Preserving Paper Treaures: Step 3 Ready To Create & Store

This is Step 3 of preserving your family ephemera. Yesterday I talked about sorting and organizing all those family papers into piles (See Preserving Paper Treasures: Step 2 Sorting & Organizing)

We're going to talk about paper Pile #1 and Pile #2 today. These consisted of your  most important and valuable papers and documents. To refresh memories, Pile #1 consists of your most valuable ORIGINAL documents that you are not ever going to throw out or see ruined.There is probably a strong emotional attachment to most items in this pile.

WHERE DO I STORE PAPERS FROM PILE #1?

Pile #1 is easy to deal with. You want to preserve these items intact for future generations. You are never going to throw them out or alter them in any way. You have digitized the papers but you need to do something with the actual documents. Here are my suggestions:

SMALL DECORATIVE BOX
 

Keep the treasured documents and papers in a small decorative box, one that is likely to be passed on down through the family after I'm gone. It's small enough that it is probably never going to be used for something else. You might want to add a family chart or note describing the contents of the box. See Passing on Your Family Genealogy Treasures to a Descendant

Remember my huge blanket box full of papers? That would almost certainly result in someone at some time in the future dumping the papers and using the box for storage of blankets or towels or some other household item. But the small antique box I use looks important enough to not be trashed and isn't big enough to store much more than the documents I've placed in it. 

Update January 20, 2014: Please see  Oops I goofed! A Correction re Preserving Paper Treasures for a caveat and correction

ACID FREE BINDER STORAGE You can also place the documents and papers from Pile #1 into acid free sleeves and keep in an archival binder or box. The idea is to keep them in something that will protect them from deteriorating and maximize the chance that they will still be in your family 100 years from now.  Whatever method you use, the papers from Pile #1 are intact and tucked away safely. And you have digital copies you can print to create something nice. (more on that after we talk about Pile #2)
   
 WHAT DO I DO WITH PAPERS FROM PILE #2?   Pile #2 is where you put papers that have meaning for you but are not as important or unique as Pile #1. You would like to see these documents survive and be passed on in the family but they do not have the same emotional attachment for you.  

Pile #2 is where you can be a bit more flexible. Remember this is the pile that contains items you didn't mind altering, keeping in mind that you have digital copies as a backup.   Before I get to what you should do with Pile #2, let me show you some ways to create some nice items from both piles that you can pass on to other family members.

CREATE BOOKS FROM YOUR DIGITAL COPIES

Shutterfly Book Example Page with scanned document

You've scanned and digitized all the items in both piles. This is where I take my digital copies and create books in Shutterfly. See my YouTube Video Tutorial on Using Shutterfly. You can use any self-publishing service such as Blurb or Lulu or, for those in the USA, MyCanvas.

The benefit of creating a coffee table sized book (30 pages or less) is that it looks professional and therefore important enough to keep and you can have multiple copies printed. This means you can give copies to family members and thus maximize your chances that at least one of those copies will survive in the future.

Shutterfly keeps your original book which means you can have copies printed at any time. Blurb has restrictions on how long they will store your book so be sure to read any restrictions before starting your book.

But what to do if you don't want to create a self-published book? Perhaps you don't want to undertake such a big project. Maybe you've never used Shutterfly or any self-publishing service and the task seems daunting. Perhaps it is just too expensive for your budget. That's okay because I have another solution for you.

MAKE A SCRAPBOOK

Trip Scrapbook I created for grandchildren

Consider creating an old-fashioned scrapbook. If you've been lucky enough to inherit a scrapbook that your mom or grandmother kept, you know the kind I mean. Or perhaps you kept one as a teenager - many of us gals glued in tickets from our first prom or a ribbon from a corsage given to us by a  boyfriend.

You can purchase acid-free scrapbook paper to create a lovely book that can be passed on to someone in the family. As you create your scrapbook remember that you are not going to use the original documents in Pile #1. Instead you will use copies. You've scanned them all so it will be easy to print copies on good quality paper. You can cut those copies up and glue them in your book. Using copies allows you to create more than one scrapbook.

