When I posted my latest 52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases post last Sunday, I neglected to add two resources.
The first was intentional. I could not get the Genesee County Clerk's Death and Marriage Records Index page to load. I wasn't sure if the site was undergoing maintenance (there was no notice, if so) or if the Clerk's office was planning to remove the database. Today I was happy to see that it is up and running just fine, especially as it is a resource I use quite often. I'm proud to say that my YORK, WYCKOFF, CROTHERS, and SWEERS ancestors were some of the first settlers in that county, and this database has been extremely helpful in locating names of descendants of those ancestors, especially since microfilming of that county's vital records ends around 1910-1920.
I did accidentally leave off a great resource: the St. Clair County Library System's Michigan Room. This page links to wonderful digitized data such as city directories, plat atlases and an agricultural census.
I have added both links to my original 52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases: Michigan post. They are both listed alphabetically in the last section of the post (local resources). Enjoy!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Share the Genealogy of Your Homes with Historyofhomes.net
Carpenters' blood courses through my veins. My dad is the latest in a long line of Robbins men who built their own homes and/or built homes for sale. Intermarried into the Robbins clan were daughters of more carpenters: Lewis men, and Wilkinson men and more. On my mother's side, her maternal grandfather Hoekstra and his father built homes as well, for themselves and for others. A couple of years ago I thought how great it would be if I could research the homes my carpenter ancestors had built, find photos, and blog about them. Last summer, when my computer was down, I dreamed up an idea of a once-a-year carnival in which bloggers could write about their ancestral homes, or the history of the home they now live in, or a favorite historical house in their community. It could be extended to temporary homes, such as the Coachman camper atop the International Harvester truck my family lived in during the summer of 1979 when we moved from Alaska and traveled down through British Columbia to Washington and Oregon--and then after my parents bought their new home, traveled from Washington to Michigan to visit family while the former owners moved out.
I've done a lot of my own research on the home I live in now. It's 102 years old, a tiny cottage that once housed two families during the Depression. Looking into the city directories, it appears that the couples broke up and one wife from one couple married the husband from the other couple and continued to live here. This house was once rumored to have a ghost, and I've talked to an elderly woman who once lived here who swears someone was murdered here and buried in the basement. If these walls could talk...!
But I'm very busy these days, even on my summer vacation. There's scanning and organizing and writing posts for my latest series, 52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases, which at the rate it's going will probably take 152 weeks instead. There's work to be done in my new role of 1st vice president of my local genealogical society. There are presentations to work on for workshops I'll be speaking at in the fall. So no "Home Sweet Home Carnival" is in sight. However, I'm pleased to direct your attention to a very creative and ingenious substitution: Historyofhomes.net.
A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail announcing the website and its free membership. This site has so much possibilities! You register yourself, and then can start registering your home(s). Here's a place where you can upload photographs (modern or vintage) and mark their locations on Google Maps. You can add history and data from city directories, land plat or Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. Plus there's a social networking feature that allows you to interact with other members.
So go ahead! Sign up and start adding information about all those historical homes I know you have sitting in your file cabinets and computer files. Download the free toolkit from the site. Upload those photos. Connect with other genealogists and historians and vintage home enthusiasts, like myself. And if you're looking for a good resource to help you research the details, I recommend Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neighborhood by Betsey J. Green. If you can't find it at your local library or bookstore, you can order it new or used at my Amazon store. I think Historyofhomes.net can be a great digital repository for recording those special places where you or your ancestors lived, or perhaps the places they built. Check it out!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wordless Wednesday: Sena "Senie" (COLLINS) TOLLIVER
Sena "Senie" (Collins) Tolliver. C. 1920s. Original photograph privately held by Lorna Kennedy, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Auburn, California. 2010.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
August Courses from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies
Louise St. Denis, Managing Director of the National Institute for Genealogical Studies, has just announced that the Institute continues to celebrate its 10th anniversary this year by offering Intensive Short Courses.
Taught by experts in their fields, most of these courses will be four weeks in length. And you can have up to four real-life meetings with your instructors, if you wish.
These courses will be packed with useful information—like research techniques and tips—and they are inexpensive - under $50.00 each.
Right now, the Institute has five courses starting in August. They are:
A number of regular courses on US records are also starting in August. They include:
All courses start August 2nd, 2010.
You can enroll in these or other courses—such as the Methodology courses or courses on the records of other countries such as Canada, England, Ireland, or Germany—by simply going to the Institute's website athttp://www.genealogicalstudies.com/, choosing the ones which interest you, and registering online. If you prefer, call toll-free in North America, 1.800.580.0165, for information or to sign up. You can also email the Institute at admin@genealogicalstudies.com.
If you wish to interview Louise, please contact Elizabeth Lapointe, Head of Media Relations, National Institute for Genealogical Studies, at media@genealogicalstudies.com or at 1.613.983.5050.
About the National Institute for Genealogical Studies
The National Institute for Genealogical Studies now offers over 150 courses in genealogical studies, including courses in the records of Canada, England, Ireland, Germany, and the United States.
If you are looking for a more formal educational training, the Institute does offer—in affiliation with the Continuing Education Unit of the University of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto—Certificate Programs in the records of Canada, England, Ireland, Germany, and the United States, as well as a Librarianship Certificate.
Taught by experts in their fields, most of these courses will be four weeks in length. And you can have up to four real-life meetings with your instructors, if you wish.
These courses will be packed with useful information—like research techniques and tips—and they are inexpensive - under $50.00 each.
Right now, the Institute has five courses starting in August. They are:
- Brick Wall Research - (Intermediate)
- Investigate: Adoption Records - (Basic)
- Investigate: Lost Friends and Family Records - (Basic)
- Research: Female Ancestors - (Intermediate)
- Research: African-American Ancestors - (Intermediate)
A number of regular courses on US records are also starting in August. They include:
- US: Census Records - (Basic)
- US: Court Records - (Advanced)
- US: Newspaper Records - (Advanced)
- US: Occupational Records - (Advanced)
- US: Probate Records - (Intermediate)
- US: Religious Records - Part 1 - (Basic)
- US: Vital Records, Understanding & Using The Records - (Basic)
All courses start August 2nd, 2010.
You can enroll in these or other courses—such as the Methodology courses or courses on the records of other countries such as Canada, England, Ireland, or Germany—by simply going to the Institute's website at
If you wish to interview Louise, please contact Elizabeth Lapointe, Head of Media Relations, National Institute for Genealogical Studies, at
About the National Institute for Genealogical Studies
If you are looking for a more formal educational training, the Institute does offer—in affiliation with the Continuing Education Unit of the University of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto—Certificate Programs in the records of Canada, England, Ireland, Germany, and the United States, as well as a Librarianship Certificate.
Tombstone Tuesday: Mary Ann (WALKER) SNOOK
Grave of Mary Ann (Walker) Snook, Row 2, Grave 4, Brungart Cemetery, Miles Twp., Centre Co., Pennsylvania. Photographed by Storres Myers, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Pennsylvania and privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Spokane,Washington. 2010.
Two weeks ago I received a notice from Find A Grave that my photo request for the tombstone of my husband's 3rd-great-grandmother, Mary Ann (WALKER) SNOOK, had been fulfilled. Needless to say, I was thrilled because I hadn't even been sure there was a marker for her grave! I had put in the photo request so long ago, that I had completely forgotten about it. The main reason I doubted there was a marker was because I'm pretty sure that Mary Ann died during or shortly after childbirth, leaving her husband, Reuben Wohlford SNOOK, with about nine little mouths to feed. Reuben married shortly thereafter to Elizabeth NEARHOOD, and between them they created another eight or nine little mouths! I figured with all these mouths to feed, Reuben probably couldn't afford to buy a marker. I suppose it's possible that his family and in-laws helped him out, for as you can see, this is a beautiful and quite large marble obelisk. The base reads:
MARY A.
Wife of
R. W. SNOOK
Born May 7, 1835
Died June 4, 1870
Aged 28 ys. and 28 ds.
---
Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord.
First Corinth 15 C 57 V
But, thanks be to God
which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus
Christ
Wife of
R. W. SNOOK
Born May 7, 1835
Died June 4, 1870
Aged 28 ys. and 28 ds.
---
Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord.
First Corinth 15 C 57 V
But, thanks be to God
which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus
Christ
Although the marker does not say it, the first phrase, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord" is also from the Bible; Revelations 14:13.
If you look carefully at the first photo, you can see to the left of Mary Ann's grave is the grave of Margaretha "Margaret" (WOHLFART) SNOOK, Mary Ann's mother-in-law. The photographer, Storres Myers, sent me some information on the cemetery which gives some history and lists all the known graves:
St. Luke's Evangelical Church, also known as Brungart Church, was founded in 1868 on a lot donated for the purpose by George Brungart, who was the son of the early immigrant Martin Brungart from York County. The cemetery was begun at that time. After the church was discontinued, the building and property were sold in 1948. There is no one assigned the responsibility for the care of the cemetery, however, someone does mow the grass occasionally.
Storres has promised to take any photographs I request at this cemetery. Since several generations of both Mary Ann and Reuben's families are buried here, I think I've hit the jackpot! Thank you so much for your assistance, Storres!
Monday, July 19, 2010
EWGS Presents "Walking With Ancestors"
The Eastern Washington Genealogical Society (EWGS) is proud to present an all-day event, "Walking With Ancestors," in partnership with Fairmount Memorial Association. Guided tours, a barbecue lunch, displays, and how-to classes are all a part of the day-long FREE event, to be held Saturday, July 31st at Fairmount Memorial Park, 5200 West Wellesley Avenue, Spokane, Washington (marker A in the map below).
Beginning at 9:00 AM, there will be a short opening ceremony, followed by a choice of three guided tours of the cemetery. Attendees will be led to graves where costumed actors representing either the deceased or the deceased's relative will be giving a sketch of the individual's life. Famous Spokanites and ordinary people will be equally represented; their graves were chosen and their lives thoroughly researched by the participating actors. The three guided tours will repeat approximately every 45 minutes, and attendees can attend as many of the three as they wish.
In addition, members of the 1st Michigan Artillery Unit of the Washington Civil War Association, a Civil War reenactment group, will be on hand in full military costume, complete with a cannon! The display tables will be manned by members of EWGS, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sons of the American Revolution, Creative Memories Scrapbooking, Fairmount Memorial Park (to assist attendees in finding a loved one's gravesite), Honor Flight, the World War II Memorial Registry, and Nostalia magazine will be on hand to answer questions and hand out materials.
Free "how-to" classes will also be available. They include:
Please note: Due to street construction on West Wellesley from Division to Maple Street, it is recommended that those travelers heading from the central part of the city take either Garland or Francis Avenue west to the Maple/Ash corridor, follow that corridor to where it intersects with Wellesley, then travel west to Fairmount. Another good alternate route is to take Northwest Boulevard.
Beginning at 9:00 AM, there will be a short opening ceremony, followed by a choice of three guided tours of the cemetery. Attendees will be led to graves where costumed actors representing either the deceased or the deceased's relative will be giving a sketch of the individual's life. Famous Spokanites and ordinary people will be equally represented; their graves were chosen and their lives thoroughly researched by the participating actors. The three guided tours will repeat approximately every 45 minutes, and attendees can attend as many of the three as they wish.
In addition, members of the 1st Michigan Artillery Unit of the Washington Civil War Association, a Civil War reenactment group, will be on hand in full military costume, complete with a cannon! The display tables will be manned by members of EWGS, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sons of the American Revolution, Creative Memories Scrapbooking, Fairmount Memorial Park (to assist attendees in finding a loved one's gravesite), Honor Flight, the World War II Memorial Registry, and Nostalia magazine will be on hand to answer questions and hand out materials.
