When Parwinder Grewal, then-president of Vermont State University, announced his plan in February 2023 to eliminate most of the physical books from the state college system's libraries and switch to an all-digital library, students, faculty and staff described his decision in many ways, none of them flattering: "shocking," "embarrassing," "surreal," "patriarchal" "ableist" and "a joke," to name a few.

For the students in Sam Davis-Boyd's documentary filmmaking class at VTSU–Castleton, the announcement — part of a flawed plan to cut $5 million annually from the state college system's budget — was something more: an opportunity to practice documentary filmmaking in real time. 

One day after Grewal's announcement, students in Davis-Boyd's Documentary Workshop class decided to forgo their previously scheduled projects. Instead, the students focused their attention on what it meant for a college to no longer offer physical books in its campus library. 

“That’s kind of the nature of documentary filmmaking," said Davis-Boyd, an assistant professor of communications. "You think you’re going to do one thing, and then the story changes and unfolds.”

The film, titled "Error 404: Books Not Found," premiered last week on the Castleton campus, with a second showing tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, May 8, at 5 p.m. at VTSU–Johnson. The 30-minute documentary chronicles the monthslong protests and community activism in spring 2023 that ultimately led to Grewal's resignation in April 2023 and his cost-cutting measures being rescinded.

You can read more in an article by Ken Picard at: http://bit.ly/3JGvzLv

The following is a press release issued by the (U.S.) National Archives and Records Administration:

Classical Greek and Roman thinkers exerted a profound influence on America’s Founders, according to Jeffrey Rosen, author of “The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.”

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President of the National Constitution Center and author Jeffrey Rosen and Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan discuss the Founders’ “Pursuit of Happiness” at the National Archives in Washington, DC, April 24, 2024, to kick off a multiyear celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. National Archives photo by John Valceanu.

On April 24, to kick off the National Archives' multiyear celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan hosted a conversation with Rosen. The two discussed what “the pursuit of happiness” meant to the nation’s Founders and how that famous phrase defined their lives and became the bedrock of our democracy.

According to Rosen, who serves as president of the National Constitution Center, the Founders idea of “the pursuit of happiness” may, surprisingly, stand in stark contrast to what the phrase means to Americans today. “When you think about happiness today, it’s ‘You do you! Let it all hang out! Follow your bliss!’ Pursuing pleasure, basically,” Rosen said. “For the Founders, it was the opposite. It was resisting immediate pleasure so you could achieve the long term well-being that comes from self-mastery.”

Shogan asked if the regulation and self-moderation of immediate gratification that the Founders found so critical in building the nation were in opposition to another of the three founding principles: liberty.

“For the Founders, personal self-governance is necessary for political self-governance,” Rosen stated. “Far from being in tension, they think the whole American experiment is going to fall, unless people can find the self-restraint, the moderation, the self-mastery to do two things: First, to learn enough about the history of liberty, so that they’ll defend it when it’s under siege. And second, to vote wisely; to choose moderate, temperate, virtuous leaders who, instead of being driven by ambition or avarice, will tend to the public good.”

During the discussion, Shogan noted the stark dichotomy that the Founders included life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence as “unalienable rights,” while many themselves relied on and profited from the labor of enslaved peoples.

“It was very striking that all of the enslavers from Virginia in the founding generation—Jefferson, Mason, Madison, Patrick Henry, and Washington—all said that slavery was immoral and violated the natural rights of the Declaration. And when Jefferson said ‘All men are created equal,’ he included enslaved people in that, and he always insisted that slavery should end at some point in the distant future. What was really striking for me to learn is that, far from denying their hypocrisy, they acknowledged it.”

Following the discussion, the speakers received questions from the audience.

View the discussion on the National Archives YouTube Channel.

View the National Archives Calendar of Events for information on future events.

Joseph George Sutherland, 62, was sentenced to life without parole for 21 years in two 1983 murders in Toronto. He is therefore scheduled to be released when he is 83 years old.

A Toronto detective says police would never have pinpointed a Moosonee man as the offender in the historic murders of two Toronto women, 40 years ago, if it weren't for recent developments in investigative genetic genealogy. 

Erin Gilmour, 22, and Susan Tice, 45, were both killed in their Toronto homes in 1983; sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. 