Pile #2 is where you have more flexibility because you can use the originals. The papers in this pile can be cut up or altered and used in your scrapbooks. These documents don't have to be handled as carefully as those in Pile #1. You are still preserving these papers for future descendants in book format. Glue them into a scrapbook. Cut them up and create a collage. The sky's the limit because you have digital copies and you can always print more. If you're going to make more than one scrapbook you have copies of the  papers in Pile #2.

I know that professional archivists will be gasping in horror at the thought of cutting up or using the originals from Pile #2 in a scrapbook but we are preserving them and creating a way to view them and enjoy them.

YOUR SCRAPBOOK - FANCY OR PLAIN?

Your scrapbook can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. You can create fancy borders, add stickers or designs and be very creative or not, as you see fit. Remember your scrapbook does not have to be a work of art. The goal is to achieve a way of keeping these family papers together in a format that can be passed on.

Since your goal is to maximize the chances that this scrapbook will survive and be passed on, you need to put more thought and time into creating the outside cover. The nicer and more professional the cover of your scrapbook looks, the more likely it will be treasured and preserved and given to yet another generation. My husband has a saying "If it looks like junk it will be treated like junk. If it looks important it will be treated with reverence."

ARCHIVAL BINDERS

Archival Binder Box

If creating a scrapbook or a self-published book seems too daunting or time-consuming you might choose to place your original documents from both piles in an archival binder to pass on to a family member at some point.

THE GOALS

Whatever method you choose, there are 3 goals:

1. To preserve the documents
2. To pass them on to other family members
3. To be able to enjoy the documents yourself in an easy-to-use manner

THERE'S MORE!
You probably think this is the last post in this series. But guess what? We've talked about how to preserve, share and enjoy your ancestors' treasured paper records. But we haven't talked about you and your life and your documents! If you have descendants they are going to want to know about you, their ancestor. So keep watching this space for a new series on making sure you are keeping and preserving records about your life as well as the lives of your ancestors.

WW 1 Photo Album Archive page 12

Continuing on with my WW1 Photo Album archive here is the 12th page in my mother's cousin Doris Simpson's album. 

Sadly I don't know who anyone is on this page! 

Preserving Paper Treasures: Step 2 Sorting & Organizing

Yesterday I talked about Step 1 of preserving your paper treasures as well as digitizing them.  Or as Eric commented on the post yesterday "Digitize it, but don't trash it!" If you missed the first post, please see Preserving Paper Treasures: What's New Today is Obsolete Tomorrow

Today I'm going to show you how to handle all those tubs, filing cabinets and blanket boxes full of unsorted miscellaneous ephemera. Because you and I both know that we genealogists are savers. We save copies of documents we find. We save great-grandma's bill for flowers dated 1889. We save Grandpa's love letter to Grandma from WW1.

Let me preface this blog post with saying that I am not including photos in this tutorial. That's a different subject with it's own issues but I'll talk about preserving your most precious photos in a future blog post. 

The problem is that it is extremely unlikely that anyone in the future will want to digitize all those papers. So we must do that now. But if we want to maximize the chances that the originals will still be in the family 100 years from now we have to go beyond digitization. 

Trust me, no one will want to keep a huge blanket box full of papers. It will be used for some other purpose or sold and the contents tossed out. But I have a few suggestions for how best to ensure that your family papers survive for many more generations to come. 


DIGITIZE FIRST!  
First you must scan and digitize all of these papers. Save the scans to your computer, to a cloud service (or several cloud services), burn them to a CD ROM, put copies on a flash drive or an external hard drive and share them with family members. 

CRITERIA FOR SORTING DOCUMENTS

Now you must sort those papers. If you're like me that is difficult. They are all treasures to me. But sorting is necessary and you will need to make 3 piles based on the importance or value of each document. The criteria for creating these 3 piles will differ from person to person but let me quickly define my criteria. 

