52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Week 24 - Library Classification Systems

I'm so behind on all these challenges! I decided to do a quick post on this one...being a librarian and all...

The Week 24 challenge (developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and hosted by Geneabloggers.com) was:

Read about the differences and understand the different ways of classification. You may have heard of the Dewey Decimal Classification system, but do you really know its nuts and bolts? What about the Library of Congress system? Check out some web sites for summary information on Dewey Decimal Classification, Library of Congress Classification (including Understanding LoC Call Numbers). Don’t worry if it seems confusing. Just look at the categories and ways library items are organized. Do you see other areas that may include books of genealogy interest? Explore those areas of your library for other materials. Bloggers are encouraged to share their experiences with this challenge.

I was reading Tina Lyons' post for this week about the classification system used at the Allen County (Indiana) Public Library's Genealogy Center and was thinking...hmm, that sure sounds like it's based on Dewey.

Looks like it is. I found a great guide at the St. Louis County (Missouri public) Library website: an alphabetical listing of counties in each state and their Dewey Decimal numbers. For example, here is the page for the 254 counties in Texas.

My workplace, being a university, uses Library of Congress, but we have added a few things to the call numbers in our Local History and Genealogy room. The call number starts with "LOCAL HIST" but then is followed with the location the book deals with - either US, TEXAS, or the county name, for our county (ERATH) and the seven counties bordering it. The books are shelved in this room by these locations, which makes it easier for our patrons to browse them.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Challenges 12 & 13

The Week 12 challenge (developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and hosted by Geneabloggers.com) was: Check out the web sites for the Society of American Archivists (SAA), ARMA International, and the American Library Association. Genealogists can benefit from the educational opportunities and publications of other information-based organizations. You may not be an archivist, records manager or librarian, but you share the same interests. Look at the events these associations hold. Find the books they publish and see if you can request them through your library via Inter-Library Loan. You may also want to check out your state’s (or country’s) library association. If you’re a genealogy blogger, write about your impressions of one or more of these organizations.

I decided to take a look at the SAA website. I was intrigued by their ePublications page. While I didn't see anything directly related to genealogy, I saw some things that might help me at work (I'm a university librarina), particularly a glossary of archival and records terminology, and a thesaurus for use in college and university archives. There were also a number of publications in their online bookstore that were of interest, at least one of which is already in my university library's collection.

Week 13's task is: Make an appointment with Cyndi’s List. All beginning genealogy publications include a link to Cyndi’s List because it is the ultimate guide for family history links. If you’ve never used Cyndi’s List, take the time to look around. If you’re familiar with the site, look again. Take the time to browse with detail. Don’t try to research your own family’s history, just move through the site and get a feel of all it has to offer. If you have a genealogy blog, share with your readers a new website you discovered through Cyndi’s List.

I'd heard of Cyndi's list before, but I wasn't aware of just how much is on it! I'm amazed that one woman maintains this with no help (or at least that is the impression I get from her blog). Perhaps it is getting a little too big, as I encountered a lot of broken links.

Nevertheless, there is an enormous amount of useful stuff at this site. One page that caught my eye was the page on How To - Tutorials and Guides. Since I still consider myself a beginner in genealogy, this page should be really helpful.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Family Search Pilot

Week 10's task (developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and hosted by Geneabloggers.com) was: Investigate Family Search Pilot, which is part of FamilySearch.org. This is a wonderful collection of records which literally grows every day. In the middle left of the page is a link that says “Browse our record collections.” Click it and pick a region. Search collections outside your research interest. Investigate the types of records collected all over the world and see how they differ from those with which you are familiar. If you are a genealogy blogger, pick a type of record from another country and share your observations about it.

I took a look at the information from Germany, but was not successful in finding anything - I have had more luck with the regular Family Search International Genealogical Index.

Under the Canada, USA, and Mexico region, my eyes were immediately drawn to the red-starred (new or updated!) Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates Collection, 1878-1922. Since I have LOTS of ancestors born in Cook County (and I was too), I checked this one out!

I found birth certificates for my great uncle Lee Pape and great aunt Rhea Pape, but not my paternal grandfather or his other four siblings, despite the time period being correct. However, it is a work in progress, so I'll keep checking. I also found birth certificates for five of the six children born to August S. and Emma Pape Childs, as well as the marriage certificate for the latter two in the Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871 - 1920 collection. I'm hoping the information on these will help me eventually figure out just how Emma (who gave Great Aunt Martha Pape Bleidt a photo of my great-great-grandparents) is related in the family.

