Don't Miss Past Voices: Letters Home

Have you been to Past Voices: Letters Home? Past Voices gives our ancestors a voice - and these voices from the past come alive in their letters. 

Letter writing has long been an important mode of interpersonal and official communication. As long ago as 3500 BC, Sumerians sent "letters" written on cuneiform tablets in clay "envelopes". 

Letter writing flourished in the seventeenth century in Europe and it was an extremely important form of communication. As public postal services were established letter-writing increased even more dramatically.

Many letters on Past Voices are from soldiers far from home. Nothing tells the true reality of war more than the simple writings of the common soldier. These poignant letters from lonely men to their mothers, wives or sweethearts will touch your heart. Some letters will leave you bewildered by their unemotional telling of horrors almost beyond our comprehension. 

In February 1864 Lucius Bidwell wrote to his mother

"Our Heavenly Father has again saved your son Lucius safely through another battle ..." 

"The water was very cold--it makes a fellow’s feet and legs ache, I tell you!"

"James Ingles was hit on the leg, and a man named Winks in our camp, and another German, was shot through the head (named Stinall) and another tent-mate of mine was hurt in the ankle. Our Major was slightly wounded in the leg. Capt. John Broaht, I hear, had his finger shot off, but I have not seen him yet."


Past Voices also contains letters and memoirs from ordinary individuals going about their everyday lives. These letters provide us with a sense of history, of being there and experiencing life with the people who write about the times they live in. 

"When women get to running boundary lines it will take several generations for them to right the mistakes of their forefathers. The women of Reno show their appreciation of being emancipated from the wash tub by making their social calls on Monday morning..." Caroline Churchill, California 1870s

On Past Voices you can find your roots and hear your ancestors' words across the generations. Add branches to your family tree as you find your genealogy.

You can also learn how to find and preserve old documents, family treasures and heirlooms.

What to Do with Those Old Family Photos, Letters, and Documents

Yesterday Olive Tree Genealogy received an email with exciting news from FamilySearch. Here is their announcement:

Free records preservation service available nationwide
SALT LAKE CITY, UT—FamilySearch International (online at FamilySearch.org) announced today a new, free family photo and document scanning and preservation service for patrons in thousands of its North American family history centers. Patrons can now digitally preserve and share their precious printed historic family photos and documents using customized Lexmark multifunction products (MFPs).

“We all have them. You know, the kitchen or dresser drawers, paper boxes or plastic bags, scrapbooks or folders—all full of family photos, vital records, and other keepsake correspondence from our ancestors,” said Penney Devey, FamilySearch Director of Worldwide Patron and Partner Services. “These family artifacts are constant reminders of our heartfelt good intentions to someday preserve, organize, share or tell their hidden stories for posterity. We just don’t know where to start, how to do it, or feel we can’t afford it.”

Well, thanks to FamilySearch and Lexmark, the future is now here. And there is now a very convenient, free solution to each family’s photo and historic document preservation and sharing needs readily accessible to almost everyone.

FamilySearch has equipped over 2,800 of its local family history centers in North America with new Lexmark MFPs (coming soon to international centers). The Lexmark MFPs are easy to use and can digitally scan your documents and photographs quickly. The most exciting part is that software from Lexmark that runs on the MFP lets the user scan their documents and photos directly into a free FamilySearch.org account where the documents and photos can later be tagged, explained, shared with others, or attached to ancestors in your free FamilySearch Family Tree. You can also save the digital copies to a thumb drive and take them home with you.
FamilySearch and Lexmark have made it very easy and convenient to preserve family photos and historic documents. All you have to do is bring the stash of photos and documents that you want to digitally preserve to your local FamilySearch family history center.

“The Lexmark solution we’ve created for FamilySearch is an example of how Lexmark MFPs and software come together to solve unique paper-based workflow challenges,” said Marty Canning, Lexmark executive vice president and president of Imaging Solutions and Services division. “We’ve made it faster and easier for family history center patrons to scan historic photos and vital documents right from our Lexmark MFPs into their online family trees.”

The touch screen on the Lexmark MFP is easy to use and lets patrons scan in three easy steps:

1. Touch the FamilySearch Logo
2. Log in to your free FamilySearch.org account
3. Scan your family documents and photos

Your documents and photos scan directly to a folder on your personal FamilySearch.org account online or to your thumb drive. From any computer with Internet access, you can log into your account and select either documents or photos under the Memories feature to view the high-quality digital images of your scanned documents. From within your account, you can label, crop and share your historic family documents and photos of ancestors in your free FamilySearch Family Tree.

“By sharing links to the uploaded artifacts with family and friends, you can encourage them to add their photos and family documents for your common ancestors,” added Devey. “Don’t be surprised if you discover additional photos of common ancestors that other relatives may have already scanned and uploaded.”

Patrons can also upload digital files of their family photos and historic documents directly at FamilySearch.org.
FamilySearch is a world leader in historic record preservation and access, connecting growing generations of families through family history products and services. Lexmark is uniquely focused on connecting unstructured printed and digital information across enterprises with the processes, applications and people that need it most. For more information, please visit www.lexmark.com.