January 2012 Scanfest

Scanfest is Coming

I apologize for such a late reminder...

The January 2012 Scanfest will take place here at AnceStories this coming Sunday, January 29th, from 11 AM to 2 PM, Pacific Standard Time.
 
What is Scanfest? It's a time when geneabloggers, family historians, and family archivists meet online here at this blog to chat while they scan their precious family document and photos. Why? Because, quite honestly, scanning is time-consuming and boring!

Scanfest is a great time to "meet" other genealogists, ask questions about scanning and preservation, and get the kick in the pants we all need on starting those massive scanning projects that just seem too overwhelming to begin.

To get started, you need to know the basics about scanning:

1. Don't use commercial glass cleaners (i.e. Windex) or paper towels to clean your scanner's glass plate. Use a soft, clean cloth, preferably microfiber. If you must use a liquid, use water sprayed directly onto the cloth  and make sure to let the plate dry thoroughly before placing photos or documents on it.

2. Wear cotton gloves (available at many art and/or photography supply shops) when handling photos and old documents.

3. Don't slide the photos around on the glass plate. Place them exactly where you want them. Photos should NEVER be scanned by a scanner that feeds the document through the machine, but ALWAYS on a flat-bed scanner.

4. Set your scanner to scan at no smaller than 300 dpi (dots per inch). Many experts recommend 600 dpi for photographs.

5. Photographs should ALWAYS be scanned and saved as .tif files. Use "Save As" to reformat the .tif file to a .jpg file for restoration and touchups, emailing, or uploading to an online photo album. ALWAYS retain the original scan as a .tif file.

6. Documents can be scanned as .pdf files or .tif files.

7. When you are done scanning your photos, don't put them back in those nasty "magnetic" photo albums. Place them in archival safe albums or boxes found at websites such as Archival Products or Archival Suppliers. Do NOT store any newsprint (articles, obituaries, etc.) with the photos. The acid from the newspaper will eventually destroy the photograph.

Now about the chatting part of Scanfest:

We will be using Cover It Live, a live blogging format that you access right here at AnceStories.

On Sunday at 11 AM, PST, come right here to AnceStories and you'll see the CoverItLive live blog/forum in the top post. It's not really a "chat room," per se, it's more like a live forum and anyone visiting this site can read and see what is happening in the forum.

You will not need to download any software.

Up to 25 individuals can be invited to be Producers. Producers are participants who have the extra capability of sharing photos, links, and other media within the forum (great for sharing the photos you're scanning!). You must have Internet Explorer 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Producer.

We can also have up to 25 other Participants who can comment freely in our conversation, but will not be able to share media. You can have any kind of browser to be a Participant, except AOL. Those who normally access the Internet with AOL may wish to download Firefox or Explorer ahead of time to be able to participate on CoverItLive.

In addition, any other readers of this blog can drop on by and view/read what is happening at Scanfest. If the 25 Participant spaces are full, those readers will not be able to comment, unless someone else drops out.

Confused? Have questions? Go to CoverItLive and check out 6. Try It Now to see live blogs in action or 7. Demos to see videos demonstrating how to use CIT (especially the ones titled "How do my readers watch my Live Blog?" and "Adding Panelists and Producers").

If you would like to be a Producer, please e-mail me no later than Saturday, January 28th at 4 PM, PST and I'll send you an invitation. Preference will given to previous Scanfesters. You must set up an account (free!) ahead of time to be a Producer. This account will be good for all future Scanfests. You can do some practices ahead of time by going to My Account and clicking on the link under Practice your live blogging. Again, you must have IE 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Panelist.

As a Producer, Participant or simply a reader, if you would like an e-mail reminder for Scanfest, fill out the form below and choose the time frame for which you would like to be reminded (if you're reading this through Google Reader, Bloglines, or some other RSS feed reader, you will need to go to my blog and view this post there to see and utilize the form).

It really is easier than it sounds, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all there and getting some scanning done!

Tuesday's Tip: The Newberry Library's Research Guides

Did you know that the Newberry Library in Chicago has its own online research guides that can help you, sitting comfortably in your pajamas doing online genealogy?

