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  • 4 Jan 2024 9:00 AM | Anonymous

    The following is an announcement from the Montana Historical Society:

    Two newspaper digitization projects will improve and expand access to historical Montana newspapers, which is one of the most used collections at the Montana Historical Society (MTHS).

    This latest project through the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) makes more than 100,000 pages available online for free and includes newspapers from towns on or near reservations in Montana.

    This is the fifth time the MTHS received a grant to be part of the NDNP, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress to enhance access to historical American newspapers.

    “The project we just completed includes newspapers from Browning, Harlem, Hot Springs, and Poplar, marking the first time that papers from these towns are accessible and searchable online,” noted Library Manager Dan Karalus, who headed the project.

    Montana newspapers from all the NDNP projects, totaling more than 400,000 pages, are available on the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America website www.loc.gov/collections/chronicling-america/.

    The second project, a partnership with Newspapers.com, included digitizing 5,000-plus microfilm reels of newspapers from more than 200 Montana cities and towns.

    The MTHS now offers a free Public Access Portal where online users can search through nearly 2.5 million pages of historical Montana newspapers. The portal includes all the content migrated from its Montana Newspapers website, most material from Chronicling America, and some newly digitized newspapers in the public domain.

    The portal replaces the Montana Newspapers website, which the MTHS plans to shut down in early 2024, saving significant costs. To access the new portal, go to mths.mt.gov/Research/collections/newspapers/mtnews and click on the Newspapers.com Public Access Portal link.

    When the MTHS reopens to the public, visitors to the Library & Archives will have free access to more than 12 million newspaper pages and more than 650 titles via the Newspapers.com Onsite Portal, available in person in the Reference Room. The available papers include short-lived titles, like the Flaxville Democrat and its three issues published in 1920, and some of the longest-running papers in the state, such as The Madisonian out of Virginia City, which has 150 years of digitized issues.

    Today, the MTHS can offer digital access to newspapers published in every Montana county.

    “This is huge,” Karalus said. “Researchers used to visit us and spend hours scrolling through microfilm. But when we reopen in 2025, they can come here and just do a keyword search.”

    Karalus adds that this improves access and preservation, as the microfilm collection will see less use. “We will still have to use microfilm for some more recent papers under copyright, but we probably won’t hear the microfilm readers rewinding as often,” he said.

    As part of the MTHS agreement with Newspapers.com, the company performed the digitization work in exchange for access rights for a period of three years. After that time, digitized newspapers in the public domain will shift over to the Public Access Portal and be available online from anywhere.

    Individuals with research questions may submit a research request via the MTHS website mhs.mt.gov/Research/ResearchRequests or by e-mail to mthslibrary@mt.gov.

  • 2 Jan 2024 3:33 PM | Anonymous

    Mahmudul has been going to the National Archives for the past five years and using the archives for his MPhil. 

    "Whenever I need any information or reference, I visit the National Archives. Most of the time I get the information I need," said Mahmudul Hasan. 

    Currently, Mahmudul is in pursuit of his PhD research on the political evolution of Rakhine from 1784 to 1990.

    He has been collecting information on the past from the correspondence between the then-British officials posted at Chattogram and Dhaka office about the border situation. Later, Dhaka office would send the letters to the Governor-General in Delhi. 

    The Department of Archives and Library in Agargaon is a repository for original documents from the past to be used by researchers and academics. The archive is massive.

    Whilst it is commonly visited by researchers in Bangladesh like Mahmudul as well as foreigners –for historical documents like newspapers, maps, gazettes, government publications, political manifestos and land records of historical values – it remains almost unknown by the masses. Many people have little to no idea about the place and the documents it preserves. 

    You can read more in an article by Ariful Islam Mithu published in The Business Standard at: http://tinyurl.com/mr2we7yw.

  • 2 Jan 2024 12:50 PM | Anonymous

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

    (+) How to Keep Your Files Stored in the Cloud Private for Your Eyes Only

    MyHeritage Introduces AI Biographer™: Create a Wikipedia-like Biography for Any Ancestor Using AI, Enriched with Historical Context

    Your DNA Test Says Your Ancestors Came from WHERE?

    Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island

    Here's How to Discover if Your Surname Comes From Yorkshire

    Inside the Pennsylvania Court Case Pitting a Genealogist Against Ancestry.com

    New Monument Honoring Black Revolutionary War Soldiers Planned for Maryland State House

    New Jersey State Library Announces Genealogy Webinar

    Word of the Day: Grandfamily

    It's a Grave Misunderstanding

    Revealing How an Ancient Genetic Invader Inhabits Our DNA

    The Internet Archive is Looking For Creative Short Films Made By You!

