More Live! From the Family History Library…

What a week of discovery we are all having.  Including me and other consultants and attendees at the Family History Expos April Research Retreat

  1. The 194o Census.  At the general information desk in the lobby of the Family History Library, a special television monitor has been set up to show the progress of indexing the 1940 entries–state by state.  For example Oregon is 98% indexed as of noon today.  Utah is very close to 100% indexed.  And so on.  In my next blog, I will report on those states that are finished.  I was told originally that Nevada and Delaware were completed–Nevada is 96% complete and Delaware is finished.  
  2. The Family History Library holds 356,000 books;  2.4 million reels of microfilm;  3,725 electronic resources (digitized records and CD’s) most of which are available to you through 4,600 local family history centers in 127 countries.  The whole thought is mind-boggling!
  3. Special segments of research being done by attendees include–Susquehanna Company Land Records kept by both Pennsylvania and  Connecticut.  Irish estate records.  Civil War records including the membership records of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).  Guion Miller Rolls for Cherokee claims.  German farm records and churchbooks.  Norwegian churchbooks and passenger lists.  And on and on.

Each day unrolls a new record challenge from this magnificent and often under-used collection of genealogy resources.  Stay tuned for some more detailed and in-depth descriptions of the records I discover each and every time I read the catalog.

The Catalog of the Family History  Library is a vast record bibliography for all kinds of record categories and many types of genealogy media.  In my humble opinion, this catalog is the first place to look for a potential genealogy breakthrough because of the statistics which I gave  in #2 above.  Check to see if the record you need is available and in what media it can be found.  Then check your library resources close to your own home and online at various genealogy sites you frequent.  Watch for new indexes and finding aids to previously unindexed sources to save you search time. 

And if you can, plan to be a part of the October 2012 Research Retreat–where I will take you by the hand and lead you to your ancestors.  Or one of us will!  http://familyhistoryexpos.com

Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle  http://arleneeakle.com

PS  I was told by an avid researcher that I should stay home and write more on my blogs.  Since my travel is less in May, watch for more information on all of my blogs and a launch date for my new blog on the Scots-Irish.

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