Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Six Free Places to Look for Old City Directories

Re-print from Family Tree Magazine

By Amy Johnson Crow

City and county directories are fantastic resources for genealogy research. Unlike the US census, which is taken once a decade, city and county directories are often published annually or every other year. This gives you more opportunities to put our ancestors in a specific place at a specific time. City directories are also indispensable when researching a house history.

Ancestry.com has a huge collection of digitized city directories. Its collection “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995” has more than 1.5 billion records. (It’s also the third most-popular collection on the site, behind Public Member Trees and the 1940 federal census.)

Perhaps because of the size of the collection, many people think that if the directory isn’t on Ancestry.com, it doesn’t exist. Yes, Ancestry’s collection is enormous, but it doesn’t have everything.

Don’t worry! There are lots of places to look for the directories you need—and those listed below are free.

1. The public library in the city or county of interest

Public libraries often collect directories for their own city and county. Start with their online catalogs. However, many libraries don’t list each year of the directory they hold. The catalog might list only the earliest year, or give a range of years with no indication of missing volumes. If you don’t find what you’re looking for in the catalog, contact the library. (Bonus: Some libraries have digitized directories for their area. I recently discovered several Columbus city directories on the website of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.)

2. MyHeritage

More specifically, search the free Compilation of Published Sources on MyHeritage, which contains a variety of types of books in addition to city directories.

3. Internet Archive

Besides hosting the Wayback Machine, Internet Archive has digitized millions of items, including city and county directories. To find them, begin with a basic search of city directory or county directory (For example, Indianapolis city directory or Nassau county directory.)

4. Google Books

Use the same search strategy that you would on Internet Archive. However, be aware that some results may only be a snippet or preview of the full directory.

5. Online Historical Directories Website

This website has links to hundreds of online directories. Also check out Linkpendium and Cyndi’s List (note that some of the links on these sites lead to fee-based resources).

6. WorldCat

If the local public library doesn’t have the directory you need and you can’t find it digitized online, look it up in WorldCat to see what other libraries have it.

Though Ancestry.com’s collection of city directories is massive, it doesn’t include all of the ones that have been published. The local public library and other websites can help you fill in the gaps.

Monday, December 21, 2020

6 Baby Steps to Organize Your Genealogy Research

With the new Year fast approaching, here is a re-print from family tree to help with any resolutions. Enjoy

By Diane Haddad

Young child taking small steps across a green lawn. — If organizing your genealogy seems intimidating, remember that you can always start small, and break the process into more manageable pieces.

Does the word “organization” make you sweat? Do you find yourself often looking through stacks of research for a particular record or photo?

It’s an uneasy feeling when you don’t know whether you already have this or that information (and where you’d look to find out), where you got a particular record or “fact,” or how you’d retrieve files after a computer crash (if you’d even be able to). That must be why “get organized” is at the top of so many genealogy to-do lists for the new year.

Following these tips from professional genealogists won’t solve your organization problems overnight, but they can give you a small way to work toward accomplishing organized genealogy.

1. Keep an updated research to-do list.

I follow this advice with a research log in a spreadsheet on Google Drive. I can use my phone or computer to add ideas that come to me while doing other research. When I complete a task, I check it off and enter any findings (and then pat myself on the back).

2. Label and organize paper and digital file folders with a consistent scheme.

If you’re just beginning to climb your family tree, you don’t need to launch right into a detailed filing system. All you need to get going are some file folders and a plastic crate, or if you like using binders, a 2- to 3-inch three-ring binder with subject dividers. It doesn’t matter which you choose; what’s important is that your system is easy to use and — most important — to maintain.

3. Come up with a naming scheme for digitized photos and records, too.

For example, LASTNAME-FIRSTNAME-DAY-MONTH-YEAR-RECORDTYPE. As you develop your file-naming scheme, create a File-naming Cheat Sheet and post it next to your computer to help you maintain consistency.

4. Make time for organization every time you research

Take a few minutes to file or recycle papers and neaten your desk (or the dining room table) as you wind up a research session. You’ll be able to pick up next time with fewer distractions.

5. Keep a “to file” basket on your desk or a shelf, and schedule regular times to file those papers.

I do this with my family’s non-genealogy paperwork, which helps keep papers off the kitchen counter. Most of my genealogy is digital, so I have a “to file” folder on my hard drive (the problem now being the lack of a paper avalanche to remind me to file stuff).

6. Don’t waste money on unnecessary organizational supplies.

Before you buy anything, figure out what you need to organize. Declutter and decide how you’ll arrange what’s left. For example, would binders or filing drawers work best? What size bookshelf should house your library? Will you need archival boxes to store old photos? You might already have some of the supplies you need.

But no matter how many bins, drawers and shelves you have, it’s your research practices—not the boxes and binders—that’ll keep you organized.

Last updated: November 2019

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Holiday Traditions! Food for the Holiday's

This is a re-print of a recent post on Newspapers.com ... Enjoy!

8 Delicious Holiday Dishes to Try This December

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Karen Lee

^{(The St. Louis Star and Times, 07 Dec 1934)}

Looking for some vintage recipes to try this holiday season? We searched the historical papers on Newspapers.com to find these 8 recipes for delicious December dishes!

(Click on any of the recipes below to see a larger version on our site.)