    Introductory Videos on YouTube

    Texas Woman Reunites With Birth Mom 50 Years After She Was Forced Into Adoption

    Recently Added and Updated Collections on Ancestry.com

    What Will Enter the Public Domain in 2024?

    And We’re Off! Time To Get Started On This Year’s Public Domain Game Jam

    Supreme Court Connections

    Join.Me for Instant Virtual Meetings
  • 2 Jan 2024 8:36 AM | Anonymous

    From an article in the techdirt web site:

    Join our public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1928! »

    Happy new year, everyone — and happy public domain day! That’s right: today’s the day that works from 1928 exit copyright protection and become public domain in the US, and that means it’s time for the latest edition of our annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1928! We’re calling on designers of all stripes and all levels of experience to put this year’s newly public domain works to use in digital and analog games. 

    There is more at: http://tinyurl.com/2jdsbdrx.
  • 2 Jan 2024 8:12 AM | Anonymous

    Billions of years ago, as primitive lifeforms were becoming more complex, a selfish genetic component became a sort of genome colonizer. Using a copy-and-paste mechanism, this pernicious bit of code replicated and inserted itself again and again into a variety of genomes.

    Over time, all eukaryotic organisms inherited the code—including us. In fact, this ancient genetic element wrote about one-third of the human genome—and was considered junk DNA until relatively recently.

    This genetic component is known as LINE-1, and its aggressive intrusion into the genome can wreak havoc, leading to disease-causing mutations. A key protein called ORF2p enables its success—meaning understanding ORF2p's structure and mechanics could illuminate new potential therapeutic targets for a variety of diseases.

    Now, in collaboration with more than a dozen academic and industry groups, Rockefeller scientists have rendered the protein's core structure in high resolution for the first time, revealing a host of new insights about LINE-1's key disease-causing mechanisms. The results were published in Nature.

    "The work will facilitate rational drug design targeting LINE-1 and may lead to novel therapies and strategies to combat cancer, autoimmune disease, neurodegeneration, and other diseases of aging," says senior author John LaCava, a research associate professor at The Rockefeller University.

    You can read more in an article in the medicalxpress web site at: http://tinyurl.com/2hypfdf3.

  • 2 Jan 2024 7:56 AM | Anonymous

    The New York Public Library is the latest organization to publish an article about the myth of "the family name was changed at Ellis Island" and then describes exactly one exception. Almost every genealogy writer in the US, including myself, has written about the myth before. It is nice to see someone with the authority and credentials of the New York Public Library write about it. Perhaps this fairy tale will now be put to rest.

     Immigrants undergoing medical examination at Ellis Island 

    The article by Philip Sutton says many things, including:

    "There is a myth that persists in the field of genealogy, or more accurately, in family lore, that family names were changed there. They were not. Numerous blogs, essays, and books have proven this. Yet the myth persists; a story in a recent issue of The New Yorker suggests that it happened. This post will explore how and why names were not changed."

    The article then humorously goes on to describe one exception. Despite the clarification of the name change myth, there was one person's whose name actually was changed at Ellis Island. Harry Zarief, "the assistant concert master for Morton Gould," and famously a father of quadruplets, had his name changed at Ellis Island from Zarief to Friedman. The man now named Harry Friedman apparently was not happy with the name change. 

    In 1944, went to court and obtained a legal change of name, BACK TO ZARIEF.

    You can find the article, Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island, at http://tinyurl.com/2whr5hmn.

  • 29 Dec 2023 7:15 PM | Anonymous

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

    Storing information "in the cloud" seems to have fewer security issues than storing data on your own hard drive or in a flash drive but that doesn’t mean that you can ignore the security issues involved. security issues, although not as many. Luckily, those issues are also easily solved. Let's start first with a definition of the cloud.

    What is The Cloud?

    The word "cloud" is a collective term. The cloud is not a single thing. Rather, it is a collection of hardware, software, data, and networks. It exists in thousands of data centers located around the world. No one company or government controls the cloud; it is a collection of many things owned and operated by thousands of different corporations and non-profit organizations.

    The cloud also may be envisioned as the next evolution beyond the World Wide Web. While the original World Wide Web delivered information one-way to the user, the cloud does all that and more. The cloud provides two-way data as well as multi-user and even collaborative applications. Do you use Google Docs? If so, you are already using the cloud. Do you use Find-A-Grave? If so, you are already using the cloud. Do you pay bills online? If so, you are already using the cloud. The same is true for Facebook, Flickr, Shutterfly, Twitter, Carbonite, Gmail, and thousands of other cloud-based services.