Free "how-to" classes will also be available. They include:
- Beginning Genealogy, by EWGS members Bette Topp and Lola McCreary
- Photographing Tombstones, by Northeast Washington Genealogical Society and EWGS member Susan DeChant
- Gravestone Rubbins for Beginners, by NeWGS and EWGS member Karen Struve
- Properly Cleaning Headstones, by EWGS member and Fairmount Memorial Association historian John Caskey
---
Please note: Due to street construction on West Wellesley from Division to Maple Street, it is recommended that those travelers heading from the central part of the city take either Garland or Francis Avenue west to the Maple/Ash corridor, follow that corridor to where it intersects with Wellesley, then travel west to Fairmount. Another good alternate route is to take Northwest Boulevard.
Scanfest is Coming!
The July 2010 Scanfest will take place here at AnceStories next Sunday, July 25th, from 11 AM to 2 PM, Pacific Daylight 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, PDT, 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.
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, July 24th at 4 PM, PDT 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!
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, PDT, 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.
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, July 24th at 4 PM, PDT 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!
A Festival of Postcards: Geo Has Been Posted
Evelyn of A Canadian Family has recently published the 8th Edition of the Festival of Postcards: Geo. Thirty-two bloggers submitted favorite postcards, all on the topic of Geography.
The next edition of the Festival will be themed "Locomotion": this is your chance to pull out all those postcards depicting travel on land, water or air. The deadline is August 20, and you can enter your submissions here.
Last Day for Some Special Offers, Plus New Ones Added
Today is the last day for a couple of special offers available in the genealogy world. As well, there are some new ones in place. First, the ones expiring today include:
New offers include:
Enjoy more family history, vital records, and historical events! NewspaperARCHIVE.com gives you access to over 100 million newspaper images, while WorldVital Records.com offers acces to thousands of databases - including birth, death, military, and census records.
NewspaperARCHIVE.com
It was 18 years ago today (July 13th) that our company began serving genealogists and history enthusiasts by providing a single source where a wide selection of books and other resources for family historians could be sourced.
Our very first customer (who submitted his first order by FAX) is still a subscriber of this newsletter and continues to be a valued client. Thousands of others have joined him over the years.
From now until the 31st of July, we are making a time-limited offer to our customers and eNewsletter subscribers.
We will reduce all purchases by 15% from the advertised price of any in-stock items from today until July 31st at midnight. Purchase any item you want, order as many items as you want. The only restriction is that item must be in stock.
To take advantage of the offer, all you have to do is type the word...
... into the COUPON CODE blank in our online shopping cart and click APPLY, or tell us when you phone in your order (1-800-361-5168).
Example from shopping cart screen:
(this COUPON CODE space appears near the bottom of the shopping cart screen):
- Free Access to Footnote.com's Holocaust Collection (details here)
- Free Upgrade to Backupify's Premium Plan, plus be entered in a drawing for an iPad (details here)
New offers include:
2 Great Subscriptions for 1 Low Price - NewspaperARCHIVE.com and WorldVitalRecords.com
$119.95 for a full year (save over $119)
Call Us Today!
1-888-845-2887
Limited Time Offer
$119.95 for a full year (save over $119)
Call Us Today!
1-888-845-2887
Limited Time Offer
Enjoy more family history, vital records, and historical events! NewspaperARCHIVE.com gives you access to over 100 million newspaper images, while WorldVital Records.com offers acces to thousands of databases - including birth, death, military, and census records.
NewspaperARCHIVE.com
- Access to the largest online newspaper archive: over 100 Million pages on file
- Articles featuring Billions of people - find births, deaths, news, and more
- 2.5 million pages added every month
- Fast, powerful search engine
- Search over 1.5 billion ancestral records
- Unlimited access to World and U.S. Collections
- Census, Immigrations, Cemetery, and Vital Records
- Hundreds of Millions of family trees and much more
Limited Time Offer!!
Offer expires Friday, July 23
Contact Us Today!!
customerservice@newspaperarchive.com or call 1-888-845-2887
Offer expires Friday, July 23
Contact Us Today!!
customerservice@newspaperarchive.com or call 1-888-845-2887
---
18th Anniversary Sales Event! - 15% Off
It was 18 years ago today (July 13th) that our company began serving genealogists and history enthusiasts by providing a single source where a wide selection of books and other resources for family historians could be sourced.
Our very first customer (who submitted his first order by FAX) is still a subscriber of this newsletter and continues to be a valued client. Thousands of others have joined him over the years.
From now until the 31st of July, we are making a time-limited offer to our customers and eNewsletter subscribers.
We will reduce all purchases by 15% from the advertised price of any in-stock items from today until July 31st at midnight. Purchase any item you want, order as many items as you want. The only restriction is that item must be in stock.
To take advantage of the offer, all you have to do is type the word...
"anniversary" (without the quotation marks)
... into the COUPON CODE blank in our online shopping cart and click APPLY, or tell us when you phone in your order (1-800-361-5168).
Example from shopping cart screen:
(this COUPON CODE space appears near the bottom of the shopping cart screen):
We ship world-wide daily. However, if you are local to Milton, Ontario, an appointment can be made for you to pickup your order at our Milton location. (call 1-800-361-5168 to make order pickup appointment)
Here are quick-links into some of our busiest web pages:
Rick and Sandra Roberts
GlobalGenealogy.com Inc.
Global Heritage Press
MacDonald Research
Here are quick-links into some of our busiest web pages:
- Front Page of Online Store
- General Genealogy Resources
- Canadian Resources
- U. E. Loyalist Resources
- War of 1812 Resources
- Home Child Resources
- England and Wales Resources
- Ireland Resources
- Scotland Resources
- USA Resources
- More countries
- Document and Artifact Conservation
- Genealogy Software
- What's New List
- eBooks List
Rick and Sandra Roberts
GlobalGenealogy.com Inc.
Global Heritage Press
MacDonald Research
Findmypast.co.uk Launches Fully Indexed Birth Records
FINDMYPAST.CO.UK MAKES BIRTH RECORDS EVEN EASIER TO SEARCH
100 million fully indexed birth records from 1837 – 2006
Ronaldo Maradona and Fish Fish Fish are names found within the records
Leading UK family history website, findmypast.co.uk has today launched an easier way to find the births of English and Welsh ancestors online. The company has reindexed over 100 million birth records, as a first installment of a completely new version of the England and Wales Birth, Marriage and Death (BMD) records on its website. Fully indexing these records involved rescanning 170 years of records and transcribing the quarter of a billion names within them. Over 1,000 people have worked on this exciting two-year project.
The fully indexed births make finding ancestors much simpler as the revamped records will provide you with a number of new benefits;
- Your search results will be in the form of a list of individual names, so you won't have to check through pages of records to find your ancestors
- You can search the complete 1837-2006 set of birth records in one go or by one or more counties at a time
- The images of the index pages are completely new and very high quality
- We've added smart search features including name variants
- There are clever search results to get around the quirks of the records, including the GRO's procedure of initialising second names, and records of children unnamed at registration (very common in the Victorian period)
- You can now search by mother's and father's name at the same time to help find those elusive births
With this new resource now available, findmypast.co.uk has uncovered some interesting facts about the births that were registered between 1837 and 2006.
- 10 babies named Fish Fish born between 1840 and 1883, bizarrely, all in Lancashire. The list includes one Fish Fish Fish born in Blackburn in 1864.
- Just five Ringos were registered in 1964 and 1965, compared with 2,414 Georges, 36,877 Johns and 56,170 Pauls.
- Six Dick Turpins were registered between 1854 and 1916 – a highwayman from the 1700s.
- Four Maradonas were registered in 1986, the year of the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal. Eight more were registered between 1999 and 2006, including two Diego Maradonas and two Ronaldo Maradonas.
- Eight Peles were registered between 1970 and 1972, following the footballer’s 1000th goal in 1969.
- Eight babies have been given the forename Hercules, with a further 51 bearing it as a middle name.
Debra Chatfield, Marketing Manager at findmypast.co.uk, said, “As the first company to publish birth, marriage and death records online, findmypast.co.uk is committed to making family history research more accessible. Findmypast’s brand new birth indexes now provide an easier route into our families’ pasts than ever before.
We are currently working on reindexing the marriage and death records and once complete, findmypast.co.uk will have digitised over a quarter of a billion records. Thanks to initiatives like this, family history is more popular than ever and the amount of historical records that are now available to search and view online will help even more people to start to uncover their own family tree.”
Findmypast.co.uk was the first company in the world to put the complete Birth, Marriage and Death indexes (BMDs) for England and Wales online on 1 April 2003. Previously these were only available offline on microfiche or in registry books, at a selected number of locations. This landmark achievement was recognised in 2007, when findmypast.co.uk won the Queen’s Award for Innovation.
For more information log on to www.findmypast.co.uk.
Footnote.com and Lowcountry Africana Join Forces to Create an Interactive Slave Records Collection
-Newly Digitized Records Preserve the Names of More Than 30,000 Slaves -
SALT LAKE CITY - July 19, 2010 – Today Footnote.com (www.footnote.com) and Lowcountry Africana (www.lowcountryafricana.net) announced the launch of a new collection of historical records from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History containing estate inventories and bills of sale for Colonial and Charleston South Carolina from 1732 to 1872. FamilySearch International donated the copies of the microfilm of the original historical documents.
Charleston’s role as a port of entry during the Atlantic Slave Trade means many thousands of African Americans may have ancestors who came from, or through, South Carolina. This new collection on Footnote.com will assist African American genealogy research by forming, in many cases, a seamless paper trail from Emancipation to the 1700s.
"Research about African American history and genealogy has often been especially difficult because of limited access to primary source material," says Henry Louis Gates Jr., Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research."Footnote.com is spearheading a revolution in access to the black past by digitizing major portions of the black archive, and making these records available on the Internet. The publication of these records from South Carolina in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is the latest example of their bold commitment to resurrecting the African American past."
Footnote.com provides an experience where visitors can access historical records and interact with those records and members of the Footnote community.
Visitors to Footnote.com can enhance these records from the South Carolina archives through various activities including:
- Creating and sharing web pages about the documents and their discoveries
- Adding their own insights and comments to the documents
- Uploading and connecting their own photos, letters and documents
- Annotating information on the documents, which creates a searchable database
“South Carolina has one of the richest sets of early government records of social and cultural history, said Charles Lesser, Senior Archivist at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. “This new cooperative effort will revolutionize access to an especially important segment of those records.”
Lowcountry Africana has established an online volunteer program to create the searchable index for this collection. To learn more about this volunteer program or to sign up to be a volunteer, visit the Lowcountry Africana site.
To view these South Carolina records, please visit Footnote.com.
Additional Resources
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/footnote
Join us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Footnotecom/52981708480
About Footnote, Inc.
Footnote.com is a subscription website that features original historical documents, providing visitors with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit http://www.footnote.com/.
About Lowcountry Africana
Lowcountry Africana, sponsored by the Magnolia Plantation Foundation of Charleston, South Carolina, is a free website dedicated to African American genealogy and history in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, home to the rich Gullah-Geechee cultural heritage. The entire content of Lowcountry Africana is, and always will be, 100% free.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases: Michigan
This is the 23rd post in a weekly series of Online American Digital Archives and Databases found for free at state, county, municipal, college and university history, library, and archive websites, as well as public and private library and museum sites, and historical and genealogical society sites.
State of Michigan - New Links to Resources - http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192--225350--,00.html - "Executive Order No. 2009-36, effective October 1, 2009, abolished the Department of History, Arts and Libraries. The essential functions of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries will be performed by other principal departments in state government." Page lists new links to genealogical and historical resources.
Archives of Michigan - http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-54463_19313---,00.html - There is a lot of useful information available on this site to help with genealogical and historical research. For instance, under the genealogy drop menu, you can find "Circulars" which identify various records the archives have and how to access them. You can access the State Naturalization Record Indexes, the Portrait Collection, and Subdivision Plat Maps. There are also photo collections, forms, guides, and links to many collections also mentioned in this post.
