Footnote.com has just released homestead records.
Here's the official press release:
HOMESTEAD RECORDS BECOME AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET FOR THE FIRST TIME ON FOOTNOTE.COM
Original Records Documenting the Lives of Early Settlers Offer a Unique View Into 19th Century America
Lindon, UT - September 18, 2008 – In an event held today at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Footnote.com along with several partners announced a project to make available hundreds of thousands of original Homestead Records on the Internet for the first time. This project involved the efforts of organizations including The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the National Parks Service, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and FamilySearch.
“It’s exciting to see various organizations with different strengths and capabilities come together to make this information widely available,” says Russ Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. “This record collection is just one example how individuals on Footnote.com can connect their own family history to the big picture of American History.”
The Homestead Act of 1862 was a landmark event at a time when the American Nation was being torn apart by the Civil War. These records, most of which have never been microfilmed, contain more than simply the names of those who petitioned the U.S. Government for land. They tell the rich story of a fast-growing country and those men and women eager to live the American dream by becoming land owners.
Footnote.com has already digitized and indexed the Homestead Records from Broken Bow, Nebraska featuring almost 40,000 records. To view samples of these records and see what Footnote users have discovered, click here. Working together with its’ partners, Footnote.com will continue to release more records on the site.
Footnote.com has focused on making real history accessible to everyone and providing tools that enable people to connect with history and with each other.
Footnote.com recently released Footnote Pages, which allows users to create interactive pages for an individual, group, place or event. These pages bring history to life by allowing users to create:
• Interactive timelines and maps
• Photo galleries
• Stories
• Links to other related Footnote Pages and Footnote Members
“We encourage everyone with an interest in these Homestead Records to come and enrich this content with your contributions,” says Wilding. “When people come together and share their insights, a new and exciting side of history is revealed.”
Learn more by visiting http://www.footnote.com
About Footnote.com
Footnote.com is a history website where real history might just surprise you. Footnote.com features millions of searchable original documents, providing users with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit www.footnote.com.
The next Tracing the Tribe posting covers some 1,000 Jewish homesteaders who settled the region.
18 September 2008
16 September 2008
Moscow: Jewish museum planned
The committee for the Russian-Jewish Museum of Tolerance in Moscow approved a final architectural plan this week that would produce the world's largest Jewish museum, according to a story in Haaretz.
The Moscow Jewish community signed an agreement with the Russian Cultural Foundation to renovate, expand and create an international Jewish museum. Funding is from the Russian Cultural Foundation, the Moscow Jewish community and Jewish philanthropists - headed by Lev Leviev.
In charge of renovation and expansion is German architectural firm Graft Labs, with design by Ralph Appelbaum Associates. The 9,000 square meter building will be enlarged by adding underground floors totalling 15,000 square meters. This will be the largest Jewish museum in the world.
The space was obtained from Moscow municipality, whose mayor, Yuri Luzhkov understood the importance of creating a Jewish museum. The purpose is to educate about the Holocaust, Jewish history, Jewish culture and attempt to reduce anti-Semitism in the country.
Baruch Gorin, the spokesman for Moscow's Jewish communities, told Haaretz that the museum would be established in a historic building at the Jewish community center, which the community received from the Moscow municipality about five years ago.
The complex of buildings already contains several Jewish institutions, including a soup kitchen, the Shaarei Tzedek health services, a Chabad school, and two buildings - a yeshiva and a university - in the final stages of construction. The new museum is meant to be the complex's crowning glory.
Gorin said the museum will commemorate Russian-Jewish history and include galleries of Jewish art and Judaica. Another section will commemorate the Holocaust. Plans include the construction of a large library, a center for Judaic studies and conference rooms. Gorin predicts that after the municipality provides technical permits, construction will begin in early 2009 and finish in 2011.
The Moscow Jewish community signed an agreement with the Russian Cultural Foundation to renovate, expand and create an international Jewish museum. Funding is from the Russian Cultural Foundation, the Moscow Jewish community and Jewish philanthropists - headed by Lev Leviev.
In charge of renovation and expansion is German architectural firm Graft Labs, with design by Ralph Appelbaum Associates. The 9,000 square meter building will be enlarged by adding underground floors totalling 15,000 square meters. This will be the largest Jewish museum in the world.
The space was obtained from Moscow municipality, whose mayor, Yuri Luzhkov understood the importance of creating a Jewish museum. The purpose is to educate about the Holocaust, Jewish history, Jewish culture and attempt to reduce anti-Semitism in the country.
15 September 2008
Books: Home libraries are in again
Readers of Tracing the Tribe understand books. Most of us can't walk or drive past a bookstore without sneaking a peek.