On this page, you can find research guides--most available in downloadable .pdf format--for any genealogy topic under the sun, from Adoption Research to the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893. There are research guides for 27 states and the Province of Ontario, as well as major city, regional, ethnic, and overseas resources.

When looking at the research guides, you won't find a how-to, but rather a list of resources for that topic that are held in the Newberry Library. How is this useful? Suppose you are researching ancestry in the state of Maine. The Maine Research Guide will give you a list of books and periodicals for which you could check your local library. If not available, use WorldCat to find the nearest library that holds these resources and use inter-library loan to peruse it at (or photocopy the pertinent article to be sent to) your local library. Some of the research guides, such as the one for New York State, also have hyperlinks to online resources. You may find a listed resource so useful that you will eventually want to purchase your own copy at your local bookstore or through Amazon!

This is an excellent example of the Internet being used as a finding aid, a research tool, to find genealogy resources offline (remember, not everything is on the Internet, and it never will be!). Happy Hunting!

My Sixth Blogiversary

On January 16, 2006, I published my very first post, "Moses Crothers - possible son of John Crothers and Mary 'Polly' Wycoff?" Little would I know that with the creation of my genealogy blog, my life would literally change. At that time, there were a handful of geneabloggers (and that term hadn't really been created yet) out there: Dick Eastman, DEARMyrtle (Pat Richley), Leland Meitzler, Randy Seaver. Soon I learned about the Carnival of Genealogy and Jasia, Craig Manson, Apple, footnoteMaven, and Becky Wiseman (who's got a nice list of the "old-timers" right here!).

In six years, I've knocked down a couple of genealogy brick walls. I've attended local and regional conferences both as an attendee and as a presenter and met many of my geneablogging buddies. They've visited me in Spokane. I've won blogging awards, been interviewed on radio, podcast, YouTube, and the local paper (twice). Genealogical publishing and subscription sites sent press releases for me to publish.

For several years, I blogged nearly every day and definitely several times a week. It was a mighty feat of creative and physical endurance, one that could not last. For one, it was taking its toll on my body. During that time, I gained 50 pounds, using my spare time to sit and blog instead of exercise, exacerbated by the pain of a bad shoulder, further entrenched by being sedentary following surgery. So I took time away to start improving my health and fitness. Secondly, it became difficult to blog about family history when my family, my marriage was falling apart; as emotional trauma challenged clarity of thought and creative expression.

For someone who has read daily since she was three--yes, three!--years old, not being able to focus long enough to finish the first chapter of a book signaled to me that I needed time off from both absorbing and creating words; that the swirling emotions and thoughts in my heart and head needed to settle before I could sift through them and bring them to life to share with others. They had to be sorted through to make room so I could take in what others were sharing as well. I knew I was healing when I could start reading again. With the mostly positive changes of the past year, I find myself thinking again like a writer, a blogger. Phrases will come to my mind, and I'll tuck them away for a future post. Ideas are once more starting to blossom. Still, as in many areas of my life, I'm taking things slowly.

As I wrote in my last post, my blogging goals this year include writing just one quality post a month. This post actually exceeds this month's goal. I do have some blogging gems in store for my readers. Next month, as we celebrate St. Valentine's Day and our thoughts turn to love and relationships, I'll be sharing my tongue-in-cheek insights on the similarities between online dating and online genealogy research! When Women's History Month comes around in March, "A Tale of Two Sisters"--which has been taking seed in my mind for several years--will at last be published. I won't make any more promises than these, although as I said, I've got ideas tucked away here and there.

Thank you once again, my blogging buddies and readers, for hanging in there and for giving me another year to celebrate. I hope to be around for many more!

2012 - Out with the Old, In with the New!

Please don't faint.Yes, I'm actually writing a post...and even publishing it...and one that's NOT about Scanfest, either! Many of you know about my 2011 year, but stick with me, I'm going to review it anyway! I'm feeling reflective today, as I often do around the New Year, but this past year brought many noteworthy changes to my life. These changes affected this blog in that I had less time, less energy, and less creative flow to write. But although it was a hard year, it was also a very good one. Much as the discomfort of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth bring forth the joy of a newborn, so did the events of the past year.