Historical Society of Michigan - http://www.hsmichigan.org/ - Michigan History magazine, Chronicle quarterly, and Michigan Historical review; Michigan Centennial Farm Program ; useful educational resources and history links
Library of Michigan - http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-54504_18635---,00.html - click on Genealogy in the left-hand menu to access the 1870 Census, cemetery and newspaper locators, the naturalization indexes, Michigan Genealogist, SAR indexes and more
The Making of Modern Michigan: Digitizing Michigan's Hidden Past - http://mmm.lib.msu.edu/index.html - "The Making of Modern Michigan is a collaborative project involving 52 Michigan libraries. It includes local history materials from communities around the state. Michigan's unique heritage is represented through over 4,500 different subjects of photographs, family papers, oral histories, genealogical materials, and much more. The Making of Modern Michigan is headed by the Michigan State University Libraries, in partnership with the Library of Michigan, the Michigan Library Consortium, and the 52 libraries currently participating in the project."
MeL (Michigan eLibrary) Michigana Digital Projects - http://mel.org/SPT--BrowseResourcesMichigana.php?ParentId=687 - Archives of Michigan Image Collection; Birdseye View Panoramas of Michigan Communities; Civil War Diaries Collection; Connecting the Upper Peninsula: East to West and North to South - The Wesley Perron Railroad Collection and Others; Early Detroit Images from the Burton Historical Collection; Grand Valley State University Digital Collections; Keweenaw Digital Archives - Michigan's Copper Country in Photographs; Mackinac Bridge Authority - Mackinac Bridge; Making of Ann Arbor; Michigan Oral History Database; Polar Bear Expedition Digital Collections; Sault Ste. Marie Shipping and Locks Collection; Upper Peninsula Digitization Center Collections; Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive; War of 1812 Digitization Project: Footsteps to the Battlefield; Ward Morgan Photography Collection, Southwest Michigan Images from 1939-1980; and much, much more!
Michigan Department of Community Health Genealogical Death Indexing System - http://www.mdch.state.mi.us/pha/osr/gendisx/search2.htm - 1867-1897
Seeking Michigan - http://seekingmichigan.org/ - State of Michigan's Digital Archive Collection; digitized images of Civil War Manuscripts, Service Records, and Photographs; Death Certificates, 1897-1920; Early Documents and Photography; WPA Property Inventories, 1936-1942; Oral History; Maps; Lighthouses and Life-Saving Stations; Main Streets and Architecture; Governors of Michigan; and more
Andrews University Center for Adventist Research - Databases and Resources Links - http://www.andrews.edu/library/car/links.htm - SDA Periodical Index, SDA Obit Index, biographies, photos, personal papers
Calvin College - Heritage Hall - Archives of the Christian Reformed Church in North America - http://www.calvin.edu/hh/crc_archives.htm - databases on the ministers, synods and synod minutes of the Christian Reformed Church; anniversary, birthday, wedding, and obit announcements from the Banner (newsletter), 1996-2008; digital membership records from closed churches; Gold Star (military) deaths of members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, 1941-1973, collected by the Young Calvinist magazine (list is not complete).
Central Michigan University - Clarke Historical Library - http://clarke.cmich.edu/ - online exhibits; Michigan in Letters; click on Resources in the menu to browse the collections, then use the left-hand menu to access them: Aladdin Company of Bay City; Bibliographies of Clarke Library Material; CMU Information and Exhibits; Full Text of Michigan Local History; Isabella County Sesquicentennial; Native Americans in Michigan; Sunday School Books: Shaping the Values of Youth in Nineteenth-Century America; and more
Grand Valley State University Special Collections and University Archives Digital Collections - http://gvsu.cdmhost.com/gvpages/gvhome.php - Civil War and Slavery Collection; GVSU Photographs and Publications; Veterans History Project; and more
Hope College Joint Archives of Holland - http://www.hope.edu/resources/arc/collections/index.html - archives of the history of Holland, Michigan and Dutch immigrants; includes biographical and church files, newspaper collections, photos, and college magazine indexes
Kalamazoo College CACHE: College Academic and Historic Experience - http://reason.kzoo.edu/dspace/ - college photos and publications (yearbooks, alumni magazines, and histories)
Michigan Tech Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections - http://www.lib.mtu.edu/mtuarchives/subject.aspx - includes Keweenaw Digital Archive - Michigan's Copper Country in Photographs and An Interior Ellis Island: Ethnic Diversity and the Peopling of Michigan's Copper Country
On the Banks of the Red Cedar: Michigan State University Digital Collection - http://onthebanks.msu.edu/ - "a new website providing quick and easy online access to documents, images, film, and audio materials related to the history of Michigan State University." Currently is not much data, but check back again to see what has been uploaded.
Saginaw Valley State University Archives and Special Collections - http://www.svsu.edu/library/about/collections/archives.html - Ken Follett Papers, Flying Melzoras Collections (circus performing family), SVSU history
University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library - http://bentley.umich.edu/ - features UofM's history, but Michigan history as well. A must-visit site for anyone researching Michigan roots!
University of Michigan - Michigan County Histories and Atlases - http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/micounty/ - fully text searchable; 428 digitized titles includes county histories, biographies, atlases, and plat books
Wayne State University Virtual Motor City Collection - http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?page=index;c=vmc - "The digitized images in the project represent a small subset of the Detroit News Collection, one of the premier photojournalistic resources freely available from a national-level newspaper and held at the Reuther Library...The full collection consists of more than 800,000 specially selected glass and nitrate, acetate and polyester film-based negatives...." Also available are over 400 digitized newsreels.
Albion District Library Local History Room - http://www.albionlibrary.org/LocalHistoryRoom/localhistory.html - obituary and photograph databases; Veterans' Project (photos and oral history; oral history section currently not working)
Ann Arbor District Library History and Biography Databases - http://www.aadl.org/research/browse/history - from this page you can access the Signal of Liberty abolitionist newspaper; Making of Ann Arbor Digital Collection (postcards, buildings, maps, texts, pictorial history); and the Downtown Ann Arbor Historical Street Exhibit
Barry County Clerk's Public Records Index - http://internal.barrycounty.org/clerkweb/ - includes death records index
Branch County Clerk's Death Record Search - http://www.co.branch.mi.us/deathsearch.taf
Brighton District Library Obituary Index - http://www.brightonlibrary.info/brighton/searchobit.html
Calhoun County Clerk and Register of Deeds - http://co.calhoun.mi.us/docs/vital.taf - Marriage and Death Record Indexes
Capital Area District Library Special Collections - http://www.cadl.org/answers/local-history - city directories; maps; images, documents and other ephemera featuring various automotive collections, historic fires, and history of Ingham County
Charlevoix Public Library Research Center Obituary Database - http://www.charlevoixlibrary.org/research/research-obits.htm
Chippewa River District Library - Isabella County Newspaper Obituary Index - http://207.75.101.12/obitsystem/obitview.asp
City of Port Huron - Lakeside Cemetery Records Search - http://www.porthuron.org/Cemetery_Search.aspx
Delta County Genealogical Society - http://www.grandmastree.com/society/ - births, marriages, divorces indexes; cemetery and census records; transcribed directories; newspaper extractions; hospital, immigration, probate, veterans, and voters records indexes and extractions
Department of Michigan - Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War - http://www.suvcwmi.org/ - Michigan's Messenger, monuments and memorials, online GAR records of posts and membership rosters
Detroit Public Library Special Collections - http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/Special_Collections/special_collections.htm - includes the Burton Historical Collection (genealogical materials and rare books), the Hackley Collection (contributions by blacks to the performing arts), National Automotive History Collection, Making of Modern Michigan, the Lincoln Collection, the Third Michigan Cavalry Collection and more!
DeWitt District Library - Local History/Genealogy - http://www.dewittlibrary.com/booksresearch/localhistoryandgenealogy.html - databases include marriage, cemetery, biographical and newspaper indexes, and yearbooks
Emmet County Clerk Marriage and Death Record Indexes - http://www.emmetcounty.org/county-clerk-193/?glmPage=clerk
Farmington Community Library Heritage Collection - http://www.farmlib.org/HeritageCollection/index.html - includes indexes for obituaries, maiden names, marriages, surnames, and cemeteries; digitized books (monographs) and newspapers; historical images; and history
Fremont Library Local Records Database - http://fremontlibrary.net/Local%20History/gendatabase.html- anniversaries, births, marriages, military service, obituaries. Website has current notice: "We apologize for the inconvenience, but our Local Records Database is not currently available via our website. We are working on the problem. Please come into the library to access the database directly."
Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Inc. - Washtenaw County Data Files - http://www.hvcn.org/info/gswc/data/newsintro.htm - Obituaries, Deaths, Marriages, Birthdays, and Notices from Washtenaw County Newspapers
Genealogists of the Clinton County Historical Society - http://www.dewittlibrary.org/CCHS/ - old photos and yearbooks, surname index, vital records index (Births 1867 to 1900, Marriages 1863-1940, Deaths); county cemetery index, school records and history, county farm residents' index, and local histories
Genesee County Clerk Death and Marriage Record Index - http://www.co.genesee.mi.us/vitalrec/
Grand Rapids Public Library Archives and Photos - http://www.grpl.org/wiki/index.php/Archives_%26_Photos - use this page as a launch to access the Photo Essays and the Photo Archive. Essays include the 1904 Flood, Civil Rights Leaders, From the Dugout, Fannie Boylon, A Grand Century, Grand Rapids Symphony, La Grande Vitesse, Remembering Jerry Ford, and the Ryerson Library Building. The Archive includes photos classified by the following subjects: Events, Commerce and Industry, Recreation and Entertainment, Transportation, Street Scenes, Buildings, Furniture Industry, People, Seasonal, and Miscellaneous.
Grand Traverse County Death Records Index - http://www.co.grand-traverse.mi.us/departments/county_clerk/Death_Records.htm
The Henry Ford - Benson Ford Research Center - http://www.thehenryford.org/research/collections.aspx - "access archives, records and collections that document the American Experience"
Rochester Hills Public Library - Greater Rochester History Online - http://grho.rhpl.org/ - digitized postcards and photos
Grosse Pointe Historical Society - http://www.gphistorical.org/index.html - history, vintage photo slide shows and online exhibits, and newsletter archive
Grosse Pointe Public Library Local History Archives - http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/ - obituary database, c. 1930 to the present; archived and digitized magazines, newspapers, books, photos, maps, and autographs
Hartford, Michigan History - http://www.hartfordmichigan.com/hartfordhistory/index.htm - township history, photos, historic events and homes, military letters, obituary index
Ingham County Genealogical Society - http://www.ingcogenesoc.org/ - archived newsletter, newspaper indexes, burial permit indexes, and tombstone readings
Jewish Historical Society of Michigan Yearbook Project - http://michjewishhistory.org/yearbookproject/yearbooks.php# - search database by name, school and/or year
Kalamazoo Public Library - Kalamazoo Sources - http://www.kpl.gov/genealogy/kalamazoo-sources.aspx - Local Information Database contains many various genealogical indexes; Local Photograph Database; also links to Kalamazoo Genealogy site, the owner of whom is a local genealogist who has scanned and transcribed much of the library's genealogical collection, including vital records index cards, obituaries, and city directories, to name a few
Kalamazoo Valley Genealogical Society Historical Records Database Search - http://www.mikvgs.org/historical_records/historical_records.aspx - county census, police deaths, foreign deaths, foreign marriages, bible records, indigent military burials, area ministers and clergymen, poor farm burials, industrial accidents, suicides, probate records, county home inmates, funeral home records and much, much more!
