R.B. HAYES LIBRARY WINS AWARD
(Please be aware this post was written in 2003 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
The New England Historic Genealogical Society recently awarded the 2003 NEHGS Technology Excellence Award to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center for their exemplary Obituary Index.
The Obituary Index was created originally as an obituary card index, then developed and expanded as a computer data file during the 1980s and 1990s, and converted to a web version in 2001. It currently indexes about 300,000 people from Northwest Ohio. Most of the names have more than one citation, so there are well over 500,000 references indexed.
Initially a local resource tool for the city of Fremont and Sandusky County, Ohio, the index has expanded geographically since going online. With the recent addition of twelve libraries from a Northwest Ohio library consortium (NORWELD) the index is now entering a more regional phase covering nineteen cities. The NORWELD member libraries are now enabled to enter their data directly into the index.
The Hayes Presidential Center organized the project and received financial help from local libraries, genealogical societies, a local newspaper, and individual genealogists. The custom-designed program uses MS SQL as the database software and Cold Fusion to mount the data on the web. Volunteers index the newspapers, input the data, and fill the online obituary orders. For more details on how the obituary index was created, visit
http://index.rbhayes.org/explanation.cfm. To search the Index go to http://index.rbhayes.org/
CALL FOR NEHGS TECHNOLOGY ENTRIES
In an effort to encourage and foster the development of rigorous genealogical research techniques in computerized or electronic formats, the New England Historic Genealogical Society is now accepting nominations for the fifth annual NEHGS Technology Excellence Award. The deadline for entries is October 31, 2003 and the winner will be announced during the GENTECH Conference for Genealogy and Technology January 22-24, 2004 in St Louis, Missouri. The award may be granted to an individual or organization.
To be eligible for consideration, a project must demonstrate or enable the highest
standards of genealogical research in electronic form, and do so in an innovative and replicable manner. The award is intended to recognize appropriate use of technology to achieve genealogical results. Eligible projects must therefore present a worthwhile genealogical result obtained through technological tools. Displays of technological wizardry devoid of genealogical merit will not be considered, nor will pure genealogical content outweigh technological shortcomings. For more information about the contest and to enter send an email to techaward@nehgs.org .
SECOND ANNUAL JUAN SEGUIN MEMORIAL PICNIC
Descendants of Texas hero, Juan Seguin, will hold their second annual Col. Juan N. Seguin Memorial Picnic on Saturday October 25 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the San Jacinto Battleground. The Seguin Descendants Historical Preservation Association invites descendants of anyone who fought at San Jacinto to bring a covered dish and share historical and genealogical information about those who fought for the freedom of Texas from Mexico.
BOOK OFFERS HELP FOR OHIO RESEARCHERS
Kip Sperry’s widely respected research guide, Genealogical Research In Ohio, has been republished as a second edition and is available for $43.50, postpaid, from the Genealogical Publishing Company, 1001 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202.
This revised and expanded version of Sperry’s 1997 edition examines the holdings of Ohio’s major archives and libraries and focuses on many of the fabulous resources and collections available to researchers. The guide covers everything from church records to divorce records, town records, periodicals and probates. In addition it contains a 123 page bibliography of Ohio books and periodicals, the most comprehensive survey of Ohio printed genealogical sources ever published.
Sperry has also included the addresses of repositories in Ohio and in other states that house Ohio historical, genealogical and oral history records; the addresses of chapters of the Ohio Genealogical Society, which include chapters throughout the United States; a list of Ohio sources on compact disc and the Internet.
Also contained in the book is a collection of twenty maps of genealogical and historical importance. The maps include principal land grants and surveys; the original Ohio land divisions; a map of frontier settlement advancements by decade; early Ohio migration routes; a map of Ohio canals; and a map of county boundary changes in 1801, 1803, 1806 and 1808.
In short, researchers of Ohio ancestry should have a copy of this book on their book shelves.