At the end of January 2011, my husband decided to take a visit to his parents across the state, a visit which at the time had no planned return date. He had been unemployed for 20 months, the fourth major period of unemployment in 17 years. Our nearly-24-year-old marriage had always been rocky, punctuated with a 45-month period of homelessness (living in the homes of friends and family members, house-sitting, and a horrible five-month stint in a homeless shelter), emotional--and sometimes--physical abuse, poverty, paranoia, and social seclusion. Shortly after he left, I went to the YWCA's Domestic Violence program and sought assistance under the guidance of a pro-bono lawyer, who although she did not represent me, was able--along with her paralegal--to help me with divorce and restraining order paperwork.

I took the first of many personal days off to meet with a paralegal to review my paperwork before visiting the county courthouse to file it and attend a hearing with a county commissioner, who would approve the restraining order and accept my petition for a dissolution. Ironically, it was February 14th, Valentine's Day. I remember the surreal feeling of realizing what day it was as I was standing in line at the security check and watching a well-dressed man carrying a large bouquet of flowers for his wife or sweetheart--who must have worked in one of the county offices--go through ahead of me. Surely, this would cause some shaking of heads of my descendants a century later. I could just hear them saying, "What was great-great-grandma thinking? Filing for divorce on Valentine's Day!" A simple explanation was that it was the first day I could schedule to get off work and meet with the paralegal, and once my paperwork had been reviewed satisfactorily, I was not going to waste another minute--or a personal day--to file at courthouse, which was only half a dozen blocks away from the YWCA.

The next few months were chaotic and overwhelming as I was supporting my son and myself without any child support and had no idea if I could keep my house or would be forced to sell it as part of the proceedings. Additionally, my car had died the previous October and the car my husband had primarily used, which I was now using, died in April. I got around all right by bus, walking, riding my bike, or getting rides from family members and friends, but it did take a lot of planning and time to get from point A to point B. Work was two miles away and there was no grocery store within walking distance. I also realized I had to hire a lawyer because my husband had hired a very expensive, aggressive one, and I knew I was no match in representing myself. Fortunately, through the help of a colleague, I was referred to an inexpensive yet capable female lawyer, who cut her fee in half after reviewing my documents and realizing I had done much of the footwork of filing and filling out paperwork on my own.

In fact, I would not have gotten through the year without the help and moral support of my family members (which includes my ex-husband's siblings and extended family) and friends and colleagues. For my birthday in March, the president of my genealogical society got together with a church friend of hers, who happened to be a colleague at my school, and threw a surprise birthday party for me at a local Chinese restaurant. In attendance were both members of my society and colleagues from my school! They blessed me abundantly with cash donations, which not only paid some bills, but allowed me to travel to the coast for some much-needed time off during Spring Break. I had visited Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound twelve years ago with my husband and children, shortly after--in yet another case of irony--an extremely difficult period in our marriage when I had seriously contemplated divorce, but decided to stay in it for the kids' sake. I had loved the island because it reminded me very much of Southeast Alaska where I had grown up. Even though my brother lived there for years, I had only had that one opportunity in 1999 to visit. And so I made up for lost time by visiting five times from April through August, usually taking Greyhound and at one point, catching a ride with some friends who were going over to the area for a long weekend. I was able to get reacquainted with friends from my hometown in Alaska who now live in the Whidbey Island-area and to catch up on all that has happened "back home" in the past 32 years. Additionally, I felt reconnected to the Native heritage that I had grown up in. Being able to be near the salt water and hike along the beaches and in the overgrown woods, so different from Eastern Washington, was good for my soul and allowed me to reflect and relax; to build courage for the next month or two of uncertainty in my life of change before I could visit again.