    On thing that is radically different with using the cloud is that applications may be stored in remote servers located around the world, not in your own computer’s hard drive. However, the use of remote applications, or “apps,” stored in the cloud is optional; you can still continue to use the appliucations stored in your own computer or use the apps in the cloud or, in some cases, even use a combination of both.

    Gmail is a good example of using software in the cloud. Unlike a few years ago, there is no need to install an email program in your computer. Gmail (and a number of other online email services) provides both the software and the email messages without installing any software in your computer. It works on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Chromebooks, iPads, iPhones, Android devices, and probably other kinds of computers as well. That is a perfect example of cloud computing.

    In fact, the cloud also is an assortment of redundant servers that provide advanced computer applications to corporations, governments, and the general public alike. If any server or if an entire data center goes offline due to hardware failure, a disaster or a simple power failure, other servers in other data centers in other locations usually step in and take over the load within seconds. Of course, the data also has been previously copied (or “replicated”) to the other data centers as well. The end user typically doesn’t even realize there has been a problem in the server(s) he or she has been using. From the end user’s viewpoint, everything continues to function as expected.

    Cloud computing offers many benefits. Not too long ago, many of us worried about losing our documents, photos, and files if something bad happened to our computers, such as a hard drive crash or a virus. Today, our data can migrate beyond the boundaries of our personal computers. Instead, we’re moving our data online, into “the cloud”. If you upload your photos, store critical files online, and use a web-based email service like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail, an 18-wheel truck could run over your laptop, and yet all your data would still remain safely stored in the cloud, accessible from any Internet-connected computer, anywhere in the world.

    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/13295245.

    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

  • 29 Dec 2023 6:13 PM | Anonymous

    Many people who are unfamiliar with DNA will have a test conducted and then will believe the results are exact. Unfortunately, that isn’t always true, especially when it comes to the ethnic origins of their ancestors. Estimates of ethnic origins from DNA are ESTIMATES – or perhaps we should call them PROBABILITIES

    If your DNA test says you have 60% Irish ancestry, then we can assume that you undoubtedly do have a lot of Irish ancestry, but it probably isn’t exactly 60%. If your DNA test says you have 2% Middle Eastern ancestry, that means that you MIGHT have a little bit of Middle Eastern ancestry, but even that is not guaranteed. It could be more than 2% or it might be zero. 

    First of all, any DNA test that says you have a specific percentage of ancestry from another country is to be taken with some skepticism. For instance, your test results might say you have 60% Irish ancestry. While it is undoubtedly true that you do have a lot of Irish ancestry, the reported percentage will vary from one testing company to another. Even more confusing for newcomers to DNA is the fact that your brother’s or sister’s DNA test results might report a different percentage of Irish ancestry. Once you understand how DNA works, the reasons are obvious. However, it is confusing for newcomers. 

    In the case of siblings, both of your parents contributed to the family’s gene pool. 

    NOTE: I assuming both have the same father and mother. I am ignoring half-brothers and half-sisters. That’s a different topic.

    You and your brother or sister each got SOME of your DNA from your father and SOME from your mother, but it is rare for both siblings to inherit exactly the same percentages from both parents. You never get exactly 50% from either parent. Instead, you might get 35% of your ethnic DNA from one parent and 65% from the other parent. Your sibling usually will receive different percentages of the same DNA. The percentages are variable but obviously always add up to 100%. 

    One common analogy is that DNA ethnic origins are like vegetable soup. The soup contains a mix of different vegetables. When you dipped your ladle into the soup bowl, you might have pulled out 25% potatoes, 35% carrots, and 40% beans. Your brother or sister then dipped their ladle into the same soup bowl and pulled out the same vegetables, but in a somewhat different percentage of each. To further complicate the picture, it’s also possible for one sibling to get no carrots! So, for example, your father might have a Viking ancestor whose DNA gets passed on to you but not to your sister.

    Next, please keep in mind that all these numbers are ESTIMATES. A DNA test shows the percentage of various ethnic origins DNA you inherited from your parents, according to one laboratory’s test. If you take DNA tests from two or three or four DNA testing companies (as I have), you will find that even your own DNA ethnic origins will vary somewhat in percentages. That is because different testing companies are looking at different gene pools from different times in history. The human race has been migrating back and forth to different locations forever. Two thousand years ago, Europe was inhabited by often-roaming tribes of various barbarians. For instance, there were the Goths (including the Visigoths and Ostrogoths), Huns, Franks, Vandals, Saxons, Celts, and many others. They all roamed throughout Europe, settling down wherever they pleased as long as their new neighbors didn’t kick them out in various battles and raids. 

