Sometimes it gets tricky chasing moms and great-grandmas through the family tree, particularly if Great-Grandma is hiding squarely behind a married name. Don’t give up. When you’re faced with the tough task of tracing an elusive female back through history, it pays to be persistent. You’ll find plenty of rewards by tracing female family lines. Instead, tackle the challenge of following a female with the following tips – you may find that your great-great-grandmother’s maiden name and hiding place aren’t so far out of reach after all. Tip 1: Ask around. Does anyone else in the…
Personal History - Genealogy
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Most Topular Stories
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Finding Moms and Grandmoms in the Family Tree
Ancestry.com Blog10 May 2013 | 4:34 pm -
I Need Your Advice: Part Two.
Dan Curtis ~ Professional Personal Historian22 May 2013 | 7:27 amThank you! What a wonderful response to last weeks post, I Need Your Advice. My appreciation to all of you who gave your thoughtful reasons for my recording my life story. Your reasons boil down to these five: It’s an opportunity for reflection, insights, and renewal. Friends and colleagues want to know the person behind the blog. My life’s been interesting and it should be documented. My personal view of the events that have shaped my past are part of our collective oral history. I’ll be more empathetic of my clients as they work through their life story. As great as… -
May 23, Keying in on Ray Manzarek of the Doors
Writing Your Life Story Blog22 May 2013 | 5:15 pmAnother musical icon passed on Monday (cancer at the age of 74). Ray Manzarek was an innovative keyboardist and music maestro for the Doors. The face and voice of that famous rock group was Jim Morrison, but it was Manzarek's keyboard work that really set the tone. Any time I heard Manzarek interviewed I was always struck by his articulate expression of the music. -
Memoir: Process or Product?
The Heart and Craft of Life Writing17 May 2013 | 12:06 pmWith any form of expressive writing, from spontaneous journaling to polished, published memoir, the writing process produces 90% of the benefit, at least as far as the writer is concerned. To be clear, this 90% figure is an intuitive assessment, but not a wild guess. I extensively studied the healing value of expressive writing and wrote about it in a series of blog posts, Writing for the Health of It. I also base it on a stream of student comments that stories they wrote for class shed new light on past events, changing their perspective. This may be especially good news if privacy concerns… -
New Search Results Page On Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com Blog16 May 2013 | 5:13 pmHave you logged on to Ancestry.com today and done any record searching? Then you probably noticed that we made some changes overnight to the search results page. This is part of our continued effort to improve performance on the site and the load time required for key pages. This also allows us to work towards better scalability of results and visibility of key features. The new look for these pages uses more modern techniques for styling that require less things to be downloaded to your computer and should load the page faster. (More pages on the site will be using these techniques over the…
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Dan Curtis ~ Professional Personal Historian
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I Need Your Advice: Part Two.
22 May 2013 | 7:27 amThank you! What a wonderful response to last weeks post, I Need Your Advice. My appreciation to all of you who gave your thoughtful reasons for my recording my life story. Your reasons boil down to these five: It’s an opportunity for reflection, insights, and renewal. Friends and colleagues want to know the person behind the blog. My life’s been interesting and it should be documented. My personal view of the events that have shaped my past are part of our collective oral history. I’ll be more empathetic of my clients as they work through their life story. As great as… -
Monday’s Link Roundup.
20 May 2013 | 7:33 amHappy Victoria Day to my Canadian compatriots. For those of you who have the day off, what better way to idle a few hours away than immerse yourself in my Monday’s Link Roundup. Oral history and hearing loss. “I rarely consider the basics of oral history collection and production, the act of sharing someone’s story with a wider audience. That is one of several reasons I so enjoyed Brad Rakerd’s contribution to Oral History Review issue on Oral History in the Digital Age, “On Making Oral Histories More Accessible to Persons with Hearing Loss.” In his piece, Rakerd… -
I Need Your Advice.
15 May 2013 | 7:34 amHave you done your own personal history? As a professional personal historian, I’m sometimes asked if I’ve ever had my life story told. I haven’t. And I always feel awkward about my response. I usually mutter that I’m too busy doing other people’s stories. It’s not a very satisfactory answer. If I don’t see the value of preserving my history, why should anyone believe me when I tell them the great advantages of preserving their own? Now the fact is that I’m an only child and I don’t have any children of my own. There aren’t any… -
Monday’s Link Roundup.