For me personally I determine a document's "value" or importance based on:

a) the age of the document. The older the document is, the more valuable it is to me. My great-great-grandmother's receipt for bolts of cloth she bought in 1857 is a valuable document in my mind

b) the amount of information or story the document holds. The story it holds is not the same as the number of words, it is the detail within and how it sets my ancestor in history. For example a military discharge certificate tells a huge story about my  grandfather even though there are very few words on it.

c) how unique the document is. In other words if I have my mother's report card from 1922 that might be difficult or impossible to get from any other source. It is a one-of-a-kind document and is thus valuable.

ORGANIZING DOCUMENTS INTO PILES
 

Determine your criteria for prioritizing your documents and then you're ready to sort into your 3 piles.

Pile #1 consists of your most valuable ORIGINAL documents that you are not ever going to throw out or see ruined. I stressed original because this is not where you put copies of images of census records that you found online. Instead these would be such items as that WW1 love letter from Grandpa to Grandma, your uncle's military discharge papers, your dad's death certificate, or your grandmother's baptism record. You probably have a strong emotional attachment to items in this pile and you likely feel they are of historical importance.

Pile #2 This is where you put papers that have meaning for you but are not as important or unique as Pile #1. You would like to see these documents survive and be passed on in the family but they do not have the same emotional pull for you.


This pile might include such things as a newspaper clipping from Grandma's scrapbook, or Christmas cards that were sent to an ancestor from one of their friends. Perhaps there is a Valentine's card from Grandpa to Grandma with only his signature.  In other words these are items that you find interesting or your parents or grandparents treasured but they don't carry the same weight in your mind as the items in Pile #1. This is a very personal decision as to what is most important or valuable and what is of lessor importance.

Pile #3 is the toss pile. For me personally there is a good chance there will be nothing in this pile! I should purge but I will have a difficult time doing so. But the more papers you have in your possession the more ruthless you will need to be. If you can bring yourself to create this pile, please do. To show you how difficult a toss pile is for me, I have a ticket stub for a dance that my mother had in her possessions. I don't know the story behind this ticket. I don't know when the dance took place. I don't know why my mother kept it. So it has no meaning, no story behind it. I should toss it. But I doubt I will. 

You may also wish to consider creating a 4th Pile. Pile #4 consists of original documents that you are willing to pass on to other family members right now. If you aren't prepared to do this or there is no one in your family who is ready or willing to accept some of the items, that's fine. But consider doing this as it will reduce the stress on family who may be left to decide who gets what after you are gone. 

As an example you can see in my photos above that I have a serviette (napkin) from my brother's first wedding in the 1950s. It has the names of the bride and groom and the date of the wedding so it holds important details. I don't really want that napkin but perhaps one of his children would like to take over as guardian and keeper! As well I have two birth announcements for two of my nieces.  They include photos of each baby at birth, plus details of time of birth, weight, size, parents' names etc. Those notices aren't important for me to keep any longer and I think it is time to put them in Pile #4 then pop them in envelopes and mail to my nieces. 

In my next blog post I will talk about what we're going to do with Pile #1 and Pile #2 in order to maximize our chances that those papers will still be in the family 100 years from now. 

You can follow these upcoming blog posts by choosing the topic "Preserving Paper Treasures" from the right hand side bar.

Preserving Paper Treasures: What's New Today is Obsolete Tomorrow

Obsolete floppy discs

See that pile of floppy discs beside my laptop? That's called obsolete technology. I haven't got a computer or laptop that will read them. 

I could, with a great deal of effort, get my hands on something that would allow me to look through those discs and extract any information I might want to keep. But I won't. That's way too much work and time and effort!

And this is but one example of outdated technology. At the time didn't we all figure we could digitize our documents, create our files and save them until we wanted/needed them? But that is what happens with the rapid advance of technology. We end up with important data that can't be read in 5, 10, 15 or more years from when we created it.

As genealogists we save documents, whether original or copies. We need that marriage license of our great-grandparents. We treasure the original 1918 bill for Grandpa Bob's funeral. The push is on to digitize them, to go paperless. But let's be realistic! Will we be able to read or access those treasured digitized items in 10 years or 20 years time? 

