History Burgoo

On the Road to RootsTech!

When February rolled around, three staff members from the Library boarded planes and flew off to Salt Lake City for the second annual RootsTech conference! What would make three Kentucky Librarians fly to Salt Lake City in the middle of winter you ask? Simple: we wanted to learn about the latest in genealogy technology at the ONLY conference offered for just this purpose! RootsTech is an entirely new breed of genealogy conference. It was started last year as a way for users and developers to interact, dialogue and plan for the future of the genealogy field. Top software developers, vendors and genealogy instructors were on hand to demonstrate how technology has influenced genealogy over the past decade as well as how it is shaping the next generation of research.With over 4000 attendees (up one third from last year), this conference shows no signs of slowing down, and some have called it the most important genealogy conference in the world! Indeed, we met genealogists from across the globe who had already connected to fellow researchers through the very technology tools we were learning more about. As technology increasingly enhances genealogical research on a worldwide scale, don't be surprised if you begin to discover global cousins! So, despite all of the hype, how did these three Kentucky Librarians fare at this year's RootsTech? Let us show you as we list some event highlights and session info we will be utilizing back home in the KHS Library!

Highlights:

The 1940 Census - As many of you are already aware, the genealogy community is eagerly anticipating the release of the 1940 U.S. Census on April 2nd. However, when it is finally released, it will NOT include an index. This has spured three industry leaders to begin a community indexing project that will allow volunteers to index at their own pace from the confort of their own homes. This was a HUGE theme of the RootsTech conference! There were sneak peek sessions, index volunteer stations and fun marketing elements to get people excited about indexing in April! The KHS reference staff will be presenting a more thorough introduction to the access and indexing of the 1940 census at our April 2nd Saturday workshop! For more information about the community program: http://the1940census.com

Kentucky Genealogy Dinner - Before heading to Salt Lake City, we made contact with other Kentucky researchers heading to RootsTech and made plans to meet for dinner on Friday evening. After two full days of the conference under our belts and with a lovely meal to help us relax, we focused our conversation on how to apply what we learned to Kentucky genealogy needs. We talked about workshop ideas, contributing content to wikis, blogging and how to get fellow Kentucky genealogists excited about how technology can assist in research! Here is a photo of the gang from that evening (Around the table from left to right): Louise Jones, Cheri Daniels, Lise Emberly, Jennifer Howard, Pat Layton and Linda McCauley. 

What we learned:

Instructional Sessions on the User Level -

• Utilizing wiki sites for sharing family history and regional/historical information
• Joining a new community effort to develop a better Gedcom
• Publishing family history research in visually dynamic ebook formats
• Using Tablets and genealogy APPS
• Allowing cloud technology to help organize your research
• Utilizing social media tools to help connect with distant cousins and living relatives
  Instructional Developer Sessions -
• How to host webinars so our patrons can attend learning sessions offered by the library at any time, from any place
• Developing online search databases
• Optimize our websites to be found by search engines
• Using web analytics to make our sites more helpful and easier for patrons to use
  Connecting With Vendors -
• GPS and how it is changing the way we record information
• Learning about the latest scanning technologies, such as microfilm scanners and easy-to-use overhead scanners
• The latest developments in family tree building software
• Updates and new features from vendors we currently use, such as Ancestry.com, Fold3, and FamilySearch, plus some new ones like Archives.com and BrightSolid
  
  Research at the Library:

RootsTech itself generates a lot of excitement and energy throughout the week. Yet, there is another underlying energy that feeds some of the attendee excitement: the Family History Research Library. Genealogists from around the world flock to this one Library to conduct research on an international level. Sort of a one stop shop for genealogy research. Can you find all of the records here? No, not even close, but you can find a good chunk of them, and if your ancestors happened to cross a state line, or even a country border, you only need to switch areas of the Library to stay hot on their trail! For many RootsTech attendees, this is their first trip to Salt Lake City and their first opportunity to conduct genealogy research at this amazing Library. For others, they planned ahead and flew in days before the conference to research to their heart's content! The KHS Library gang took advantage of the "Late Night at the Library" offered by RootsTech to begin their introduction to this Palace of Pedigrees! Despite being exhausted, we all got fresh inspiration to carry us on for several hours. We didn't leave until 11:30 that night! Despite all of the wonderful records they have there, we actually came away with a renewed appreciation for our patrons and our wonderful Library. It was an amazing trip - but we are all glad to be home!

