fact, desktop publishing is now
so commonplace that we rarely hear the term anymore.

Any modern computer with a word processor like Microsoft® Word or
WordPerfect® can produce expert newsletters. Both programs, in fact,
have pre-programmed templates for just such a purpose. You can add
graphics, clip art, submissions from various family members, and even
genealogical charts and reports. Modern ink-jet and laser printers
are ubiquitous and produce printed work that, for all intents and
purposes, is equivalent to a professionally typeset document.

Many researchers have gone one step further and have produced online
newsletters. Using such collaborative Web sites as MyFamily.com,
extended families can upload forms and reports, share scanned images,
discuss research problems, etc. Aside from the value of connecting
people who live far apart, not to mention the savings on printing and
postage, such sites are usually free. A tip for the wise: The more
people you invite to such sites, the more active and collaborative
the activity will be. Try for at least ten active contributors-more,
if possible.

PROJECT #5: RECORD ORAL HISTORY FOR POSTERITY

When most people think of technology in genealogy, they think of
ASCII databases, hard drives, Web sites, etc. Yet many researchers
have been involved in multimedia projects for decades-in the form of
oral histories recorded on magnetic tape.

I treasure an audio recording on cassette tape of my father and his
teenage friends belting out barbershop quartet tunes in the early
1960s. However, the passage of time and the wear and tear on the
recording worry me each time I play it. I have resolved to transfer
the recording to a newer media-one without moving parts and
susceptibility to damage from electromagnetic fields. In other words,
I'd like to transfer the data from cassette to compact disc. Even
though CDs also have drawbacks, and in a larger sense all digital
media have a built-in life span, I believe the recording has a better
chance of survival if I am vigilant about moving it to safer
technologies and media when the opportunity presents itself.

Transferring audio recordings can be done in a number of ways, but
here are a couple of common methods. If you have an audio CD recorder
like the Phillips CDR950, you can record straight from a cassette
deck or other stereo components. You can also use your computer to
create audio CDs by sampling the output from a cassette player
through your computer's sound card. Simple Windows® utilities like
the Sound Recorder can take audio input and save the data stream as a
.WAV file. Depending on the amount of audio and the size of the
storage medium, you may even choose to further compress the audio
file by converting it to .MP3. You can then transfer the data to CD-
ROM using a CD-RW drive.

Even if you don't have access to the personal thoughts of your
ancestors, you still may be able to incorporate transcribed text or
even voices from the past into your documents. There are a number of
online sound records that may shed historical and cultural light on
the events in which your ancestors took part. Virtually all of the
available recordings are from the twentieth century, however, so they
may also serve as background for your own life history. The Historic
Audio Archive, for example, has archived famous speeches by John F.
Kennedy, Malcolm X, and others, as well as speeches from prominent
World War II figures.

If you like gathering oral history from your parents, grandparents,
and other relatives, you could conceivably record straight into your
computer using a microphone connected to your computer's sound card.
Be sure you have plenty of hard disk space for this operation before
you begin-you don't want to interrupt your Uncle Albert in the middle
of a memory to fiddle with the keyboard.

LINKS:

USGenWeb Project
http://www.usgenweb.org

American Memory Project, Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov

Biography & History databases at Ancestry.com
(Some subscribers only, some free)
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/biohist/main.htm

MyFamily.com
http://www.myfamily.com

Historic Audio Archive
http://www.webcorp.com/test/audioarchive.htm

LINKS FROM LAST WEEK:
(My apologies for not including them in last week's issues. Fifty
lashes with a wet noodle for the editor! If you missed it, last
week's installment is online at:
http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/news/articles/4392.asp)

Cartographic Associates
http://www.davidrumsey.com

AniMap
http://www.goldbug.com/AniMap.html

Quinton Publications
http://www.quintinpublications.com/cdgaz.html

PicturesNow!
http://www.picturesnow.com

KinShips
http://www.kinshipsprints.com/

____________________________________________________________________

Jake Gehring is a genealogical author and lecturer and a product
manager for Ancestry.com. He is a former editor of "Genealogical
Computing." Jake graduated from Brigham Young University with a
degree in genealogy/family history and lives in Provo, Utah with his
wife and children. He can be reached at: mailto:


Karen Mitchell
2001 has been declared "The Year of "Love". Pass it on.

US GenWeb Project County Coordinator
Huerfano County Coordinator
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cohuerfa/index.htm
Huerfano County List Owner

Taos County Coordinator
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nmtaos/index.htm
Taos County List Owner



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