Sure we saved a copy on our harddrive but computers crash and data is lost. We saved a copy to the Cloud, that was good wasn't it? But we have zero control over cloud services and they may disappear overnight, or there could be a catastrophic failure and saved data is lost. We have copies on CDs and flash drives and external hard drives and we've shared some of those with family. We're covered, right? Wrong. CDs and flash drives might not be readable in the future, just as those little floppy discs are unreadable to most of us.

Even if the cloud with our digitized documents is still there, if you are no longer around, is there anyone in your family who knows your password or has the technical skills to get to it? 

So what's a genealogist to do? Well, first of all you should absolutely digitize your papers  and photos and save them in every spot you can think of! The more backups the better. But don't be too quick to throw out those paper originals! 

Blanket Box of Ephemera

But where do you keep them? How do you ensure they get saved and passed on to future generations? I keep mine in a very large antique blanket box. It's about 2 feet by 3 feet and is used as a coffee table. It's full of paper documents. 

But I know that at some point in the future someone (most likely one of my grandson's wives, or a granddaughter) will almost certainly look at that blanket box and think "Hmmmm I could store a lot of bedding in here! And what's with these papers? Holy cow, do we really need to give up good storage space for my husband's great grandmother's driver's licence or her marriage certificate?" And his grandpa's death certificate!!??"    

And the papers I have treasured and saved for future generations will be tossed. So what do we do? How do we get the maximum chances that our paper ephemera will be kept by future generations?

In the next few blog posts I'm going to show you several different plans for preserving these paper documents and treasures such as Great Grandmother Harriet's baptism certificate or Great uncle Syd's military discharge papers.

You can follow these upcoming blog posts by choosing the topic "Preserving Paper Treasures" from the right hand side bar.

New DNA Tools

My husband's new DNA results

Judy G. Russell of The Legal Genealogist blog explains some new DNA tools so well I think you should just read hers. It's called Updated DNA tools and you can read it by clicking on the title.

After reading Judy's post I logged in to my husband's account and saw that at last his African ancestry has been confirmed! We knew he had a black ancestor, Jonathan Butler, who came from Pennsylvania to Upper Canada (present day Ontario) around 1808 but we had never seen it confirmed through DNA.

Not only is it confirmed but we have a more precise location - East Africa! We also see, for the first time, a small % of East Asian/Native American. That will be interesting to try to pinpoint.

British Library Puts 1,000,000 images into Public Domain

 

Sample of Public Domain Image from British Library

This is exciting news and here is a snippet from the British Library's announcement

We have released over a million images onto Flickr Commons for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. These images were taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books digitised by Microsoft who then generously gifted the scanned images to us, allowing us to release them back into the Public Domain.

The images themselves cover a startling mix of subjects: There are maps, geological diagrams, beautiful illustrations, comical satire, illuminated and decorative letters, colourful illustrations, landscapes, wall-paintings and so much more that even we are not aware of.

You can access these public domain images at the British Library's Flickr Acoount

Credits:
Image taken from:
Title: "The Coming of Father Christmas"
Author: MANNING, Eliza F.
Shelfmark: "British Library HMNTS 11650.f.64."
Page: 17
Place of Publishing: London
Date of Publishing: 1894
Publisher: F. Warne & Co.
Issuance: monographic
Identifier: 002368636


See more at A million first steps and The British Library Puts 1,000,000 Images into the Public Domain, Making Them Free to Reuse & Remix

WW 1 Photo Album Archive page 11

Continuing on with my WW1 Photo Album archive here is the 11th page in my mother's cousin Doris Simpson's album. 

There were only 3 photos on this page and the only person I can identify is the bottom photo of my grandmother's brother Sydney Simpson.

Lost & Found Case #19: U.S. Army Dog Tag Found in England

Buddy 7111. Message Center. APO 874. US Army

 Claire sends photos of this American Dog Tag. Her grandfather found it in or near Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, England. 