--Cheri Daniels, Jennifer Howard, Louise Jones

Come visit the KHS Library for Thursday night programs!

In September, we started some new Thursday night programs to go along with our “Getting to Know the Library” session which is offered the first Thursday of each month at 5:30.  Now that October is here, we wanted to remind everyone of these opportunities to learn more about the library and research materials that are available.  Registration is not required for any of these programs, so you’re welcome to just show up at the Library at 5:30 on Thursdays.

 

Here’s the rundown on our programs:

•  1^st Thursday of each month, 5:30-6:30 – “Getting to Know the Library”

A Library staff member will lead interested patrons on a tour of the Martin F. Schmidt Research Library and answer questions about the resources we have available.

•  2^nd Thursday of each month, 5:30-6:30 – Fold3 Users Group

Interested in learning more about using Fold3 (which was formerly known as Footnote)?  Or are you a frequent user of Fold3 that can share your experiences and knowledge with others?  Beginners, experts, and everyone in between are welcome!

•  3^rd Thursday of each month, 5:30-6:30 – Ancestry and Heritage Quest Users Group

We’ve all heard of Ancestry.com, but what’s the best way to use it?  How do you navigate the thousands of databases they have available?  When do you have to leave the computer and go to the original records?  And what exactly is Heritage Quest?  How can it help with genealogy research?  Both of these sites can be valuable to both beginning and advanced researchers, so come to our Users Group to learn more about using these resources or offer your advice to others!

•  4^th Thursday of each month, 5:30-6:30 – RootsMagic Users Group

Do you use the genealogy software RootsMagic to organize your family tree?  Come to the library to meet fellow RootsMagic users, discuss features of the program and strategies for making the most of this software.

(Use a different genealogy software program?  Contact us at KHSRefdesk@ky.gov about forming additional user groups!)

 

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday nights in the Library!

 

ScanFest is coming to the Library!

Earlier this year, the KHS Library purchased a Bookeye 4 overhead scanner.  Since you may be wondering what that is, I’m going to rely on the old “a picture is worth a thousand words” adage.

 

Basically the Bookeye has the ability to create digital images of our collections by using an overhead camera.  We love this machine, because we can now take digital images of our collections that would be damaged using a traditional flatbed scanner.  Many thanks to the Kentucky Historical Society Foundation and the Kentucky Genealogical Society for providing funding to purchase the Bookeye.

So what is ScanFest?  On two Saturdays in October (Oct . 1 and Oct. 29) we are letting patrons bring in their fragile books (family bibles, diaries, scrapbooks, etc.), along with a USB (flash/thumb) drive and we will provide digital images of their materials -- for free!!

Customers can sign up for 20 minutes sessions by contacting the Library Reference Desk at KHSRefdesk@ky.gov.  To ensure the highest quality scans, there will be a 5 page scan limit per session, but you can sign up for more than one session.  Customers can choose  scan resolutions and formats (JPEG, PDF, TIFF).  Digital images will be in color, and black & white photocopies will also be available for 25 cents each.

Okay, a wrap-up:

• ScanFest will be held on Sat. Oct. 1 and Sat. Oct. 29, from 10 am - 5 pm
• Registration is required for a guaranteed time slot.  Walk-ins will be accommodated as time allows.
• Scanning sessions are limited to 20 minutes & 5 pages of material.  Patrons can sign up for multiple sessions.
• Don’t forget a USB drive!  (We recommend at least 4 GB to make sure that all files will fit on the drive)
• Recommended materials for scanning are fragile and tightly bound books such as family Bibles and scrapbooks.  Manuscripts and photographs are not recommended.