I also found a birth certificate for a Joseph Dienes, the tenth (and previously unknown to us) child of great-great-grandparents Frederick and Regina Matthias Dienes. He was stillborn on May 13, 1880, and with this information I also found him on the 1880 US Census Mortality Schedule in Ancestry.com.

There are a lot of other records in here I'd like to explore, including Louisiana Deaths 1850-1875 & 1894-1954, Texas Deaths 1890-1976, and llinois, Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Parish Records, 1729-1956 (this is where the Matheis family, who were Catholics, lived in the 1850s, and I may be able to find Illinois Governor William Henry Bissell's baptism in these records as well).

I'm so thrilled with this collection that I signed up to be an indexer. I think everyone researching family history should give this a try. For one thing, it will give you an appreciation of the difficulties in reading poor handwriting and faded documents, and perhaps more patience when you have difficulty finding records because of how they were indexed.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Catching Up

I'm a bit behind on the 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy challenges (developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and hosted by Geneabloggers.com), so this is a catch-up post. Challenge 9 was:

Pick five genealogy blogs and read them every day. Meet new people and networking within the online genealogy community is a great way to expand your own research and experience. Reading the blogs of others will help you get to know others. Try to find some blogs that are out of your area of expertise. Lists of genealogy blogs can be found at Geneabloggers.com and Genealogue’s Genealogy Blog Finder. If you already subscribe to many genealogy blogs, find five new ones that are “outside the box,” perhaps in history or archives. If you have a genealogy blog, write about the blogs you discover and introduce others to them.

I tried to do this one, but to be honest, a the moment I already follow way too many blogs, both personally (genealogy and book review blogs) and professionally (library-related blogs). I did pick five genealogy blogs and followed them for more than two weeks, but I did not find enough of use in those five (I was particularly looking for "how-tos) to continue to follow them. I do appreciate the links to the lists above so I can look for more blogs in the future that might help me with tips and techniques.

Challenge 11 was:

Read the back posts from the Transitional Genealogists Forum. This is a message board for genealogists who are taking the steps needed to become professional genealogists. Even if you aren’t interested in that goal, you will benefit from the questions and answers provided on this excellent discussion list. If you have a genealogy blog, write about a question or subject from this board that was helpful for you.

Being just a beginner genealogist, I didn't find this discussion forum particularly useful. I wish there was a way to expand an entire discussion thread and read it at once rather than have to click on each post individually. It's also frustrating when the title of a message doesn't give much information about its contents. Plus, responders often veer off-topic, or worse yet, respond publicly when they should respond privately. Just as I have trimmed down the list of blogs I follow, so I have also cut way back on discussion list-serves. I just don't have the time. However, once again, I'm glad to be made aware of this resource and who knows, it could come in handy in the future.

However, I LOVED Challenge 10 and have a separate post coming on that.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Online Map Collections

Week 8: Discover online map collections. Historical maps are wonderful tools for historical research. Fortunately for genealogists, many map collections are located online. Some of the more prominent collections are the American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress, the David Rumsey Map Collection, and the Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin. Take some time to browse each of these collections. You may also want to check the library web site of your local university (or one near your ancestral home) to see what maps they have online. If you have a genealogy blog, write about any special maps you find during this activity.

Figuring that a lot of folks doing this challenge would be looking at the collections Amy suggested, I decided to focus on online map collections of local universities. Unfortunately, my university doesn't have such a collection (I should know, I'm in charge of our physical maps), but the nearby University of Texas at Arlington does. Cartographic Connections was a grant-funded project in 2000 to put over 70 mostly-Texas maps from the university's extensive collection online, with tips for teachers on how to use 46 of the maps in the classroom. The virtual library is searchable with tips and sample searches available.

Another great resource is the Portal to Texas History, based at the University of North Texas in Denton. They have over 1350 maps in their growing digital collections, and a number of educator resources. Finally, there is the Texas TIDES (Teaching, Images, and Digital Experiences) project based at Stephen F. Austin State University in Huntsville. They have about 100 maps in their digital collections, and numerous lesson plans using these and other primary source documents.

[52 Weeks to Better Genealogy was developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and is hosted by Geneabloggers.com]

© Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Online Mapping Tools

Week 7: Play with Google Maps. This is a helpful tool for determining the locations of addresses in your family history. Where your ancestral homestead once stood may now be a warehouse, parking lot or field. Perhaps the house is still there. When you input addresses into Google Maps, don't forget to use Satellite View and Street View options for perspectives that put you right where your ancestors once stood. If you've used this tool before, take some time to play with it again. Push all the buttons, click all the links, and devise new ways it can help with your personal genealogy research. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experiences with Google Maps, or suggest similar easy (and free) tools that have helped in your own research. 