Livingston County Clerk's Office Vital Records - Marriage and Death Records Index, 1950-present - https://www.livingstonlive.org/VitalRecords/ https://www.livingstonlive.org/VitalRecords/
Livonia Public Library Obituary Index - http://livonia.lib.mi.us/announcements/205
Macomb County Clerk/Register of Deeds Death Record Index - http://www.macombcountymi.gov/clerksoffice/DeathRecords.htm
Monroe County Historical Commission Archives - Obituary Search - http://www.co.monroe.mi.us/egov/searchobituaries.aspx
Monroe County Library System Genealogy Indexes to Resources - http://monroe.lib.mi.us/genealogy/indexes.htm - newspaper index, interviews, obits, oral history, cemetery index, and baptism records
Mount Clemens Public Library Genealogy Collection and Services - http://www.libcoop.net/mountclemens/genealog.htm - numerous online databases and indexes for Macomb County including local history, 1930 census, naturalization, cemeteries, obituaries, funeral home records, military records, probate, WWI Draft Registration, WWI Service Records, 1890 Special Veterans Census, city and telephone directories, yearbooks, maps, and more
Muskegon County Genealogical Death Indexing System - http://www.co.muskegon.mi.us/clerk/websearch.cfm
Muskegon County Genealogical Society - http://www.genealogymuskegon.com/Databases/databases.htm - databases include indexes to cemeteries, state censuses, church listings, citizenship records, obituaries, photos, street renumbering project, veterans lists and more
Northville District Library - Northville History Index - http://history.northville.lib.mi.us/ - index from local newspaper as well as "a cumulative index of over 73,000 records from more than 100 printed sources, all of which are owned by the Northville District Library and available for viewing upon request"
Northville Genealogical Society - http://history.northville.lib.mi.us/ - history, cemetery and obituary indexes
Oakland County Historical Resources - http://198.111.163.135:8080/awweb/login.jsp - a collaborative effort by 10 local libraries and six local genealogical and historical societies and museums; subjects include Adoption, Agriculture, Biographies, Births, Buildings, Business/commercial districts and town scenes, Celebrities, Cemetery, Census (population only), Correspondence, Death records/notices/obits, Disasters, Employment/occupation/union, Events, Family, Government, Histories, Immigration, Individual, Industry, Institution, Land/Properties, Map, Marriage/Divorce, Memoirs, Memorabilia, Military, Organizations, Politics, Recreation, Religion/institutions, Roads/streets, Schools, Taxes, Transportation, Votes/Voters, and Waterways
Paw Paw Township Cemetery Indexes - http://www.pawpawtownship.org/cemetery/cemetery.htm
Plymouth Historical Society and Museum - http://www.plymouthhistory.org/index.html - besides the current and past online exhibits and timeline, check out the archives to access the history of the 24th Michigan Infantry, Company C, as well as mortality censuses for Plymouth Township (1850 - 1880); the 1890 Special Census of Union Veterans; cemetery transcriptions, funeral home records, and the high school alumni association directory and deaths
Public Libraries of Saginaw Obituary Database - http://obits.netsource-one.net/
Rawson Memorial District Library - Cass City Newspaper Index and Cemetery Records - http://www2.rawson.lib.mi.us/Home.aspx - use left-hand menu to access databases
Rochester Hills Public Library - Greater Rochester History Online - http://grho.rhpl.org/ - digitized postcards and photos
Salem-South Lyon District Library Digital Archives - http://www.ssldl.info/gsdl/cgi-bin/library - searchable .pdf files and browsable images of the South Lyon Herald, 1929-2007
Saginaw County Marriage and Death Certificate Indexes - http://www.saginawcounty.com/Clerk/Search.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 - for records from 1995 to the present
St. Clair County Library System - Michigan Room - http://www.sccl.lib.mi.us/michroom.html - digitized city directories, plat atlases and an agricultural census
Suburban Library Cooperative Digital Media Archive - http://www.libcoop.net/archive/ - a collaborative digital collections effort between the following seven libraries: Mount Clemens Public Library, St. Clair Shores Public Library, Sterling Heights Public Library, Troy History Museum (falls under the direction of the Troy Public Library), Fraser Public Library, MacDonald Public Library, and Roseville Public Library.
Traverse Area District Library - County Marriage and Death Record Indexes - http://www.tcnet.org/gtcounty/index.html
Van Buren Regional Genealogical Society - http://www.vbrgs.org/index.html - their mission is to "preserve and share the history of the people and places of these [Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo and Van Buren] southwest Michigan counties." Cemeteries, local history department and master index, obits, photos, and birth and death indexes.
Veteran's Memorial (Mount Pleasant Public) Library - Isabella County Obituary Index - http://207.75.101.12/obitsystem/obitview.asp
Washtenaw County Clerk/Register's Office Marriage and Death Indexes - https://secure.ewashtenaw.org/ecommerce/vitalrecord/vrHome.do
Waterford Township Historical Society - http://www.waterfordhistoricalsociety.org/index.html - history, newsletters
Waterford Township Public Library - Genealogy and Waterford History - http://www.waterford.lib.mi.us/content/genealogy-and-waterford-history - numerous databases and indexes including death, probate and marriage notices, censuses, landowners, business notices, and maps
West Bloomfield Township Public Library Digital Collections - http://www.wblib.org/digital.phphttp://www.wblib.org/digital.php - images of sculptures, architecture, area lakes, Michigan Military Academy, 1976 tornado, scanned memoirs and more
Western Michigan Genealogical Society Online Searchable Databases - http://data.wmgs.org/ - Death Notices and Obituaries index (also includes listings of Engagements, Weddings, and Anniversaries); Kent County School Censuses; Michigana index; Grand Rapids Home for Veterans' residents' index; WWI Veterans Census; manuscripts; members' genealogies; Black Monument Company order books index; Farm Bureau News index; Census index compilations (1860 and 1870 Federal; 1884 and 1894 state); Kent County Death Index; Kent County Marriage Index; Latzek Funeral Home registers index; every name index to Chapman's 1881 History of Kent County and Goss's History of Grand Rapids and Its Industries; and more
Willard Library - Historical Images of Battle Creek, Michigan - http://www.willard.lib.mi.us/historical/ - Battle Creek Homes and Buildings, c. 1940; Photos from Battle Creek's History; Dorothy Martich Black History Photo Archive
Wyandotte Clerk's Office - Wyandotte Death Index - http://www.wyandotte.net/Departments/Clerk/WyandotteDeathIndex.asp
Check out my Michigan Online Historical Directories and Michigan Online Historical Newspapers pages.
State of Michigan - New Links to Resources - http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192--225350--,00.html - "Executive Order No. 2009-36, effective October 1, 2009, abolished the Department of History, Arts and Libraries. The essential functions of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries will be performed by other principal departments in state government." Page lists new links to genealogical and historical resources.
Archives of Michigan - http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-54463_19313---,00.html - There is a lot of useful information available on this site to help with genealogical and historical research. For instance, under the genealogy drop menu, you can find "Circulars" which identify various records the archives have and how to access them. You can access the State Naturalization Record Indexes, the Portrait Collection, and Subdivision Plat Maps. There are also photo collections, forms, guides, and links to many collections also mentioned in this post.
Historical Society of Michigan - http://www.hsmichigan.org/ - Michigan History magazine, Chronicle quarterly, and Michigan Historical review; Michigan Centennial Farm Program ; useful educational resources and history links
Library of Michigan - http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-54504_18635---,00.html - click on Genealogy in the left-hand menu to access the 1870 Census, cemetery and newspaper locators, the naturalization indexes, Michigan Genealogist, SAR indexes and more
The Making of Modern Michigan: Digitizing Michigan's Hidden Past - http://mmm.lib.msu.edu/index.html - "The Making of Modern Michigan is a collaborative project involving 52 Michigan libraries. It includes local history materials from communities around the state. Michigan's unique heritage is represented through over 4,500 different subjects of photographs, family papers, oral histories, genealogical materials, and much more. The Making of Modern Michigan is headed by the Michigan State University Libraries, in partnership with the Library of Michigan, the Michigan Library Consortium, and the 52 libraries currently participating in the project."
MeL (Michigan eLibrary) Michigana Digital Projects - http://mel.org/SPT--BrowseResourcesMichigana.php?ParentId=687 - Archives of Michigan Image Collection; Birdseye View Panoramas of Michigan Communities; Civil War Diaries Collection; Connecting the Upper Peninsula: East to West and North to South - The Wesley Perron Railroad Collection and Others; Early Detroit Images from the Burton Historical Collection; Grand Valley State University Digital Collections; Keweenaw Digital Archives - Michigan's Copper Country in Photographs; Mackinac Bridge Authority - Mackinac Bridge; Making of Ann Arbor; Michigan Oral History Database; Polar Bear Expedition Digital Collections; Sault Ste. Marie Shipping and Locks Collection; Upper Peninsula Digitization Center Collections; Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive; War of 1812 Digitization Project: Footsteps to the Battlefield; Ward Morgan Photography Collection, Southwest Michigan Images from 1939-1980; and much, much more!
Michigan Department of Community Health Genealogical Death Indexing System - http://www.mdch.state.mi.us/pha/osr/gendisx/search2.htm - 1867-1897
Seeking Michigan - http://seekingmichigan.org/ - State of Michigan's Digital Archive Collection; digitized images of Civil War Manuscripts, Service Records, and Photographs; Death Certificates, 1897-1920; Early Documents and Photography; WPA Property Inventories, 1936-1942; Oral History; Maps; Lighthouses and Life-Saving Stations; Main Streets and Architecture; Governors of Michigan; and more
---
Andrews University Center for Adventist Research - Databases and Resources Links - http://www.andrews.edu/library/car/links.htm - SDA Periodical Index, SDA Obit Index, biographies, photos, personal papers
Calvin College - Heritage Hall - Archives of the Christian Reformed Church in North America - http://www.calvin.edu/hh/crc_archives.htm - databases on the ministers, synods and synod minutes of the Christian Reformed Church; anniversary, birthday, wedding, and obit announcements from the Banner (newsletter), 1996-2008; digital membership records from closed churches; Gold Star (military) deaths of members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, 1941-1973, collected by the Young Calvinist magazine (list is not complete).
Central Michigan University - Clarke Historical Library - http://clarke.cmich.edu/ - online exhibits; Michigan in Letters; click on Resources in the menu to browse the collections, then use the left-hand menu to access them: Aladdin Company of Bay City; Bibliographies of Clarke Library Material; CMU Information and Exhibits; Full Text of Michigan Local History; Isabella County Sesquicentennial; Native Americans in Michigan; Sunday School Books: Shaping the Values of Youth in Nineteenth-Century America; and more
Grand Valley State University Special Collections and University Archives Digital Collections - http://gvsu.cdmhost.com/gvpages/gvhome.php - Civil War and Slavery Collection; GVSU Photographs and Publications; Veterans History Project; and more
Hope College Joint Archives of Holland - http://www.hope.edu/resources/arc/collections/index.html - archives of the history of Holland, Michigan and Dutch immigrants; includes biographical and church files, newspaper collections, photos, and college magazine indexes
Kalamazoo College CACHE: College Academic and Historic Experience - http://reason.kzoo.edu/dspace/ - college photos and publications (yearbooks, alumni magazines, and histories)
Michigan Tech Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections - http://www.lib.mtu.edu/mtuarchives/subject.aspx - includes Keweenaw Digital Archive - Michigan's Copper Country in Photographs and An Interior Ellis Island: Ethnic Diversity and the Peopling of Michigan's Copper Country
On the Banks of the Red Cedar: Michigan State University Digital Collection - http://onthebanks.msu.edu/ - "a new website providing quick and easy online access to documents, images, film, and audio materials related to the history of Michigan State University." Currently is not much data, but check back again to see what has been uploaded.
Saginaw Valley State University Archives and Special Collections - http://www.svsu.edu/library/about/collections/archives.html - Ken Follett Papers, Flying Melzoras Collections (circus performing family), SVSU history
University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library - http://bentley.umich.edu/ - features UofM's history, but Michigan history as well. A must-visit site for anyone researching Michigan roots!
University of Michigan - Michigan County Histories and Atlases - http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/micounty/ - fully text searchable; 428 digitized titles includes county histories, biographies, atlases, and plat books
Wayne State University Virtual Motor City Collection - http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?page=index;c=vmc - "The digitized images in the project represent a small subset of the Detroit News Collection, one of the premier photojournalistic resources freely available from a national-level newspaper and held at the Reuther Library...The full collection consists of more than 800,000 specially selected glass and nitrate, acetate and polyester film-based negatives...." Also available are over 400 digitized newsreels.