13 May 2013 | 7:40 amI’m a “closet” designer. In this Monday’s Link Roundup I’ve posted a treat for other designer “wannabees”. Be sure to check out The Designer Says: The Collected Quips and Wisdom of Famous Graphic Designers. And if you’re concerned about the democratization of criticism in the Internet Age, be sure to read Star Wars. Do we still need experts and critical authority? I think we do. The Internet dilemma: Do people have a right to be forgotten? “Human forgetting actually performs a very important function for us individually as well as for… -
Encore! Avoiding the Digital Universe Will Hurt Your Business.
8 May 2013 | 7:40 amLet me begin by saying there are legitimate reasons to be wary of the ever expanding digital universe – a glut of junk information, loss of privacy, time wasting, and addiction. But there are also irrational fears at work based in part on our inherent resistance to change. Read more.
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Writing Your Life Story Blog
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May 23, Keying in on Ray Manzarek of the Doors
22 May 2013 | 5:15 pmAnother musical icon passed on Monday (cancer at the age of 74). Ray Manzarek was an innovative keyboardist and music maestro for the Doors. The face and voice of that famous rock group was Jim Morrison, but it was Manzarek's keyboard work that really set the tone. Any time I heard Manzarek interviewed I was always struck by his articulate expression of the music. -
May 21, The Roar of the Tornado
20 May 2013 | 6:54 pmIt can sound like a thousand freight trains. The roar of a tornado is alarming, and with good reason. The news from today and yesterday about the powerful tornadoes that hit Oklahoma brought back memories of attending college in the late 1970's at the University of Oklahoma. Norman is the town where OU is based and it is also the national center for severe weather studies. -
May 15, Preserving Our American Family
14 May 2013 | 5:06 pmWho is saving the voices of America? That's a pretty wide open question. Many people enjoy the stories that various family members share. In every family there is often somebody known for being a good storyteller. See how it is being done in a grander and more professional way with the PBS television series, Our American Family. -
May 7, Shoe Stories
6 May 2013 | 7:14 pmRunning shoes tell a story. Boston Magazine was getting their May issue ready to go to the printers when this year's Boston Marathon took a decidedly downturn. But the act of terrorists can not kill the spirit of runners, Boston or good people everywhere. The staff of the magazine made the right decision to change their cover and provide a feature story. They didn't have much time to work on it, but the response via social media, email and personal contact was great and they were able to include some powerful reports from people who participated in the marathon. -
May 7, Your-Life-Your-Story - My Life Story Blog Archives, pril, 2013
6 May 2013 | 7:13 pmAn archive of previous My Life Story blog entries from April, 2013 regarding personal history, life story writing and more.
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The Heart and Craft of Life Writing
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Memoir: Process or Product?