Joseph George Sutherland, 62, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to two counts of second-degree murder in their deaths.

He was sentenced March 22, 2024 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 21 years on two counts of second-degree murder.

Detectives were able to link the two killings using DNA technology in 2000, according to the Toronto Police Service, with investigators determining the same man killed both women.

You can read more in an article by Kate Rutherford published in the CBC.CA News web site at: https://bit.ly/3wp9Pkd.

The essential guide to Manx folk dancing was first published in 1983 as a book and cassette.

An essential guide to Manx folk dance has gone online more than 40 years after it was first published.

Still the ‘go-to’ reference book for both new and experienced dancers, Rinkaghyn Vannin – the Dances of Mann was produced in 1983 by members of the dance group Bock Yuan Fannee and folk dance collector Mona Douglas and published by the organisation Sleih gyn Thie.

Three years later, a cassette of the accompanying dance music recorded by John Kaneen and featuring a variety of leading Manx musicians was released as a learning aid.

Now, after four decades, the trustees of Sleih gyn Thie and Culture Vannin have worked together to make both the book and music audio freely available online.

Former trustee of Sleih gyn Thie and one of the dancers behind the book, Rosemary Speers said: ‘Rinkaghyn Vannin was produced by a team of us in response to the growing interest in Manx dance, both in the island and internationally through the growth of folk festivals.

You can read more in an article by James Campbell   in the Isle of Man Today web site at: https://tinyurl.com/mryaj8bh.

The following is a book review written by Bobbi King:

Mastering Spanish Handwriting and Documents: 1520–1820
by George R. Ryskamp, Peggy Ryskamp, H. Leandro Soria. 
Genealogical Publishing Co., 2023. 307 pages

George and Peggy Ryskamp, and H. Leandro Soria have compiled an impressive resource for anyone encountering the challenges of deciphering and interpreting the complexity of Spanish handwriting. Within each chapter are the specific documents studied in a step-by-step manner that help develop the student’s skills in methodology and expand the expertise needed to take on the intricacies of deciphering Spanish script.

The chapter “Handwriting and the Spanish Language” gives a brief overview of the history of the Spanish language, describes specific letterforms, and describes the differences in syntax (the arrangement of words in a sentence) between the language style found in old Spanish documents and today’s modern Spanish language.

Two chapters, “Marriage in Facie Ecclesiae” and “Marriage Dispensations and Contracts,” offer numerous examples of marriage documents. The pivotal events of marriage provide the diversity of documents and hands-on practice that enhance expertise in sharpening interpretive abilities while providing insight into the historical context of Spanish customs associated with the establishment of families, both within and outside the marital state.

The chapter “Economics and Society: Types of Notarial Records” reviews examples of notarial records governing financial and economic transactions. 

In “Dying the Good Death, as Seen in Parish Records,” and “Dying the Good Death, as Seen in Notarial Records,” are reviewed details of the testaments, parish records, and related documents that reveal the nuances of the Spanish concept of “dying well.”

The chapter “The Quest for Salvation: Baptisms, Confirmations and the Eucharist” emphasizes the predominant role of the Catholic Church in the daily lives of Spanish citizens. Religious sacraments and rites created the institutional records of names, places, family identifications, and notes that unravel family relationships within the handwritten parish records of the Church.

“Mastering Spanish Handwriting,” with its practical guidance and comprehensive content, will be an indispensable resource for anyone who must master the art of deciphering Spanish script.

“Mastering Spanish Handwriting” is available from the Genealogical Publishing Co. and from Amazon.

The following announcement was written by the folks at the Colorado Genealogical Society:

The Colorado Genealogical Society plans a celebration in observance of its 100th year of incorporation, honoring the achievements and milestones of the innumerable number of volunteers who have been the bedrock for the success and endurance of the society.

Since 1924, CGS has guided the movement of genealogy from the family safe-guarding of pencil-drawn charts and stored-in-the-bureau paper lineages to a discipline of study, compilation, and preservation. 

Across the decades, with its rewarding alliance with the Denver Public Library, CGS has sustained its mission and furthered its primary goals of education, collaboration, and promotion of family history. CGS has played host to decades of classes, seminars, workshops, and relationships, informing and educating the public on the high standards of research, critical analysis of information, and crucial preservation of records, both private and public.