Do we have room for the books we already have? What about future volumes?
When we went off to Iran in 1970, all our books came along and lived in huge bookcases. When we returned to the US, they came with us to Miami, and then to Los Angeles. Each of them should have received frequent flyer miles!
In Southern Nevada, I turned a downstairs bedroom into a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall expanse of shelves, with a built-in desk by the window.
For the first time, I had a focused book space. Genealogy - full sets of genealogy journals, magazines and big reference books. Cookbooks. Languages. History. Old textbooks (true bibliophiles never discard books!).
I could scoot around in a wheeled desk chair to quickly reach almost anything I needed. The planning concept was that I would also quickly replace the books on the shelves; the reality was very different - I still had piles of books on the floor for different projects.
Of course, there were cookbooks in the family room near the kitchen, there were books upstairs in the bedroom - I'm always reading several concurrent books. And don't even ask about our daughter's room - she was also a confirmed reader from an early age.
Here, in Tel Aviv, I could easily use another apartment just for my books, and I only brought about seven or eight book cartons - the rest are in storage. Over the years, those few cartons have grown exponentially. An extra shelf unit in the kitchen (cookbooks), several in my office (mostly genealogy-related, conference syllabi, gen mags, etc.), bookcases in the living room (everything else). More books in the bedroom. My husband's books are on the coffee table.
Selecting those few cartons was a horrible experience - how does one choose which book to take to a new country? It was like choosing which "favorite" child to take on a journey.
The Wall Street Journal's online edition at WSJ.com has an interesting library story by June Fletcher, "Why Libraries Are Back in Style: It's Not Because of Books; They're 'Memory Rooms' Or TV-Free Private Spaces."
Although reading rates are down and owners may do most of their reading online, there's a resurgence in home libraries. The article and an accompanying podcast covers a variety of related angles: People turn to books during economic turndowns, Oprah Winfrey's magazine cover, popular builder's upgrades, books as design accents, and comments from architects and designers.
The latest annual consumer survey by the National Association of Home Builders indicated that 63% of home buyers wanted a library or considered one essential, with even mass-market builders adding them into house plans with rolling ladders and circular stairs.
An economic downturn means people turn to the classics according to a Long Island interior designer. Libraries are comforting during these times because they project coziness and comfort.
WSJ.com is also featuring a podcast with June Fletcher, discussing the resurgence of libraries. A Virginia architect calls libraries "memory rooms," and in addition to books, include photographs, family treasures and more.
The newest trend is "his and hers" libraries, so each person can keep their collections separate.
While I believe books should look like books, there are some designers who look for books with fancy bindings to match their client's color schemes, no matter the content.
Another trend: Some mass-market builders are replacing dens (or offices) which are redundant in many home which feature huge family rooms or great rooms, while others are putting the library on landings between the first and second floors. One Florida builder indicates that half his clients want library upgrades.
Some builders create mini-libraries throughout homes: under stairs, lofts, alcoves and along hallways. There's even a demand for children's room bookcases as they often have more books, trophies and collections than their parents.
And one person interviewed has a philosophy up there with mine:
A shopping center developer building a 10,000 square foot home in Memphis doesn't know how many books he owns - an estimate is several thousand. He has kept almost everything he's bought since college, his three grown sons' college texts, children's books for his five grandchildren and more. Nearly every wall is filled with volumes.
His decorator wanted him to recover them so their multi-colored spines wouldn't clash with the color scheme. He refused - good for him! - saying "The books are my priority."
Do we have room for the books we already have? What about future volumes?
When we went off to Iran in 1970, all our books came along and lived in huge bookcases. When we returned to the US, they came with us to Miami, and then to Los Angeles. Each of them should have received frequent flyer miles!
In Southern Nevada, I turned a downstairs bedroom into a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall expanse of shelves, with a built-in desk by the window.
For the first time, I had a focused book space. Genealogy - full sets of genealogy journals, magazines and big reference books. Cookbooks. Languages. History. Old textbooks (true bibliophiles never discard books!).
I could scoot around in a wheeled desk chair to quickly reach almost anything I needed. The planning concept was that I would also quickly replace the books on the shelves; the reality was very different - I still had piles of books on the floor for different projects.
Of course, there were cookbooks in the family room near the kitchen, there were books upstairs in the bedroom - I'm always reading several concurrent books. And don't even ask about our daughter's room - she was also a confirmed reader from an early age.