17 May 2013 | 12:06 pmWith any form of expressive writing, from spontaneous journaling to polished, published memoir, the writing process produces 90% of the benefit, at least as far as the writer is concerned. To be clear, this 90% figure is an intuitive assessment, but not a wild guess. I extensively studied the healing value of expressive writing and wrote about it in a series of blog posts, Writing for the Health of It. I also base it on a stream of student comments that stories they wrote for class shed new light on past events, changing their perspective. This may be especially good news if privacy concerns… -
Merging Life with Fiction
13 May 2013 | 1:00 amToday we have another international visitor, and a topic with an unusual twist. Mary Hamer explains how writing a historical novel, Kipling & Trix, gave her the opportunity to creatively showcase some personal experience in a setting that may be a more effective than memoir. Read on to learn how this is relevant for memoir writers. It’s a challenge, writing memoir, to make all the other characters interesting, not just darling moi. One that’s especially hard when we’re writing about experience that’s been difficult or painful. How to give a rounded account, how to keep a balance? -
Don’t Call Me Mother
10 May 2013 | 2:00 amLinda Joy Myers’ memoir, Don’t Call Me Mother, is a rich read for many reasons, and one you won’t want to miss. Aside from the gripping storyline and heart-warming ending, her brilliant description makes the story blazingly real and compelling. Her technique is worth studying. For starters,she uses evocative phrases like “The silent air between them heats up like a hot wire” and “I fall asleep wrapped in cottony dreams, breathing in the scent of my mother.” She uses emotions and perceptions to convey a powerful sense of her inner life, for example, They all stand around as if… -
Story Around the World
6 May 2013 | 12:00 amToday it is my privilege to feature an interview with Tanya Preminger, a resident of Israel, who created and manages Life-Memo.com, a website jam-packed with slices of life from the four corners of the earth. Tanya recently contacted me about the possibility of trading web-links. When I visited her site, I was profoundly moved. Wanting to forge a stronger bond with her work, I invited her to tell you more about her site. I have spent hours reading selected stories there. Each is profoundly touching. Although some are light-hearted, many are heart-breaking, filled with darkness, despair… -
It Takes a Village to Bring a Story to Life
2 May 2013 | 10:41 amI never read Hillary Clinton’s book, It Takes a Village, but the title stuck with me, and in recent months I’ve realized how relevant it is to writing, especially life writing. Last week I shared a story with a writing group and received several ideas for ways to improve it. This morning as I prepared to revise the draft, I had a moment of brilliant clarity, realizing that: I would never keep writing if I had to do it alone. Yes, the act of transferring words from mind to paper requires a certain degree of isolation, but without feedback from others and the hope of eventual readers, I…
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Ancestry.com Blog
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New Search Results Page On Ancestry.com
16 May 2013 | 5:13 pmHave you logged on to Ancestry.com today and done any record searching? Then you probably noticed that we made some changes overnight to the search results page. This is part of our continued effort to improve performance on the site and the load time required for key pages. This also allows us to work towards better scalability of results and visibility of key features. The new look for these pages uses more modern techniques for styling that require less things to be downloaded to your computer and should load the page faster. (More pages on the site will be using these techniques over the… -
AncestryDNA wins the Utah Innovation Award in consumer software and web services
15 May 2013 | 4:10 pmAncestryDNA was honored as the winner of the Utah Innovation Awards under the consumer software and web services category. Eight other innovation winners were also recognized in various categories from biotechnology to mechanical systems manufacturing. Finalists in the consumer software and web services category include LumiBook by School Improvement Network and MyCurrent by Overstock – Olabs. Why AncestryDNA? What makes AncestryDNA so innovative is how it fuses DNA technology and family history in a way that’s never been done before. It works like this: First, we look at over… -
Join Ancestry.com in Southern California for Three Days of Family History
