Fun Stuff for Genealogists

Are you still looking for that perfect gift for your favorite genealogist? Or some stocking stuffers? Maybe you'd like to fill out your wish list to give to your significant other before they go shopping for you.  It's not too late to order all sorts of genealogical goodies from Fun Stuff for Genealogists (http://www.funstuffforgenealogists.com)!

To view their online catalog, go to the link above and click on the yellow Catalog button. My favorite product is the "Cite Your Sources" sticky notes (look under the Organize Yourself tab in the left-hand menu). Any Scanfesters out there still looking for cotton gloves to handle old documents and photos? Fun Stuff for Genealogists has them for the best price I've yet seen - $3.00 a pair (check out the Archival Preservation and Storage tab)!

Whatever your genealogical need or product, Fun Stuff for Genealogists is the resource for you!

[Disclosure: I have not been compensated monetarily in any way for this review.]

Click on the Image Above to Adopt a Needy Child or Senior in Your Community

A Beginner's Guide to Scanning Postcards

I was honored when Evelyn Yvonne Theriault of A Canadian Family and the host of the Festival of Postcards requested that I write a post on postcard scanning tips for beginners. Now, I'm certainly no expert on postcards, but I've done my share of scanning in the last few years which includes antique photographs, aging documents, and vintage postcards, and I can tell you that the requirements for scanning these various ephemera are much the same. Below are some questions that many beginning postcard collectors have about scanning their items, followed by my tips.

1. What equipment should I use when scanning postcards?
A flatbed scanner that can scan at a 300 dots per inch (dpi) or greater resolution and can scan to the tagged image file (.tif) format is a must. Your computer should have photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop Pro, or the many free types you can download from the Internet (do a Google search). Cotton gloves such as those found at your local photography supply store or online at archival supply websites are also vital for keeping your postcards from being microscopically damaged from the oils in your skin when handling.

2. On what settings should I put my scanner?
As mentioned above, you'll want to scan at no less than 300 dots per inch resolution. Many experts agree that 600 dpi is even better. This will enable you to zoom in and see details that your naked eye can miss, which is especially helpful for those postally used postcards with difficult-to-read postmarks! Also, it is imperative that you scan to a tagged image file (.tif) format (more on this later). All scanning should be done in full color, even for those photo postcards that are printed in black and white. The color will bring out the highlights and shadows that scanning in black and white and greyscale cannot do, and will also digitally preserve your postcard as it truly is viewed by the human eye: in color.

3. How do I prepare for scanning?
The glass plate of your scanner should never be cleaned by commercial glass cleaning products such as Windex, which may leave a chemical residue that can damage your postcards. Instead, use a soft lint-free cloth that has been sprayed with water to clean the glass plate of dust, oil, and streaks. Make sure the plate is completely dried before placing any postcard on its surface. I also like to tape a large piece of black construction paper to the inside of the white lid of my scanner, so that the edges of the postcard can easily be seen in the scanned image. Otherwise, the white edges of the postcard can seem to merge into the image of the white lid and it is difficult to tell exactly where they are when cropping the image.

Meanwhile, your postcards should be set up in scanning order on a nearby clean surface, free from any food, beverages, or other items that could damage them. Take the time to figure out exactly what you want to scan and in which order they will be scanned.

4. How should the postcards be scanned?
I scan four postcards at a time with spaces between them, being very careful not to slide them around on the glass (pick them up to move them). I then carefully flip each one over in its place and scan the reverse of the four as another image. This saves me time in scanning and room on my hard drive.

5. How do I save and use my scanned images?
Every image should be saved as a .tif file, which does not deteriorate over time with every use like .jpg files do. Jpg files are common photo file formats used to transport photos from one location (your hard drive, for example) to another (an online photo album, or an e-mail, for example). The problem here is that .jpg files are compressed for that easy transportation, and every time you save or use that file (e-mail it, download it, etc.), it loses some of its quality. Also, if you've ever zoomed in on a .jpg file, you'll notice that it quickly becomes blurry, whereas a .tif file can be enlarged multiple times in a zooming action before the resolution blurs.

When I make presentations about scanning and preservation, I like to do a little demonstration. I take a piece of blank paper and show it to my audience, saying, "This is my digital photo as a .jpg file." I then crumple the paper and toss it to a member of the audience and explain that because I crumpled (compressed) it, it made it easier for me to transport to someone else. Then I have the person smooth out the paper the best they can to look at it. Of course, now it's wrinkled. Then I have them crumple it again and toss it back to me. Each time the paper is used, it is crumpled and then unfolded. The quality deteriorates. The same thing happens at a digital level; the quality of the photograph in a .jpg file deteriorates every time it is accessed.

So even if your postcards are not photo postcards, they should still be saved as .tif files. This will digitally preserve the image. Any enhancements, cropping, color changes (color to black and white or greyscale, etc.) should be done to copies of the original .tif file. If you wish to e-mail a postcard image or upload it to a blog, do a "Save As" action and save the image as a .jpg (retaining the original .tif file, of course) and then send it out.

Lastly, I "separate" the images of the four postcards by copying each one four times and cropping them. I tag the images with information that will help me easily find them in a desktop search. These final two steps, separating and tagging are done after I've finished all my scanning.