Here, in Tel Aviv, I could easily use another apartment just for my books, and I only brought about seven or eight book cartons - the rest are in storage. Over the years, those few cartons have grown exponentially. An extra shelf unit in the kitchen (cookbooks), several in my office (mostly genealogy-related, conference syllabi, gen mags, etc.), bookcases in the living room (everything else). More books in the bedroom. My husband's books are on the coffee table.
Selecting those few cartons was a horrible experience - how does one choose which book to take to a new country? It was like choosing which "favorite" child to take on a journey.
The Wall Street Journal's online edition at WSJ.com has an interesting library story by June Fletcher, "Why Libraries Are Back in Style: It's Not Because of Books; They're 'Memory Rooms' Or TV-Free Private Spaces."
Although reading rates are down and owners may do most of their reading online, there's a resurgence in home libraries. The article and an accompanying podcast covers a variety of related angles: People turn to books during economic turndowns, Oprah Winfrey's magazine cover, popular builder's upgrades, books as design accents, and comments from architects and designers.
The latest annual consumer survey by the National Association of Home Builders indicated that 63% of home buyers wanted a library or considered one essential, with even mass-market builders adding them into house plans with rolling ladders and circular stairs.
An economic downturn means people turn to the classics according to a Long Island interior designer. Libraries are comforting during these times because they project coziness and comfort.
WSJ.com is also featuring a podcast with June Fletcher, discussing the resurgence of libraries. A Virginia architect calls libraries "memory rooms," and in addition to books, include photographs, family treasures and more.
The newest trend is "his and hers" libraries, so each person can keep their collections separate.
While I believe books should look like books, there are some designers who look for books with fancy bindings to match their client's color schemes, no matter the content.
Another trend: Some mass-market builders are replacing dens (or offices) which are redundant in many home which feature huge family rooms or great rooms, while others are putting the library on landings between the first and second floors. One Florida builder indicates that half his clients want library upgrades.
Some builders create mini-libraries throughout homes: under stairs, lofts, alcoves and along hallways. There's even a demand for children's room bookcases as they often have more books, trophies and collections than their parents.
And one person interviewed has a philosophy up there with mine:
A shopping center developer building a 10,000 square foot home in Memphis doesn't know how many books he owns - an estimate is several thousand. He has kept almost everything he's bought since college, his three grown sons' college texts, children's books for his five grandchildren and more. Nearly every wall is filled with volumes.
His decorator wanted him to recover them so their multi-colored spines wouldn't clash with the color scheme. He refused - good for him! - saying "The books are my priority."
Netherlands: Jewish home interior
Amsterdam researchers have found an almost-intact 1940s interior in a house that belonged to Jewish banker Lodewijk Korijn. According to them, the living room is apparently more authentic than the Anne Frank House.
In 1942, the Korijn family was transported to concentration camps. Since then, the interior has barely been touched.
The story is here, with photographs.
University of Amsterdam heritage studies instructor Alexander Westra discovered the room last year when working on a historic interiors project. He believes that the home should be protected heritage.
After the war, theology students used the house; the living room was their common area. In the hall is an original dresser, and the still-working lighting is historic.
Read more at the link above.
In 1942, the Korijn family was transported to concentration camps. Since then, the interior has barely been touched.
The story is here, with photographs.
University of Amsterdam heritage studies instructor Alexander Westra discovered the room last year when working on a historic interiors project. He believes that the home should be protected heritage.
After the war, theology students used the house; the living room was their common area. In the hall is an original dresser, and the still-working lighting is historic.
Read more at the link above.
Award: Gary Mokotoff
Jewish genealogy's Gary Mokotoff has been honored with Honorary Life Membership by the Association of Professional Genealogists, at the Federation of Genealogical Societies' recent Philadelphia conference.
Congratulations, Gary!
WESTMINSTER, Colo., September 9 – Members of the Association of Professional Genealogists gathered in Philadelphia on September 5th to an honor a long-time member for his professional accomplishments.
The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) named Gary Mokotoff as the second recipient of the APG Honorary Lifetime Membership Award. The award was created in 2007 to recognize significant contributions to the field of genealogy by APG members. It recognizes members whose achievement in genealogy has spanned a significant length of time. The award was presented during the association luncheon at the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Mokotoff, an author, lecturer, and leader of Jewish genealogy, has been recognized for creating an excellent body of work in the field of Jewish genealogy.
He is the author of a number of books including the award-winning Where Once We Walked, a gazetteer that provides information about 23,500 towns in Central and Eastern Europe where Jews lived before the Holocaust, How to Document Victims and Locate Survivors of the Holocaust, and Getting Started in Jewish Genealogy. He co-edited the Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy. For its publishing efforts in Jewish genealogy, his company, Avotaynu, received the “Body of Work Award” from the Association of Jewish Libraries (2004).