14 May 2013 | 5:32 pmJust starting to build your family tree? Ready to take your research skills to the next level? Trying to break through some sticky brick walls? Then you won’t want to miss the 2013 Southern California Genealogy Jamboree Produced by the Southern California Genealogical Society June 7-9, 2013 Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport, Burbank, California Sponsored in part by Ancestry.com Take part in three days of family history classes, exhibitors, and other events designed to help you improve your family history skills. Conference Classes: Register today to attend all three days of Jamboree,… -
AncestryDNA honors moms this Mother’s Day with a DNA test that’s for women too
11 May 2013 | 11:45 pmMother’s Day. It’s the perfect time to show the woman who made you who you are just how much you love her. And now, you can discover even more about who you are, who your mom is and about all the other moms in your family tree. Did you know that AncestryDNA is our newest, most powerful DNA test that’s available to both men and women? So anyone can take the test. And it covers all lineages in the family tree going back for generations. Since you inherit half of your DNA from your mom, it covers her entire side of your family including your mother’s mom, her mom, your great-great aunt… -
Finding Moms and Grandmoms in the Family Tree
10 May 2013 | 4:34 pmSometimes it gets tricky chasing moms and great-grandmas through the family tree, particularly if Great-Grandma is hiding squarely behind a married name. Don’t give up. When you’re faced with the tough task of tracing an elusive female back through history, it pays to be persistent. You’ll find plenty of rewards by tracing female family lines. Instead, tackle the challenge of following a female with the following tips – you may find that your great-great-grandmother’s maiden name and hiding place aren’t so far out of reach after all. Tip 1: Ask around. Does anyone else in the…
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personal-history « WordPress.com Tag Feed
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A Bit of History, Part One
29 Apr 2013 | 1:38 amThe posts in this blog are going to be a bit scattered, depending on my mood and the Spirit’s direction. Some of the posts will be a history of my story, as I remember it (goodness knows, my memory has taken a beating since having babies!), some will be words of advice, some tips, some musings, some accounts of tender mercies or inspiration from the Lord. I may even eventually have some guest posts from women with experiences so different yet so similar to mine. This post begins my unexpected journey. (Warning: this post contains some more mature themes. Please be aware. One… -
Treasures
28 Apr 2013 | 9:02 pmEveryone has treasures put away. I still have some of my early-childhood books, and a big box of (mostly Canadian) pennies. Total worth: not much, really. But I have a little box in which I keep my real treasures. One is a stone I found when I was maybe six years old. It’s a perfect spiral made of quartz, and I knew even then that it was extraordinary. I know now that it’s a real fossil: some casting from a long-dead creature that burrowed in the mud. All of my uncles collected rocks, and I accused them (at the age of six!) of planting it so that I could find… -
Discovering the living and the dead
28 Apr 2013 | 2:54 pmAt its core, genealogy is a solitary activity. We, as genealogists, like nothing better than paging through stacks of research materials. We love the musty smell of old, yellow pages. We embrace the quiet solitude of The Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library, finding kindred souls intently hunched behind stacks of city directories. We envy from afar those perfectionists with checklists, labeled and color-coded file folders, and briefcases on wheels. Our idea of a good time is wandering through a cemetery, any cemetery. But we don’t always get to share our victories. We may add… -
On Lost and Found Dreams
28 Apr 2013 | 9:50 amIn my lifetime, I have amassed quite a recollection of memories involving changing apartments and ho -
Crisis: My story begins
27 Apr 2013 | 11:44 pmIn January 2013, I began the new year with a CAT (crisis assessment and treatment) team visiting my house. I had fronted up at my new GP’s office, reporting (by handing him a piece of paper with shaky writing on it) that I was experiencing suicidal thoughts. Six months of increasingly debilitating anxiety had culminated in a series of daily panic attacks between Christmas and New Year, as I faced some challenging personal and relationship issues. At that time, I was experience episodes of ‘freezing’, another possible reaction to the fight-or-flight response triggered by the…
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The Geneaholic
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My genealogy Wednesday - 22 May 2013
22 May 2013 | 10:30 pmI even went out to a cemetery today and got some exercise and some sun. I need to do that more often.* Read email and blogs, wrote (Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 257: A Young Edward R. Seaver and then Military Records FREE on MyHeritage Through 28 May and set it for later.* Tuned in at 10:45 a.m. to watch Lisa Alzo's webinar on Ten Hidden Resources. Pretty good webinar - I learned something.* After lunch, printed off the query for the cemetery, and my map of Glen Abbey, and off to find the Petersens. Walked for almost 30 minutes… -
