The following announcement was written by Sharon Cook MacInnes, Ph.D, CG with the following explanation:

"Over the years, I've spent hundreds of hours at the Library of Congress taking photos of landowner maps for most of the counties of Pennsylvania and I posted them on my old website for researchers to use.  I've recently created a new website and added many more free tools--links to published county histories, tutorials, etc.  The tools on my website can be correlated with census, court, military, tax, and vital records to provide a much fuller picture of the men and women who came before us. "

Our new website is a one-stop portal for pinpointing Pennsylvania residents in the 1700s and 1800s. Would you like free images of 19th-century landowner maps and atlases to correlate with censuses? Check. How about links to published county histories that correlate with the maps? Check. And what about “how to” tutorials that put it all together and bring you:

• Free images of Warrant Indexes granting land to the first individuals applying for land from the colony or state
• Free images of Survey Books containing surveys for each tract transferred from the colony or state to an individual
• Free images of Patent Indexes conveying final title to each buyer of a tract transferred from the colony or state to an individual
• Free images of land transactions transferring tracts to applicants buying their land as a result of Indian treaties 
• Free images of military donation and depreciation land ledgers
• An understanding of boundary disputes and the records for countless people whose land was caught up in them
• Links and timeline for African American research

Check, check, and check. Use our images, links to books, and tutorials in conjunction with census and tax records to give context to your ancestors.

New editions of “Early Landowners of Pennsylvania” atlases! Just prior to launching the website, we finished editing new editions of our eight “Early Landowners of Pennsylvania” county atlases. These atlases, containing maps of the metes-and-bounds tracts of the first landowners, are now available at http://ancestortracks.com as downloadable pdf files. We’re also offering, for the first time, each individual township chapter as downloadable (pdf files; $1.99-$4.99). Consult the free indexes for each county atlas, indexed by surname or by township, and don’t forget to look for allied families.

The following sentence may sound like the logline for an as-yet unmade National Treasure 3, but it's very much real: A large group of crypto maximalists is banding together in an effort to obtain the actual U.S. Constitution.

From a report: Unlike the antagonists in the previous Nicolas Cage movies, this crew might actually succeed. Or kind of, anyway. On Thursday, November 18, Sotheby's is auctioning off "an exceptionally rare and extraordinarily historic" first printing of the U.S. Constitution. Only thirteen copies remain, besides the one located in Washington D.C.'s National Archives museum, from the original printing of 500 that the founders issued for submission to the Continental Congress. It's the first time in 30 years that this one has become available for purchase, following the 1997 death of its last winner, New York real estate developer S. Howard Goldman.

It's expected to fetch between $15 million and $20 million in the auction -- unless, of course, it instead fetches the equivalent in Ethereum.

Long Island University's Palmer School of Library and Information Science announced the publication of "Digitizing Local History Sources," a groundbreaking five-year project and website offering the public access to more than 65,000 pages of historical materials from 45 participating historical societies across Long Island. The endeavor was funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

One of the highlights of the project is the Bert Morgan Collection, which contains more than 600 images digitized from negatives held by the Southampton History Museum. Morgan, a prominent high society photographer, documented the "social set" and events in Southampton from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. Among the locations are the Shinnecock Hills Golf Course, the Southampton Bathing Corporation ("Beach Club"), and the Meadow Club of Southampton. The Bert Morgan collection can be viewed here: [https://liu.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/SO_3ad937de-be29-4001-9633-11a91e29a789/]

Ranked among the "Best Archival Science Programs" in the country by U.S. News & World Report, the Palmer School has offered 105 master's and doctoral students the ability to digitize the documents since the project launched in 2017.

"Students of the Palmer School have become world-renowned archivists, historians and librarians," said Long Island University President Kimberly R. Cline. "I am proud that LIU can offer them a unique experiential learning opportunity that will forever preserve the history of Long Island."

You can access the collection online at https://liu.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/SO_3ad937de-be29-4001-9633-11a91e29a789/.

Family Tree Magazine has published an article that will interest many genealogists: "Genealogy Blogs from Around the World (and Why They’re Valuable)."

“Starting family history research in another country is like traveling there for the first time. You don’t know the nuances of record-keeping, the ins and outs of repositories, or even how to read the country’s records. It can help to have a friendly local as your guide. Where can you find such a guide? Try the international geneablogging scene. Amateurs and experts from Argentina to Australia, British Columbia to the British Isles note their successes, tips and techniques in genealogy weblogs, or ‘geneablogs.’ In this whirlwind world tour, we’ll introduce you to 40 fantastic international blogs, and help you find, read and use them in your research.”

You can find the article written by Sunny Jane Morton at https://www.familytreemagazine.com/websites/genealogy-blogs/.

Here is something that perhaps most genealogists never considered: how to catch a violent criminal by using the genealogist's own blood sample.

Genetic genealogists like CeCe Moore are cracking cold cases and transforming policing. As DNA analysis redefines ancestry and anonymity, what knowledge should we be permitted to unlock?

You can read an interesting article about all this written by Raffi Khatchadourian and published in The New Yorker at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/22/how-your-family-tree-could-catch-a-killer.

Here is a notice I received from MyHeritage today (and I am ready to travel):

The following is a message posted to the IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee's mailing list and is republished here with permission. Please note the reference to the "Death Master File (LADMF)." That is something that genealogists usually refer to as the "United States Social Security Death Index (SSDI)":

The National Technical Information Service (NTIS), part of the US Department of Commerce,  posted a notice on limited access to the Death Master File (LADMF).  The NTIS established a certification program for those seeking access to the Limited Access Death Master File (LADMF) pursuant to Section 203 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 (Pub. L. 113-67). Section 203 authorizes NTIS to charge fees sufficient to cover the costs associated with the certification program. The associated regulations can be found at 15 C.F.R Part 1110 et seq.