---
Albion District Library Local History Room - http://www.albionlibrary.org/LocalHistoryRoom/localhistory.html - obituary and photograph databases; Veterans' Project (photos and oral history; oral history section currently not working)
Ann Arbor District Library History and Biography Databases - http://www.aadl.org/research/browse/history - from this page you can access the Signal of Liberty abolitionist newspaper; Making of Ann Arbor Digital Collection (postcards, buildings, maps, texts, pictorial history); and the Downtown Ann Arbor Historical Street Exhibit
Barry County Clerk's Public Records Index - http://internal.barrycounty.org/clerkweb/ - includes death records index
Branch County Clerk's Death Record Search - http://www.co.branch.mi.us/deathsearch.taf
Brighton District Library Obituary Index - http://www.brightonlibrary.info/brighton/searchobit.html
Calhoun County Clerk and Register of Deeds - http://co.calhoun.mi.us/docs/vital.taf - Marriage and Death Record Indexes
Capital Area District Library Special Collections - http://www.cadl.org/answers/local-history - city directories; maps; images, documents and other ephemera featuring various automotive collections, historic fires, and history of Ingham County
Charlevoix Public Library Research Center Obituary Database - http://www.charlevoixlibrary.org/research/research-obits.htm
Chippewa River District Library - Isabella County Newspaper Obituary Index - http://207.75.101.12/obitsystem/obitview.asp
City of Port Huron - Lakeside Cemetery Records Search - http://www.porthuron.org/Cemetery_Search.aspx
Delta County Genealogical Society - http://www.grandmastree.com/society/ - births, marriages, divorces indexes; cemetery and census records; transcribed directories; newspaper extractions; hospital, immigration, probate, veterans, and voters records indexes and extractions
Department of Michigan - Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War - http://www.suvcwmi.org/ - Michigan's Messenger, monuments and memorials, online GAR records of posts and membership rosters
Detroit Public Library Special Collections - http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/Special_Collections/special_collections.htm - includes the Burton Historical Collection (genealogical materials and rare books), the Hackley Collection (contributions by blacks to the performing arts), National Automotive History Collection, Making of Modern Michigan, the Lincoln Collection, the Third Michigan Cavalry Collection and more!
DeWitt District Library - Local History/Genealogy - http://www.dewittlibrary.com/booksresearch/localhistoryandgenealogy.html - databases include marriage, cemetery, biographical and newspaper indexes, and yearbooks
Emmet County Clerk Marriage and Death Record Indexes - http://www.emmetcounty.org/county-clerk-193/?glmPage=clerk
Farmington Community Library Heritage Collection - http://www.farmlib.org/HeritageCollection/index.html - includes indexes for obituaries, maiden names, marriages, surnames, and cemeteries; digitized books (monographs) and newspapers; historical images; and history
Fremont Library Local Records Database - http://fremontlibrary.net/Local%20History/gendatabase.html- anniversaries, births, marriages, military service, obituaries. Website has current notice: "We apologize for the inconvenience, but our Local Records Database is not currently available via our website. We are working on the problem. Please come into the library to access the database directly."
Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Inc. - Washtenaw County Data Files - http://www.hvcn.org/info/gswc/data/newsintro.htm - Obituaries, Deaths, Marriages, Birthdays, and Notices from Washtenaw County Newspapers
Genealogists of the Clinton County Historical Society - http://www.dewittlibrary.org/CCHS/ - old photos and yearbooks, surname index, vital records index (Births 1867 to 1900, Marriages 1863-1940, Deaths); county cemetery index, school records and history, county farm residents' index, and local histories
Genesee County Clerk Death and Marriage Record Index - http://www.co.genesee.mi.us/vitalrec/
Grand Rapids Public Library Archives and Photos - http://www.grpl.org/wiki/index.php/Archives_%26_Photos - use this page as a launch to access the Photo Essays and the Photo Archive. Essays include the 1904 Flood, Civil Rights Leaders, From the Dugout, Fannie Boylon, A Grand Century, Grand Rapids Symphony, La Grande Vitesse, Remembering Jerry Ford, and the Ryerson Library Building. The Archive includes photos classified by the following subjects: Events, Commerce and Industry, Recreation and Entertainment, Transportation, Street Scenes, Buildings, Furniture Industry, People, Seasonal, and Miscellaneous.
Grand Traverse County Death Records Index - http://www.co.grand-traverse.mi.us/departments/county_clerk/Death_Records.htm
The Henry Ford - Benson Ford Research Center - http://www.thehenryford.org/research/collections.aspx - "access archives, records and collections that document the American Experience"
Rochester Hills Public Library - Greater Rochester History Online - http://grho.rhpl.org/ - digitized postcards and photos
Grosse Pointe Historical Society - http://www.gphistorical.org/index.html - history, vintage photo slide shows and online exhibits, and newsletter archive
Grosse Pointe Public Library Local History Archives - http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/ - obituary database, c. 1930 to the present; archived and digitized magazines, newspapers, books, photos, maps, and autographs
Hartford, Michigan History - http://www.hartfordmichigan.com/hartfordhistory/index.htm - township history, photos, historic events and homes, military letters, obituary index
Ingham County Genealogical Society - http://www.ingcogenesoc.org/ - archived newsletter, newspaper indexes, burial permit indexes, and tombstone readings
Jewish Historical Society of Michigan Yearbook Project - http://michjewishhistory.org/yearbookproject/yearbooks.php# - search database by name, school and/or year
Kalamazoo Public Library - Kalamazoo Sources - http://www.kpl.gov/genealogy/kalamazoo-sources.aspx - Local Information Database contains many various genealogical indexes; Local Photograph Database; also links to Kalamazoo Genealogy site, the owner of whom is a local genealogist who has scanned and transcribed much of the library's genealogical collection, including vital records index cards, obituaries, and city directories, to name a few
Kalamazoo Valley Genealogical Society Historical Records Database Search - http://www.mikvgs.org/historical_records/historical_records.aspx - county census, police deaths, foreign deaths, foreign marriages, bible records, indigent military burials, area ministers and clergymen, poor farm burials, industrial accidents, suicides, probate records, county home inmates, funeral home records and much, much more!
Livingston County Clerk's Office Vital Records - Marriage and Death Records Index, 1950-present - https://www.livingstonlive.org/VitalRecords/ https://www.livingstonlive.org/VitalRecords/
Livonia Public Library Obituary Index - http://livonia.lib.mi.us/announcements/205
Macomb County Clerk/Register of Deeds Death Record Index - http://www.macombcountymi.gov/clerksoffice/DeathRecords.htm
Monroe County Historical Commission Archives - Obituary Search - http://www.co.monroe.mi.us/egov/searchobituaries.aspx
Monroe County Library System Genealogy Indexes to Resources - http://monroe.lib.mi.us/genealogy/indexes.htm - newspaper index, interviews, obits, oral history, cemetery index, and baptism records
Mount Clemens Public Library Genealogy Collection and Services - http://www.libcoop.net/mountclemens/genealog.htm - numerous online databases and indexes for Macomb County including local history, 1930 census, naturalization, cemeteries, obituaries, funeral home records, military records, probate, WWI Draft Registration, WWI Service Records, 1890 Special Veterans Census, city and telephone directories, yearbooks, maps, and more
Muskegon County Genealogical Death Indexing System - http://www.co.muskegon.mi.us/clerk/websearch.cfm
Muskegon County Genealogical Society - http://www.genealogymuskegon.com/Databases/databases.htm - databases include indexes to cemeteries, state censuses, church listings, citizenship records, obituaries, photos, street renumbering project, veterans lists and more
Northville District Library - Northville History Index - http://history.northville.lib.mi.us/ - index from local newspaper as well as "a cumulative index of over 73,000 records from more than 100 printed sources, all of which are owned by the Northville District Library and available for viewing upon request"
Northville Genealogical Society - http://history.northville.lib.mi.us/ - history, cemetery and obituary indexes
Oakland County Historical Resources - http://198.111.163.135:8080/awweb/login.jsp - a collaborative effort by 10 local libraries and six local genealogical and historical societies and museums; subjects include Adoption, Agriculture, Biographies, Births, Buildings, Business/commercial districts and town scenes, Celebrities, Cemetery, Census (population only), Correspondence, Death records/notices/obits, Disasters, Employment/occupation/union, Events, Family, Government, Histories, Immigration, Individual, Industry, Institution, Land/Properties, Map, Marriage/Divorce, Memoirs, Memorabilia, Military, Organizations, Politics, Recreation, Religion/institutions, Roads/streets, Schools, Taxes, Transportation, Votes/Voters, and Waterways
Paw Paw Township Cemetery Indexes - http://www.pawpawtownship.org/cemetery/cemetery.htm
Plymouth Historical Society and Museum - http://www.plymouthhistory.org/index.html - besides the current and past online exhibits and timeline, check out the archives to access the history of the 24th Michigan Infantry, Company C, as well as mortality censuses for Plymouth Township (1850 - 1880); the 1890 Special Census of Union Veterans; cemetery transcriptions, funeral home records, and the high school alumni association directory and deaths
Public Libraries of Saginaw Obituary Database - http://obits.netsource-one.net/
Rawson Memorial District Library - Cass City Newspaper Index and Cemetery Records - http://www2.rawson.lib.mi.us/Home.aspx - use left-hand menu to access databases
Rochester Hills Public Library - Greater Rochester History Online - http://grho.rhpl.org/ - digitized postcards and photos
Salem-South Lyon District Library Digital Archives - http://www.ssldl.info/gsdl/cgi-bin/library - searchable .pdf files and browsable images of the South Lyon Herald, 1929-2007
Saginaw County Marriage and Death Certificate Indexes - http://www.saginawcounty.com/Clerk/Search.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 - for records from 1995 to the present
St. Clair County Library System - Michigan Room - http://www.sccl.lib.mi.us/michroom.html - digitized city directories, plat atlases and an agricultural census
Suburban Library Cooperative Digital Media Archive - http://www.libcoop.net/archive/ - a collaborative digital collections effort between the following seven libraries: Mount Clemens Public Library, St. Clair Shores Public Library, Sterling Heights Public Library, Troy History Museum (falls under the direction of the Troy Public Library), Fraser Public Library, MacDonald Public Library, and Roseville Public Library.
Traverse Area District Library - County Marriage and Death Record Indexes - http://www.tcnet.org/gtcounty/index.html
Van Buren Regional Genealogical Society - http://www.vbrgs.org/index.html - their mission is to "preserve and share the history of the people and places of these [Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo and Van Buren] southwest Michigan counties." Cemeteries, local history department and master index, obits, photos, and birth and death indexes.
Veteran's Memorial (Mount Pleasant Public) Library - Isabella County Obituary Index - http://207.75.101.12/obitsystem/obitview.asp
Washtenaw County Clerk/Register's Office Marriage and Death Indexes - https://secure.ewashtenaw.org/ecommerce/vitalrecord/vrHome.do
Waterford Township Historical Society - http://www.waterfordhistoricalsociety.org/index.html - history, newsletters
Waterford Township Public Library - Genealogy and Waterford History - http://www.waterford.lib.mi.us/content/genealogy-and-waterford-history - numerous databases and indexes including death, probate and marriage notices, censuses, landowners, business notices, and maps
West Bloomfield Township Public Library Digital Collections - http://www.wblib.org/digital.phphttp://www.wblib.org/digital.php - images of sculptures, architecture, area lakes, Michigan Military Academy, 1976 tornado, scanned memoirs and more
Western Michigan Genealogical Society Online Searchable Databases - http://data.wmgs.org/ - Death Notices and Obituaries index (also includes listings of Engagements, Weddings, and Anniversaries); Kent County School Censuses; Michigana index; Grand Rapids Home for Veterans' residents' index; WWI Veterans Census; manuscripts; members' genealogies; Black Monument Company order books index; Farm Bureau News index; Census index compilations (1860 and 1870 Federal; 1884 and 1894 state); Kent County Death Index; Kent County Marriage Index; Latzek Funeral Home registers index; every name index to Chapman's 1881 History of Kent County and Goss's History of Grand Rapids and Its Industries; and more
Willard Library - Historical Images of Battle Creek, Michigan - http://www.willard.lib.mi.us/historical/ - Battle Creek Homes and Buildings, c. 1940; Photos from Battle Creek's History; Dorothy Martich Black History Photo Archive
Wyandotte Clerk's Office - Wyandotte Death Index - http://www.wyandotte.net/Departments/Clerk/WyandotteDeathIndex.asp
---
Check out my Michigan Online Historical Directories and Michigan Online Historical Newspapers pages.