My genealogy Tuesday - 21 May 2013
21 May 2013 | 10:27 pmNext Tuesday is my New England talk at NSDCGS...I'd better edit it some more to add more pictures and have fewer words.* Read email and blogs, then wrote Tuesday's Tip - "Mondays with Myrt" Hangouts on Air on Google+ and YouTube and Review: "Tracing Your Colonial American Ancestors" Special Magazine and set it for later.* Did some more Richmond research, added some people and a few dates/notes/sources to the database.* Had lunch, and left at 12:35 p.m. for the Dentist office for my cleaning. Home by 2:15.* Read, then wrote Dear Randy -… -
My genealogy Monday - 20 May 2013
20 May 2013 | 10:21 pmOnly 18 more days until Jamboree!!! I looked at the schedule today...* Read email and blogs, then wrote Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records of John Kenyon (1647-1732) of Westerly, R.I. and then researched and wrote Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986 Available on FamilySearch - Digital Microfilm* Started up Legacy, downloaded the latest update, and nosed around in it for awhile. Checked Facebook and Ancestry's new databases (nothing new...). * Printed off the CVGS SOP for the Seminar committee and went off to John's house for the SOP… -
My genealogy Sunday - 19 May 2013
19 May 2013 | 10:07 pmIt wasn't much of a genealogy day, but I got several things accomplished.* Read email and blogs, updated Best of the Genea-Blogs - 12 to 18 May 2013 and set it for early afternoon. * Went to church at 9:30 a.m., home by 11:30 a.m. forgot about the Scanfest. Drat.* Added some sources and content for one of the Richmond families in my database, from ancestry and FamilySearch. There's more to do on their children.* Went in at 1 p.m. to watch the Padres game, read the paper, and take a nap. Took several naps! Padres won 13-4… -
My Genealogy Friday and Saturday - 17-18 May 2013
18 May 2013 | 9:30 pmThese were a busy two days with genealogy, a doctor's visit, and the Padres games. 1) Friday, 17 May:* After reading emails and blogs, and noting that Follow-Up Friday - Helpful and Interesting Reader Comments posted, * I left at 8:45 a.m. for a 9:30 labe test in downtown San diego. I've been coughing, and the doctor wanted to eliminate a physic problem, so I went for a swallow test. They turn on the x-ray machine, adjust it, and watch you swallow a number of foods/drinks, all coated or containing barium so that it's visible on the x-ray. It…
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oral history - Google News
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Watch: 55-Minute Oral History Of Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' - Indie Wire (blog)
23 May 2013 | 3:00 pmWatch: 55-Minute Oral History Of Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining'Indie Wire (blog) at the University of Hertfordshire as a project to help them earn live work experience as part of their undergraduate degree, comes a generous 55-minute oral history of "The Shining" entitled "(Extended) Staircases To Nowhere: Making Stanley and more » -
Nique vs. Bird: An Oral History - Peachtree Hoops
23 May 2013 | 2:04 pmNique vs. Bird: An Oral HistoryPeachtree HoopsTwenty-five years ago on May 22, 1988, two Hall of Famers staged what is widely considered to be the greatest one-on-one battle in NBA Playoff history. In a game that lingers in the minds of NBA fans everywhere (and seemingly can be seen on NBA TV at -
The Oral History of NY1 - Complex.com (blog)
23 May 2013 | 9:43 amThe Oral History of NY1Complex.com (blog)The Latest · News · Lists · Interviews · Videos · Galleries · Girls · The Latest · News · Lists · Interviews · Videos · Galleries · Video Games · The Latest · News · Lists · Interviews · Videos · Galleries · Latest · Lists · Complex TV · City Guide -
Larry Bird vs. Dominique Wilkins duel: NBA.com releases oral history of famous ... - MassLive.com
22 May 2013 | 2:35 pmLarry Bird vs. Dominique Wilkins duel: NBA.com releases oral history of famous MassLive.comWith players, reporters, coaches and media directors rehashing the game, the entire oral history is definitely worth a read. Some highlights are listed below, including some especially interesting bits about Doc Rivers, who played for the Hawks at the Atlanta Hawks Create Oral History of 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 7atlantadailyworldThe Famous Dominique Wilkins-Larry Bird Game 7 Duel Just Turned 25Deadspinall 4 news articles » -
Oral history of heavy metal - Boing Boing
22 May 2013 | 10:36 amOral history of heavy metalBoing BoingLouder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal is the shocking, insane, brutal, and fascinating story of heavy metal music told by those who lived it, from Black Sabbath (above), Anthrax, and Slayer, to Megadeth, Metallica, and Iron Maiden