6. What do I need to do when I'm finished scanning my postcards?
I recommend placing the postcards in an acid- and lignin-free storage container or enclosed display frame. Both Archival Products and Archival Suppliers offer postcard preservation supplies.

Never place them in "magnetic" photo albums or cheap photo display books. Don't store them with newspaper clippings, which are made of acidic paper. Also, don't store them with photographs, as the postcards may be made of acidic materials themselves and destroy the photographs stored with them. Acidic paper creates a gas that eats away at photographic materials.

Be sure to back up the scanned images to a DVD, flash drive, external hard drive, or the Internet. Have two different kinds of backups and store them in two places, one away from your home.

By following these tips, you can preserve, display, and share your wonderful postcard collection in a digital format. If you have further questions, leave them in the comments below. And be sure to join me and my family historian and family archivist friends for Scanfest, usually held the last Sunday of each month, here at AnceStories. There are a number of experts who would be glad to give scanning and preservation advice, and we have a lot of fun, too!

Ancestry.com Bringing High-Speed Scanners to FGS in Little Rock

Ancestry.com is excited to provide FGS conference attendees the opportunity to have their family records scanned, for free, on high–speed scanners.

The scanners will be available for up to 15-minute scanning sessions on Thursday, September 3, through Saturday, September 5, during the exhibit hall hours.

Scanning-session signs-ups will open each morning—sign up Thursday morning for a Thursday time slot, Friday morning for a Friday time slot, and so on. The scanning machines and sign-ups will be located in the Toltec Lobby registration area of the Statehouse Convention Center.

To help Ancestry.com finalize scanning plans, we're asking conference attendees to visit the following URL and let us know if they will be bringing items to scan: http://FGSscanners.eventbrite.com

Details about Scanning

· Ancestry.com imaging specialists will operate the scanner

· Ancestry.com is bringing two scanners to the conference: a high–speed, loose–leaf scanner that will scan documents and photographs in full color and a planetary scanner for books and more fragile items

· Attendees will be able to scan about 100 family photographs or documents during a 15–minute session

· Scanned images will be saved to flash drives (provided at no cost by Ancestry.com) and given to attendees. (Note: Scanned images will NOT be uploaded to the Ancestry.com website by Ancestry.com personnel.)

· Due to anticipated demand, conference attendees will be able to sign up for only one scanning session during the conference

• There is always a possibility that damage to older, more fragile documents may occur during the scanning process. Ancestry.com urges patrons to use their best judgment when choosing documents to be scanned.

Scanfest is Postponed Until September

Due to a number of reasons, I've decided to postpone Scanfest until September. We'll have family visiting in the area during the weekend I had planned the July Scanfest. The weekend I planned for the August Scanfest will be the first weekend after our next school year begins, and I always need that first weekend to recover! Additionally, I've been pretty busy working towards the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference, which will be held here in Spokane September 11 - 13 and hosted by my local society, the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society. Finally, my main computer is down, I filled up my hard drive on my laptop scanning things my uncle brought for my mother during his visit last month, and I can't get my scanner's software to load on my daughter's laptop - all this means I can't scan, anyway. :-)

SO! We will resume Scanfest on Sunday, September 27th, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

Enjoy your summer, and if you do your own scanning projects over the summer, remember these things:

1. Don't use commercial glass cleaners to clean your scanner's glass plate. Use a soft, clean cloth. If you must use a liquid, use water sprayed on 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 photographer 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.

MayDay, MayDay!

Yes, it was the day traditionally known for hanging small baskets of posies and/or goodies on a friend's front door knob, knocking or ringing the doorbell, and running like mad to get out of sight before they discover that you are their secret gift giver.

But yesterday wasn't just May Day, it was MayDay, as in the phrase used by pilots and ship captains the world over to broadcast a distress signal. Only it's not about a plane or ship in dire straights; rather, it's to raise awareness of the condition of the materials in our libraries, archives, museums, and other repositories of historical materials, and to do what is necessary to preserve and protect these valuable items from deterioration and disaster. In the last two months, we've heard of the collapse of the city archives building in Cologne, Germany, and an earthquake in Italy that damaged the state archives of Abruzzo. Such losses are tragic and have a world-wide impact.

Besides doing what we can to help out our local archives, libraries, and museums by supporting them with our tax dollars, fund raising events, and volunteer projects, as genealogists and family historians we should consider our own homes to be mini-repositories with historically-significant valuables archived within. It's likely that your home contains photographs, documents, and historical items passed from one generation to another that are not available anywhere else in the world. Suppose something happened to your home? It could be a disaster such as a fire, flood, or theft, or it could be something quiet yet insidious such as mold, mildew, heat, insects or other pests.

It's likely that you feel as I have in the past: a little overwhelmed at the thought of figuring out how to preserve everything of genealogical value for future generations. Browsing through archival supply catalogs or reading articles on how to scan and digitize all my photos and documents sounded expensive and time-consuming. However, like any great and worthwhile task, it's best to start out with baby steps. Doing a little something is always better than doing a lot of nothing!

