Ask an Archivist Day, June 9

Ever heard of Ask Archivists Day? On June 9, readers around the world can ask questions of worldwide archivists via Twitter.

Readers will need a Twitter account to participate, and then remember #AskArchivists, the hashtag for the event. Already have a Twitter account? Then follow @AskArchivists.

Click here for the list of participating archives in North America (some 36 and growing). This list - at the AskArchivists Blog - also offers all the Twitter addresses for those archives.

Here's how it will work: Tweet a question, including the #AskArchivists hashtag, on June 9. Point your question to any archivist participating or to one archive (by including their Twitter address, such as the US National Archives @USNatArchives. Follow @AskArchivists and look for the answer.

Read more about the event at the AskArchivists Blog (link above). [Note: Be aware that there is another Archivists blog (International Institute on Archives) mostly in French, with some posts in English.]

What questions do you want to ask?

Webinar: Finding ancestors in EllisIsland.org

"Ellis Island: Find Your Ancestor in a Sea of Online Records" is a webinar with Lisa Alzo, scheduled by Family Tree Magazine on Wednesday, July 21.

Nearly half of all Americans have relatives who arrived at New York's Ellis Island. Those passenger records - some 22 million online records - are a key resource to help researchers jump back to the old country to pick up the trail.

The 60-minute webinar, presented by Lisa Alzo, will provide the tricks and tips of searching EllisIsland.org. It begins at 7pm Eastern.

Participants will learn:

-- Tricks to searching the Ellis Island passenger list database
-- Secrets from a demo search of a hard-to-find immigrant
-- How to use Steve Morse's One-Step search tools to locate elusive passengers
-- The differences between Ancestry.com and EllisIsland.org

To register, click here.

Yiddish: Register for this online class

Want to learn mamaloshen (Yiddish)? No time during the day? No place to take it near home?

Here's the solution: an online Yiddish class which you can do from home no matter where in the world you live.

You can also receive optional academic credit from the University of Massachusetts, as you study with the National Yiddish Book Center's faculty and explore Yiddish culture through literature, film, theater and music.

The course is for students who wish to explore the language and culture of Ashkenazic Jewry. There are no prerequisites, and no knowledge of any Jewish language or the Jewish alphabet is expected. Over the course of the semester, students will learn to read, write, and converse in Yiddish and will be introduced to a number of Yiddish songs, poems, and folktales. By the end of the term, students should be able to converse in Yiddish on a variety of topics and to read simple Yiddish texts.

Online registration is now open for this new class.

Yiddish has been spoken by most European Ashkenazi Jews for nearly 1,000 years. It went from the Rhineland (today's Germany) east to Slavic lands, and then went along for the ride with immigrants who resettled in the Americas, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere.

According to the Center:

This course will give students an opportunity to experience the richness of Yiddish literature—and Yiddish humor—in the original; to learn about the Hasidic world through tales and songs; and to speak, write, and read in Yiddish while exploring American and East European Yiddish literature, film, theater and klezmer music.

Instructor Yuri Vedenyapin is the academic director of the National Yiddish Book Center's Summer Yiddish Program.

He teaches Yiddish language and culture at Harvard University, and his interests include old and modern Yiddish literature, Eastern European Jewish folklore, the history of Yiddish dialects and literary standards, as well as ethnographic fieldwork. He's conducted interviews with Yiddish writers, actors, and members of Hasidic communities.

With a BA (Harvard University) and MA (Columbia University), he has also taught Yiddish at Columbia University, Moscow State University, and the Yiddish Summer Program in Warsaw, Poland. Additionally, he also performs in Yiddish, Russian and Polish.

Click here for more information and to register for the class (for academic credit or not). The cost isn't unexpensive ($600, or $570 for National Yiddish Book Center members), but there are many advantages to learning online and the instructor is tops in his field. The class runs from September-December.

Free genealogy lectures via Skype

Free? Yes, that's what the man said.

The man is Beau Sharbrough, known to many genealogists and family historians as VP of Content at Footnote, although as of November 2008, he is no longer with that site.

However, he is still posting to his blog - "The Unofficial Footnote Blog: An insider blog about the history website, Footnote.com." Of course, after his departure, it isn't as "inside" as it was, but here's his latest blog post, which should be of great interest to our crowd.

Beau is offering free lectures for your genealogy society, using Skype.

Video conferencing may be the biggest boon to international genealogy, and especially to societies located around the world. We are all aware of exactly how much it costs to fly internationally, to stay at a hotel, to eat and the time component and physical wear-and-tear of flying great distances. If we can bring in top-flight speakers via a computer connection, why not?

Here's what Beau wrote on March 22:

You read that right.

For a limited time, in an effort to debug the technique, Beau Sharbrough will speak to your genealogy society (or your genealogical society, if you prefer), for free.

There is a condition. I don’t intend to actually attend the meeting.

I propose to use free software, such as Skype, to video conference.

Preliminary tests, working with my associate, Dick Eastman, have demonstrated that free programs such as Skype and Yugma enable a person to:

- video conference. You can see the speaker, and hear them. The speaker can see you, and hear you.

- The speaker can display his or her desktop, showing a powerpoint “deck,” or demonstrating a software program, or a website.

There is some setup to be undertaken at the remote end. The goal of this introductory offer is to refine the equipment list, setup procedures, and production capabililities needed to implement distance learning in local genealogy groups.

The preliminary requirements for the venue at your end are:

- An internet connection. The faster the better.
- A computer, either PC or Mac.
- A webcam and microphone. I use a Logitech Pro 9000, which does both.
- Skype, a free program, for video conferencing.
- A skype registration, which is also free, is required.
- Yugma, a free program, for displaying the remote desktop.
- A connection between the computer and whatever public address system you have.
- A preliminary technical test is required before an event can be scheduled. A final test is required prior to the event.

Dick and I tested the basic Skype connection as part of the St George Expo in late February. He was in London, England, and I was in St George UT. I was using the internet connection on my mobile 3G modem, which can be good or bad. On that particular day, it was pretty good. Those present could see and hear Dick just fine, and he was able to hear questions from the audience.

Rather than do this for the glory of high tech, I suggest that we could actually present a program with some information of value to your society.

Lecture topics might include:

- Using Footnote.com
- Online Search Assistants
- Genealogy in 2020
- Restoring Family Photos
- What’s new at Ancestry.com
- Planning your trip to the FHL in Salt Lake
- The Genealogy Technology Hall of Fame

Skype is fast becoming a verb, and is widely used. When I logged in today, it said that 15 million people were online.

Get with it. And imagine what you could be doing in a couple of years. You might have monthly meetings, featuring luminary speakers from around the globe, without any travel expense.

Such a journey must start with a single step. I’m proposing this one.

Send an email to sharbrough@gmail.com, if you are interested in exploring this further. I will do five or ten free ones, and then decide what approach to take after that.

I suggest you contact him immediately if your group would like to schedule one of the slots.