Email us at KHSRefdesk@ky.gov with any questions and to reserve your spot!

More about the recent NEH award for Oral History Project - or - What are we going to do with $100K?

I am extremely pleased with all of the press that has picked up our announcement that the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the KHS Foundation $100,000 to develop a new oral history tool, which we are calling, Pass the Word. 

While our release thus far has been pretty basic – we were awarded funding, it will be used over the course of 2 years, we will hire some staff and interns and create a online statewide oral history database – there are obviously a lot more details to share.

So, let me back up a bit and give some background for this project. This is not the first comprehensive look at oral history collections in the state. In 1989 the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions (NHPRC) awarded the Kentucky Oral History Commission (KOHC) a grant to “gather and make available information on the location, size, content and accessibility of oral history interviews at repositories both large and small, public and private.” By 1990, 20,000 interviews were located at repositories throughout the state and in 1991, the published Guide to Kentucky Oral History Collections was available, which described holdings at forty-seven Kentucky repositories, this did not necessarily include public libraries that maintained “access” copies of oral history interviews. The publication contained information on the repository (who, what, when, how), the individual collection (could comprise 1 interview or 100), and the collections were indexed by subject and by interviewee. 
Following the tremendous work (and very progressive, might I add) of compiling this published guide, the KOHC staff knew they needed something more flexible to help researchers find oral history collections for the state – the published guide was stuck at the completion of the survey on December 1, 1990. We turned our original survey content and some updated information into an online database. This time the indexes for subject and interviewee were key word searchable and for 1998, once again, we were very progressive in this venture. The content for this online resource has been periodically (and labor intensively) updated, working primarily with those already identified 47 repositories. As the project staff acknowledged the technological world is now so wide open and an intensive, comprehensive attempt to document collections has not been done in roughly 20 years, we are decided to intentionally devote, time, staff and resources to continue our tradition of oral history access for the state collections through one centralized point. The models previously designed are often still used. 

I, for one, still reach for the 1991 published guide when people call asking about oral history collection topics or individuals – especially if it is not a part of the KOHC collection (housed and maintained in the KHS archives since 1992). We needed a better suited tool for today’s researcher (that term applies to many different breeds – family history, scholarly, educational etc…) to locate what oral histories have been completed in the state and how can they be accessed. 

While this tool, this online portal, is not meant to provide instant gratification in the sense that every oral history interview will now be online and ready to play at the touch of a button – there are greater issues with that demand, some of which are financial, some of which are ethical, - BUT it will provide immediate information about each collection, hopefully each interview in that collection, each repository, if available online, a link to access it AND clear directions on the policy of the repository on how to access collections not available for listening online. It will be the first line of searching for oral history content for the entire state. A goal we share with our previous incarnations of this project. 

Another thing we are adding with this web 2.0 (or are we on 3.0 at this point?) version of an oral history guide, the content will be managed by the individual collection holders, not the KOHC office. While we will maintain, provide assistance and overall monitor the site, the individual repositories can add collections as they are processed for the public, can change their own profile information, add links to more online content as it becomes available, and generally take the reigns for their own representation. We plan on spending the first 2 years of the project – the ones funded by the NEH – to develop the online site, work with repositories for initial content population (including much travel and as much hands-on assistance as we can provide and is needed) and training on utilization. While we won’t disappear after those 2 years, we will hand the primary content responsibility over to the content holders. 

As you can probably tell, our primary goal in this project is to HELP RESEARCHERS LOCATE ORAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS. It has been a long-term goal of the KOHC and will continue to be one. For now, I am anxious to see what collections have been added over the last 20 years. I can tell you a few numbers off the top of my head, the KOHC collection at KHS has roughly 9,000 oral history collections to date – in 1991 we had about 3,700. The Nunn Center for Oral History at UofK currently has about 8,000 interviews in their collection, in 1991, they also had about 3,700 interviews. Just imagine what else is  out there and how it could be utilized if folks know where to go to find it! I seriously get chills.