Here are some of the steps I've taken in the past couple of years. I didn't do them all at once, but began each one as I had the time and money to do so. There are still many steps I have to take, and my tasks many never be done as I continue to receive heirlooms, papers, and photographs from other family members as they recognize my unofficial status as family historian and archivist.

*I have rented a safety deposit box from my financial institution to store some of the most financially valuable or difficult-to-replace items of the small family heirlooms in my possession, as well as important household documents such as our home and vehicle titles, insurance papers, etc.

*I obtained a subscription to Carbonite, a computer-backup service that works quietly in the background to back up my files and folders, which include scanned family photographs and genealogical documents.

*I purchased cotton gloves from my local photographers' supply shop to use when handling photographs of any age and fragile documents.

*I started Scanfest as a means to regularly undertake scanning projects that I probably otherwise would never had started.

*I removed photographs from "magnetic" photo albums as the materials these albums are created from quickly deteriorate the photographs within.

*I separated newspaper clippings of articles and obituaries from photographs (the acid gas from newsprint is extremely harsh and damaging to photos), photocopied them to be stored in file folders (separate from photos) and scanned them to store them digitally on my computer (backed up by Carbonite, of course). The newsprint was then thrown away.

*I have begun to photograph items and heirlooms too large to be scanned or stored in a safety deposit box. I also photographed items that are on display in my home (portraits, dishes, crocheted tablecloths, etc.). These photos are stored online, so that if anything should ever happen to them, at least I'll have a photograph of what the original item looked like.

As I mentioned before, there is still much to do. For those of you who may be wondering, "Where on earth do I begin?" I have a challenge to set before you. This month, do what you can to preserve three things. Think of the most valuable document, photograph, and item that you have. "Valuable" could mean the oldest one, the most fragile or at-risk one, or the one that would be most expensive or difficult to replace should you lose it. Do what you can to preserve one document, one photograph, and one item this month. Leave a comment below and tell me what those three things will be. Then come back at the end of the month and tell me how you completed (or at least started on) your preservation projects for May.

My goals will be to 1) scan my great-grandparents' marriage certificate, which is too large for my scanner. I'll need to take it to Office Depot or Kinko's and make a reduced size copy; 2) scan the only photo I have of my ancestor James BARBER; and 3) photograph and tag several crocheted items displayed in my home that were made by my great-grandmother and my husband's great-grandmother.

What will your three preservation projects be?

Data Backup Day - No Kidding

UPDATE: This was originally posted on my duplicate blog at WordPress. As of 2 August 2008, 1:00 PM, PDT, my AnceStories blog at Blogger was finally unlocked.

As Thomas reminds us, today is Data Backup Day. When I think of data, I usually think of my scanned photos and images of genealogy documents that need to be backed up to my secondary hard drive, my flash drive, DVDs, or an online backup service (right now I'm using MediaMax), or my RootsMagic databases that I upload (with living people filtered out) to RootsWeb's WorldConnect family trees. UPDATE: Yikes! MediaMax is closing down as of August 8th. Time to switch to Carbonite, I'm thinking.

I never thought I might have to back up my blogs.

Yesterday afternoon, I received three e-mails from Google/Blogger, stating my AnceStories blog, my AnceStories2 blog and the EWGS blog had all been flagged as potential "splogs" (spam blogs). I was given instructions to submit them for reviews by Blogger to prove they weren't. Several hours later, my AnceStories2 blog was unlocked and back in business. My AnceStories and the EWGS blogs are still locked. This means I can write posts, save drafts, and edit changes on already published posts, but I cannot publish or schedule to be published any posts until the blogs have been cleared.

I'm not the only one with this problem. Schelly Taladay Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe was also locked out, as was Maureen Taylor of The Photo Detective. Debra Osborne Spindle ("Tex") of All My Ancestors has been fighting a battle with Blogger for weeks...she got flagged as a malicious blog, and even though she's jumped through all their hoops, if you use Mozilla Firefox as your browser and go to her site, you'll see a big warning posted. And when you Google her site, there's a notice "this site may harm your computer."

After I got locked out, I thought about opening another Blogger blog, but the thought of importing 692 posts was more than a little daunting! Then Schelley told me about WordPress, and after reading messagesfrom many Blogger users on the Blogger Help Board who are doing the same, I decided to go for it.

WordPress has a very easy import feature that will import your Blogger posts (including drafts and scheduled ones), comments, categories, and links within the posts over to WordPress that is quick and painless. Everything remains as-is back at Blogger, too ("importing" here really means duplicating; not removing). The drawback is that I can't have advertising on this free account, and importing my widgets will take time. However, I feel it's worth it as a backup.

I'm meeting with members of my society today for our Washington State Genealogical Society 2009 State Conference Committee Chairs and plan to request permission to import the society's blog to WordPress as well. And I've decided as a backup plan, I'm going to back up all my blogs to WordPress, keeping them private, just in case something happens to them.

So expand your horizons and don't limit your idea of what "data" is to just the files and folders in your computer. Take the time to protect your invested time, research, and perhaps money and come up with a backup plan for your blogs as well.