I first started playing with Google Maps about a year ago. I was trying to match up a picture of the Dienes hat store in what I then thought was downtown Springfield, Illinois, to current buildings there. Supposedly my great-great-grandfather, Fred Dienes, sold a hat to Abraham Lincoln. Since I already had a Google account (obviously, since I'm using Blogger), it was easy to use the My Maps feature to tag and save various locations.

 
View Springfield, Illinois in a larger map 

Turns out I was wrong about the photo--it's actually of the Chicago hat store after the Dienes family moved there around 1878. Since I have a lot of ancestors and current family in the Evanston and North Chicago areas too, today I started a map there as well. This is rather challenging, as street names were changed frequently in Chicago, and houses were renumbered there in 1909 and in Evanston in 1893.  It's fun to check the street views as well. Most of the original buildings are gone, but the house where my Pape great-grandparents lived from at least 1882 to at least 1920 was apparently still standing in 2007. 

I also started mapping the places in Germany where my ancestors are from (and some current distant cousins live). Alas, street views are not available for the small towns I'm mapping. I've spent entirely too much time messing with these three maps over the last few days, but I expect it will be quite helpful in my research. 

I also played around a little with MapQuest. I prefer this tool when I need directions as I think they are superior to those in Google Maps. Also, their satellite imagery is more up-to-date, at least for the town I live in. In Google Maps, our small subdivision is under construction, so it's 2003-2005, while in MapQuest, it's from 2007-2009. Street views are not available for my small, non-suburban town with either tool. MapQuest also has a personal mapping feature (called My Places), but it requires setting up an AOL account, which I didn't want to do just now. 

[52 Weeks to Better Genealogy was developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and is hosted by Geneabloggers.com] 

© Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Online Databases

Week 6: Online databases at your public library. Search your library’s web site and see if your card grants you access to online databases. Libraries (even small ones) often have wonderful online tools including genealogy databases, historical newspapers and more! Take some time and play with these little perks that come with a library card. You just may get some help in your own genealogy research and gain some free research tools to boot. If you don’t know how to access online library databases or you’re not sure if your branch has them, ask a librarian for guidance. If you have a blog, discuss which databases (if any) to which your library subscribes.

As an academic librarian at a state university that is part of a large statewide university system, I have access to lots and lots of databases. However, I decided to take my friend Amy's challenge to heart and see what my local public library has to offer.

I knew from their website that Hood County Library has access to the TexShare databases, but I wasn't sure exactly how to get into them. Someday (at least ten years from now, though), I will be retired and will no longer have access to my university databases, so it's good to know how.

TexShare is a cooperative program among academic, public, and four clinical medicine libraries in Texas. Besides facilitating interlibrary loans and reciprocal borrowing (allowing registered users of participating libraries to directly borrow materials, within limits, from other participating libraries with a TexShare card), the program saves participating libraries by purchasing statewide access to 50 databases. These databases, which cost the state about seven million dollars, would cost the 694 participating libraries over $101 million if they purchased individual subscriptions. Many of these smaller, more rural libraries could not afford these databases otherwise.

I figured that the databases might only be accessible from within the library, so I stopped there on my way home from work last Tuesday. I logged into a public access computer with my library card number and last name, but I did not see any link to the databases. I asked at the circulation desk and was given a bookmark with the URL and a login and password.

The databases include Heritage Quest Online and Texas Digital Sanborn Maps, as well as WorldCat with the FirstSearch interface I am more familiar with. Bridge to TexShare for Small/Rural Libraries provides search tips, FAQs, tutorials and annotated lists to help users, including a genealogy pathfinder. The Library of Texas metasearch "allows you to find information within a group of libraries, online collections of journal articles and other information collections with a single search. Materials from the TexShare Databases are included." If you choose to search all the collections in an advanced search, that's 232 sources!

I found that I can also access these databases from home with the URL, login, and password I was given; a pleasant surprise.

[52 Weeks to Better Genealogy was developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and is hosted by Geneabloggers.com]

© Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: WorldCat

Week 5: Play with WorldCat.org. WorldCat is a massive network of library content that the public can search for free (user name and password not required). Not every library is a part of WorldCat, but the vast size of the network makes it an important genealogy tool. If you are looking for a specific book or publication, enter the identifying information into the WorldCat search box and see which libraries hold the item. You may even find that you can get the item through your library’s inter-library loan program. Don’t forget to search for some of your more unusual surnames and see what comes up. The goal is to play with WorldCat and examine its possibilities for your own research. If you’re already familiar with WorldCat, play with it again. The network and collection grow and change constantly. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experiences with searching WorldCat for this exercise.