With only one name (Buddy) it seems like a rather unusual soldier's dog tag to me. I'm wondering if the U.S. Army used dogs and issued tags for them. 

BUDDY
7111
MESSAGE CENTER
A.P.O. 874  U.S. ARMY  

Hopefully one of Olive Tree Genealogy's fabulous readers will know something about this I.D. tag! UPDATE: I just found reference to A.P.O. 874:

 APO 874 was located at Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, England during February, 1944 to May, 1944. This Army Post Office serviced the units assembled in the Lichfield area of England for the invasion of France, which started on June 6, 1941 [http://en.allexperts.com/q/Military-History-669/WW-II-Replacement-Co.htm#b]

We have five unsolved cases of soldiers' dog tags for anyone wanting to put on their sleuthing hat! 

The open cases are:

#18 T. W. Kelly

#16 George Coleman

#15 Lester Lorfing 

#11 John Thomas Dryborough

#6 George H. Stevens

The 12 Genealogy Days of Christmas

To my readers: I wrote this jingle this morning to reflect my version of The 12 Days of Christmas for genealogists.

On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
A Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the second day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the fourth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
4 family photos
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
5 brickwall solutions
4 family photos
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the sixth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
6 new found cousins
5 brickwall solutions
4 family photos
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
7 marriage records
6 new found cousins
5 brickwall solutions
4 family photos
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the eighth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
8 tombstone photos
7 marriage records
6 new found cousins
5 brickwall solutions
4 family photos
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the ninth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
9 DNA test results
8 tombstone photos
7 marriage records
6 new found cousins
5 brickwall solutions
4 family photos
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the tenth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
10 Eureka Moments
9 DNA test results
8 tombstone photos
7 marriage records
6 new found cousins
5 brickwall solutions
4 family photos
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the eleventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
11 genealogy subscriptions
10 Eureka Moments
9 DNA test results
8 tombstone photos
7 marriage records
6 new found cousins
5 brickwall solutions
4 family photos
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
12 well-sourced family trees
11 genealogy subscriptions
10 Eureka Moments
9 DNA test results
8 tombstone photos
7 marriage records
6 new found cousins
5 brickwall solutions
4 family photos
3 Pedigree Charts
2 Source Citations
and a Family Bible for my McGinnis family

 Credits: Original lyrics by Lorine McGinnis Schulze 2013

"Merry Christmas10" by gubgib on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Christmas Photos and Memories

This is the earliest family Christmas photo I have. I'm not there so I suspect this was taken in 1945 or 1946. 

The photo looks like it was taken in my Grandmother's house in Guelph Ontario Canada and it includes my 3 siblings and my cousin. 

After this photo there's a jump of 10 or more years before another Christmas picture!  It too was taken at Grandma's house and I'm wondering if we didn't own a camera. 

Otherwise I can't explain why we have no family Christmas  photos except these. 

 
This photo is of me (with the doll)  and my sister. We don't look very happy so I've always wondered what was happening. 

I should have been ecstatic because that doll was the one I wanted more than anything that year. If you held its little arms it walked! The legs were articulated and that was quite thrilling to me. 

But we were very poor and I knew there was a good chance I would not get that doll because it was too expensive. I do recall how thrilled I was to see it! 

Do you have early Christmas photos? I wish I had some of my mom or dad as children but there are none. 

I often wonder how my grandparents celebrated Christmas but there's no one left to ask. 

A Touching Video from WestJet

This surprise from WestJet is amazing. Watch Santa surprise a plane load of passengers.

Monday Musings: Copyright and Plagiarism

A rather lively discussion of Copyright went on yesterday in a Facebook group. Sadly it degenerated into a couple of participants engaging in name-calling and emotional tirades. But the topic is important and I have been thinking about it more this morning.


One the one side were those who insisted that if you put something online (a family tree, an article, a photo) you must be prepared for it to be taken and used without your permission. 

A few declared that if we don't want our work taken then don't put it online. Then there were those who mistakenly thought that as long as the item(s) taken were not being sold or used to make money in some way, it was okay.