2008 Artistry of Genealogy Awards - the Joke's on Me!

You're going to laugh when you read this. At least I did, because the joke is on me. On Wednesday, I received the following e-mail:

The Photo Preservation Center is announcing the 2008 Artistry of Genealogy Awards through an upcoming Businesswire news release and your site was mentioned. Congratulations and I hope the attention draws many more people to your excellent site. An advance copy of the release is posted on our Tales from the World of Photo Scanning Blog – www.blog.ScanMyPhotos.com. We will make sure to have your site hyperlinked on the official Businesswire release. Thanks for your commitment to also helping preserve families history and memories.

Well, I had never heard of this organization and to be quite frank, there were a couple of spelling and grammatical errors in the subject line and message, and the link embedded in the message led to a 404 error page--all normal indicators of a possible spam message. So I deleted the e-mail. Yes, I did!

On Thursday, Becky's congratulatory post at kinnexions popped up in my feed reader, followed by many others in the geneablogosphere, and suddenly I realized this was authentic! Sheepishly, I retrieved the e-mail from my trash folder and replied with a humble "thank you." Are you laughing at me yet? That's all right. I'm laughing right along with you!

Here is the correct link that will take you to the blog, and here is the press release on Yahoo! through Businesswire. I'm not going to repeat the whole message here as most of you have probably read it on other blogs, but I did want to mention a few things.

First of all, thank you to the Photo Preservation Center for creating these awards and to all those who voted for AnceStories as Best Personal Genealogy Blog (Renee Zamora of Renee's Genealogy Blog also received this award). I'm sorry that I didn't recognize the award for what it was at first glance!

Secondly, congratulations to all my fellow award winners! I'm honored to be listed among them. Every one of the recipients was familiar to me at first glance, with the exception of Favorite Genealogy Research Guide: Genealogy Research Guides, Tips and Online Records. After investigating this site, I slapped my forehead and said, "Oh, it's Joe!" Yes, Joe Beine of www.deathindexes.com and Genealogy Roots Blog. ResearchGuides.net is the front door to his portal of wonderful pages of links to online records. The other one that seemed at first unfamiliar but turned out to be part of Illya D'Addezio's conglomeration of sites (think GenealogyToday) was Family Tree Connection, which won Most Popular Genealogy Database.

One thing I learned from all this (besides not to look a gift horse in the mouth!) was that April is The Great American Photo Scanning Month! As the hostess of Scanfest, I think that's simply terrific! In honor of that event, ScanMyPhotos.com has created the following offer:

Throughout April, ScanMyPhotos.com is providing free photo scans to all members of four leading social networking sites; subscribers to Flickr, MySpace, Blogger and Facebook can have up to 1,000 4x6" photos scanned to DVD without charge when they mail their pictures to ScanMyPhotos.com and pay $19.95 for return S&H, along with the downloadable order form.

This sounds like a sweet deal, and would work wonderfully for all those modern photos you have sitting around in boxes that need to be digitized. As for the antique or one-of-a-kind old family photos or documents, I urge you to join me and scan them during Scanfest (Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday this coming week) and Spring Break Scan-a-thon, currently in progress. If you can't make it this week, the April Scanfest will be held Sunday, April 27th from 11 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

The February 2008 Scanfest is Upon Us!

Attention, Scanfesters! Haul out those photo albums, boxes of unsorted pictures, stacks of documents, and other family ephemera! The second Scanfest of 2008 is coming up next Sunday, February 24th, from 11 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

Sally Jacobs exhorted us in a post earlier this week not to let our New Years' resolutions to organize our photos fizzle out. Getting tired of all that snow? Wishing something new would come along? Can't bear to think of those unfinished projects? C'mon, now! Join us during Scanfest, and catch the enthusiasm once again. Get those projects finished up! Take advantage of the opportunity to get to know other family historians and archivists and chat away using Windows Live Messenger, and make a monotonous job much more enjoyable!

Here are the details:

To join us, you'll need a Hotmail or Gmail account, and Windows Live Messenger downloaded to your computer (Mac users go here to download Microsoft Messenger for Mac). Although WLM states that it is compatible with Yahoo! e-mail accounts, we have had difficulty adding Yahoo! users to our chat conversation. If you don't have a Hotmail or Gmail account, it's very easy (and free) to set one up. Just go to the links in the first sentence of this paragraph. Once you have gotten set up, send me an e-mail (my address is found on this page) and I'll add you to our chat list. You'll receive an invitation message from me at my hotmail address, which will be sent to the e-mail account that you've set up for Messenger (Hotmail or Gmail), and will need to verify that I can add you as a contact.

The second thing you need to do to prepare for scanning is go to Sally's website here and sign up for her free e-mail newsletter. This will then allow you to download her helpful information called 8 Blunders People Make When They Scan Photographs...and How You Can Avoid Them All. Then you will know how to set your scanner correctly to enable you to scan your items without damaging the originals or compromising the digital images you create.

Please join us! We had such a blast last month, our biggest attendance at Scanfest, ever! Remember, you don't need to be a genealogist or a blogger. All you need is a scanner, Windows Live Messenger on your computer, and a desire to scan your family's photos or papers. See you Sunday!