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NPR: StoryCorps Podcast
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StoryCorps 321: Marty and Me
19 May 2013 | 10:43 pmRick Bounds and Dorothy Biernack talk about how they met.To hear more stories visit http://storycorps.org/listen. If you'd like to write to participants you can do so at podcast@storycorps.org. To make a donation visit http://www.storycorps.org/donate.Music: "Everything is Changing" by Noi - https://soundcloud.com/noi"Lhasa" by Nic Bommarito--http://www.nicbommarito.com/music.html -
StoryCorps 320: Mom, Remembered
12 May 2013 | 9:33 pmRebecca Posamentier reflects on an interview she recorded with her mother, Carol Kirsch.To hear more stories visit http://storycorps.org/listen. If you'd like to write to participants you can do so at podcast@storycorps.org. To make a donation visit http://www.storycorps.org/donate.Music: "The Everlasting Itch For Things Remote " by Gillicuddy- http://gillicuddy.bandcamp.com/"Opening Credits" by Johnny Ripper- https://soundcloud.com/johnny_ripper -
StoryCorps 319: Walk in Love
5 May 2013 | 10:44 pmAlexis Martinez tells her daughter, Lesley Etherly Martinez, about being a transgender woman.To hear more stories visit http://storycorps.org/listen. If you'd like to write to participants you can do so at podcast@storycorps.org. To make a donation visit http://www.storycorps.org/donate.Music: "Aspire" by Tape- http://boomkat.com/cds/19491-tape-rideau""Flax" by Fredrik- http://www.frdrk.org -
StoryCorps 318: The Legacy of Lillian Tinsley
28 Apr 2013 | 10:44 pmHerman blake and his brother Sidney remember their childhood during the 1940s.To hear more stories visit http://storycorps.org/listen. If you'd like to write to participants you can do so at podcast@storycorps.org. To make a donation visit http://www.storycorps.org/donate.Music: "Mannenberg Revisited" by Abdullah Ibrahim- http://www.abdullahibrahim.com/ -
StoryCorps 317: A Sense of Purpose
23 Apr 2013 | 8:44 amJack Richmond tells his daughter, Reagan, about being an amputee.Also, Retired police officer Walter Fahey tells his son Bill about his long career.To hear more stories visit http://storycorps.org/listen. If you'd like to write to participants you can do so at podcast@storycorps.org. To make a donation visit http://www.storycorps.org/donate."Angelic Wolf" by Ears "Dance of the Phantom Peacock" by Fredrik "Greek Tragedy" by Plusplus
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What Endures...
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New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Oral History Collection: An Interview with Dr. Helen Regis
1 May 2013 | 6:52 pmWARNING: Very Loud Voice at 10:32!!! Episode 15 (12:17) Claudia Dumestres (R), who was interviewed for the Jazz Fest Oral History Project, and her sister, photographed in the 1970s, selling pralines at the festival. Photo courtesy of Claudia Dumestres. In 2011, Claudia Dumestres stands with interviewer, Amelia Ley, a student in Regis’ class. Photo by Alexandra Giancarlo, courtesy Helen Regis. Note the baskets in both photos. This podcast episode features an interview with Dr. Helen Regis who sits down with director, Jennifer Abraham Cramer, to talk about her current oral… -
“British Voices from South Asia Series” Finding Aids are Online
15 Apr 2013 | 1:56 pm“I Land in India,” in Raven-Hill’s Indian Sketch Book by L. Raven-Hill (London: “Punch” Office, 1903). From Special Collections Online Exhibition (1996) The British Voices from South Asia series is now fully processed, cataloged, and available for public access, with finding aids available on the Williams Center’s website. These documents and the digitized audio will be posted to the LOUISiana Digital Libraries in the near future. Erin Hess, who finalized the finding aids, wrote an article about this legacy collection in the Spring issue of the… -
Partners in the News
20 Mar 2013 | 2:03 pmSome of the Williams Center partners have been busy as of late–documenting Louisiana’s coastal culture and spreading the word about Louisiana women. Two of Louisiana’s Coastal Stewards, interviewed for CWPPRA’s “I Remember” oral history project. Photos on display by Lane Lefort On March 13, the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) launched the opening of an exhibition, “I Remember, “ at the Jean Lafitte Wetlands Acadian Culture Center in Thibodaux, Louisiana. The exhibit features a mixture of art, photographs,… -
Podcasting from the OHA Annual Meeting in Cleveland, OH: An Interview with Louisiana Sea Grant’s Darcy Wilkins
19 Dec 2012 | 1:21 pmEPISODE 14: (7:57) This podcast episode features an interview with Darcy Wilkins, who is the Research Associate in charge of the Louisiana Sea Grant Coastal Change Oral History Project. The interview takes place during the Oral History Association (OHA) Annual Meeting that was held in Cleveland, Ohio, in October of this year. Darcy is a first-time conference attendee and a new member to the OHA. In this interview with the director, Jennifer Abraham Cramer, and the Center’s manuscript processor, Erin Hess, Darcy talks about how the conference was helpful to her as a budding oral… -
