Evernote is a great tool for genealogists. Did you know you can archive e-mail directly to Evernote folders for later retrieval? Watch this short video to learn how:
However, Evernote announced three days ago that this would become a paid feature beginning July 6, 2015. Here is the link to the available plans, pricing and features.
Since at least 2004, the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has held free public programs on a wide variety of topics about their holdings at the Washington, D.C. and College Park, Maryland facilities. Some of these recorded programs of particular interest to genealogists began making their way online in 2012 as part of the “Know Your Records” series. Twenty such videos are now available for viewing on the National Archives YouTube channel.
Three short introductory videos concerning military records are online, featuring Archives Specialist and resident military expert, John P. Deeben. I have embedded the videos below for convenience:
This video tells us about military service records compiled for Volunteer soldiers who served in wartime from the Revolutionary War to the Philippine Insurrection, with specific examples of the CMSR for a Revolutionary War soldier.
Military Research at the National Archives: Regular Service
Registers of Enlistments for professional soldiers in the United States Army (1798-1914) available on M233 give information relative to the registration of soldiers and their discharge or separation from service.
Deeben also discusses the equivalent records for the United States Navy, called “Rendezvous Reports”. These reports (indexed as T1098 and T1099) cover the time frame between the Mexican War to about 1891. The records themselves are part of M1953.
In this final video, Deeben introduces military pension files for service members (or their widows) stored at Archives 1, covering the period between 1775-1916. He shows examples of the records and information gleaned from them of interest to military historians and genealogists. He also reminds us that pension files for service in the Confederate military forces during the American Civil War are not held at the National Archives and must be sought at the state level.
In early February 2015, an announcement was made that future programs would be live-streamed. Check the monthly calendar and plan your viewing schedule accordingly by clicking in to this link: http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/events/.
I recently completed an article for publication in the Seattle Genealogical Society’s semi-annual Bulletin, introducing the Chronicling America historic newspaper website. Space constraints prevented the inclusion of additional resources which may be of use to genealogical researchers.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Ohio Historical Society (OHS), one of the participating state partners in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), have each released short videos about the Chronicling America project. Both groups have YouTube channels, but it may be easier to begin your search elsewhere.
In 2013, NEH released two brief videos, one an overview of Chronicling America, and one on how to clip and save content from the site. Both of these videos can be accessed via the EDSITEment! Chronicling America portal, aimed at educators and students. Additional content is promised.
http://edsitement.neh.gov/what-chronicling-america
The Ohio Historical Society released a series of eleven video podcasts in early 2012, addressing a variety of topics on using the Chronicling America website. Basic search and navigation are included, of course, but other videos cover topics such as advanced searches, optical character recognition technology (OCR) and “controlled vocabulary”. I highly recommend watching all of them. The Chronicling America website was revised earlier this month so the images from the video series will differ somewhat from what you see on the Chronicling America website today.
http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/ondp/index.php?title=Podcasts
Alternately, download a PDF file with links to video content on YouTube from the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) here.
In addition to the links to the OHS YouTube videos, a lot more content regarding the Ohio NDNP program can be accessed from the main page of their wiki. Do not miss this if you are interested in historic Ohio newspapers!
If you, like me, are interested in history and technology, you’ll find this short video on digitizing the Civil War Widow’s Pensions fascinating.
Until now, Civil War pension files existed only in textual format at the National Archives. When you visit the Archives in Washington, D.C., you can request a file be pulled, and then you may view that file in person in the reading room on the 2nd floor. And while nothing quite compares to handling the documents yourself, touching the same page as your family member once touched, having this series of records available online will be a tremendous resource for genealogists and historians alike.
From the video, we learn that there are 1.28 million approved case files of widows and dependents that will ultimately be digitized and made available online. 25,000 – 30,000 case files are processed by volunteers each year, working since about 2007. The first digital images became available online on what is now Fold3.com in the fall of 2008. As of today’s date, 4% of the collection has been digitized and posted, representing roughly 75,000 pension files. In April 2012, Fold3 indicated on their site that the highest WC (Widow’s Certificate) number posted is WC95971.
Note the emphasis on the word approved in the above description. Rejected application files will apparently not be filmed or otherwise placed online. For those files, you will still need to order the file online from the National Archives, visit in person, or hire a researcher to copy the file for you.
Who will you look for on Fold3?