Association Newsletter
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7 |
Volume III,
Issue 5, May, 2003
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Association Newsletter |
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Volume III, Issue 5, May, 2003 |
Research Links I've found useful
National Archives' Access to Archives Databases: http://www.archives.gov/aad/
Researchers, genealogists and the plain curious can now
use the Internet to check more than 50 million historical records at the
National Archives, from Civil War battles to family mmigration files. Before
the system became available, people had to either visit the Archives and
spend hours combing through documents or request the files by phone and
pay to have them mailed. "Now, people can pull these electronic records
at their own convenience," said Michael Carlson, electronic and special
media records director for the archives. "It's totally self-service
from your desktop."
The records available on the database system represent
a small fraction of the archive's electronic holdings. They were selected
because of their analytical and statistical nature - most deal with information
that easily can be looked up based on specific names, dates, organizations,
cities or states. For instance, someone wanting to research a great-grandfather
who immigrated to the United States in the 19th century can choose the
series of records listed under ``immigrants,'' enter the relative's name
and learn on what ship he traveled, the occupation he claimed prior to
leaving, the date he arrived in New York, and the country from which he
left, among other details.
"It can be another stop in creating your family tree
and understanding what happened and when," said Michael Kurtz, assistant
archivist for records services. Carlson said he expects the service will
be popular with veterans in particular because of all the information related
to military action, casualties and POWs. The records in the new system
"aren't a revelation in information, but is it helpful? Absolutely," said
American Legion spokesman John Peterson after checking out the Web site.
"A lot of people active with the POW/MIA issue complain
the government doesn't release enough documents about people who are still
missing, so almost anything they give out is good in our eyes," he said.
Kristine Minami, a spokeswoman for the Japanese American
Citizens League, said getting easy access to government records will provide
"a lot of validation" to Japanese Americans who were sent to internment
camps during World War II. The database draws from the records of 20 federal
agencies. Most of the information was created by the agencies to suit their
own program needs, without any thought to its historical
significance. Because of that, some records have typographical errors like
misspelled names or an inaccurate dates. National Archives officials did
not correct any of the information to preserve the records' integrity.
Shirley Langdon Wilcox, former president of the National Genealogical Society,
called the new system an "extremely useful and exciting" tool.
"This certainly gives you enough of an idea of what might
be available to you so you know what to weed out before taking a trip somewhere,"
she said. "Anytime you have a tool that can make yourself better
prepared before you go to the Archives or library, it's worthwhile. You
don't end up wasting an hour or two looking at whether they have something,
because you've done your homework."
Maps for northern states
http://www.negenealogy.com/ngo03.htm
Revolutionary War Units
http://www.uswars.net/1775-1783/index.htm
Pennsylvania Archives: http://www.pa-roots.com/~bedford/
and look down toward the right bottom of the page and
click on SEARCH TOOL. Under "Terms for which to search" put [your
family name] and click on SEARCH. This will search over
18,000 records that we have entered in various databases
within Pa-Roots for Bedford County. Our newest databases include
Court Records, Newspaper Clippings and Military Records.
Thanks to the DIGITIZERS! (our great volunteer team)
for entering over 6500 records for Bedford just since the first of the
year!
Carol C. Eddleman, Bedford County Host, PaGenWeb
http://www.pa-roots.com/~bedford/
http://www.pa-roots.com/data.html