Mokotoff has been recognized by three major organizations for his accomplishments in genealogy. Mokotoff is also known for his application of computers to genealogy. His best known accomplishment is co-authorship of the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex System.
The Association of Professional Genealogists (http://www.apgen.org), established in 1979, represents over 1,800 genealogists, librarians, writers, editors, historians, instructors, booksellers, publishers, and others involved in genealogy-related businesses. APG encourages genealogical excellence, ethical practice, mentoring, and education. The organization also supports the preservation and accessibility of records useful to the fields of genealogy, local, and social history. Its members represent all fifty states, Canada, and twenty-six other countries.
Congratulations, Gary!
Wisconsin: Jewish life documentary
Although Andrew Muchin believed he would find that Jews have lived in some 100 Wisconsin communities, the local historian was surprised by evidence of Jews in more than 300 state villages, town and cities.
This story in the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle describes a documentary on small town Jewish life in that state.
Most of the 300 towns have no Jews left, said Muchin, director of the Wisconsin Society for Jewish Learning’s Wisconsin Small Jewish Communities History Project.
The state's small town Jews included merchants, farmers, cattle brokers, and fur and scrap metal wholesalers, who lived in communities such as Arpin, Sheboygan, LaCrosse and Appleton.
WSJL was founded in the 1950s to research Wisconsin Jewish history, but in 2001, then-president Dan Weber restarted the project and Muchin was hired to direct the project.
The film idea developed in 2005, when the WSJL contacted Milwaukee documentary maker Brad Lichtenstein, founder/director of docUWM at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts Film Department. He had just launched the media center to teach undergrad and grad film students how to make documentaries from community projects.
Funding included a two-year grant of $125,000 from the Helen Bader Foundation and support from the LE Phillips Family Foundation and the Lucky and Jack Rosenberg Philanthropic Fund.
Eight students - none Jewish - began the project in fall 2006, using Muchin's resources.
Future plans are to raise more funds to create a small Jewish communities curriculum for public and Jewish schools, a museum-quality exhibit to travel the state, and perhaps a book.
Free public screenings of the film in eight cities prior to the TV screening wll feature Q&As with student filmmakers and local experts:
7pm Thursday, September 18, Discovery World, Milwaukee
2pm Sunday, September 21, Mt. Sinai Congregation, Wausau
7.30pm Tuesday, September 23, UW-Madison, Madison
7pm Thursday, September 25, Moses Montefiore Synagogue, Appleton
7pm Sunday, September 28, Congregation Sons of Abraham, LaCrosse
7pm Thursday, October 2, Beth Hillel Temple, Kenosha
1pm Monday, October 6, Jewish Museum, Milwaukee.
noon Sunday, October 12, Congregation Beth El, Sheboygan.
Muchin and Lichtenstein will speak at the Milwaukee screenings. For more information, read the complete article at the link above.
This story in the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle describes a documentary on small town Jewish life in that state.
Most of the 300 towns have no Jews left, said Muchin, director of the Wisconsin Society for Jewish Learning’s Wisconsin Small Jewish Communities History Project.
“There are Jews, that I know of, in fewer than 100 communities right now and where there were synagogues in maybe 21 or 22 communities at the peak, outside of Milwaukee and Madison, I think it’s 11 now that have synagogues and some of them are, frankly, fading — synagogues in aging communities.”
Muchin’s research has resulted in a soon-to-be-released documentary film, “Chosen Towns: The Story of Jews in Wisconsin’s Small Communities,” made in collaboration with docUWM.
The one-hour film will be aired statewide on Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. on both Wisconsin Public Television and Milwaukee Public Television.
The state's small town Jews included merchants, farmers, cattle brokers, and fur and scrap metal wholesalers, who lived in communities such as Arpin, Sheboygan, LaCrosse and Appleton.
WSJL was founded in the 1950s to research Wisconsin Jewish history, but in 2001, then-president Dan Weber restarted the project and Muchin was hired to direct the project.
The film idea developed in 2005, when the WSJL contacted Milwaukee documentary maker Brad Lichtenstein, founder/director of docUWM at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts Film Department. He had just launched the media center to teach undergrad and grad film students how to make documentaries from community projects.
Funding included a two-year grant of $125,000 from the Helen Bader Foundation and support from the LE Phillips Family Foundation and the Lucky and Jack Rosenberg Philanthropic Fund.
Eight students - none Jewish - began the project in fall 2006, using Muchin's resources.
Future plans are to raise more funds to create a small Jewish communities curriculum for public and Jewish schools, a museum-quality exhibit to travel the state, and perhaps a book.