Monday, July 12, 2010
52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases: Massachusetts
This is the 22nd post in a weekly series of Online American Digital Archives and Databases found for free at state, county, municipal, college and university history, library, and archive websites, as well as public and private library and museum sites, and historical and genealogical society sites.
Digital Commonwealth - Massachusetts Collections Online - http://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/ - "a Web portal and fee-based repository service for online cultural heritage materials held by Massachusetts libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives". Includes dissertations, slides, images, postcards, photographs, theses, case studies, oral histories, reports, histories, and more.
Digital Treasures - http://dlib.cwmars.org/index.php - "a cooperative digital library project conceived and designed by the Central/Western Massachusetts Resource Sharing library network and the Central and Western Massachusetts Regional Library Systems"
Massachusetts Archives - http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/SearchWelcome.html - Collection Database (1629-1799); Index to Passenger Manifests (1848-1891); and Index to Vital Records (1841-1910)
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners Digital Collections - http://mblc.state.ma.us/books/digital/index.php - links to 22 institutions' digital collections (libraries, universities, and historical societies); the site also contains a super search engine of these institutions' manuscripts, archives, and special collections
Massachusetts Historical Society: Collections Online - http://www.masshist.org/online/ - correspondence and diaries of John and Abigail Adams, and John Quincy Adams; Thomas Jefferson documents; Coming of the American Revolution; Antislavery Images, African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts; Maps of Massachusetts and the French and Indian War; Battle of Bunker Hill; Abraham Lincoln selections; Native American photographs; Atkins Family in Cuba (sugar plantation photos); and more
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Archives and Special Collections - http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/index.html - online histories and exhibits
Memorial Hall Museum Online - American Centuries - http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/home.html - a great way to "explore American History with hands-on activities, exhibits, lessons, historic documents and artifacts." Do you have children in your life that you would like to get interested in history and genealogy from New England? This site is the place to start! For researchers, check out the "How to Read Old Manuscripts" tutorial, the oral history collection, or the Civil War Newspaper Index.
Digital Treasures - http://dlib.cwmars.org/index.php - "a cooperative digital library project conceived and designed by the Central/Western Massachusetts Resource Sharing library network and the Central and Western Massachusetts Regional Library Systems"
Massachusetts Archives - http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/SearchWelcome.html - Collection Database (1629-1799); Index to Passenger Manifests (1848-1891); and Index to Vital Records (1841-1910)
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners Digital Collections - http://mblc.state.ma.us/books/digital/index.php - links to 22 institutions' digital collections (libraries, universities, and historical societies); the site also contains a super search engine of these institutions' manuscripts, archives, and special collections
Massachusetts Historical Society: Collections Online - http://www.masshist.org/online/ - correspondence and diaries of John and Abigail Adams, and John Quincy Adams; Thomas Jefferson documents; Coming of the American Revolution; Antislavery Images, African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts; Maps of Massachusetts and the French and Indian War; Battle of Bunker Hill; Abraham Lincoln selections; Native American photographs; Atkins Family in Cuba (sugar plantation photos); and more
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Archives and Special Collections - http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/index.html - online histories and exhibits
Memorial Hall Museum Online - American Centuries - http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/home.html - a great way to "explore American History with hands-on activities, exhibits, lessons, historic documents and artifacts." Do you have children in your life that you would like to get interested in history and genealogy from New England? This site is the place to start! For researchers, check out the "How to Read Old Manuscripts" tutorial, the oral history collection, or the Civil War Newspaper Index.
---
Amherst College Digital Collections - https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/holdings/electexts - The Jerry Cohen '63 Papers ("legal records kept by Cohen during his 14 years as General Counsel of the United Farm Workers of America and personal attorney of César Chávez"); Coeducation Collection ("chronologies, articles, newspaper clippings, and committee reports relating to coeducation at Amherst College and its subsequent anniversaries"); A Glance at Amherst Athletics, 1935; Annual Catalogues, 1822-1900; College Songs, 1926
Babson College Archives and Special Collections - Historical Documents - http://www3.babson.edu/Archives/historical_documents.cfm - various documents, handbooks, yearbooks, and other ephemera documenting the history of the college
Boston College University Libraries Digital Collections - http://www.bc.edu/libraries/collections/collinfo/digitalcollections.html - highlights include the Becker Collection (drawings "depicting numerous aspects of nineteenth-century American culture including the Civil War, the construction of the railroads, the Chinese in the West, and the Chicago fire"); Brooker Collection ("2,500 legal documents and manuscripts focused primarily on Boston and the New England area and spanning two centuries"); Histories of Boston College; Sacred Heart Review (1888-1918); and the Thomas "Tip" P. O'Neill, Jr. Photographs
Brandeis University - Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department - Digital Collections - http://lts.brandeis.edu/research/archives-speccoll/digital/index.html - lithographs, rare books, Van Vechten Portrait Collection, Spanish Civil War Posters, and WWI and WWII Propaganda Posters
College of the Holy Cross Archives and Special Collections - http://www.holycross.edu/departments/library/website/archives/index.html - from this link one can access the collections of postcards, photos, college catalogs, the Hiatt Holocaust Collection, and archives of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
Five Colleges Archives and Manuscript Collections - http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/index.html - links to archives and special collections of Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Harvard Business School Baker Library Historical Collections - http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/historicalresearchguides/index.html - photos, business archives, trade cards, documents recording the history of money and business, as well as Harvard Business School
Harvard Divinity School - Andover-Harvard Theological Library Digital Collections - http://www.hds.harvard.edu/library/collections/digital/index.html - diverse and interesting collections include Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics; Holocaust Rescue and Relief: Digitized Records of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee; Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930 (digitized books on immigration, including Italian and Swedish migrant groups); New Testament and Archaeological Slides; Postcards of Unitarian and Universalist Church Buildings; and Thanksgiving Day Sermons
Harvard University Archives Online Resources - http://hul.harvard.edu/huarc/resources.shtml - Harvard/Radcliffe Annual Reports; Historical Reference Shelf; Harvard Presidents, History, and Traditions
Harvard University Library Digital Projects - http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/digproj/projlist.html - photo, art and scientific collections with emphasis on China, Tibet, and other Asian countries; 19th Century American Trade Cards; historical slides with emphasis on teaching and architecture; Harvard Medical School historical images (photos, negatives, drawings, and engravings); Legal Portrait Collection (images of 4000 lawyers, jurists and legal thinkers from Middle Ages to late 20th century); and much, much more
Harvard University Library Open Collections Program - http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ - some overlap with the Andover-Harvard Theological Library Digital Collections (above) - includes the Islamic Heritage Project; Expeditions and Discoveries: Sponsored Exploration and Scientific Discovery in the Modern Age; Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics; Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930; and Women Working, 1800-1930
Mount Holyoke College Digital Collections - http://www.mtholyoke.edu/archives/15024.shtml - coeducation subject files; catalogs, registers, and directories; various private papers
Northeastern University Libraries Digital Collections - http://digitalcollections.lib.neu.edu/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe?site=localhost&a=p&p=about&c=wasminiinte&l=en&w=utf-8 - Freedom House Photographs (documenting Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1950-1975); University Course Catalogs; University Histories (1898-1996); University Photographs (1902-present); Yearbooks (1917-2007)
Smith College Libraries - College Archives - http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/archives/collections.htm - links to image galleries for each of the collection groups are provided: Administrative Records, Biographical Records, Academic Life, Student Life, and Buildings and Grounds.
Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives - http://dca.tufts.edu/ - African-American Remembrance Project, Edward Murrow papers, P.T. Barnum collection, Lost Theaters of Somerville, and much more. Use the Browse tab in the left-hand menu to see full list.
UMarmot (University of Massachusetts Amherst) Digital Collections - http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/umarmot/?cat=245 - Agriculture in New England; Antislavery Collection; W. E. B. Du Bois Papers; Green Mountain Post and New Babylon Times; Massachusetts State College Glee Club; Natural Farmer; Northampton State Hospital; and much more
Univesity of Massachusetts Boston - Joseph P. Healy Library Digital Collections - http://www.lib.umb.edu/node/2929 - commencement programs, yearbooks, Eagle Forward (newspaper of he 24th Infantry Regiment, Korea), Thompson's Island Photograph Collection, and Vietnam: a Television History Collection: WGBH Open Vault.
University of Massachusetts Center for Lowell History - http://library.uml.edu/clh/index.Html - Digital Photographs include photos and postcards, history (with a focus on waterpower and mills), maps, essays, oral history; Special Collections include photos, sheriff's records, Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society materials, photos, negatives, political cartoons, cemetery projects, church records, DAR membership records, orphanage and school records, vital records indexes from newspapers, almshouse records, to name just a few; the Genealogy Collection includes the Boston Public Library Obituary Database (see below), city atlases and maps, city directories, Civil War soldiers and sailors, census street guides and records.
Wellesley College Archives Image Gallery - http://insight.wellesley.edu:8180/luna/servlet
Babson College Archives and Special Collections - Historical Documents - http://www3.babson.edu/Archives/historical_documents.cfm - various documents, handbooks, yearbooks, and other ephemera documenting the history of the college
Boston College University Libraries Digital Collections - http://www.bc.edu/libraries/collections/collinfo/digitalcollections.html - highlights include the Becker Collection (drawings "depicting numerous aspects of nineteenth-century American culture including the Civil War, the construction of the railroads, the Chinese in the West, and the Chicago fire"); Brooker Collection ("2,500 legal documents and manuscripts focused primarily on Boston and the New England area and spanning two centuries"); Histories of Boston College; Sacred Heart Review (1888-1918); and the Thomas "Tip" P. O'Neill, Jr. Photographs
Brandeis University - Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department - Digital Collections - http://lts.brandeis.edu/research/archives-speccoll/digital/index.html - lithographs, rare books, Van Vechten Portrait Collection, Spanish Civil War Posters, and WWI and WWII Propaganda Posters
College of the Holy Cross Archives and Special Collections - http://www.holycross.edu/departments/library/website/archives/index.html - from this link one can access the collections of postcards, photos, college catalogs, the Hiatt Holocaust Collection, and archives of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
Five Colleges Archives and Manuscript Collections - http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/index.html - links to archives and special collections of Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Harvard Business School Baker Library Historical Collections - http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/historicalresearchguides/index.html - photos, business archives, trade cards, documents recording the history of money and business, as well as Harvard Business School
Harvard Divinity School - Andover-Harvard Theological Library Digital Collections - http://www.hds.harvard.edu/library/collections/digital/index.html - diverse and interesting collections include Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics; Holocaust Rescue and Relief: Digitized Records of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee; Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930 (digitized books on immigration, including Italian and Swedish migrant groups); New Testament and Archaeological Slides; Postcards of Unitarian and Universalist Church Buildings; and Thanksgiving Day Sermons
Harvard University Archives Online Resources - http://hul.harvard.edu/huarc/resources.shtml - Harvard/Radcliffe Annual Reports; Historical Reference Shelf; Harvard Presidents, History, and Traditions
Harvard University Library Digital Projects - http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/digproj/projlist.html - photo, art and scientific collections with emphasis on China, Tibet, and other Asian countries; 19th Century American Trade Cards; historical slides with emphasis on teaching and architecture; Harvard Medical School historical images (photos, negatives, drawings, and engravings); Legal Portrait Collection (images of 4000 lawyers, jurists and legal thinkers from Middle Ages to late 20th century); and much, much more
Harvard University Library Open Collections Program - http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ - some overlap with the Andover-Harvard Theological Library Digital Collections (above) - includes the Islamic Heritage Project; Expeditions and Discoveries: Sponsored Exploration and Scientific Discovery in the Modern Age; Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics; Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930; and Women Working, 1800-1930
Mount Holyoke College Digital Collections - http://www.mtholyoke.edu/archives/15024.shtml - coeducation subject files; catalogs, registers, and directories; various private papers
Northeastern University Libraries Digital Collections - http://digitalcollections.lib.neu.edu/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe?site=localhost&a=p&p=about&c=wasminiinte&l=en&w=utf-8 - Freedom House Photographs (documenting Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1950-1975); University Course Catalogs; University Histories (1898-1996); University Photographs (1902-present); Yearbooks (1917-2007)
Smith College Libraries - College Archives - http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/archives/collections.htm - links to image galleries for each of the collection groups are provided: Administrative Records, Biographical Records, Academic Life, Student Life, and Buildings and Grounds.
Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives - http://dca.tufts.edu/ - African-American Remembrance Project, Edward Murrow papers, P.T. Barnum collection, Lost Theaters of Somerville, and much more. Use the Browse tab in the left-hand menu to see full list.
UMarmot (University of Massachusetts Amherst) Digital Collections - http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/umarmot/?cat=245 - Agriculture in New England; Antislavery Collection; W. E. B. Du Bois Papers; Green Mountain Post and New Babylon Times; Massachusetts State College Glee Club; Natural Farmer; Northampton State Hospital; and much more
Univesity of Massachusetts Boston - Joseph P. Healy Library Digital Collections - http://www.lib.umb.edu/node/2929 - commencement programs, yearbooks, Eagle Forward (newspaper of he 24th Infantry Regiment, Korea), Thompson's Island Photograph Collection, and Vietnam: a Television History Collection: WGBH Open Vault.
University of Massachusetts Center for Lowell History - http://library.uml.edu/clh/index.Html - Digital Photographs include photos and postcards, history (with a focus on waterpower and mills), maps, essays, oral history; Special Collections include photos, sheriff's records, Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society materials, photos, negatives, political cartoons, cemetery projects, church records, DAR membership records, orphanage and school records, vital records indexes from newspapers, almshouse records, to name just a few; the Genealogy Collection includes the Boston Public Library Obituary Database (see below), city atlases and maps, city directories, Civil War soldiers and sailors, census street guides and records.
Wellesley College Archives Image Gallery - http://insight.wellesley.edu:8180/luna/servlet
---
Andover Historical Society - http://www.andoverhistorical.org/ - includes a historic photo slide show; a subject matter index; newsletter index of articles, subjects, and authors; and online finding aids for the manuscript collections
Billerica Public Library Local History - http://www.billericalibrary.org/localhistory/genealogy/genealogy.htm - history, vital records indexes (1896-1940), local cemetery transcriptions, war memorials, photos, maps, and local points of interest
Boston Athenaeum Online Collections - http://bostonathenaeum.org/node/43 - prominent collections feature the Boston African Americana Collection and Boston African Americans, 1820-1863. Also included are sheet music images, Taste of the Month, the Alexander Parris Digital Project (architecture), and the Boston Athenaeum Theater Collection
Boston Public Library Obituary Database - http://www.bpl.org/catalogs/interpro/bpl_search/obits.htm - an index of obits that appeared in the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald; dates include 1971-4 and 1983-2002
The Bostonian Society - http://www.bostonhistory.org/ - while this site does not have archives or databases, it does have interesting facts about Boston history, as well as virtual exhibits. Historical Markers (which are actually images of historic buildings) can be found under Education.
Brookline Public Library Collections - http://www.brooklinelibrary.org/what/ - historic photographs, newspaper indexes (obits, proceedings, newspapers and magazines)
Chelmsford Historical Society Archives Exhibits - http://www.chelmhist.org/archives.htm - by clicking on any of the collection titles (Documents, Glass Plate Negatives, Library, Objects, Photo Prints, or Postcards) you can then view a slide show of images of these collections. Also included in the exhibits are more photo prints, oral history interviews (which can be heard on MP3 files), local history, and some genealogy links.
Children's Hospital Boston Polio Photo Gallery - http://www.childrenshospital.org/research/polio_gallery/ - the Children's Hospital Boston has nice archival and manuscript collections (view list here), but they are all offline, with the exception of the polio photo gallery. If you had an ancestor or relative be treated at this hospital, or you are doing research on medical treatment in the early 20th century, you'll want to check out this gallery.
City of Boston Archives - http://www.cityofboston.gov/archivesandrecords/default.asp - there are no online archives or databases at this site; however, if Boston is an ancestral location, you'll want to bookmark the link to have access to the finding aids and guide to the archival records, as well as a list of what genealogical information is available on Boston residents.
City of Boston Historic Headstones Database - http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/hbgi/search.asp - "...based on surveys conducted in the mid-1980s by staff and volunteers of the Historic Burying Grounds Initiative. The surveys recorded all legible grave markers at that time." Includes 18 cemeteries.
City of Gloucester Archives - http://www.ci.gloucester.ma.us/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=3&MMN_position=2:2 - from this page you can access cemetery records index for Magnolia Point and Sumner Street Cemeteries and a vital records index (births, 1850-1873; marriages, 1849-1869; deaths, 1838-1883). Use the link list in the left-hand menu.
Concord Free Public Library Special Collections - http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/collections.html - access online exhibits, the Thoreau Surveys, Historic Buildings website, genealogy, gravemarker data, history, oral history, and much more
Congregational Christian Historical Society Library Digital Resources - http://www.14beacon.org/ - necrology database of clergy and missionary obituaries, periodical publications (yearbooks, annual meeting minutes, article index), books and historical collections, and "Instant History" podcasts, YouTube channel and more
Digital Amherst - http://www.digitalamherst.org/ - images, multimedia, and documents reflecting the history, culture, and creativity of Amherst, Massachusetts
Essex Historical Society - http://www.essexhistory.org/ - history, photo archives
Historic New England Online Exhibitions and Collections Highlights - http://www.historicnewengland.org/collections-archives-exhibitions/online-exhibitions - history, images, and databases include Wallpaper; New England in the Photographs of Verner Reed, 1950-1972; Jewelry; From Dairy to Doorstep; Lost Gardens; Newbury Furniture; and the Preservation Movement Then and Now
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Archives - http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/ - audio and video files, oral history project (transcriptions of oral interviews), images
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library - http://www.wakefieldlibrary.org/ - public library in Wakefield, Massachusetts; check out the last tab in the top menu, "About Wakefield," to access historic images of photos and postcards, history, "Wakipedia," and a death index (1873-5; 1913-2009)
Lynn Museum and Historical Society - Vintage Postcards of Lynn Collection - http://www.lynnmuseum.org/exhibits_collections/vintage_postcards_of_lynn/lynn_museum_&_h_s.html
Marblehead Museum - http://www.marbleheadmuseum.org/ - archived documents, video of Civil War history, images; however, site is annoying in that every link opens in a new tab
Memorial Hall Library - http://www.mhl.org/resources/guides/genealogy.htm - public library in Andover, Massachusetts: Directories; Records of Death and Interment of Andover Soliders and Sailors; Abbott Genealogies; Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War; Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War; Immigration/Passenger Lists; Maps; Andover High School yearbooks 1916-present
Middleborough Public Library Digital Library - http://www.midlib.org/dlib/main.htm - Middleborough Gazette Index (1852-1935), photos, vital records index (1649-1945)
Nantucket Historical Association Research Library and Archives - http://www.nha.org/library/index.html - genealogy, manuscripts, photos, oral history, Sanborn maps, digital exhibitions; check Online Databases for the cemetery inscription project
National Heritage Museum - http://www.monh.org/ - "an American history museum founded and supported by 32° Scottish Rite Freemasons in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction." The virtual museum includes an online collection, Masonic history resources portal, virtual exhibits, and blogs.
New Bedford Whaling Museum Online Collections - http://www.whalingmuseum.org/search/index.html - search object collections, photo albums, or logbooks. Use the header menu to check out exhibitions, oral histories, and other areas of interest.
NOBLE (North of Boston Library Exchange) Digital Heritage - http://heritage.noblenet.org/ - digital collections of 10 public and academic libraries
PeabodyMassArchives - http://www.peabodymassarchives.com/ - a collaborative effort between the City of Peabody, the Peabody Institute Library, the George Peabody House, and the Peabody Historical Society, this site features images of photos and newspapers, as well as 1855-1880 indexes of births, marriages, and deaths; other exhibits include South Danvers Ladies Soldiers’ Aid Society correspondence and newsclippings from the Peabody Paragraphs.
Plymouth Colony Archive Project - http://www.histarch.uiuc.edu/plymouth/ - if you have early Plymouth ancestors (and not necessarily just Mayflower ones), you'll want to check this site of educational and informational materials pertaining to early Plymouth history. Included are probates, wills, biographies, architectural forms, court records, laws and 17th century texts, a glossary, articles, research papers, maps and plans and more.
Southborough Historical Society - http://www.southboroughhistory.org/Southborough_History.htm - vital records index (1727-1849), genealogies, sermons, historical briefs, cemetery tombstone listings, local businesses' histories
Sturgis Library Collections - http://www.sturgislibrary.org/collections/ - access to the Preserving Memory digital archival database (documents, photos, postcards) and the Barnstable Patriot newspaper archive; there are also links to other Cape Cod area newspaper archives
Suffolk Registry of Deeds - http://www.suffolkdeeds.com/ - this is definitely a stop if your ancestors lived in Boston or Suffolk County. Included are old recorded land plans index books (1935-1999), old recorded land plans (1800s), Suffolk County atlases (varies; 1874-1981), grantee indexes (1961-1978) and grantor indexes (1961-1965)
Topsfield Historical Society - http://www.topsfieldhistory.org/index.shtml - history, newsletters
Town of Amherst Cemetery Record Search - http://gis.amherstma.gov/apps/cemetery/
Town of Andover Spring Grove Cemetery Lot Search - http://andoverma.gov/facilities/cemetery/
Town of Littleton Cemeteries - http://www.littletonma.org/content/53/101/1343/1345/default.aspx - lists burials at Westlawn Cemetery and Old Burying Ground, as well as veterans and the pet cemetery
Old Ironsides: USS Constitution Museum Artifact and Manuscript Collections - http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/collections/collections/index.htm - Art and Artifacts ("From paintings and portraits to uniforms and weapons, discover the stories behind some of the Museum's most fascinating War of 1812-era objects and artwork!") and Library and Manuscript Collections ("Explore a selection of the 7,500 items in the Museum's manuscript collection, and visit the Archives Inventory page to view and download PDF inventories.")
Walden Woods Project - The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: The Digital Collection - http://www.walden.org/Library/The_Writings_of_Henry_David_Thoreau:_The_Digital_Collection - correspondence, essays, journal, notebooks, poems, selections, and more
Waltham Public Library Death Index - http://www.waltham.lib.ma.us/localhistory/waltham_city_directory_deaths_1912-1960.pdf - .pdf file of deaths extracted from city directories, 1912-1960
Woods Hole Historical Photo Collection - http://www.woodsholemuseum.org/woodspages/tour2.html
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Online Collections - http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Library/Archives/online.html - WPI history, online books and publications, faculty publications, faculty and student projects, and online databases
Check out my Massachusetts Online Historical Directories page.
Billerica Public Library Local History - http://www.billericalibrary.org/localhistory/genealogy/genealogy.htm - history, vital records indexes (1896-1940), local cemetery transcriptions, war memorials, photos, maps, and local points of interest
Boston Athenaeum Online Collections - http://bostonathenaeum.org/node/43 - prominent collections feature the Boston African Americana Collection and Boston African Americans, 1820-1863. Also included are sheet music images, Taste of the Month, the Alexander Parris Digital Project (architecture), and the Boston Athenaeum Theater Collection
Boston Public Library Obituary Database - http://www.bpl.org/catalogs/interpro/bpl_search/obits.htm - an index of obits that appeared in the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald; dates include 1971-4 and 1983-2002
The Bostonian Society - http://www.bostonhistory.org/ - while this site does not have archives or databases, it does have interesting facts about Boston history, as well as virtual exhibits. Historical Markers (which are actually images of historic buildings) can be found under Education.
