I thought you might be interested in the following excerpt from the FWPL Genealogy
newsletter:
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Fort Wayne Should be a Destination
by Curt B. Witcher
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Noted technologist, online genealogy newsletter publisher, and friend, Dick Eastman
recently reported on the
Allen County Public Library's success in becoming the repository for textual materials
from the Lincoln Museum
collection. The great news article, though, ended with a stark statement that "there
will be no need to
travel to Fort Wayne . . ." While I appreciate that vast amounts of online data have
radically, and for the
better, changed the face of genealogical research, I still felt compelled to articulate
why we are involved in
collaborations and further, why it still might be a pretty darn good idea to travel to
Fort Wayne. The
following is my posting to the Eastman Online Genealogy blog.
"To be sure, the ACPL is extremely pleased to be among the Indiana organizations
receiving the Lincoln Museum
collection. We strongly believe the virtual presence we will build for the Lincoln
collection will far
out-pace the walk-in traffic the museum historically received. And that's a very good
thing! Further, we
believe our success with other collaborations demonstrated our commitment to big projects
with significant
impact.
"For more than a year ACPL's Genealogy Center has been increasingly involved in
digitization collaborations.
**We are partnering with FamilySearch in helping build the Family History Archive
<
www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/index.php> with other major libraries around the country.
We've contributed over two
thousand volumes to that project to date. These digitized works are fully searchable and
downloadable for
free. And we're just getting started.
**Our collaboration with Internet Archive <
www.archive.org/index.php> has already
placed more than four
thousand public domain family and local histories on their website for free use and
downloading. We see a
bright future for that collaboration as well.
**We have the honor of working with two extremely talented individuals, Dallan and Solveig
Quass, in helping
present and grow the WeRelate website <
www.WeRelate.org>--the largest genealogy wiki
on the web with pages for
more than two million people and families. It's a great place to post data, search a
large database of
genealogy related web sites, and make connections with others searching the same families.
Exciting new
enhancements are constantly being made. And it's all free.
**We are working with Footnote <
www.Footnote.com> in providing data to their
interesting website--and their
new approach to presenting history and to help people interested in history (as they say
on their
site) "Discover. Discuss. Connect. Share."
**We also continue a fantastic relationship with our friends at ProQuestCSA in expanding
the "Periodical
Source Index" as an important component of the HeritageQuestOnline suite of database
offerings.
"The Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne engages in these collaborations to increase
synergy in the genealogical
community and to amplify excitement among non-traditional researchers about engaging in
family history
pursuits by providing online access to more historical records. I am always a bit
sensitive, then, about
stark statements associated with these collaborations such as "There will be no need
to travel to Fort
Wayne..." Of course there's not a "need" to travel to Fort
Wayne--there's hardly a "need" to travel anywhere!
However, it's my strongest aspiration, and indeed my belief, that many will continue
to *want* to travel to
Fort Wayne. They will *want* to travel to Fort Wayne because doing family history is so
much more than just
books, real or virtual. It's learning from workshops, lectures, seminars, and
brown-bag lunch sessions; it is
being able to work one-on-one with trained information professionals who are committed to
helping you be
successful with your research challenges; it is being able to access the two thirds of our
nearly one million
item collection not available online because of copyright and other restrictions; and
it's being able to learn
from fellow researchers in casual conversations across research tables, sharing challenges
and successes.
"Besides offering some of the best genealogical consultations one will find anywhere,
the Genealogy Center in
Fort Wayne is hosting two major conferences in 2009 while offering a genealogy program
each month except in
October when we will be offering a genealogy program each day. The Palatines to America
German Speaking
Ancestry Conference will be in Fort Wayne June 18-20, 2009
<
palamnationalconference.org/registration/> and the
International Black Genealogy Summit: Reconnecting Lost Links
<
www.blackgenealogysummit.com/> will be here
October 29-31, 2009. You might just *want* to check us out!
<
www.GenealogyCenter.Info>"
Best wishes for a great (and genealogically successful!) New Year!
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Publishing Note:
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This electronic newsletter is published by the Allen County Public Library's Genealogy
Center, and is intended
to enlighten readers about genealogical research methods as well as inform them about the
vast resources of
the Allen County Public Library. We welcome the wide distribution of this newsletter and
encourage readers to
forward it to their friends and societies. All precautions have been made to avoid
errors. However, the
publisher does not assume any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by
errors or omissions, no
matter the cause.
To subscribe to "Genealogy Gems," simply use your browser to go to the
website:
www.GenealogyCenter.Info. Scroll down toward the bottom of the first screen
where it says, "Enter
Your Email Address to Subscribe to "Genealogy Gems." Enter your email address
in the yellow box and click on
"Subscribe." You will be notified with a confirmation email.
If you do not want to receive this e-zine, please follow the link at the very bottom of
the issue of
GenealogyGems you just received or send an email to kspears(a)acpl.lib.in.us with
"unsubscribe e-zine" in the
subject line.
Steve Myers & Curt Witcher, co-editors
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Tim Singleton
Volunteer Coordinator Adams Co. INGenWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inadams/