So, keep checking in, we will be posting updates to the project and would love feedback from folks as we go along. Our first step is to hire a project archivist/coordinator – we are hoping to be able to open this position up for applicants sometime in July – keep checking for this add if you are interested! Also, for the 2 internships we will have during the course of the project, we are looking at one for spring and one for summer in 2012 at the moment, while this might change, they won’t be open until we get a little bit farther into the framework of the project. 

 

- Sarah Milligan

Do You Have Kentucky Roots?

I am sitting at the Kentucky table here at the Ohio Genealogical Society Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio and this is the first thing I say as people approach the table.  This is a great conference, over 800 people are here from all over the country.  A true genealogy fest!  

I have been talking about our efforts of the last three months; all the records that we have put into the catalog and how accessible it is now that we have revamped the front page.  Folks here are very appreciative, they really seem to like what we have done.  I even got to talk about my recent discovery that Campbell County has two courthouses, one in Alexandria and one in Newport, both of which created records.  Talk about making things complicated for family historians!  When we cataloged the microfilm collections, we made sure to add this information to each record, so that people can distinguish between the two.

I even got a chance to talk to two ladies from Defiance County, Ohio, about our War of 1812 activities. They may be able to help us out with our transcription project.  We have digitized a whole group of letters in the Alexander Family papers which document the war through family correspondence between Alexander family and the Madison family.  We are going to put the letters up in our Digital Collections and then have volunteers help us with transcribing them.  If you are interested, please contact Louise Jones at louise.jones@ky.gov to sign up.

 

 Well, I think the sessions are getting ready to flood out of the meeting rooms now, so things will be getting too busy to write much more.

See you soon  back in Frankfort!

--Louise Jones

 

A New Way to Search the KHS Collections Catalog

 

Over the past few months, the Special Collections and Library staff have provided several updates on how our microfilm cataloging project is coming along.  As we’ve mentioned before, the purpose of the project is to make the materials we have on microfilm just as easy to locate as our other collections.  Librarians and archivists just love it when it’s easier for researchers to find our “stuff,” because we want people to use the books, archival collections, oral histories, and of course the microfilm that we have.

Today we’ve added another way to search our collections catalog – by county!  Kentucky has 120 counties, and often researchers want to look for materials relating only to a particular county.  The new “County” tab of the KHS Collections Catalog lets you do just that.  You can also include additional search terms if you are interested in certain records or a specific topic for that county (such as the Civil War in Franklin County or marriage records in Boone County).

 

Since the first phase of the microfilm catalog project is county records, the County search page also includes a county map of Kentucky that lets everyone see our progress.  All the counties that are colored have been added to the catalog.  (See image at the beginning of this post)

 

If you come to visit the library, you’ll see that we have a similar map hanging outside the entrance to the library so staff, patrons, and other visitors can keep track as we move forward with the project.  Within the next few months, our goal is to finish 29 more counties, or nearly 2500 rolls of microfilm!!  Watch our progress as you’re searching for materials about your favorite Kentucky county using the new County Search option in the catalog.

Franklin County is Done!

With great excitement today, the Special Collections and Library staff celebrated the first of 120 milestones toward completing the cataloging of our microfilm collection.  We started this project in July and hope to have it completed this time next year.  Twelve months, 15,000 rolls of microfilm and seven dedicated staff?  No problem!   

 

You might well ask, why so excited?  Well, we are librarians and we do get excited about putting records into the catalog where people all over the world can see them.  Of course, what really excites us is when people from all over the world come into the library to use those collections they found in our online catalog.

So what do our researchers gain by this project, other than 15,000 catalog records?  Well, let me tell you!  Access to our collections like you have never had it before!  We are cataloging the entire contents of each roll so that a researcher can search the catalog for a county record type (like Franklin county marriage records) or for a particular manuscript collection that has local or regional importance (Ellen Wingate Sawyier scrapbook Franklin County).  The Franklin County marriage records are well used by our family history researchers.  The scrapbook was compiled by the mother of Paul Sawyier and contains family photos and other mementos.  The original scrapbook is available to researchers but cannot be photocopied due to its fragile condition.  The microfilm copy allows researchers to make copies without damaging the original.

