I could use this to re-create digital images of places where my ancestors lived:

Using old insurance fire maps, researchers have enabled a machine-learning system to recreate 3D models of neighborhoods that no longer exist. Not only could the technique lead to VR tours of the 'hoods, but it could help study the economic impact of urbanization.

In 1866, a young surveyor named D. A. Sandborn was contracted by the Aetna insurance company to create insurance maps for several cities in Tennessee. That project, along with an atlas he made of the city of Boston, led Sandborn to found a company that still provides insurance companies with maps to this day. In total, the company has created maps that have helped insurance companies evaluate the fire risk to about 12,000 cities and towns in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Because the maps have been around so long, they have proven to be an invaluable historical archive; a record of the way urban areas have grown and, in some cases, dwindled in North America for over a century. The map collection was eventually digitized and the Library of Congress now has over 35,000 maps in its online collection.

Working with this digital archive, a doctoral student in geography at The Ohio State University named Yue Lin carried out a study in which he created machine learning tools allowing a computer to comb through the records to extract data such as their footprints, the materials they were built from, and what they were used for.

A whole new approach

"The story here is we now have the ability to unlock the wealth of data that is embedded in these Sanborn fire atlases," said Harvey Miller, Yue's co-author and professor of geography at Ohio State. "It enables a whole new approach to urban historical research that we could never have imagined before machine learning. It is a game changer."

You can read more at: https://newatlas.com/science/maps-lost-neighborhoods-vr-landscapes/ 

NOTE: This article is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, I find it to be very interesting so I decided to publish the information here.

Leonardo da Vinci, the master of many disciplines, transformed humanity's horizons through his art, science, and ingenuity. Today, in collaboration with 28 institutions from around the world, Google Arts & Culture unveils Inside a Genius Mind — the largest online retrospective dedicated to the genius of the Renaissance, showcasing his extraordinary codices alongside his artistic and scientific contributions.

From the stages of his life to dispelling myths, and examining his masterpieces up close, everyone can delve into Leonardo's mind as we’ve brought together for the first time 1,300 pages from his collections of volumes and notebooks. The codices, brimming sketches, ideas, and observations, offer a window into the boundless imagination of one of history's greatest polymaths. With the aid of Machine Learning and the curatorial expertise of Professor Martin Kemp, the accompanying experiment also called "Inside a Genius Mind" unravels these intriguing and sometimes mysterious materials.

You can read the original article at: https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/arts-culture/leonardo-da-vinci-inside-a-genius-mind/. 

I haven't had a chance to use this new web site yet but the advertisements and reports from early users sound great. Here is some of the promotional claims from the site: https://weare.xyz/:

Free your stories from outdated technology and paper files, inspire your family with a living online archive.

We've made it so easy. Establish an interactive archive at the heart of your family.

Create your online site with ease Our super simple interactive tree builder. Automatically organizes your site (built by a GEDCOM in seconds).

Showcase your story like never before. Create, curate and enrich a kaleidoscope of captivating artefacts, photos, videos & stories.

Engage family to ensure your story is passed on. Ask for help to fill in the gaps, and even see relatives record their own lives as children and adults.

Interactive Archive Builder: At its core, We Are [...] is an online Family History content management system complete with one of the most advanced family tree indexing and display engines developed to date

Family Involvement & Personalisation:

Effortless Backups for Peace of Mind

We Are [...] is a well organised online repository for all your family history related materials. With a click, you (and your family) can download everything into folders on your hard drive which mirror you website sections. Content is repeated in all relevant folders for ease of access.

As well as media files, this offline backup contains print ready pdfs of all your articles and trees, so you have the added benefit of being able to create physical copies.

Simply uploading content onto your We Are [...] site sorts and organises it in an easy to understand structure. No more anxiety about others needing to access your hard drive, locate and comprehend your research.

Summary of benefits

The moment family members join your shared family archive, you have already started passing the baton and sharing stewardship of your family history.

Automatic and very clear organisation of content into folders that will make sense to relatives.

Family can download directly, removing complication of sharing and distributing hard drive based content.

Online content can be extracted in print ready PDFs, offering the added security of generating physical copies.

WeAre.xyz is a commercial web site and charges fees for its services. However, the first 30 days are available free of charge so you get a good chance to try it out and see how you mike it at no charge.

Fees vary from free (with up to 100 megabytes of storage space) up to $19/95 a month (or $199 a year if paid 12 months in advance) for unlimited storage space. 

The site also contains a vast family tree spanning most, if not all of the royal families of Europe going back to before the time of William the Conqueror. The tree and site are constantly being refined and updated; the further back you go the more raw the data. You can use the free site all you want at no charge.