New Genealogy-Related Websites

Interesting new (or new-to-me) websites I've discovered during the past week:

• *Lost and Found Photos

• *Photos (vintage and current) of county courthouses all over the U.S. (hat tip to Charles Hansen of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society)

• *South Dakota State Archives has started databases of Civil War veterans (both Union and Confederate) listed in Dakota Territory's special Veterans Census of 1885 (hat tip to Leland Meitzler of Genealogy Blog). Also at this archive website, I discovered the South Dakota Newspaper Vital Records Index, spanning 1781 - present. Joe! You need to add this one to your website!
  

• *Southern California Genealogical Society's Virtual Surname Wall is now searchable. You can also add your own surnames.
  

Scanfest is Coming!

The first Scanfest of 2008 will be held Sunday, January 27th from 11 AM to 2 PM, PDT. If your New Year's Resolution was to start making some headway in scanning those family photo albums, ancestral documents, or antique portraits, you'll want to save the date!

What is Scanfest? As Sally Jacobs, The Practical Archivist, has quipped, it's like a quilting bee for those wanting to preserve their family records, documents, and photographs. We all know how tedious scanning can be! Wouldn't it be fun to visit with other like-minded family historians while doing so? With the instant messaging technology of Windows Live Messenger, we do exactly that! We chat with each other about genealogy, preservation, sports, neighborhood news, recipes, and just about anything under the sun while we slowly reduce scanning "to do" lists.

If you are new to Scanfest and want to join, there are two steps you need to take. The first is you must have Windows Live Messenger installed on your computer (it's free). Here are the instructions:

To join us, you'll need a Hotmail or Gmail account, and Windows Live Messenger downloaded to your computer (Mac users go here to download Microsoft Messenger for Mac). Although WLM states that it is compatible with Yahoo! e-mail accounts, we have had difficulty adding Yahoo! users to our chat conversation. If you don't have a Hotmail or Gmail account, it's very easy (and free) to set one up. Just go to the links in the first sentence of this paragraph. Once you have gotten set up, send me an e-mail (found on this page) and I'll add you to our chat list. You'll receive an invitation message from me at my hotmail address, which will be sent to the e-mail account that you've set up for Messenger (Hotmail or Gmail), and will need to verify that I can add you as a contact.

The second thing you need to do to prepare for scanning is go to Sally's website here and sign up for her free e-mail newsletter. This will then allow you to download her helpful information called 8 Blunders People Make When They Scan Photographs...and How You Can Avoid Them All. Then you will know how to set your scanner correctly to enable you to scan your items without damaging the originals or compromising the digital images you create.

We always have such a good time, so I hope you will consider joining us!

My New Year's Genealogy Resolutions for 2008

In Roman mythology, Janus (or Ianus) was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings. His most apparent remnants in modern culture are his namesakes, the month of January and the caretaker of doors and halls: Janitor.

Janus was usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. Janus was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, the growing up of young people, and of one universe to another. He was also known as the figure representing time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, births and other beginnings.

Wikipedia contributors, "Janus (mythology)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Janus_%28mythology%29&oldid=180708812 (accessed December 31, 2007).

I suppose if we genea-bloggers lived in Roman times, we would worship Janus. He would make a wonderful god of genealogy! He could see the past and the future, and was celebrated at births, marriages, and other beginnings, events we celebrate as well. Like Janus, we are the keepers of the gates, doors, and hallways into our family histories; those entrusted with the keys. We are janitors--custodians--of the past for the generations that come after.

My post today is a reflection of my 2007 genealogy resolutions and a listing the ones for 2008. Like Janus, I am looking both directions at once. I had five goals for the year 2007, and much of my 2008 resolutions will be a continuance of them, while I have added a couple of new things as well. Here is my 2007 list, with comments on how I did:

1. To continue and to improve my process of recording my research, especially when I search online databases. I've done much better than I ever have in recording where I've been when searching online, but there still is room for improvement. My problem is impatience...I don't want to slow myself down to record where I looked, and then I end up wasting time in the long run by repeating searches. I did create an Online Research Form to help me, and I resolve to do better in 2008.

2. To cite my sources properly. It's a lot of work, especially to go back and re-cite 20 years' worth of information that I used to enter in note form on my computer. I give myself an A on this resolution, as far as my databases went. I used my RootsMagic citation wizard a lot this year and went back and started re-entering (or entering for the first time) my sources. There's still much work ahead, but the acquisition of Evidence Explained! was a bonus for my genealogical toolbox. I do need to make sure that I cite my sources correctly on this blog, and go back and cite old posts.

3. To photograph and log my genealogical "treasures," items that have once belonged to my ancestors and late relatives. Hmm...I kind of forgot about this one. I was going to have a private blog to log the treasures, but I think Tim Abbott's Cabinet of Curiosities is going to be a good way to record these. Scanfest is also a part of this. I'll renew this resolution as well.

