NGS 2012 Day 3, AM

It was hard to believe on Friday morning that the conference was half-way done.  I had learned so much already and some of the sessions I had been looking forward to the most were over the next two days.
I began day 3 with Printed Legends and Missing Footnotes: Dissecting 19th and 20th Century Compiled Genealogies by D. Joshua Taylor.  Most genealogists come across a compiled genealogy which is unsourced.  Surprisingly, these are not always correct  It is important to verify as much of the information as possible.  Additionally, remember that just because a like does not have a + next to it does not mean the line ends, they just did not have information on them, something I have found in my Perrine research.  My favorite tip from this lecture was to look for reviews of the book in its contemporary journals.  I had never thought of this.  This is a great lecture for purchase if you are wondering what to do with compiled genealogies about your family,
My second session was on Facial Recognition Software: Application for Genealogists? with Greg Kipper.  Kipper began by debunking what he called the “CSI effect.”  Despite what we see on TV, the technology is not currently there to identify people consistently with this software.  In the future, we can hope for improved technology that will be able to compare faces and make matches, which would be tremendously useful for unidentified family photos.
My last session of the morning was Documentation: The What, Why, and Where by Tom Jones.  I really liked how Dr. Jones made documentation so basic.  We need to have sources that allow yourself and others to find the information again.  Once you have the basics down, you can use books such as Evidence Explained (aff) to get into further detail.  This lecture would be especially useful to those new in genealogy, in properly sourcing your genealogy, or who get overwhelmed by Evidence Explained.
For the lunch break, my husband and I went to the Istanbul Café, which serrves wonderful Turkish food.  I highly recommend the cold appetizer sampler and any of the doner kebab meals.  From here we went to the Ohio Book Store which has a large genealogy, local history and US history section.  If you have local ancestry here, be sure to check out the balcony at this used book store.

Citation Listserv/Study Sessions Being Set Up

This went out on a lot of lists I am on.  I signed up, as someday I would love to be able to source things without my Legacy SourceWriter or thumbing wildly through EE.  Elizabeth Shown Mills even replied that she wants to be involved in case of questions that others can't answer.  Hope to see some of you there!

I've set up a restricted yahoo group called SourceCitations.  What I'm planning is a moderated study session group, restricted to those who don't have a high level of confidence in the writing of source citations.  It will not be like TheoryGen (which is completely wide open as to content and membership).  It won't be a place to debate the BCG or professionalism or anything along that line.

I think I'm well placed to moderate such a group because I have 25 years of experience with research methods, both historical and genealogical, and yet I have a strong interest in really taking a detailed look at source citations.  The idea would be a round table series of study sessions,  using reference material such as Evidence Explained, going step by step through that text, from front to back.  Plus looking at how the genealogical approach compares and contrasts with the Chicago Style Manual.  Also side sessions on the source citations preferred by major archives.  And a look later at the source citation requirements for different genealogical journals and magazines.

This is an open course structure, but not a place for those who already have a high degree of confidence in writing source citations already.  Members will be invited to bring their own source citations 'puzzles' to the table at different points in the sessions (they would have to be appropriate for the session that was current).

And anything on the list can be taken by any member who wants to solicit opinions and comments on another list or from an expert (non-member) off list.  There will be some restriction on that type of cross-posting.

Because it is a closed, restricted study group,  there will be an ability to examine actual documents and case studies.

Goal:  That participants hopefully will come out of it with a high level of confidence in the writing of good genealogical source citations.

Participants are invited to participate at a level that they feel comfortable at.  You can join at any point later as the sessions proceed, but I recommend you go back and read through the earlier entries and material.

the Source Citation study sessions will utilize the following Yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SourceCitations/

The group is open now, and the first sessions will begin in about two weeks.  I need to prepare some outlines but in the meantime, the door is open for introductory discussions. I'd like to get a sense of what interests participants,  who you are, what your motivations are for joining, and just general ideas on the subject itself.

I think this is going to be really an interesting, quiet learning environment for us all.