I talked a little about WorldCat in last week's post, and, being a university librarian, I'm already very familiar with it. OCLC, the provider of WorldCat, even has a website on WorldCat for genealogy, with tutorials on using both the free online version and the subscription version accessed via FirstSearch, which is the interface I usually use.

However, for this exercise, I decided to use the free WorldCat. I thought I would see if I could find anything about the De Haven family in Pennsylvania, just in case I decide to pursue DAR membership through my Wolfe and De Haven ancestors.

I've learned enough about searching that I knew I couldn't just enter "De Haven" in the search box as that would pick up things BY De Havens as well as ABOUT them. Even doing an advanced search on subject: De Haven brought up 210 results. A lot of these have nothing to do with the De Haven family, but by clicking on one that did, I saw that I should limit the subject to De Haven family. That reduced it to 33 results, still too many for me to start with.

So I repeated an advanced search on subject: De Haven family and keyword: Pennsylvania. That brought up the following items:

History of the De Haven family by Howard De Haven Ross;

The de Haven family (alias im den Hoffe or ten Haúven) of early Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania : through Anne (DeHaven) Wright by Helen Martha Wright (two versions of this); and

De Haven pioneers, 1680-1983 by Elton L Davis; Carolyn Spicer Carney.

For the first item, WorldCat actually produced better results than FirstSearch. Initially the latter only showed the title being available at one library, but that was because the initial results only showed one edition/format--it's actually available in 13. WorldCat showed the title available at 44 libraries in 11 editions or formats. One of those includes microform at a public library about 30 miles, so I could easily travel there if they do not loan it out on interlibrary loan.

However - even better - this book is available online through Heritage Quest Online. In Texas, many libraries have access to this subscription database through the TexShare program. Because the database will mark "hits" in the book of your search terms, I was able to quickly scan though it. There was some information about my De Haven ancestor, but most of it was about his brother.

The second item is available in print at the New York Public Library, but must be used in library. It's also available in microform from the State Library of Pennsylvania and (according to FirstSearch) the New Jersey State Library.

The third item is only available in WorldCat at the Iron Range Research Center, part of the Minnesota Discovery Center. After some digging, I found that this book is part of their non-circulating collection. The best I could probably hope for with these last two titles is a loan with in-library use.

[52 Weeks to Better Genealogy was developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and is hosted by Geneabloggers.com] © Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Interlibrary Loan

Week 4: Learn about your local public library’s inter-library loan (ILL) policy. Pick a genealogy-related book that you want to read that is not in your library’s collection. Ask the librarian how to request the book from another library. Find the different library systems from which you can request books through your own library, as this can dramatically increase the number of genealogy books to which you have access. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experience with requesting items through your library’s ILL service.

Let me start by saying I LOVE ILL. I use it all the time. While my local public library offers interlibrary loan service, I usually use the university library where I work, for convenience. I've requested - and received - numerous items of all types since I started working there 3.5 years ago.

However, I did not have very good luck requesting a genealogy-related book, and here, in a nutshell, is why: Many genealogy books are in non-circulating collections, often due to their rarity. That means that if the item must be used on-site by the library's local patrons, they're not very likely to send it out on an interlibrary loan.

Case in point: Back in mid-October, I requested The descendants of John Moore of Somerset County, Maryland through interlibrary loan. Libraries use WorldCat (a more sophisticated subscription version of the public site) to find what other libraries have requested items. As you can see when you click the book's link, at least 17 libraries record holdings of this title. (Actually, at least 22 libraries have the book according to the subscription WorldCat). And of course, there may be many other small libaries out there that aren't members of OCLC and won't show up in WorldCat.

Checking the first three libraries in the WorldCat record (also the closest to my home), one can see that the book is listed as "no checkout," "non-circulating," and "LIB[rary] USE ONLY." This was apparently the case with all the libraries contacted by our interlibrary loan department. After numerous inquiries to the other libraries over a month and a half, they told me they would not be able to fill my request. Fortunately, I did not need this book that badly - my cross-country sister-in-law has a copy and I can borrow hers.

So, I wanted to caution readers that while ILL is a wonderful service, it doesn't always mean you will be able to use those rare sources you want to use at your own home. Sometimes a library will lend out its materials, but only for use within the borrowing library.

If you know pretty specifically what information you want from the book and can specify page numbers or chapters, most libraries are happy to photocopy and snail-mail or scan the relevant pages and e-mail a PDF of them to you, either via an ILL request or by contacting the libraries that hold the item directly.

If you don't know just what you need out of the book, or need a lot of material, it might be best to contact a library that holds the item directly, and speak to the librarian. The more information you can give the librarian about your needs, the more likely it is that we can find what you need. As an example, I manage the special collections (including genealogy and local history) at my university library. If you need an obituary from the microfilm of the local newspaper, I can get it for you, as long as you can specify at least the month and year of death.