4. To begin to slowly change my hard copy files from a file folder system to a notebook system, using archival-safe, acid-free page protectors. Nope. This one was a dud. It was expensive, time-consuming, and an inefficient way for me to store and access my records. I started to keep my HOEKSTRA materials this way, and although it looked very good and professional, it just was plain awkward. My original plan was to prepare materials for a possible book, but I've got too much research ahead of me to do any near publishing. I've decided to stick with file folders for all my family lines, and I've been implementing Sharon DeBartolo Carmack's system explained in Organizing Your Family History Search. RootsMagic allows me to color code family lines, and I'm using colored folders for my files: blue for my dad's lines, red for Mom's, and green and yellow respectively for my father- and mother-in-law's lines. Also, orange is for my maternal step-grandfather's family and purple is for my paternal grandmother's adoptive family lines. So while the original resolution didn't work, its alternative has.

5. To continue to blog at this location...to be consistent in writing both prompts and responses for my new blog, AnceStories2. I deserve an A+ for the first part, but receive a D for the second. This is my 340th post since last year's resolution on this blog, but I sloughed off badly on AnceStories2. I don't want to abandon it, so I've decided to continue to post enough prompts up to Week 52, giving readers a year's worth of prompts. From that point on, I'll probably blog occasionally on various other ways to record one's memories.

My 2008 resolutions are to continue with the five points of focus above, either in the same vein or the altered goal I've mentioned. Additionally, there are two other goals I want to work on, preservation and writing. The first requires that I lease a safety-deposit box at my financial institution in which to safely keep original documents and family treasures, photo negatives, and computer backups. I'm also going to buy some larger flash drives to back up my files on a regular basis. The second involves doing more non-blog writing by submitting articles for publication. But I'd also like to blog my mother's letters in a private blog, perhaps as preparation for a book.

There you have it: record; cite; archive and preserve; organize; and blog and write. I think I'll make a little sign with these goals and hang it near my computer as a daily reminder. What are your goals or resolutions for 2008?

Even More of This and That

I was up in the wee hours of the morning (teenagers, sleepover...need I say more?), so I got on the computer and checked my Google Reader to catch the East Coast blogs' morning posts. Did you see that George G. Morgan is discontinuing his blog, "Along Those Lines..." to do more writing-for-pay as well as keep up with his busy lecturing schedule? We'll miss him.

I'm sure someone's blogged about this before, but I stumbled across the Local History and Genealogy Reading "Room" of the Library of Congress' website. Of course, it was bookmarked immediately, and I suggest you do the same!

Lori Thornton at Smoky Mountain Family Historian links to an article about the Boston Public Library Digitization Project. Exciting!

I'm not a Martha Stewart fan, but she does have a good tip for storing ornaments. Many of us genealogists have ornaments that are antiques, modern family favorites passed down over a couple of generations, or decorations created to honor our ancestors. We should do our best to preserve these special keepsakes:

The boxes that your ornaments came in are best for storage; if you didn't save the originals, you can wrap each piece individually in acid-free tissue paper, and pack them in a sturdy, compartmentalized box (or use paper cups to keep ornaments separate). Be sure to store the box in a stable environment, such as a closet; fluctuating temperatures and moisture levels in attics and basements can be harmful to the decorations. [from www.marthastewart.com, search site for "ornament storage"]

Report on October Scanfest

I have been remiss not to inform my readers of what a fun and interesting time our Scanfesters had a week ago Sunday, October 28th. We had a group of six, including myself, that scanned and chatted using Windows Live Messenger for three hours that afternoon.

Lee Anders of I Seek Dead People was back after a hiatus, and it was a pleasure to "see" her again! She was busy scanning her Craddock collection: photos from her grandmother's accumulation.

Jasia of Creative Gene was scanning her mother-in-law's photo album of her growing-up years in the coal-mining West of Pennsylvania. Jasia is one of our regular scanfesters and the creator of the Carnival of Genealogy.

The footnoteMaven is another of our faithful attendees, and she was working towards a proposal for a book which I hope will soon be available to the public. I won't tell what the subject is--it's a carefully guarded secret--but I can tell you that if you love old photos, this will be a must-have for your home library!

Colleen from The Oracle of OMcHodoy is a fairly recent Scanfester, but she's been a regular ever since she joined us for the first time in August. While simultaneously chatting with us, she watched football and scanned her paternal grandparents photos from their years in the coal-mining East of Pennsylvania!

Our newest Scanfester was Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy. Lorine owns over 3,000 cartes de visite (photos from the Civil War era) and was organizing and archiving them while--get this!--her husband was busy scanning them for her! The rest of us Scanfesters agreed that he deserves some sort of award, such as "Best Genealogy Spouse"!

I scanned more of the Hoekstra, DeVries, and Valk documents that have been sent out West from the estate of my late maternal grandparents. There's quite a lot more to do, but I put a sizable dent in the "To Scan" pile.

It's always so interesting to get to know other genea-historians and genea-bloggers through Scanfest! I learn a little more about my online friends each time we meet, and I'm sure they can say the same about me. We come from diverse backgrounds and interests, yet share a common love for family history, genealogical research, and preservation of our precious family artifacts. We exchange resources and ideas, too. One resource that I shared was the free e-book by Sally Jacobs, the Practical Archivist, titled 8 Blunders People Make When Scanning Their Photographs...And How You Can Avoid Them All! You can download this from her website; it is a freebie bonus for signing up for her free newsletter. She also has a blog where she has begun to feature podcasts she's doing.