Those groups are wrong. We should not simply shrug our shoulders and ignore copyright violations. Anything original online is immediately under copyright and deserves our protection. That's where education comes in. Many times people violate copyright because they truly do not understand how the internet works and what the copyright laws are. 

In response to the suggestion that if we don't want our work taken, don't put it online -  if we independent webmasters stopped putting articles, photos, and data collections online, all the free websites and blogs would quickly disappear. 

As for the misconception that as long as the stolen work is not being used to profit the person who took it without permission, it does not matter what the intent is. Taking published work without permission violates copyright.

Definitions

There seemed to be confusion over copyright vs plagiarism vs fair use. Here are some definitions that were posted during the discussion yesterday

Definition of plagiarism: copying the work of someone else and publishing it as your own without permission and without crediting the work to the author. [Cyndi Ingle on https://www.facebook.com/groups/17834741205/ ]

Definition of fair use: purposely gray area in copyright law. Fair use includes using something for purely educational purposes or for review or for satire. But the *amount* of something that can be copied and called fair use is purposely vague. It depends on a case by case basis. [Cyndi Ingle on https://www.facebook.com/groups/17834741205/]

and the definition of copyright from the Merriam-Webster dictionary

Copyright:  the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work) 

Examples

Basically it means if I write and publish an article on my blog or my website, and you copy it without my permission and republish it elsewhere, you violated my copyright. It does not matter whether or not you gave attribution to me as the author, it's still a copyright violation. 

If you take a paragraph or a few sentences from my original article and use them in a new article you are writing that is fair use. But if you neglect to cite me as the original author of those words, it's plagiarism

How to Play Fair and Stay Out of Trouble

It's wise to always read a website's Terms of Use or Copyright Statement/Notice to find out what the restrictions (if any) are on items on that specific site. Big companies such as Ancestry.com have very specific Terms of Use that must be followed by anyone using the site. Smaller websites, such as my Olive Tree Genealogy, usually have a Copyright Notice of some kind that explains what the restrictions are for copying items on the site.

Suggested Reading

Cyndi's List has quite a few links related to Copyright Laws and Issues at http://www.cyndislist.com/ip/

 

Update FamilySearch Collections: Bolivia, Germany, USA, Billion Graves

Sample Page from N.C. Civil Action Court Papers

Here is the December update from FamilySearch.org

FamilySearch has added more than 1.2 million indexed records and images to collections from BillionGraves, Bolivia, Germany, and the United States. 

Notable collection updates include the 512, 388 indexed records and images from the BillionGraves Index, the 230,873 images from the U.S., North Carolina, Civil Action Court Papers, 1712–1970, collection, and the 79,078 indexed records from the Germany, Prussia, Pomerania Church Records, 1544–1945, collection. 

Search these diverse collections and more than 3.5 billion other records for free at FamilySearch.org.

Searchable historic records are made available on FamilySearch.org through the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world. These volunteers transcribe (index) information from digital copies of handwritten records to make them easily searchable online. More volunteers are needed (particularly those who can read foreign languages) to keep pace with the large number of digital images being published online at FamilySearch.org. 

Learn more about volunteering to help provide free access to the world’s historic genealogical records online at FamilySearch.org.

Online: Kingston Penitentiary inmate history description ledgers

Sample Page Kingston Penetentiary

Now genealogists can consult the Kingston Penitentiary inmate history description ledgers, which have been digitized and can be viewed on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website.

The ledgers provide photographs (mug shots) of inmates and information such as name; alias; age; place of birth; physical description; occupation; crime committed; and date, place and length of sentence.

Sample page, Kingston Penitentiary inmate history description ledgers.

To find the pictures of some of the inmates who were incarcerated at the Kingston Penitentiary, search for a person’s name in the Archives Search menu.