Oral History Review on OUP Blog: Interview with director about oral histories in disaster zones
14 Dec 2012 | 8:34 amGreetings, everyone! Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Caitlin Tyler-Richards for the Oral History Review Oxford University Press blog. Caitlin is the editorial/ media assistant at the Oral History Review, and for this post, she was particularly interested in how historians and oral historians respond to “the ensuing chaos” following disasters like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina. We discussed the challenges of using oral history methodology to document recent crisis events, one of my favorite all-time oral history topics. To read Caitlin’s…
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Brooklyn Historical Society Blog
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Matthew Lewandowski: Design Drawings and Die-sets
20 May 2013 | 11:25 amBHS actively collects documents, artworks, and artifacts that support our mission ad collection development goals. In librarian and museum parlance, we call this acquisition and accessioning. Accessioning has its etymological roots in Latin, as a concept in property law (think “accessory”, as in the property added to an estate) but for libraries, archives, and museums, it’s just as useful to think of accessioning as providing access, the act of making something usable by researchers. In the months ahead, we’ll be featuring a few of our recent acquisitions, and pulling back the curtain…
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Video Biography Central
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The Memory in Things
27 Apr 2013 | 4:39 pmThe New York Times carried a piece in its "Books" section last Sunday about that poignant moment when it finally comes time for a parent to put away the children's picture books ("Memories of a Bedtime Book Club"). It's exquisite sadness – all the memories of wet hair, tired toddlers and clean pajamas come flooding back as we finally close the door and staunch the light from that warm chapter of our lives. Not surprisingly, the task takes ages, as we pause over ever title...They're not just books! They're little time machines, capable of transporting us back to golden, gloaming moments… -
20 Ancestry Projects for (Modern) Kids
10 Feb 2013 | 10:27 amAncestry and family history can be a Big Job – and one that we, as adults, crawl all over. But there are so many ways that we can get the kids involved. So this week I am going to give you twenty small projects that either the kids can help you with - or that they can do alone. You're going to find that many of these projects are right up your kids' alley – using as they do much of the new technology that is making modern life so much fun. So, let's begin! 1. Shall we start with the end in mind? Then let's create a display case for the stuff we are going to make and… -
The Glorious & Prosaic Connecting Us All
21 Jan 2013 | 12:11 pmThis is the poem written by 2013 inaugural poet Richard Blanco telling the story of all our people - and describing the glorious and the prosaic things which connect us all.One TodayOne sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,peeking over the Smokies, greeting the facesof the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truthacross the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a storytold by our silent gestures moving behind windows.My face, your face, millions of faces in morning’s mirrors,each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our… -
"Here I Am": A Personal Documentary for 12 Astonishing Inland Empire Seniors
12 Nov 2012 | 5:55 pmHow often do we just sit and listen?Blind in one eye from a childhood accident, Gordon Ayers never expected overseas duty - avenging Pearl Harbor. So he got married. Eleven days later, and for the next 25 months, he was on board ship fighting island to island all the way to Okinawa. He laughs now at the improbability of it all.Meanwhile, Aiko Uyeno – born in Arlington, California and a loyal American high school junior – was being rounded up by the FBI to be interned in the Arizona hinterlands for the duration of WWII.These, and a host of other astonishing stories from Inland Empire… -
Home Movie Transfers: Doing It Right
13 Oct 2012 | 3:08 pmOff to the APH Conference tomorrow, just time enough for a quick post about home movie transfers. You can't do video biography without knowing a thing or two about getting the most from old film and video tape.Yes, I watch lots of home movies – and almost none of them mine! Over the years, Your Story Here has transferred thousands of hours of personal video from old film spools, VHS and VHS-C tapes, Hi8 and Video8 cassettes and (lately) miniDV and SD cards.Just today, I finished up transferring well over 100 hours of material from more than 70 old VHS, Video8 and miniDV cassette tapes.