    So, if your DNA test says you have German ancestry, you need to consider the question, “Which Germans?” The same is true of Polish ancestry, Czech ancestry, and all other countries. 

    For instance, if your DNA test says you have a lot of Irish ancestry, the first question you need to ask yourself is, “In what years?” Was that the DNA of the Celts who were the primary inhabits of Ireland 3,000 years ago and whose own ancestors came from Germany and France and into the Balkans as far as Turkey, or was the testing company's DNA database based on a mix of Celts and English and Normans who inhabited Ireland a few hundred years ago?

    Here is another example: If your DNA test reports that you have English ancestry, the question you need to ask yourself is, “And where did THEY come from?” Almost everyone from England has a least a little bit of ancestry from Ireland, from the Nordic countries (primarily Norway, Sweden, and Denmark), and from Normandy, which is now a region of France. The ancestors of the Normans were mainly Danish and Norwegian Vikings ("Northmen") in the 9th century, not the Franks from France. Of course, there was a mix of ethnicities in Normandy even in the 9th century; nothing is ever 100%. 

    Remember William the Conqueror? He and his army came from Normandy in 1066 and conquered England. Some soldiers of the occupying army took local wives or mistresses. Within a few years, the various bureaucrats, other “followers,” and even settlers from Normandy followed the army, again with many of them taking local women as their brides or mistresses.

    Of course, most everyone knows what the Vikings were doing in England in the early Middle Ages, especially in the coastal areas of England. They were raping and pillaging in most all the villages along the coast and even traveling up navigable rivers. As a result, almost all English people of today have some Viking ancestry (primarily from present-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark) as well as ancestors from other nationalities. 

    In addition, the boundaries of many countries have changed many times over the centuries. One common example involves Germany. If your DNA report says you have German ancestry, the question arises: "Which Germany?” In fact, Germany didn’t even exist as a country until 1871. Prior to that, the area now called Germany was a mix of small countries and city-states, and the borders amongst them changed frequently. There was Bavaria and Saxony and Prussia and Württemberg and a bunch of other countries and independent cities and more. 

    In addition, the ownership of Alsace-Lorraine has swapped between Germany and France several times. The people of Alsace-Lorraine typically spoke the Alsace-Lorraine dialect, which is similar to German but has a lot of French words and grammar rules.  After the 30 Years War (1618 to 1648), many Swiss citizens migrated into Southwest Germany, including many who settled in Alsace-Lorraine, which was part of Germany at the time. In 1681, Strasbourg (the capitol city of Alsace-Lorraine) was conquered by French forces.  

    If your ancestor came from Alsace-Lorraine, was he or she German or French? In what years?

    One of my ancestors came from the city of Strasbourg in Alsace-Lorraine, which was part of France at the time of his emigration to what is now Quebec Province, Canada in the late 1600s. In 1871, Alsace-Lorraine became part of Germany once again. In 1918, after Germany's defeat in the First World War, the region was ceded back to France under the Treaty of Versailles. The region was then occupied once again by Germany during the Second World War. During that time, people from Alsace were made German citizens by decree from the Nazi government. After World War II ended, Alsace-Lorraine was transferred back to France, and all of its native-born citizens were decreed to be French citizens once again. However, the majority of citizens there still speak either German or the Alsace-Lorraine dialect that is similar to German but with a lot of French influence. 

    How about the DNA I inherited from my Alsace-Lorraine ancestor from the 1600s? Is it French or is it German DNA? Was he possibly of Swiss descent? What if his ancestors came from even someplace else before moving to Alsace-Lorraine? 

    Finally, the DNA testing companies are constantly updating and refining their databases of ethnic DNA. For instance, my mother’s ancestry is 100% French-Canadian, at least back until the 1600s. Yet one company’s DNA test result claimed that 50% of my DNA was from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). A few months later, the company updated its database with additional information. Now the same DNA company says that the one DNA sample I originally submitted now shows my maternal ancestry was mostly from France, which makes much more sense when you read the history of French-Canadians. There are dozens of similar stories as the various DNA testing companies keep refining their test procedures.

    For the company that tested your DNA, do you know if they looked at the DNA of people from 200 years ago? Or 2,000 years ago? or even earlier? The different DNA testing companies use different data representing different points in time.

    In short, your German or Irish or Polish ancestors undoubtedly all came from someplace else at some point in history. Indeed, you are the product of a large melting pot of various ethnic groups. 

    For more information, see: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/28/18194560/ancestry-dna-23-me-myheritage-science-explainer and https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/28/18194560/ancestry-dna-23-me-myheritage-science-explainer


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