There is a lot more information to absorb at: https://weare.xyz/. You might especially want to read the Frequently-Asked Questions at https://weare.xyz/faqs/. 

I have been predicting for years that microfilm is about to disappear. Major proof of that has just been announced by FamilySearch:

Due to the rapidly diminishing supply of microfilm, the ability to request copies of microfilms from the Granite Mountain Record Vault to be viewed in the FamilySearch Library will no longer be available after Saturday, July 15, 2023. We are currently working on alternate methods of access for microfilmed records that cannot be released to the public online. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we develop these alternative options.

If you have any additional questions, you may contact the Family History Library at FHL-SLC-FilmRequests@churchofjesuschrist.org.  

The following announcement was written by the organizers of the 2023 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy:  

Join us for the 2023 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, where genealogists from around the world will come together for an unforgettable gathering.

We are excited to meet in person in London, England from Sunday, July 30 to Thursday, August 3, 2023 after a long wait since our last in-person event in 2019.

We are happy to share that early bird pricing has been extended until July 15th.

This year’s conference features more than 100 speakers covering virtually every aspect of Jewish genealogy over the course of 200 sessions. Conference track themes are Commonwealth Track, Jewish Communities Worldwide and the Shoah, Migration, Methodology, Technology/Computer Labs, DNA, and Storytelling.

The Conference will include lunches, computer labs, and networking through Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and Birds of a Feather (BOFs) sessions. An Exhibitor Hall and Resource Room will include genealogy experts, mentors, and archivists, and free access to online genealogy databases for a one-stop research experience at the conference site.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your knowledge, connect with fellow genealogists, and contribute to the field of Jewish genealogy. Visit our website at www.iajgs2023.org to find all the conference details and register for the event. We can't wait to see you in London!

In honor of July 4th, MyHeritage explored the family history of Steve Doocy, host of Fox & Friends, and surprised him with information about his connection to the first 3 presidents of the United States: George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.

You can learn a lot more about Steve Doocy’d ancestry in the MyHeritage Blog at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2023/07/steve-doocy-of-fox-friends-discovers-hes-related-to-the-first-3-presidents-of-the-united-states/ 

Watch the video segment from the Blog at: https://youtu.be/49oU-YK4JH4

Here is a list of all of this week's articles, all of them available here at https://eogn.com:               

If you have ancestors who have served at a military base in Washington State, you’ll love a new collection of US, Washington State Military Records, 1855-1950. This collection contains more than 140 thousand records for service members in Washington State. These records reveal rich details, including birthdate, occupation, family members, military service, and more. The collection dates to 1855, some 30 years before Washington became a state. 

This collection of records includes all the personnel who SERVED in the state; it is not limited to those from Washington who simply JOINED the military.

You can read more about this new database at: https://blog.fold3.com/new-military-records-from-washington-state/.

A little more than 93 years ago, Abraham Kaplan became naturalized as an American citizen at Queens Supreme Court in Jamaica, officially swearing allegiance to the county he had arrived to 17-years earlier. 

Kaplan, at that point a 35-year-old Jewish man in the laundry business, had come to the United States as Ahram Kapelowitz from Poland on the vessel Ultonia. He stepped into the country on Christmas Eve of 1913. On the day that he renounced the State of Russia and the Republic of Poland, he was living with his wife, Eva, and their three children on 106th Street in Ozone Park.

Kaplan’s naturalization record, along with thousands of others, can now be found through the new free online naturalization documents database, a joint project from the Queens Public Library and the Office of Court Administration.

The new program, which can be seen at NYnaturalizations.com, gives public access to around 400,000 naturalization records signed in the courts of Queens and the Bronx between 1794 and 1952. 

The database is the culmination of a plan that was hatched four and a half years ago and unveiled Thursday at the Queens Public Library on Merrick Boulevard. 

You can read more at: https://queenseagle.com/all/2023/6/29/go-back-in-time-with-the-courts-new-naturalization-database. 

Today is the third day of the month. I usually post a message on the first day of the month reminding everyone to make backups of their genealogy files (and other important files as well). However, the first day of July fell on Saturday and I normally don't post new articles on the weekend. So, here it is: this is this month's reminder article.

Oh, yes, after you make the backups, test your backups! You wouldn't be the first person to discoiver your backups didn't do what you thought they were doing at a time when you desperately need to recover something!

If you are not familiar with my "normal" monthly reminder messages, you can read a recent one at: https://eogn.com/page-18080/10151012. Othrwise, consider this article to be your monthly reminder.