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sex in the country, life in the chillWorld
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Green Grass of Home
20 May 2013 | 10:52 amOriginally Published in HOUSE Magazine in 2007...Green Grass of HomeA former New Yorker discovers the joy of mowing a jungle.I’m the quintessential city girl. I grew up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. So when my son was born almost five years ago, I thought the ideal place to raise him was New York City. The city had all the amenities, activities, and culture I could want. But as he grew, I realized I’d not only had enough of listening to my then-husband complain about urban life, but that it was time for us to own our own home and have our own yard for our son to play in.Moving upstate… -
Fear We Go Again
21 Mar 2013 | 3:41 pmThere we were, my dharma punx buddies and I sitting around the campfire a few years ago at a campground in the Berkshires. We were laughing, joking and talking when our friend Pete asked, do women find men who are spiritual attractive or do they see us as pussies?or something like that. A passionate conversation erupted between the group about relationships, love and spirituality. Evenly distributed between men and women, the details of romantic relationship experiences were exposed over crackling flames of the campfire. I dont remember much more of what was being… -
how well do you know a person?
20 Jan 2013 | 10:19 pma month ago, a friend of mine from college died. like so many deaths and other important news, I found out about this unfortunate passing of this contemporary on Facebook. comeon.. who needs another news source? in the minutes that followed the initial post announcing the passing of Spencer Cox, the outpouring of sentimental comments began. certainly, as I always do, I was at the head of the pack to say... how sad and sorry I was. in a matter of an hour, a memorial service date and location was announced, news unfolded, gossip ensued and articles were crafted in honor… -
got some Sandy got in my eyes
3 Nov 2012 | 10:31 pmone of my favorite things to do is to go out at midnight and take a walk to the wooden bridge across the street from my house on Ideal Park Road. I stand there, in the moonlight, watching the Esopus run by. this ritual has become a way for me to release thoughts, let out ideas, scream, or be quiet... that spot across the street from my house is one of my favorite refuges.tonight... in my pink nighty. Ugg boots and the long black puffy winter coat that has been patiently waiting for a frosty night to make it's seasonal debut, I wondered under the waxing moon with the dog in tow. I… -
tales from the Ashram...
18 Aug 2012 | 8:44 pmFor the past two weeks, I've been formulating my next blog post in my head... trying to put together the words to describe the dismal private pity party I've been hosting for myself. This summer has been a wild roller coaster to put it mildly, and many of the things I carved into expectations didn't come to fruition. Once again, I went out there a gutsy warrior, and failed by making some really bad choices. Where did I end up? Right back where I started. Or did I?There's something cyclical afoot ... each June, as my birthday comes, I make a declaration that…
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Get free access to over 3.6 million records of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) at Fold3.com
22 May 2013 | 7:01 pmI have just learned that Fold3.com, along with the National Archives, has completed scanning military over 3.6 million records about the 1st to 138th Infantry of the United States Colored Troops, the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Take advantage of free military records searches in honor of Memorial Day!
22 May 2013 | 1:08 pmA great opportunity to find those military ancestors! Ancestry.com is offering access to free military records over the weekend in honor of Memorial Day! From Thursday, May 23rd through Monday, May... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Family Tree Maker 2012 is not yet compatible with Windows 8.
17 May 2013 | 7:53 amUPDATE: May 14, 2013 According to BetaNews.com, it appears Microsoft will be issuing a free update they’ll be calling Windows 8.1 to address some of the issues that have come to light and to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com Updates and Additions – May 16, 2013
16 May 2013 | 12:56 pmFamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com Updates and Additions FamilySearch.org Argentina Argentina, Baptisms, 1645-1930 Argentina, Santa Fe, Catholic Church Records, 1634-1975 Austria Austria,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Chris Hadfield and Benedict Cumberbatch are cousins?
14 May 2013 | 11:42 amTo coincide with the return of Commander Chris Hadfield from the international space station, Ancestry.ca has announced that he is 6th cousin to british actor Benedict Cumberbatch who is starring as... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