    1.    On the left of the screen, under Archives Search, click on the Advanced option. The advanced search screen will appear.
    2.    Type the word Kingston in the first search box, leaving the default “Any Keyword” in the drop-down menu. In the second search box, type the surname of the inmate, leaving the default “Any Keyword” in the drop-down menu.
    3.    From the Type of material drop-down menu, select Photographic material.
    4.    From the Online drop-down menu, click on Yes, then click on Submit. Your search will generate a list of results.
    5.    Select an underlined title to access the full description of the photograph. The descriptive records display images of photographs that have been digitized.

23andMe Provides An Update Regarding FDA’s Review

Good news - an update from 23andMe about their DNA test kits.  The company will stop offering new consumers access to health-related genetic tests but anyone who purchased their kit before November 22, 2013 will receive the health reports along with the genetic DNA reports.

If you purchased your kit on or after November 22nd you can get a full refund OR accept the genetic DNA reports minus the health report.

Read details at 23andMe Provides An Update Regarding FDA’s Review

A Genealogy Baker's Dozen Gift Ideas

Every year I publish a Christmas Wish List for Genealogists. Here are a few of my items from last year plus a few more. Start your Genealogy Christmas shopping now and surprise your loved ones (or yourself!) with a creative Genealogy gift.

1. Ancestry.com World Subscription (or any other genealogy subscription-based site you like)

2. Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner to take to Archives, Libraries and on field trips. Read my first review from November 2010 at Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner, Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

3. RootsTech Registration. Ask your loved one to register you for RootsTech 2014 coming up February 6 - 8, 2014

4. Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Scanner for PC and Mac (PA03656-B005)  I recently bought one of these and I am loving it! It's a wireless document feeder scanner. I can scan up to 25 items at once and they appear automatically on my computer in one file (or in Evernote or Dropbox or many other choices!)

5. Evernote Moleskine notebook. I don't have one and am pretty anxious to try it out! Apparently you write in the notebook and with a click of your smartphone camera, can transfer your notes to Evernote. See The New Evernote Smart Notebook by Moleskine

6. DNA Test Kit from Family Tree DNA (or any other DNA Testing company you prefer)
 
7.  Livescribe 8 GB Echo Smartpen for recording Family Stories and Memories. I love my SmartPen. I use it to record my 89 year old auntie's stories of her childhood, then I plug it into my laptop and the digital record transfers. Using the pen while auntie speaks, I make jot notes in the special notebooks. Then I can play the recorded stories by touching any word in the notebook. Very cool!

8. Don't miss out on this great opportunity. Byron Rempel of IDrawZombies.com can turn a photograph of you (or anyone else) into a zombie portrait. Rempel has been featured in Undead and Loving It in The National Post for his Art project 1000 Zombies. You can also obtain his Zombie Colouring Book to release your inner artist. The cost for the colouring book "Scrapbook of the Dead" is whatever you decide to pay - how cool is that?

9.  A subscription to the Genealogy Magazine of your choice. I'd like Family Tree Magazine, but the one you drool over could be very different

10. Jawbone JAMBOX This tiny powerful speaker allows you to connect via bluetooth to any other bluetooth enabled device (laptop, computer, iPhone, iPad etc) and play your favourite podcasts or listen to any audio with much better quality sound. I have one and I love it.

11. A beautiful journal for writing your own memoirs. I love Iona Handcrafted Books and have asked my hubby to buy me another one this Christmas as I'm on my last one. Tip: If the checkout won't accept a non-USA order, just email or phone as they do accept international orders.

12.  A Shutterfly gift certificate  I love Shutterfly for creating family photo books or calendars. It's also great for simply getting copies of your family photos so you can share them with family members

13. And in blatant self-promotion, how about asking for one of the genealogy and history books I have written and published?

Credits: "Santa Pushing Gift Bag" by digitalart on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Haag Kline Company Ledger Book, Bernville Berks County Pennsylvania

Ancestors At Rest and Olive Tree Genealogy have begun a new project to digitize unique one-of-a-kind ledger books which we own. As we digitize them we will bring them online as PDF files which can be downloaded. Each set of books will be published on the Ancestors At Rest website and announced here on the Olive Tree Genealogy blog. 