My job was a refuge as well. It was good for me to have structure and purpose during those months. In June and July, I was able to secure two summer school positions that helped me keep my head above water financially when the regular school year was out. I did have nearly the entire month of August off, and by then, with the divorce finalized July 21st and knowing that I would be able to keep the house, I was able to declutter and free my life up from the reminders of my past. 

Once the school year began, my search for a vehicle intensified. In October, I purchased a 2004 Toyota Camry LE. I can't think of a time when I haven't driven it, even around the block, when I don't utter a prayer of gratitude for it. Although now I have a car payment, insurance, and fuel and maintenance costs, it has freed up my time considerably, not to have to plan five steps ahead on when and how and where I must travel just to get an errand done.

As part of the settlement, I chose to go back to my maiden name of Robbins--not because of any feelings of animosity toward the Midkiff name or family (who have been just wonderfully supportive, by the way)--but out of feelings of a fresh start, independence, and as a nod of recognition to my Dutch and Frisian female ancestors who kept their maiden names throughout their entire lives in the Old Country. I'll continue to research the Midkiff side of the family tree for my children's sake, as well as my future grandchildren's. The other day, I was at Blockbuster and requested my name be changed on my account. The clerk, thinking--I suppose--that I might have been newly married, asked how long I had been a Robbins. "My whole life," I told her proudly.

So, you see, I haven't had a lot of time to blog or even to think. Writing this post has taken me all day, simply because I'm so rusty. Also, one of the things I learned in a class at work about children who grow up in the midst of trauma is that it affects the ability to think linearly. There have been times I sat down in the past year to blog, and could not come up with anything coherent, and now I realize why. Life was too chaotic. I didn't accomplish a single genealogy goal that I listed back at the end of 2010, but that's all right. My life journey took a different--and better--path.

Another thing I decided to do to free up my time was to resign at the end of 2011 from most of my duties with the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society. I have served as 1st Vice President for two years and as education chairperson for the past three. I'll still continue to write for the society blog and will head up the rest stop fundraiser, as well as lend a helping hand as needed. But I have to have the option of not attending a meeting now and again; and I felt that in the past year, my ability and quality of service were not my best work.

I do have some genealogy goals for this year, but they are fairly simple. The first I have already begun, and that is to order the pension file of my 3rd-great-grandfather, Benjamin Henry KIMBALL, to see if it reveals any information as to the death and burial of his first wife, my ancestor, Lucy May KIMBALL. My theory is that Lucy died at or shortly after the birth of their last child, my great-great-grandmother, Mary May KIMBALL.

My second goal is to write one quality post per month. Yes, just one. If I write more than that, wonderful; if not, I will have an attainable goal. The next goal is to continue doing what I have been doing: Scanfest, and working on my Online Historical Directories and Online Historical Newspapers websites. My last goal is to create an e-book based on my 52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases posts - with all 50 states, the territories, and national resources complete, of course.

To help me out, I have partnered with Elyse Doerflinger of Elyse's Genealogy Blog to be my research and blogging buddy, just as several other geneabloggers have done in recent years. We all need a cheerleader and, in turn, to cheer someone else on. I can't think of a more enthusiastic cheerleader than Elyse! I had the privilege of meeting her at Jamboree 2010. Although she's young enough to be my daughter, I think we are kindred spirits. At first appearance, our lives are very different: she's a full-time twenty-something student and I'm a single forty-something mom supporting myself and a young man who's almost out on his own. But we are both extremely busy, juggling several plates-full in our quests to support ourselves and move forward in this journey called life. And we both have an unquenchable desire to research our ancestors, blog about it, and teach others how to do so as well.

So here I am, at the doorway to 2012. It will be a good year. It may be difficult, but I have learned in the past quarter-century that I can survive and yes, even triumph over difficulties. For those who would want to say, "Sorry to hear about your divorce," I reply with, "Don't say 'sorry.' I'm not sorry for this. 'Sorry' is for 24 years of misery. Be happy for me, with me, in this new life I've found!" And for all of you who didn't unsubscribe after months of little-to-no posts, I say "Thank you!" Here's to a wonderful new year!

"The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.”
--G. K. Chesterton