Due to the upcoming holidays, we will be taking a break from Scanfest until January 2008. Stay tuned!

Report on September Scanfest

Our September Scanfest earlier today was so enjoyable! Colleen from The Oracle of OMcHodoy joined me, as well as a newcomer, Teri from The Cheeky Librarian and User Education Resources for Librarians. Teri had been referred by Sally of The Practical Archivist, who gave Scanfest the ultimate compliment by referring to it as "a quilting bee, but for scanning"! Craig from GeneaBlogie dropped by for a while, as did Apple from Apple's Tree.

We all had our little projects: Colleen was sorting through a box of 200 photos; Teri had scanned some documents for her career portfolio and had moved on to newspaper clippings and family photos; Apple had scanned some bus photos for her work blog (she's a school bus driver in her "other" life); Craig didn't scan, but we enjoyed chatting with him and telling Teri about his HARP Project. I was working on getting my maternal grandmother's baby book scanned, and I actually completed the entire scanning project in the three hours we set aside (a first for me)!

View Album

Get your own

We had plenty to talk about as we worked, too. Colleen was multitasking and watching the football game, so she interjected with comments about that. She also found a snapshot of movie star Jeff Chandler with her mother's photos, which looked like it had been taken on the streets of Niagara Falls, New York! Teri said she found some great "blackmail" photos of her brother that she was sure her nephews and niece would enjoy! We shared advice about scanning and preservation, and all-in-all, felt good about taking the time to care for the precious family documents and photos that have been entrusted to us as family historians!

I hope that you will join us for the next Scanfest, to be held Sunday, October 28th from 11 AM to 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time (in the U.S., we'll be switching back to standard time the first Sunday in November this year). You don't have to be a genealogist or have a blog or website to join us. We're just looking for some people who want to preserve their family heirlooms and enjoy getting to know others online.

Scanfest is Coming...But Not Until September 30th

Scanfest is coming! For those of you who are regular Scanfesters, you may have accidentally marked September 23rd for the next Scanfest Day, since that is the fourth Sunday of the month. However, there are five Sundays in September, and our usual meeting time is the last Sunday of each month. Therefore, we will be gathering Sunday, September 30th at 11 AM, Pacific Daylight Time, and scanning and chatting until 2 PM, PDT.

For those of you who are wondering what Scanfest is, it's a time we genea-bloggers have set aside to scan our precious family documents, records and photographs for preservation's sake. Scanning can be one of those monotonous chores, put off until never. So in order to make it a little more interesting, we've agreed to meet online for three hours every month while scanning, and chat using Windows Live Messenger. It's a great way to get to know one another and exchange ideas about preservation, technology, and genealogy.

You don't have to have a genealogy blog to join us. We are always open to new "faces" at our Scanfest sessions! Here's how to sign up:

To join us, you'll need a Hotmail or Gmail account, and Windows Live Messenger downloaded to your computer (Mac users go here to download Microsoft Messenger for Mac). Although WLM states that it is compatible with Yahoo! e-mail accounts, we have had difficulty adding Yahoo! users to our chat conversation. Once you have gotten set up, send me an e-mail (see my profile in the right-hand menu) and I'll add you to our chat list. You'll receive an invitation message from me in the e-mail account that you've set up for Messenger, and will need to verify that I can add you as a contact. My Messenger account is identical to my Gmail account, except that it's "@hotmail.com".

Here's a list of some of the things I've scanned, either in part or fully, over the last seven months:

• * The Family Record Book of John Martin HOEKSTRA and Lillian Fern STRONG - my great-grandparents' family tree book (see scanning progress here).
• * Photos of my husband's TOLLIVER and COLLINS ancestors, loaned to me by my father-in-law and sister-in-law
  
• * Journals and investment documents of my grandfather, Adrian DeVRIES
• * Other family papers and photographs from the estate of my grandmother, Ruth Lillian (HOEKSTRA) VALK DeVRIES (here, here and here)
  
• * My black-and-white wedding photos - for the eventual creation of a Wedding Memory Book at MemoryPress.com

I have so much more I need to scan! I'll bet you do, too! Won't you join us?

August Scanfest Report

Yesterday saw some new Scanfesters for a terrific three-hour session of scanning and chatting using Windows Live Messenger. Colleen of The Oracle of OMcHodoy and Craig of GeneaBlogie were our newbies, and it was so nice to "meet" them online and get a chance to know them a little better. Craig also has the added distinction of being our first male Scanfester--I think he deserves a door prize or booby prize or something! Jasia of Creative Gene and Amy of Untangled Family Roots rounded out our party.

Colleen was working on her aunt's scrapbook that contained photos which were 50 to 100 years old, she estimates. Unfortunately, some had adhered to the paper in the scrapbook over time and she was afraid of damaging them. We discussed possible solutions and recommended she consult a pro. Craig was scanning ancestral death certificates from Missouri and Texas and court documents from Georgia. He informed me that death certificates in Texas are fairly easy to obtain, and are not too expensive, at $20 each; good to know, as I'm considering purchasing my grandfather's. Jasia was scanning her aunts' and uncles' wedding albums from the 1940s and her mother's 8th grade graduating class photo from parochial school. She said that none of the classmates' names were labeled, and we talked about how fast these things are lost to the past! And I continued to scan my black and white wedding photos taken by a freelance photographer friend of ours, in anticipation of creating a Wedding Memory Book for my kids through MemoryPress. I'm also ensuring they'll last longer by removing them from a "magnetic page" photo album.

