In Honor of Veterans' Day

In honor of Veterans Day, the Medina County Veterans Service Center is displaying military items in the cabinets outside of the Franklin Sylvester Room. These items date from World War II. It is a wonderful display and highlights many of the services the center offers to our local veterans.  Remember to thank a veteran for serving our country.

Wonder why the cigarettes???  They were included in the C Rations handed out to soldiers and sailors. Common perception at the time was that smoking cigarettes was calming in times of stress. More information can be found here:

http://www.mreinfo.com/us/older/mcis.html  My father, who joined the US. Navy near the end of the war always smoked Lucky Strikes. I wonder if this is the reason why. Luckily, this practice was discontinued in 1972.

The Sep/Oct 2014 issue of Family Chronicle Magazine talks about how sending cigarettes overseas to the soldiers was considered a vital part of the war effort during World War II.

I am so glad that the practice of handing cigarettes to service members was discontinued before four of my siblings and I served in the military!

Jean Cooper Post Card Collection

Jean Cooper, a long time library volunteer, donated her collection of Medina Post Cards to the local history collection. Focusing strongly on post cards of Medina City Schools, the collection also depicts local landmarks and industries. Originally kept in a 3-ring binder, the collection will eventually be digitized. For now it is on display in the cabinets inside the Franklin Sylvester Room. Take a look! How many of the buildings do you recognize?

You might be a genealogist if...

How many of you are fans of Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if…” comedy routine? Okay, I am probably revealing my own ancestral background. LOL! But how about adapting it for genealogy? As you might imagine, I am not the first one to think of this.  But here is my list:

You might be a genealogist if...

·           Your children fling their arms out the car window yelling “Cemetery!” every time you pass one.
·        You have a room in your house dedicated to family history files. 
    You troll Amazon listings looking for the latest genealogy books.
·        You have a poster-sized family tree chart hanging on your wall.
·        Your vacations are planned around family research trips.
·        You have had your DNA tested.
·        You have stayed up half the night looking for "just one more record!"
·        You know the two letter abbreviation for every US state.
·        You know every county in your state.
·        You know how to use 6 different types of microfilm machines.
·        You have already written your own obituary. And the obituaries of all your closest family members.
·        You know which channels, nights and times Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots  are on.
·        You cry at the end of every episode of Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots .
·        You know that genealogy is an addiction. And you don’t care!

And finally…

 Feel free to add your own!

New microfilm machines at the Medina Library

   

The new STImaging microfilm machines at the Medina Library

In October the Medina Library purchased two new microfilm machines. 

The library staff are still learning many of the new features but we would be thrilled to show you how to use them. The new machines use a large format screen and computer to manipulate the images. It is the software that comes with the package that does all the magic. 

Besides being able to view, print and save images, you can send the image to your drop box, Google Drive or Family Search. And the options for editing the image are incredible.

Call the library at 330-722-4257 to set up a one-on-one session to learn how to use the NEW STImaging microfilm machines!

DAR Patriot Index

Good morning!
Yesterday, a co-worker asked me where the library's  DAR Patriot Index was. It was still listed in the catalog and a member was asking for it. The co-worker, being very efficient, had already checked all the possible and improbable places looking for it. I remembered the set but couldn't remember where it was until later.

I had discarded it (and somehow not removed it from the catalog) because of various postings like this one: http://scvgs.org/2012/07/07/dar-patriot-index-now-online/ that said that all the records were now online at the DAR web site: www.dar.org and that the old printed indexes were inaccurate and had soldiers listed whose service had been disproved.

This information was relayed to our member who replied that she has had trouble with the online index not listing ancestors for whom she has proved Revolutionary War Service.

Has anyone else had problem with the online DAR Patriot Index? Should printed indexes be retained when they have been superseded by online indexes?

Weigh in with your experiences and opinions!

Librarians Seminar at OGS

Just came back from the Ohio Genealogical Society's Annual Librarians Seminar on October 17th. They had a full house of participants and a full house of presenters. A great day as always! I always come away from these seminars fired up with great new ideas to try out. THIS year I am going to find the time to implement some of them!

Tom Neel, Library Director for OGS, did a interesting presentation on Court House Records. I have already used information I learned from Tom.

Derek Davey of Toledo talked about Social Media and Libraries. He is the one who got me fired up to resurrect this blog. Let's see if we can get this site rolling! He really emphasized that we need to remember that the new genealogists are very tech savvy and we need to move beyond the brick & mortar mentality. Once we engage them virtually, we can get them in the doors!

Aaron Turner, yearbook czar for OGS, talked about Omeka software for content management. He used it to digitize the Ohio Story radio program scripts. For someone with next to no money, Omeka is a great option.

Phil Sager of Ohio History Connection and Marcus Ladd of Miami University talked about Contentdm of OCLC. It is expensive and you do it their way or you don't do it. It is very locked down. Did I mention that it is very expensive???

Michael Sabiers put in a plug for Office 365 products.

Eric Honnefer is the Document Conservator for Bowling Green State University, Center for Archival Collections. He shared important resources for archival supplies and standards. He shared anectdotes from his many years of experience  and was a very entertaining speaker.

I would ask that the organizers use a less offensive image to adorn their promotional flyer for this program next year...

Ancestry.com

While reading the latest issue of Family Chronicle magazine, this situation was recounted by author Wendy Carlson:

Recently a woman contacted Wendy saying she had just started doing her family history and gotten a subscription to Ancestry.com. She kept seeing Wendy's name pop up while researching her ancestors. She explained that she was stuck and gave Wendy the names where her family tree stopped. Wendy explained that the woman was stuck because that was where Wendy herself was stuck in researching those families. Later, Wendy noticed that the lady had added many generations to that family line. Wendy contacted her asking how she had broken through the brick wall. "Ancestry did it for me!" was the woman's reply.

As many of you know Ancestry has a feature that pops-up with a little leaf when there is a possible match to your family tree. The woman had been adding these matches to her tree even though they didn't belong. Wendy explained the importance of verifying information and gave her a list of possible sources.

But how many unsuspecting people are out there, new to family history research and hearing Ancestry's commercial claim "You don't have to know what you're looking for, you just have to look!", believe it??? These folks are adding strangers to their family trees and adding chaos to other people's research.

It is time for Ancestry to "man up" and change their advertising. Yes, you DO have to know what you're looking for! And yes, you do have to know what you are seeing when you look at other people's trees!