Exceptional Reads

There are some dedicated geneabloggers out there who every week list their favorite reads from the blogosphere...or more. I've been honored to have some of my posts mentioned by them. Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings posts his "Best of the Genea-Blogs" every Sunday, as does Terry Thornton at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi under the heading, "Harvest from the Blog Garden." Terry's cousin, Lori Thornton at Smoky Mountain Family Historian, a librarian as well as a genealogist, posts her "Reading Roundup," which extends beyond genealogy and even beyond blogs to include news articles of interest. Pat Richley, a.k.a. DearMYRTLE has her "BEST of the Internet for Genealogist Award" each week as well, in which she lists not just her favorite blog of the week, but her BEST weekly picks in the following nine categories: instruction, database site, scanned image site, podcast, video, commentary, innovation, most interesting thread, and ethnic studies. UPDATE: I knew there was another geneablogger out there who also highlights weekly faves, but my mind was drawing a blank! Donna Pointkouski at What's Past is Prologue features "Donna's Picks" each week.

I don't think I'm ready to do this on a regular basis the way the above bloggers do, but from time to time I do like to point out some interesting, thought-provoking, educational or link-sharing posts. I noticed this past week that there were some exceptional reads out there, and I'd like to highlight them:

• *Charlotte, a.k.a. "Apple" at Apple's Tree started off her week with the post "Housekeeping" in which she has linked to an article on her other blog about the homecoming of Sgt. Van Orman. She also notified her readers about Blogger In Draft, a blog that informs Blogger users about beta or "in draft" features, one of which is scheduled posts. I was very excited to hear about this new feature, and have used it several times this week: those are the posts that appear at 2 AM Pacific Time. I'm not up that late; I schedule the posts to appear so that my East Coast family members and readers can read them at the beginning of the day, just as I enjoy reading my fellow genea-bloggers posts when I first get up.

• *J. L. Beeken at JLog highlighted KeePass, a handy application I've downloaded. Ever forget a user name and password to a site or program? This will be helpful.
  

• *M. Diane Rogers lists "My 15--Well, Really--16--Canadian Genealogy Websites, February 2008" at CanadaGenealogy or 'Jane's Your Aunt'. These are great resources, worthy of bookmarking, and later this week I shared Diane's post with a friend who's researching her Canadian ancestors.

• *Remember bronzed baby shoes? Although I never had them, I know many in my generation--or those older than me--did. Mrs. Mecomber of New York Traveler wrote about them in "Baby Steps", how bronzing your baby's first shoes is "coming back." She provided a link to the American Bronzing Company so you can see how the process is done.

• *Fellow Washington State resident Chery Kinnick at Nordic Blue has a wonderful essay on her family history and the automobile, titled "Not Without My Car." I don't know if she realizes it, but it is a perfect response for my AnceStories2 prompt, "Week Twenty-Four: Learning to Drive"! In other words, this is the sort of writing we ALL should be including in our family histories!

• *Sally Jacobs, a.k.a. The Practical Archivist, encourages us with "How to Organize Photos: Avoiding Project Burnout." I didn't pick this one because she mentions Scanfest; but because of the great calendar and reminder tools to which she links...I just love sites like these!

• *The Albuquerque [New Mexico] Tribune ceases publication today. It's always sad when a newspaper or institution closes its doors. I had only recently added it to my Google Reader, finding Mary Penner's Lineage Lessons interesting reading. She wrapped up the column with "Learning About Your Past is an Awesome Journey," and can be found at her website, http://marypenner.com.

• *From one of my ancestral locations, the Grand Rapids [Michigan] Press reports that an airport in Muskegon (also an ancestral location) in neighboring Muskegon County won't be named after a World War II ace after all. While the news is disappointing, the brief history of U.S. Navy fighter pilot Ira "Ike" Kepford was an excellent read.

• *From Sharon Williams' Chicago History blog comes "Illinois Periodicals Online a Great Teaching and Learning Tool of Chicago History." I agree, and if you have Illinois ancestors, you'll definitely want to check out the website to which this post links.

• *Jennifer Campbell of But Now I'm Found has found "The Holy Grail", the 1840 bill of sale of her enslaved ancestor, Solomon Koonce. An image of the document can be viewed at her subsequent post, "The Paper Trail--One Down--Thousands to Go."

• *Lastly, did a natural disaster or terrible accident affect your ancestor's life? Check out GenDisasters...Genealogy in Tragedy, Disasters, Fires, Floods, a user-submitted database of transcribed newspaper articles depicting American and Canadian disasters. You can search by location, disaster type, or year, plus there are message boards you can use. I searched to find the Alaska helicopter crash of close family friends of my parents, and while I did not find it, I did come across the article reporting the Lear jet crash U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) survived in 1978, which killed, among others, his wife, Ann. I remember vividly when that happened, for although we did not know the Stevenses personally, my dad's Aunt Mary Shore was his secretary in Washington, D.C., and Stevens was a popular leader in the state. Everyone was saddened by this tragedy.
  

I hope you agree with me that these are excellent reads...enjoy!