In May, the society will gather and remember and laud its many officers and volunteers, who, over the years, have generously given their time and support to the society.

We invite members, past and present, retired and active, from far and near, to join us and remember the CGS genealogists who have influenced our efforts and remain memorable in our family history journeys.

CGS expresses deep appreciation to all its members, and the librarians and the historians, and the broader Colorado genealogical community for their support and trust. We are proud of our accomplishments, and we are excited about the future as we continue to innovate and lead in this avid vocation.

CGS invites all officers, committee folks, and volunteers, as well as colleagues in the wider regional genealogical community, to join us in celebrating this special occasion and milestone. 

And we look forward to the next 100 years of success!

The luncheon celebration will commence on May 18, 2024 at the Mile Hi Church Community Center in Lakewood, Colo. Luncheon tickets will be  available at www.cogensoc.us until May 7, 2024. 

Greifswald’s oldest books can be accessed digitally via another new portal. The Manuscript Portal (HSP) is the central online portal for handwritten books from the Middle Ages and modern times. These books are unique cultural artifacts and unique historical sources. The participating libraries from all over Germany make their historical works available to the public and researchers via the portal.

The Greifswald University Library (UBG) and the Library of the Spiritual Ministry in Greifswald as a historical church library have a rich collection of medieval manuscripts. These collections are an important part of the educational and cultural history of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In a project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Greifswald University Library (UBG) digitized the valuable works and presented the results via the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Digital Libraryand in the manuscript portal.

In the project, 104 manuscript volumes from the Greifswald Ministry of Spirituality and 55 volumes from the holdings of the Greifswald University Library were digitized. In total, this resulted in 83,375 image files with 72,293 pages. Together with previously digitized works, 165 manuscripts stored in Greifswald are now available via the M-V Digital Library and the manuscript portal.

Digitizing medieval manuscripts is a particular challenge. Before they can be scanned, bookbinders and conservators work on books with water damage, loose leaves, or defective bindings. In addition, the employees have to handle the valuable unique items with particular care.

You can learn a lot more here.

Here is an article that is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However,  I suspect that many genealogists will be interested in this:

Are you creating a webpage, or an email design? If you are, you're likely needing the use of a reliable HTML editor. Allow me to introduce you to: HTML Editor for Google Drive.

I have been using this for a few days and found it to be quite useful. It isn't the most powerful HTML editor in the market place, but it is one of the most useful given the price: FREE. It works right in Google Drive, and allows you to effortlessly switch between editing code, and visually designing your webpage or email.

Key Features:

To use, just: 

Install the app >> Go to Google Drive >> New >> More >> HTML Editor for Google Drive

The HTML Editor for Google Drive is produced by the folks at the cloudHQ team and is offered to the general public. It is free to use, intuitive, and helpful.

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. 

Genealogists often have a need to make reproductions of old family documents, such as wedding certificates, military discharge papers, immigration documents, and especially of old photographs. Another common requirement is to make copies of pages in a book, be it a published genealogy book or entries from the book of deeds at a county courthouse. 

The most common method of making digital copies is to use a computer scanner. Scanners have worked well for thousands of genealogists. However, scanners are not always available at the time of need. Also, the owners of delicate documents, especially bound books, may not want the documents to be handled by placing them in a scanner. Finally, oversized documents, such as deed books and many certificates, are especially problematic. Many of the documents genealogists encounter do not fit nicely into a desktop scanner designed for use with 8-1/2-inch by 11-inch or A4 documents. Luckily, today’s technology offers several solutions.

Scanners are not the only way to create digital images. You may already own a great analog-to-digital image conversion tool. Perhaps you even carried it on your last family vacation. 

The remainder of this article is reserved for Plus Edition subscribers only. If you have a Plus Edition subscription, you may read the full article at:  https://eogn.com/(*)-Plus-Edition-News-Articles/13348816. (A Plus Edition password is required to access that article.)

If you are not yet a Plus Edition subscriber, you can learn more about such subscriptions and even upgrade to a Plus Edition subscription immediately at https://eogn.com/page-18077.