Have you wished that you could use NEHGS library resources from home? Have you wondered where to find copies of genealogies online? You can do this by starting with the NEHGS library catalog. Staff and dedicated volunteers have been working to add links to freely available e-books as well as to genealogies and items from our manuscript and book collections for members to use. Continue reading Using the NEHGS catalog from home
Category Archives: News
An answer – and more questions
As a follow-up to my first post at Vita Brevis, back in early January, I am happy to report that a likely photograph of my great-grandfather Edward Hughes Glidden (1873-1924) has surfaced – but, initially (and tantalizingly), an accident to the glass plate meant that his face was obscured.
The caption for the photograph reads ”1920. Man in Overcoat walking by Homewood Apartments. Man could be Lt. Glidden, architect and resident of Homewood apts.” on North Charles Street in Baltimore. According to the collection’s online catalogue, the captioner provided the identification for the photograph’s subject, and I wonder if the original notation was for E. H. Glidden, the name he most often used professionally. Continue reading An answer – and more questions
Home from RootsTech 2014
After a whirlwind time in Salt Lake City for RootsTech 2014, the NEHGS web team is back in Boston. This year’s conference felt like a big step up from last year’s (moving into the larger half of the Salt Palace) without seeming overwhelming, although I personally didn’t get the chance to visit as many booths as I would have liked. The fact of the matter is that I was too busy talking to the visitors at our booth. Continue reading Home from RootsTech 2014
Collaboration at RootsTech 2014
The first two days of RootsTech have gone by in a blur, and it has been a pleasure to get to meet so many members in person and match faces to email addresses! I hope that more of you will come by to say hello at booth #926.
While for many you this will be the second day of RootsTech, for NEHGS Digital Collections Coordinator Chris Carter and me the conference started on Wednesday with the Innovator Summit. The conference itself is increasingly focused on teaching genealogists how to improve their experience studying family history; by contrast, the Innovator Summit retains the pioneer spirit of conferences past as the technical staffs from industry leaders as well as smaller developers gather together to trade wild ideas here in Salt Lake City.
Queen Victoria’s family tree
NEHGS recently bought a luxuriant “genealogical tree” chart* of Queen Victoria and her descendants, published for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June 1897. The chart, removed from the issue of The Graphic dated 26 June 1897, was at one time in the collection of the West Ham (Surrey) Public Libraries.
What makes the chart unusually interesting is both the extent of the Queen’s family in 1897, and the fact that almost every family member was illustrated – three of the blanks are for children who died in infancy, including Prince Alexander of Wales, the youngest son of the then-Prince and Princess of Wales. Another blank is for “Princess” Tatiana, the new-born daughter of the Emperor and Empress of Russia, who would perish with her parents and siblings at Yekaterinburg in 1918. Continue reading Queen Victoria’s family tree
See you at RootsTech 2014
Next week brings the first big genealogical conference of 2014, with RootsTech in Salt Lake City from February 6–8. I’ll be there with some of my colleagues from NEHGS, and we hope to meet a number of you there!
We’ve been attending the conference since it started in 2011 and look forward to the chance it gives us to meet with members and other genealogists who are using technology to make family history easier and more engaging. There’s also something for every skill level, whether you are just starting to use your smartphone for research or you want to get involved in the conversation about the next GEDCOM standard. Continue reading See you at RootsTech 2014
NEHGS in Dublin
As the NEHGS Director of Education, it’s part of my job to plan and coordinate our research tours and programs across the country and beyond the U.S. In past years, we have offered research trips to such places as Washington, D.C., Salt Lake City, London, Belfast, and Montreal, among others. Continue reading NEHGS in Dublin
U.S. Veteran memorials
For many years one of my personal projects has been to mark the graves of ancestors without gravestones. In the case of ancestors who were honorably discharged from the United States military, I honor their memory by adding an inscription relating to their service. If this idea seems appealing to you, you may wish to know that the United States government will assist in creating and will often pay the costs to erect a standard upright or flat marker for military veterans’ graves. Continue reading U.S. Veteran memorials
Speaking in public
The first month or so of the New Year is turning out to be quite a busy one in terms of presenting lectures. Part 1 of a Mobile Genealogist series on Dropbox and Evernote is done, part 2 of the series on the Flip-Pal scanner and cameras is upcoming on February 1, and I will be off to Salt Lake City to present on Evernote at RootsTech the week after. Under development is a lecture for the Fundamentals track of the 2014 Massachusetts Genealogical Council (MGC) Annual Meeting and Seminar on July 26 in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Continue reading Speaking in public
New Blog Features
Vita Brevis has only been live for a week, and it looks like we’re going to have a thriving community here. We have have lots of exciting content planned in the coming weeks, but in the meantime we’ve been reading your comments and are already rolling out a number of new features. Continue reading New Blog Features