Free public screenings of the film in eight cities prior to the TV screening wll feature Q&As with student filmmakers and local experts:
7pm Thursday, September 18, Discovery World, Milwaukee
2pm Sunday, September 21, Mt. Sinai Congregation, Wausau
7.30pm Tuesday, September 23, UW-Madison, Madison
7pm Thursday, September 25, Moses Montefiore Synagogue, Appleton
7pm Sunday, September 28, Congregation Sons of Abraham, LaCrosse
7pm Thursday, October 2, Beth Hillel Temple, Kenosha
1pm Monday, October 6, Jewish Museum, Milwaukee.
noon Sunday, October 12, Congregation Beth El, Sheboygan.
Muchin and Lichtenstein will speak at the Milwaukee screenings. For more information, read the complete article at the link above.
Washington DC: Father Desbois, book launch
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum will host Father Patrick Desbois for a presentation and book signing at 7pm Monday, September 22, in the Helena Rubinstein Auditorium.
The event commemorates the launch of the English translation of his book, "The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews." (Palgrave Macmillan, 272pgs, 16 photos). Paul A. Shapiro, Director, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at USHMM, wrote the foreword.
Reception and book signing to follow.
For more information, click here.
The event commemorates the launch of the English translation of his book, "The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews." (Palgrave Macmillan, 272pgs, 16 photos). Paul A. Shapiro, Director, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at USHMM, wrote the foreword.In this heart-wrenching book, Father Patrick Desbois tells the poignant story of how he spent most of a decade locating 800 mass gravesites and other execution sites of Jews exterminated by Nazis in Ukraine. Using forensic evidence, eyewitness accounts, and new archival material, Desbois brings new focus to the Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads in Ukraine. He moves on to honor the victims with proper burials, bring life to their stories, and interviews aging Ukrainian witnesses to this travesty.
Dr. Deborah Lipstadt writes, “Father Patrick Desbois has performed a special act of loving kindness not for one person but for hundreds of thousands of people who were murdered in cold blood. He has done so despite the fact that many people would have preferred this story never to be uncovered and others doubted that it ever could be done."
Reception and book signing to follow.
For more information, click here.
Houston update: Family Tree DNA
I received an email from Bennett Greenspan of FamilyTreeDNA.com which is located in hard-hit Houston, Texas, now recovering from Hurricane Ike.
The building - housing company offices and the Houston laboratory - is without power, as are most of Houston's office buildings, and sustained damage, like so many other city office buildings. The building will be closed for the next few days until tenants can return.
Despite this situation, several staff members worked over the weekend to transfer equipment to other locations so normal office operations can resume on Monday or Tuesday from an alternative location. Mail will be picked up at the local post office so kits can be checked-in and processed.
Other important points:
-FamilyTreeDNA's standard Y-DNA and mtDNA tests are processed at the University of Arizona lab in Tucson. This processing is functioning normally with no storm impact.
-Appropriate measures were taken to safeguard and protect data and servers and all computer systems are in place and functioning normally. The web sites have been up, available and running normally as they were before and during the storm.
Writes Bennett:
Tracing the Tribe sends its best wishes to everyone at FamilyTreeDNA.com: Bennett Greenspan, Max Blankfeld, their employees and their families.
The building - housing company offices and the Houston laboratory - is without power, as are most of Houston's office buildings, and sustained damage, like so many other city office buildings. The building will be closed for the next few days until tenants can return.
Despite this situation, several staff members worked over the weekend to transfer equipment to other locations so normal office operations can resume on Monday or Tuesday from an alternative location. Mail will be picked up at the local post office so kits can be checked-in and processed.
Other important points:
-FamilyTreeDNA's standard Y-DNA and mtDNA tests are processed at the University of Arizona lab in Tucson. This processing is functioning normally with no storm impact.
-Appropriate measures were taken to safeguard and protect data and servers and all computer systems are in place and functioning normally. The web sites have been up, available and running normally as they were before and during the storm.
Writes Bennett:
"The coming days will allow us to have a better assessment of when our Houston lab will resume normal operations, at which point we will be back to you again with additional information about any delays in delivering results for the advanced tests that our lab processes in Houston. (Advanced panels, FGS and Deep Clade Y SNP's)
Please forgive us if in the next few days we don't meet our standard level of customer service as to e-mails and phone calls. We will be back to normal as soon as possible. We appreciate your continued support."
Tracing the Tribe sends its best wishes to everyone at FamilyTreeDNA.com: Bennett Greenspan, Max Blankfeld, their employees and their families.
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