Brookline Public Library Collections - http://www.brooklinelibrary.org/what/ - historic photographs, newspaper indexes (obits, proceedings, newspapers and magazines)
Chelmsford Historical Society Archives Exhibits - http://www.chelmhist.org/archives.htm - by clicking on any of the collection titles (Documents, Glass Plate Negatives, Library, Objects, Photo Prints, or Postcards) you can then view a slide show of images of these collections. Also included in the exhibits are more photo prints, oral history interviews (which can be heard on MP3 files), local history, and some genealogy links.
Children's Hospital Boston Polio Photo Gallery - http://www.childrenshospital.org/research/polio_gallery/ - the Children's Hospital Boston has nice archival and manuscript collections (view list here), but they are all offline, with the exception of the polio photo gallery. If you had an ancestor or relative be treated at this hospital, or you are doing research on medical treatment in the early 20th century, you'll want to check out this gallery.
City of Boston Archives - http://www.cityofboston.gov/archivesandrecords/default.asp - there are no online archives or databases at this site; however, if Boston is an ancestral location, you'll want to bookmark the link to have access to the finding aids and guide to the archival records, as well as a list of what genealogical information is available on Boston residents.
City of Boston Historic Headstones Database - http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/hbgi/search.asp - "...based on surveys conducted in the mid-1980s by staff and volunteers of the Historic Burying Grounds Initiative. The surveys recorded all legible grave markers at that time." Includes 18 cemeteries.
City of Gloucester Archives - http://www.ci.gloucester.ma.us/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=3&MMN_position=2:2 - from this page you can access cemetery records index for Magnolia Point and Sumner Street Cemeteries and a vital records index (births, 1850-1873; marriages, 1849-1869; deaths, 1838-1883). Use the link list in the left-hand menu.
Concord Free Public Library Special Collections - http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/collections.html - access online exhibits, the Thoreau Surveys, Historic Buildings website, genealogy, gravemarker data, history, oral history, and much more
Congregational Christian Historical Society Library Digital Resources - http://www.14beacon.org/ - necrology database of clergy and missionary obituaries, periodical publications (yearbooks, annual meeting minutes, article index), books and historical collections, and "Instant History" podcasts, YouTube channel and more
Digital Amherst - http://www.digitalamherst.org/ - images, multimedia, and documents reflecting the history, culture, and creativity of Amherst, Massachusetts
Essex Historical Society - http://www.essexhistory.org/ - history, photo archives
Historic New England Online Exhibitions and Collections Highlights - http://www.historicnewengland.org/collections-archives-exhibitions/online-exhibitions - history, images, and databases include Wallpaper; New England in the Photographs of Verner Reed, 1950-1972; Jewelry; From Dairy to Doorstep; Lost Gardens; Newbury Furniture; and the Preservation Movement Then and Now
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Archives - http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/ - audio and video files, oral history project (transcriptions of oral interviews), images
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library - http://www.wakefieldlibrary.org/ - public library in Wakefield, Massachusetts; check out the last tab in the top menu, "About Wakefield," to access historic images of photos and postcards, history, "Wakipedia," and a death index (1873-5; 1913-2009)
Lynn Museum and Historical Society - Vintage Postcards of Lynn Collection - http://www.lynnmuseum.org/exhibits_collections/vintage_postcards_of_lynn/lynn_museum_&_h_s.html
Marblehead Museum - http://www.marbleheadmuseum.org/ - archived documents, video of Civil War history, images; however, site is annoying in that every link opens in a new tab
Memorial Hall Library - http://www.mhl.org/resources/guides/genealogy.htm - public library in Andover, Massachusetts: Directories; Records of Death and Interment of Andover Soliders and Sailors; Abbott Genealogies; Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War; Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War; Immigration/Passenger Lists; Maps; Andover High School yearbooks 1916-present
Middleborough Public Library Digital Library - http://www.midlib.org/dlib/main.htm - Middleborough Gazette Index (1852-1935), photos, vital records index (1649-1945)
Nantucket Historical Association Research Library and Archives - http://www.nha.org/library/index.html - genealogy, manuscripts, photos, oral history, Sanborn maps, digital exhibitions; check Online Databases for the cemetery inscription project
National Heritage Museum - http://www.monh.org/ - "an American history museum founded and supported by 32° Scottish Rite Freemasons in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction." The virtual museum includes an online collection, Masonic history resources portal, virtual exhibits, and blogs.
New Bedford Whaling Museum Online Collections - http://www.whalingmuseum.org/search/index.html - search object collections, photo albums, or logbooks. Use the header menu to check out exhibitions, oral histories, and other areas of interest.
NOBLE (North of Boston Library Exchange) Digital Heritage - http://heritage.noblenet.org/ - digital collections of 10 public and academic libraries
PeabodyMassArchives - http://www.peabodymassarchives.com/ - a collaborative effort between the City of Peabody, the Peabody Institute Library, the George Peabody House, and the Peabody Historical Society, this site features images of photos and newspapers, as well as 1855-1880 indexes of births, marriages, and deaths; other exhibits include South Danvers Ladies Soldiers’ Aid Society correspondence and newsclippings from the Peabody Paragraphs.
Plymouth Colony Archive Project - http://www.histarch.uiuc.edu/plymouth/ - if you have early Plymouth ancestors (and not necessarily just Mayflower ones), you'll want to check this site of educational and informational materials pertaining to early Plymouth history. Included are probates, wills, biographies, architectural forms, court records, laws and 17th century texts, a glossary, articles, research papers, maps and plans and more.
Southborough Historical Society - http://www.southboroughhistory.org/Southborough_History.htm - vital records index (1727-1849), genealogies, sermons, historical briefs, cemetery tombstone listings, local businesses' histories
Sturgis Library Collections - http://www.sturgislibrary.org/collections/ - access to the Preserving Memory digital archival database (documents, photos, postcards) and the Barnstable Patriot newspaper archive; there are also links to other Cape Cod area newspaper archives
Suffolk Registry of Deeds - http://www.suffolkdeeds.com/ - this is definitely a stop if your ancestors lived in Boston or Suffolk County. Included are old recorded land plans index books (1935-1999), old recorded land plans (1800s), Suffolk County atlases (varies; 1874-1981), grantee indexes (1961-1978) and grantor indexes (1961-1965)
Topsfield Historical Society - http://www.topsfieldhistory.org/index.shtml - history, newsletters
Town of Amherst Cemetery Record Search - http://gis.amherstma.gov/apps/cemetery/
Town of Andover Spring Grove Cemetery Lot Search - http://andoverma.gov/facilities/cemetery/
Town of Littleton Cemeteries - http://www.littletonma.org/content/53/101/1343/1345/default.aspx - lists burials at Westlawn Cemetery and Old Burying Ground, as well as veterans and the pet cemetery
Old Ironsides: USS Constitution Museum Artifact and Manuscript Collections - http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/collections/collections/index.htm - Art and Artifacts ("From paintings and portraits to uniforms and weapons, discover the stories behind some of the Museum's most fascinating War of 1812-era objects and artwork!") and Library and Manuscript Collections ("Explore a selection of the 7,500 items in the Museum's manuscript collection, and visit the Archives Inventory page to view and download PDF inventories.")
Walden Woods Project - The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: The Digital Collection - http://www.walden.org/Library/The_Writings_of_Henry_David_Thoreau:_The_Digital_Collection - correspondence, essays, journal, notebooks, poems, selections, and more
Waltham Public Library Death Index - http://www.waltham.lib.ma.us/localhistory/waltham_city_directory_deaths_1912-1960.pdf - .pdf file of deaths extracted from city directories, 1912-1960
Woods Hole Historical Photo Collection - http://www.woodsholemuseum.org/woodspages/tour2.html
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Online Collections - http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Library/Archives/online.html - WPI history, online books and publications, faculty publications, faculty and student projects, and online databases
---
Check out my Massachusetts Online Historical Directories page.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Free Day Camp Offers Kids Fun Chance to Learn about Their Roots
KNOXVILLE–If your kids are looking for something fun and unique to do this summer, an upcoming free genealogy camp may be just the answer. The FamilySearch Kids Camp will be held on Saturday, August 21, 9 a.m. to noon, at the Knoxville Convention Center in conjunction with the Federation of Genealogical Societies’ national conference. This free event requires advanced registration.
The FamilySearch Kids Camp helps young people develop an appreciation for their family history and better understand why it is important to know about one’s ancestors. The Camp is geared to youth 10 to 14 years of age.
The event will involve a variety of activities, including several designed to help Boy Scouts earn their Genealogy Merit Badge. Kids will learn how to interview relatives and document families in their family tree. There will be interactive workshops on the importance of gathering records and keeping journals. and participants will use computers to find information about their ancestors.
“We are excited to offer this fun, educational opportunity to youth in the Knoxville area,” Federation of Genealogical Societies President, Pat Oxley, said. “Kids are naturally inquisitive and love the personal discoveries that can come from the camp’s activities. It is a fabulous opportunity for the youth of that area.”
Lisa Oakley, the Curator of Education for the East Tennessee Historical Society, says the Kids Camp is a unique event.
“The East Tennessee Historical Society recognizes the importance of children connecting with their past, and I can't think of a better way to do that than for kids to learn how to collect and understand their family history, which becomes critical to remembering your roots in the future,” Oakley said.
“Everyone has ancestors and it is incredibly rewarding to learn about them,” said Cherie Bush of FamilySearch, who is organizing the Genealogy Kids Camp. “Knowing more about where you come from can help both kids and adults better understand themselves.”
Oakley plans to bring her own daughter to the Kids Camp.
“I am excited for her to learn the steps for collecting her family history in an age appropriate and productive way,” Oakley said. “After all, when mom or dad tries to tell them how do something, it is always looked at as being not quite correct. To have FamilySearch provide this workshop, I know she will hang on every word. I will look forward to working together on our family tree!”
The FamilySearch Kids Camp event is free, but participants need to register in advance. To register, please e-mail kidscamp@fgs.org with names and contact information. For more information, please visit https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/FamilySearch_Kids_Camp
About FamilySearch
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The FamilySearch Kids Camp helps young people develop an appreciation for their family history and better understand why it is important to know about one’s ancestors. The Camp is geared to youth 10 to 14 years of age.
The event will involve a variety of activities, including several designed to help Boy Scouts earn their Genealogy Merit Badge. Kids will learn how to interview relatives and document families in their family tree. There will be interactive workshops on the importance of gathering records and keeping journals. and participants will use computers to find information about their ancestors.
“We are excited to offer this fun, educational opportunity to youth in the Knoxville area,” Federation of Genealogical Societies President, Pat Oxley, said. “Kids are naturally inquisitive and love the personal discoveries that can come from the camp’s activities. It is a fabulous opportunity for the youth of that area.”
Lisa Oakley, the Curator of Education for the East Tennessee Historical Society, says the Kids Camp is a unique event.
“The East Tennessee Historical Society recognizes the importance of children connecting with their past, and I can't think of a better way to do that than for kids to learn how to collect and understand their family history, which becomes critical to remembering your roots in the future,” Oakley said.
“Everyone has ancestors and it is incredibly rewarding to learn about them,” said Cherie Bush of FamilySearch, who is organizing the Genealogy Kids Camp. “Knowing more about where you come from can help both kids and adults better understand themselves.”
Oakley plans to bring her own daughter to the Kids Camp.
“I am excited for her to learn the steps for collecting her family history in an age appropriate and productive way,” Oakley said. “After all, when mom or dad tries to tell them how do something, it is always looked at as being not quite correct. To have FamilySearch provide this workshop, I know she will hang on every word. I will look forward to working together on our family tree!”
The FamilySearch Kids Camp event is free, but participants need to register in advance. To register, please e-mail kidscamp@fgs.org with names and contact information. For more information, please visit https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/FamilySearch_Kids_Camp
About FamilySearch
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)