Larry

Larry Boswell BA, PLCGS
www.TheBackstairs.com
http://thebackstairs.com/blog/
"Experts in Historical & Genealogical Research"
Listowner, TheoryGen (a non-archived list)
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/theorygen/
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
laboswell@rogers.com

Half way through the semester

It is the midway point in my first semester of graduate school. I have been incredibly lucky, learning quite a few things that will help me with my career as a genealogical reference librarian in the future. The first is that the American Library Association has a division which focuses on reference services and in the division is a part for history/genealogy librarians. I will be joining this ASAP to network and learn more. They are also giving a full-day workshop in Boston in January on genealogical librarianship that I plan on taking. Second is that librarians are tremendously nice. I interviewed the head of the local history/genealogy department and she gave me a lot of tips, which I look forward to implementing:-) Most of all, I have been constantly citing everything for papers and have assignments where we have to write down every site or item we search, even if it comes back negative. This is a habit I really need to get better at for my genealogy research, so I am hoping it will carry over.

I am looking forward to actually doing some research in about 7 weeks and hope to have until the end of February to do so... I also may have a very exciting announcement soon about school and some international genealogical research... Wish me luck!

Citing Sources - Quick Reference Card

As any genealogist who has been working on their family history for a while will tell you, citing your sources is of utmost importance.  I have experience first-hand the problems created when others did not.  One example is the 5-generation chart I inherited from my grandfather.  It has names, some dates and general places for up to 3 generations of his ancestors, as well as his children's names, spouses and his first two grandchildren (only my cousin and I were born prior to his death).

It is a treasure to have this information and most of it is proving true, however it is not sourced.  Therefore, I have to go through a lot of searching to find information he had gotten first hand from relatives.

Please do not make your descents redo the research you have done.  Properly cite your sources on all forms you have.  If you need information on citing, Thomas MacEntree at GeneaBloggers has created a quick reference card.  Also, pick up either of Elizabeth Shown Mills source citation books and you can use a source writer, such as the one available on Legacy.

Source time

Following month two of the DearMYRTLE organization checklist, it is time to make sure all of the items I have are properly sourced in my genealogy program.  I have been doing pretty well, but I need to go back through and make sure I have all the father and mother relation filled in for Legacy, as well as citing the information I received from interviews.  I also have to better use the notes section, both for transcribing and my views of some of the information.

I am very well aware of the necessity of sources, due to a couple documents I have that were not sourced and have created some problems for me.

The first of these is a pedigree chart my grandfather created, which I will talk about further as soon as I buy a scanner and can attach images of all the documents he had.

The second is a document created by Estella Nuwer Minderler on December 8, 1974.  Estella is my second cousin, four times removed on my father's mother's side.  Titled "The History of the Nuwers.", I was given a copy of this in elementary school by my grandmother when I was doing a family history project.  

It begins, on page 3, with a "Narrative" as follows:

"Beginning in the 1840's and continuing for the next thirty years, millions of Europeans emigrated to the United States and Canada.  The Nuwers of Alsace-Lorraine were an early part of this movement."

It continues with information on the town of Lancaster, Erie County, New York where they settled, biographical information on several of the people listed and a list of descendants of Anthony and Margarete (Ludwig) Nuwer (my 5th great-grandparents).

This is a wonderful item to have, as the information on the later generations is taken first hand from interviews Estella did.  Unfortunately, none of it is documented and the later generations do not completely match up with research that has been done in more recent years.  The most depressing part of this is that Estella mentions an immigrant relative Christine Nuwer who kept a diary of her trip across the Atlantic.  It is depressing because there never was a Christine Nuwer and no one can locate the diary, to find out who had actually written it.  Further discussion on the diary can be found by Brian Smith.

I want to make sure that all information I write and that gets passed on to other researchers and further generations is correct and documented as such, so that they do not have to redo the work I have already done.  This will probably mean very little new research in February, which will be okay as I am waiting for quite a few New York vital records and my great-grandfather's WWI military records.

Source:

"The History of the Nuwers."  Estella Nuwer Minderler, 8 Dec 1974; privately held by Amanda Acquard, [STREET ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE].