Jan 23
The New York Public Library has a large collection of posters now made digital on their site. There are some 2,027 scanned posters that were once used in magazines, newspapers, exhibitions, book covers, calendars, covering at the end of the 1890s, into the beginning of the 20th century. What a wonderful array of styles, fashions, public interests, ...
Nov 15
Newest item added to help in research on FamilySearch.org is called "Thumbnail Gallery" and it is available free to the public. This feature has both the indexed data and the image together. This feature is available only with indexed records. It allows the searcher to navigate to other images within the collection by clicking on next or just goi...
Oct 25
Eighty years ago, 1935, America was still in the Great Depression era. Ten years later, 1945, the country was just coming out the second World War. Such tragedies for many of your ancestors to suffer through. Yale University along with the Library of Congress have put together over 170,000 photos and made them digital producing the site Photogr...
Oct 13
At the Lake County, Illinois Discovery Museum are the Curt Teich Collection of postcards from 1897 to 1978. Teich Archives have over 400,000 postcards of more than 10,000 towns and cities in Canada and United States along with many foreign countries. It includes the largest collection of numerous locations along the famous United States Route 66, t...
Oct 7
On the Internet, a search engine is essential. The most well-known and maybe most used is 'Google'. There is even now the saying; 'Just Google it'. To be more effective in your searching for your family history, here are a few tips or ideas to use the search engine more efficiently. Maybe you need to find a specific phrase or saying, first use q...
Mar 5
During the American Civil War (1861-1865), the 'Boys in Blue' were the Federal Union army soldiers. Those in the Southern Confederacy were considered the 'Boys in Gray'. Both due to the color of the uniform. If you had an ancestor who served from the many Illinois (Union) Army regiments, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library has s...
Feb 19
One of the best activities you can do to help preserve the family heritage is to scan the numerous family photos. That includes gathering those collections of photos from other family members. During the cold winter months or in the heat of summer, set aside time to at least start or finish that project. It is so great to have all those ima...
Jan 31
With these very cold and snowy weeks coming in February, it will be an excellent time to get some of the scanning of the vintage family photos. Better yet, start creating on your computer a complete digital scrapbook -- one that can later be shared easily with family members. When the traditional cut and paper scrapbook is put together, there is ...
Nov 7
There is a saying: "A photo is a window into the lives of your ancestors." Never were there truer words. Many of us would given anything to have some image of a grandmother, great uncle, etc., but don't give up -- many people have located images of ancestors they never knew existed. Yes, there will be some that were never taken, so of course don't ...
Oct 3
There is more to knowing your ancestor's past besides their names, dates, and hometown. Many enjoyed reading books, magazines, newspapers and special publications; several of which had illustrations, drawings and photos. Even if you had an ancestor who couldn't read, they did enjoy looking over those drawings and photos of people, events and places...