The USGenWeb Project News
Volume 4, Number 7
October 2007
Editor Resigns
Denise Wells has resigned as Editor of the Newsletter citing personal commitments and lack of time. Denise
has done a bang-up job and the Newsletter staff is sorry to see her go. Thanks, Denise, for an outstanding job
this past couple of years. We all wish you the very best.
Be a Contributor to the Newsletter
The Newsletter Committee can't do everything by itself. To make this Newsletter a useful tool and source of
information for Project members, we need help from a lot of people. Do you keep up with the latest news in the
genealogy community? Have you run across a website that can help us with our sites or help us find information
to put on our sites? Do you have a favorite bit of genealogy humor? Are you willing to write a "how to"
tutorial on a subject you know a lot about? (For example, the next issue will contain a tutorial on how to use
google maps. A request has gone out for someone to do a tutorial on how to set up and use thumbnails). And, the
list goes on. Can/will you help? Send your comments, suggestions, links, etc. to the
Editor: editorusgenwebnl@gmail.com.
Election Committee Seeking Volunteers
Many who have served on the USGW Election Committee say it's the best committee they have ever been on. They work
hard and they play hard. In the process they learn a lot about the project, past and present, the resources of particular
states, and important project issues. EC members share recipes and virtual treats, talk about pets and pet peeves, fly paper
airplanes, agree and agree to disagree. They cheer...
Full article: http://www.usgenweb.org/newsletter/articles/200710/ecvolunteer.shtml
Project News
Annual Election
The annual elections are over (thank goodness!!) and the new AB is up and running. To find out who is representing
you check out the list on the National Site at
http://www.usgenweb.com/about/advisoryboard.shtml.
Your AB representatives always want to hear from you.
Page Banners
For those of you who have your sites on RootsWeb - your site may have acquired a banner across the top.
The AB is negotiating with The Generations Network (Ancestry.com) about the banners. You can keep up with
what's going on by joining your Regional e-mail list. Don't know your region or how to join? Go here:
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/mail-lists.shtml
and scroll down to Regional Lists.
Project Help Website
Did you know there's a Project Help e-mail list and a Help page
(http://rootsweb.com/~usgwhelp/index.htm)
for Project members? Notice the categories that don't yet have an article? Are these something you know
something about? Query the list if you have a website problem or question. Join if you're willing to help by sharing
your own knowledge and experience. To subscribe, email
USGW-HELPPAGES-request@rootsweb.com
(Don't forget to type Subscribe in the subject line).
Other News of Interest
National Archives Digitized Records Projects
There are millions of records at the National Archive that are not available outside of Washington, D.C.
(or NARA's Regional offices) and the price of copies from NARA has skyrocketed in the last year or so. The good
news is that two different groups have entered into an agreement with NARA to digitize NARA's holdings. Check out
the news releases: Footnote -
http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2007/nr07-41.html
and NARA/LDS -
http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2008/nr08-16.html.
Family Histories Going Online
This news release came out in Aug 2007. It's included here because the first of the family histories are on-line at the
BYU site.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH- Thousands of published family histories, city and county histories, historic city directories,
and related records are coming to the Internet. The Allen County Public Library (ACPL) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Brigham
Young University Harold B. Lee Library, and FamilySearch's Family History Library in Salt Lake City announced the joint
project today. When complete, it will be the most comprehensive collection of city and county histories on the Web-and
access will be free at www.familyhistoryarchive.byu.edu. Check out the news release:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Home/News/frameset_news.asp
?PAGE=Press/2007-8-15_Local_Histories_Online.asp.
Website Search Engines
Although many of our site visitors can be classified as Senior Citizens who are willing to spend the time to thoroughly
browse a website, a large number of our visitors are of the Hit & Run variety - wanting to quickly find out if their
ancestor's name is on the site. If you don't already have a site search engine you might think about adding one to your site.
Here's a few freebie suggestions to check out: Fast Find http://www.freefind.com;
Pico http://www.picosearch.com/;
FusioNBot http://www.fusionbot.com/.
Have a search engine to recommend? Send it along to:
editorusgenwebnl@gmail.com
Some Links of Interest
The Online Books Page
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ has links to legitimate (not
illegally) available on-line.
Google Books
According to Google the books that are out of print can be used on a website as long as the watermark isn't removed.
http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/about.html
US Post Offices
Jim Forte (a stamp collector) has the largest available on-line national post office list. List of post offices is
always a great addition to a county site.
http://postalhistory.com/Post_offices/index.htm
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