(My last few minutes as a Robbins)

All in all, it was a very pleasant time spent, and I hope to see everyone back, plus more new "faces" next time! Our September Scanfest will be held Sunday, September 30th from 11 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

Digital Show and Tell

Lisa Alzo, the Accidental Genealogist, suggested a Digital Show and Tell. She is featuring a photo of her grandmother's trunk on her blog, which was brought to the U.S. from Slovakia when she immigrated in 1922.

What a fantastic idea, Lisa! I've decided to feature my most precious (and oldest) genealogical treasure, the cross stitch sampler created by my 4th-great-grandmother, Mary "Polly" (WYCKOFF) CROTHERS CHAPPEL (c. 1805 - aft. 1880):

(click on the image above for a magnified view)

As a cross stitcher myself, looking at the difficulty of the stitches, I figure Polly probably made this when she was no younger than 10; and since her maiden name is stitched on it, it had to be made before her marriage c. 1824 - 5 (her eldest known child was born 11 Dec 1825). Therefore, it was probably made c. 1815 - 1825, making it around 182 - 192 years old!

Because this sampler was made by an ancestor from the biological line of my paternal grandmother (an adoptee), this item is especially precious to me. I researched my grandmother's biological line for several years before finding living relatives for her to reunite with in 1997. The previous owner of the sampler, related by marriage only, corresponded with me for a while and was able to provide many details on the family history. Out of the kindness of her heart, she gave this sampler to me, mailed in a cardboard(!) envelope. The day it arrived in the mail, it was pouring down rain all day. The tape holding the envelope shut had come unsealed, and it was a miracle the sampler hadn't fallen out during delivery!

Now it is safely wrapped in an undyed cotton sheet until I can find a local textile expert to advise me on how to best preserve it (and possibly clean and display it) for future generations.

Report on July Scanfest

Yesterday I spent an enjoyable three hours online in the company of Jasia and the footnoteMaven, while we busily scanned photos for Scanfest. Jasia was scanning family photos from her childhood, Maven was scanning orphan (unidentified) photos found at antique stores, and I scanned about a third of the black-and-white photos in one of my wedding albums, in preparation for my Wedding Memory Book to be published by MemoryPress.

Although Craig wasn't able to join us, he did mention in his last post that he had his own personal Scanfest going. It's nice to know that Scanfest is inspiring people to get their precious family and ancestral photos and documents scanned and preserved.

I hope you can join us for the next one, Sunday, August 26 from 11 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

June 2007 Scanfest Coming Up!

It seems so long since we have had a Scanfest! Part of the reason is that last month's was held a week early, due to Memorial Day weekend falling on the last weekend of the month. For those of you who have never heard of Scanfest, let me quickly recap. It's a time when those interested in genealogy or preservation "meet" online using various chat technology, to visit while we scan those endless piles of documents, photos and other ephemera that need to be preserved. Because scanning can be quite tedious, it's nice to take the time to chat and visit while scanning, getting to know others who have similar interests.

Yes, it's June, summer's here, and many of us would rather be out enjoying the nice weather. But somewhere in your home is a pile (or many piles) of photos that need scanning, or perhaps some files that need purging. You've got to start somewhere, sometime; why not now? Our next Scanfest is scheduled for Sunday, June 24th, from 11 AM - 2 PM, PDT.

To join me, you'll need a Hotmail or Gmail account, and Windows Live Messenger downloaded to your computer (Mac users go here to download Microsoft Messenger for Mac). Although WLM states that it is compatible with Yahoo! e-mail accounts, we have had difficulty adding Yahoo! users to our chat conversation. Once you have gotten set up, send me an e-mail (see my profile in the right-hand menu) and I'll add you to our chat list. You'll receive an invitation message from me in the e-mail account that you've set up for Messenger, and will need to verify that I can add you as a contact. My Messenger account is identical to my Gmail account, except that it's "@hotmail.com".

Hope to see you there!

Scanfest Will Be Early This Month - UPDATE

UPDATE: We will be using Gizmo as our means of chatting, rather than Windows Live Local. Go to Susan's blog here to get details on how to do this. I will hang out in Windows Live Local and direct those who show up to the Gizmo project, in case they miss this message.

Scanfest will be held one week early this month, on Sunday, May 20th from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM, P.D.T. Susan Kitchens of Family Oral History and 20/20 Hindsight will be our host. Normally held the last Sunday of each month, the time has been moved up by one week because of Memorial Day weekend.

See my post of April 25th for a description of Scanfest and details on how you can join. I have so far scanned quite a few dozen documents, family journal pages, and photographs that I otherwise would never had made time to get to. You don't have to be a blogger to join; we always enjoy new "faces."

Hope to see you there!