The ledger books encompass many locations with North America so you should watch this space to see if one of your ancestral places appears. We have court record books, meeting minutes, store ledgers, school roster books and much much more. The years range from the late 1790s to the mid 1900s.

Below is the first set of ledger books and an example of the type of detail you might find within. The ledger starts in November 1867 and ends in March 1877 and has over 1000 names.

1870 page from the Haag Kline Company Ledger book in Bernville, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Lists account balances due from individuals

• Haag Kline Company Bernville Berks County Pennsylvania 1863-1870 part 1.pdf
• Haag Kline Company Bernville Berks County Pennsylvania 1863-1870 part 2.pdf
• Haag Kline Company Bernville Berks County Pennsylvania 1863-1870 part 3.pdf

Brian has a write up about the Company at http://www.ancestorsatrest.com/genealogy_lookups/bernville_berks_county_pennsylvania_haag_ledger.shtml but to download the full book you must use the pdf file links above.  I will eventually put the pdf files on his site.

Is 23andMe in Trouble?

Many if not most of my readers will have heard that 23andMe (the DNA company founded by Ann Wojcicki has been slapped with a "discontinue marketing" order by the F.D.A. (Food and Drug Administration) as of November 22 this year.

In summary, the F.D.A. states that 23andMe is "marketing the 23andMe Saliva Collection Kit and Personal Genome Service (PGS) without marketing clearance or approval in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act). "

23andMe was given 15 working days from the date of the letter to correct issues which were detailed in the F.D.A. letter

23andMe Statement 

23andMe issued their own brief statement "An Update Regarding The FDA’s Letter to 23andMe" to the public on their blog dated November 26th. I find no further statements although the statement ends by stating they will provide further updates as they become available.

Affiliate Program Cancelled Suddenly

Now, in all likelihood, 23andMe will figure out some way to satisfy the F.D.A. However last night I received an email from 23andMe stating that their affiliate program has been cancelled. For those who don't know what an affiliate program is, that is where bloggers and website owners put up 23andMe ads on their blogs and sites. These ads earn a small commission if a sale of a DNA kit is made by someone going to the 23andMe site through the ad. 

The fact that 23andMe cancelled their program so abruptly and at such a time leads me to have a few more concerns. What's the worst that can happen? 23andMe could go out of business. The website could close. 

What Should You Do?

These are  worst-case scenarios but if you, like me, have had DNA tested at 23andMe I suggest you do two things:

1. Download your raw data. If 23andMe were to shut down, you would no longer have access to that data. So log in to your account, click on your profile name so you get the drop down menu, and choose "Browse Raw Data" When your data page loads, click the DOWNLOAD button. I have just downloaded all 3 of the accounts I manage on 23andMe (mine, my husband's and my brother's) 

2. Write to your 23andMe matches, give them your personal email address and request theirs. Right now you can only contact your matches through the 23andMe messaging system. So if the site goes down you will lose contact with these individuals. 

Update: Lori Thornton tells me that people can upload to GedMatch.com (for free) to have some abilities to triangulate. And Caroline Marshall Pointer adds that we can also transfer our raw data to  Family Tree DNA, which is currently offering a sale price of $49.00 to do so. 

Hopefully this will iron itself out but the new development of the Affiliate program being suddenly dropped makes me a bit nervous. So I'm being proactive. Remember, we have no idea what will happen and I've only presented the worst case scenarios. Everything could just go on as is but I always like to have a plan just in case.

More Cyber Monday Online Sales

Yesterday I told my readers about the Cyber Monday sales on Ancestry.com. You can get some great deals on DNA kits and subscriptions. Here's the list below in case you missed that blog post (But don't miss these Cyber Monday sales on the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner below the Ancestry.com list):

* 40% Off Family Tree Maker for Upgraders at Ancestry.com!


* 30% Off Family Tree Maker at Ancestry.com!


* Gift Sub: Give the Gift of an Ancestry membership for $99 only!


* DNA: Get AncestryDNA today only for $79 plus Free Shipping with code FREESHIPDNA


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