  

Our plan of attack is simple:  start with the three largest counties by population (Franklin, Fayette and Jefferson) and then move alphabetically through the remaining 117 counties.  We will then catalog the state level series, like the death certificates or the Auditor’s tax records.  Researchers will be able to look in the catalog and know what we have and how many rolls there are, thus making the catalog an important tool for people planning a visit to KHS.

We’ve got to get back to work, Fayette county is next!  Stay tuned for periodic updates!

Louise Jones

The KHS Library catalog gets a makeover

The Kentucky Historical Society Special Collections & Library has a new catalog! Okay, it’s not really “new.”  It’s actually the same catalog system we’ve always had, but it has a completely new look, and some new features, which we’re very excited about.

Our goal with this new interface was to make the catalog look more like the KHS website, so we used the same color scheme and tried to make the layout look similar.  There are also links across the top of the page which point to the KHS homepage, hours, and other library & special collections resources.

One of the new “features” is that you can now access the catalog directly by going to KHScatalog.kyvl.org.  Of course you can also find the catalog from our homepage (history.ky.gov) by clicking on “Search our Collections.”

You may notice that we’re calling this our “collections” catalog, instead of just the “library” catalog.  That’s because the catalog has descriptions of much more than just what’s in our library.  It can also be used to search our manuscript & photograph collections, rare books and pamphlets, and some maps and oral histories.  We’re working on projects to add all of our oral histories and all of our microfilm to the catalog too!  Basically, it is the place to go to find out if KHS has the material you want to use for your research.

So let’s take a quick tour.  The catalog opens up to the basic search page. This page has a simple search box, with a few options for customizing your search.  You can specify the type of search (title, author, subject, etc.), or use the “Limit To” box to narrow down your search by type of material.  The tabs along the top link to other search pages, including specific pages for author and subject searches, and an advanced search page if you want to search for a phrase, restrict your search to certain years, or search for multiple words or phrases.  For example, do an Advanced Search for “Smith” as author and “Cumberland County” as a subject phrase to find all the books about Cumberland County written by someone named Smith.

On the search results page, you’ll see another new feature, which is the ability to filter your search by material type.  For example, if you do a search for Fayette county and then decide you’re really only interested in seeing what’s available in the library, just click “add filter: Library Collections.”  You can also remove filters after you’ve applied them to go back to your original search.  Or click the “Edit Search” button at the top of the page to go back and change your search.

You can select items from the results list and either print or email them.  You can also print or email from the item record.  All of the information about the item, including where it’s located at KHS (Library, Archives, etc.) and any links to related materials online, is now available on a single screen.  This information used to be split up under several different pages, so it’s a big improvement.

And even though the “new” catalog is now up and running, it doesn’t mean that we’re finished working on it.  Be on the lookout for new features, such as a tool that demonstrates how to cite a particular item in various bibliographic styles, and persistent links that you can copy and then use later to link directly back to the item you were looking at.

So take a look at our catalog, see what kinds of materials we have, and if you have any comments (or find any mistakes), please let us know!

-Jennifer Howard

Horses Go Digital

I think it may have been my third or fourth day here that I was contacted by the program chair for the Kentucky Council on Archives about making a presentation on our Horse in Kentucky collections.  I accepted, thinking that this would allow me to delve into our collections looking for those wow items that would excite a bunch of archivists.  That was in March.  Two months later, I realized on Monday that the presentation was happening on Friday and I had yet to really do more than sketch out a brief outline.  Time to get to work!

I had already met with several of my colleagues to discuss what we had already accomplished.  The initial Horse Industry Project had grand plans to create exhibits, programming and collecting opportunities focusing on the historic relationship of the horse and Kentucky.  However, the ongoing budget crisis had whittled the project outcomes down to some programming and a digitization project to be unveiled around the time of the 2010 World Equestrian Games.  

My task was to try to formulate the somewhat nebulous topic “Horse Industry in Kentucky” into a workable digitization project.  So I started thinking about what subjects and topics would be included in such a theme.  What would researchers want?  What collections do we have to meet those wants?  What should we be collecting to meet the future needs of researchers and what should we avoid because someone else is already collecting that type of material or that topic?

After much discussion we settled on eight broad categories:  Breeds, Horse at Work, Tools of the Trade, Portraits and People, the Horse in Sport, the Horse at War, the Horse at Play and the Horse in Art.  These may seem like really broad topics, and they are.  The goal of developing a framework for a digitization project is to both to organize information and to highlight collections strengths and weaknesses.  To give an example, to fill out the Breeds category we would look for collections items that document breeds specific to Kentucky and the breeding industry, emphasizing the role these breeds play in the lives of Kentuckians, the economy, etc.  We would focus on but not limit our selection to Thoroughbred, Saddlebred, Trotter, and Rocky Mountain Horse.

The Horse at Work category explores the employment of the horse as transportation, transportation aid and energy source.  We would look for collections items that show the impact of the horse on farming and the disappearance of the horse from farms.  We could also include related industries such as wagon making, sulkies and other horse drawn vehicles.

The Portraits and People category documents the famous, the infamous and the unknown “soldiers” in the horse world, both human and equine.  Using paintings, photographs and oral histories, we will document the personalities involved in all aspects of the horse industry in Kentucky.

Now that we have a framework, we can start selecting the collections to fill each category.  Not that we will ever be done.  The goal is to create something that we can add to for decades to come.  Stay tuned to this blog and to our Digital Collection Catalog as we redesign and develop this research tool.

Images: Above right KHS Collection "Young Bill" Saddlebred Army remount stallion, Lexington, Ky., ca. 1920. 1987PH10.62

Above left KHS Collection Clem Yeager, Louisville policeman, on his horse. 1990ph2.9JEFL9

Bottom right KHS Collection Teresa Tate Newman with Patsy (horse) and buggy. 1990PH02

Louise Jones

New database available in Library - Footnote.com!

63,755,017….that’s a mighty big number. And, that’s how many historic documents have been scanned into the Footnote.com database. AND, even more good news….you can now access Footnote.com via our public computer terminals here in the Martin F. Schmidt Library at the Kentucky Historical Society!

I learned about Footnote.com last year while working at the Kentucky State Fair. I was working with a co-worker at our library table, where we demo some of the databases we have available for patron use in our library. I was coming up empty on a search when BAM, there it was, on my co-workers laptop monitor, the scanned image of a Civil War document…just what the fair-goer had requested!

“Where the heck did you find THAT?” I exclaimed! “Footnote.com,” my co-worker replied. “Foot in mouth who?”

My co-worker went on to explain about Footnote.com, a database which has partnered with the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Allen County Public Library and other historic and family-history related institutions to digitize millions of historic documents.

While we, and our patrons, love Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest, which we offer for patron use in our library, I found that Footnote has other unique collections of documents you can’t find digitized anywhere else. Here you can find the Civil War Compiled Service Records (both Union and Confederate), the Continental Congress Papers, Pearl Harbor Muster rolls, several Native American and African American collections….the list is truly extensive.

And, not only can you view, print and download these images but you can also add your own annotations.

“Fabulous! How do we get this database in our library?” I asked. “You can’t. Footnote doesn’t offer institutional subscriptions like Ancestry.com or Heritage Quest.” Disheartening news, indeed.

But, ok, that was last August. Time always brings changes and, in December, Footnote, in conjunction with EBSCO, offered, for the first time, an institutional subscription.

That all being said, we now have Footnote available for in-library use! The link is up and librarians stand by to assist you in its use! Please, come check it out!

Sally Bown