[52 Weeks to Better Genealogy was developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and is hosted by Geneabloggers.com] © Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Accessing Myself

Week 3: Assess yourself! You’re great at researching everyone else’s history, but how much of your own have you recorded? Do an assessment of your personal records and timeline events to ensure your own life is as well-documented as that of your ancestors. If you have a genealogy blog, write about the status of your own research and steps you may take to fill gaps and document your own life.

When my friend Amy of the We Tree blog created the 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy challenges, she says, "I originally wrote this one so people wouldn't forget their own lives and accomplishments because they were so busy documenting the history of others."

Well, I think I've done a pretty good job documenting my life over the years. I first got a camera when I was 9 years old, and started creating photo albums at the same time. I still have them all. I also acquired a lot of photographs from the first nine years of my life from my mother, and created an album of those as well. The photos for the first 29 years of my life (up to the point where my son was born) even have captions! Notations on photos since then are spotty - some written on the backs of the photos with a Stabilo pencil; others written on sticky notes in the albums. At least all of the photos are in chronological order in photo-safe albums!

There isn't as much as I would like from 1982 though 1997, because my first husband wanted us to use slide film instead of prints; and he kept most of the slides when we divorced. On the other hand, when I married my current husband (the love of my life!), I went through boxes and boxes of his photos and pulled out ones of him and his family and created four albums documenting his life before I came back into it. Naturally, in the last four years that we have been together again, there are a number of photos and other momentoes, but they are in chronological order in a box waiting for me to put them into an album. I need to do that soon.

I also need to go back and write notes on the backs of ALL my photos in Stabilo pencil, noting who is in the photo and when and where it was taken. It's so frustrating to come across an old family photo and have no idea who is in it. I don't want my descendants to experience that.

I also have various scrapbooks and files with things like all my report cards in them. There's a folder in my files called "Important Papers" including certified copies of our birth certificates (among other items), but there are some key documents I need to get. I think this blog will be a step in the right direction; a place to record memories and stories from my life as well as those of my ancestors.

[52 Weeks to Better Genealogy was developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and is hosted by Geneabloggers.com]

© Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Hood County Library

I wasn't able to get to the local public library until yesterday, after Challenge #1 had ended, so I was glad to see Challenge #2 involved the same location.

Challenge #1: Go to your local public library branch. Make a note of the genealogy books in the collection that may help you gain research knowledge. Don’t forget to check the shelves in both the non-fiction section and the reference section. If you do not already have a library card, take the time to get one. If you have a genealogy blog, write about what you find in your library’s genealogy collection.

Challenge #2: Go to your local public library branch again. Examine the local history, archives and/or special collections section. Ask a librarian if you don’t know if your library has special collections or where they are located. Be sure to check the reference section, too, as many of the newer and more valuable books are held in that area. If you have a genealogy blog, write about what you find in your library’s local history and special collections.

The genealogy, local history, and special collections are together in the Hood County Library, located just northwest of the historic courthouse square in Granbury, Texas. Items in this area of the library (the northeast corner of the building) must be used in-house. One bank of shelves has a number of books, the next bank has various genealogy periodicals and other items, such as binders with the records of the local Opera Guild and the local Habitat for Humanity group.

There is a computer dedicated to genealogy research, as well as a microfilm reader. The Hood County News going back to September 3, 1891 is available on microfilm (for the most part), as well as microfilm of other early newspapers, some county records, and even various census records.

There are also four four-drawer vertical file cabinets, with files on a variety of subjects. For example, there is a file for each cemetery in the county, with a listing of burials from the most recent survey, as well as newspaper clippings and other information.

Probably the most interesting things in these drawers are part of the Judge Henry Davis Records Collection. While serving as county judge in the 1950s, Davis began making notes from county records about local families. After his death in 1976, his sister donated his papers to the Library. Local genealogists sorted them by surname and created family file folders. Since then, others have added other data such as family group sheets, pedigrees, and newspaper clippings.

A catalog search of the word "genealogy" turns up 348 items in the genealogy section (approximately 204 of these were donated by individuals and the Hood County Genealogical Society), and 34 in the nonfiction section (which can be checked out and taken outside the library). There are local history books which can be borrowed as well - I checked out one with the library card I've had since moving to Granbury nearly four years ago. Unfortunately, many non-book materials are not cataloged, nor could I find any indexes or listings.

[This post meets Challenges #1 and #2 in 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy hosted by Geneabloggers.com]
© Amanda Pape - 2010