The certification program limits access to LADMF information to those persons certified under the program. Certified persons, also called Subscribers, must have a legitimate fraud prevention interest, or have a legitimate business purpose pursuant to a law, governmental rule, regulation, or fiduciary duty in order to be certified under the program.  The requirements are such that it makes it extremely difficult for individuals to meet the requirements.

To access the LADMF go to: https://www.ntis.gov/ladmf/ladmf.xhtml and follow the steps for review, paying for certification which includes certification, attestation and firewall and submit forms.

To read the previous postings about the 2013 Omnibus Reconciliation Act and the Department of Commerce regulations  go to the archives of the IAJGS Records Access Alert at:  http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/private/records-access-alerts/. Note the archives are listed by date and the historical postings are in late 2013-2015.   You must be registered to access the archives.  To register go to: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/listinfo/records-access-alerts  and follow the instructions to enter your email address, full name and which genealogical  organization with whom you are affiliated. You will receive an email response that you have to reply to or the subscription will not be finalized.

Jan Meisels AllenChairperson
IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

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

Let's say you are at a county courthouse looking at old land records, and you find what you have been looking for: the transcription of your ancestor's deed showing his purchase of property. Of course, you need a copy; but the only available copy machine doesn't handle oversized documents. Even more important, you always prefer a digital image whenever possible as it is easier to store, copy, and include in your reports. However, there is no scanner available. What to do?

Use your cell phone's camera!

Most modern-day cell phones include cameras of 5 megapixels resolution or more. In fact, the current iPhone includes an 12-megapixel camera while most of today's Android cameras include the same or even higher resolution. (Beware of cameras claiming 20 or more megapixels. Those claims are technically correct, but those cameras take pictures that are usually “digitally enhanced” with the result being an 8- or 12-megapixel image.)

A 12-megapixel image—assuming it was created by properly-focused lenses and a high-quality sensor—will produce a BETTER image than does the typical photocopy machine. Cameras also easily handle oversized documents. Finally, a digital image can easily be saved anywhere, copied, sent by email, or used in almost any imaginable manner. You won't be required to insert quarters into a machine, either.

To be sure, my favorite method of digitizing paper is to use the desktop scanner I have at home. However, that isn't very useful when I am someplace else.

One drawback of the tablet computer and stage stand is that I do not carry them with me everywhere. If I find myself in need of a digital copy at other times, I revert to my second-favorite method: use my cell phone's camera.

With appropriate software installed, a smartphone becomes a pocket photocopier and scanner. Of course, you can always take a picture of any document at any time without using any extra software. However, if you take hundreds or even thousands of such pictures, you may find some difficulty when searching for the one image you need months later. Use of a document management program will make those images more useful and easier to find and retrieve.

I digitize most everything worth keeping. I digitize copies of ancestors' deeds, my insurance papers, prescriptions, bills, vegan recipes, magazine articles, motor vehicle registrations, my driver's license, my passport, receipts for income tax purposes, receipts from the automobile's last oil change, and anything else that I wish to keep. I typically use my Android camera several times a day to digitize various pieces of paper. Once digitized, I throw away about 99.9% of the paper. I store all my documents in the cloud as well as copies on the desktop and laptop computers. In addition, I can quickly retrieve any document at any time, even on my cell phone, wherever I am, as long as I have a decent cell phone signal. That can be handy when at the doctor's office, the motor vehicle department, or most anyplace else.

At this time I have digitized more than 3,000 documents, and all of them are available to me within seconds as long as I have my cell phone with me. I would hate to travel with all those documents on paper as the briefcase would be very heavy! Using digitized documents is faster and easier than using paper. Using proper backup techniques, digitized images also will last much longer than paper copies. That is especially true of those cash register receipts that seem to start fading away within weeks after being printed. Electronic images of the same documents, however, can remain readable for centuries. Assuming you have multiple digital copies stored in multiple locations, you no longer have to worry about fading ink, fire, flood, burst water pipes, mold, mildew, rodent damage, or any of the other things that easily destroy paper.

As soon as you start using a cell phone camera regularly to digitize documents, you will run into a document management issue: how do you quickly and easily find the one document you seek from the thousands you have stored?

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/12123000.

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. 

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

Commemorate the sacrifices made by our military ancestors with this week’s latest Findmypast Friday update.

Indian Army Service Records, 1900-1947

Did your ancestor serve in the Indian Army in the first half of the twentieth century? If so, this small but fascinating collection held at the British Library could shed new light on their story.

Spanning five decades and both world wars, these newly-released Indian Army records contain detailed service information for more than 12,000 personnel. From captains to conductors, colonels to cooks, these transcripts could provide invaluable insights into the careers of those that served. 

Each transcript also includes the corresponding British Library reference which means that having identified your soldier in this index, you can arrange to have the papers copied at the British Library.

Greater Burnley Roll of Honour

Search these records to uncover details of over 4,000 men who gave their lives for King and country in a book compiled and published by The Burnley Express 'to the memory of the fallen heroes of Greater Burnley' in Lancashire.

This poignant tally of casualties shows how many Burnley families lost numerous loved ones, such as the Hall family of Padiham who lost four sons and the Bolton family of Newchurch had two officer sons killed at Gallipoli and a third officer son who died of wounds as a PoW in a German hospital in 1918.

Each entry provides a variety of details such as ranks, regiments, honours & awards, home address, date & location of death and, in some cases, even cause of death.

Free access to all military records

Findmypast’s entire collection of world military records free to search and explore from now until 10:00am GMT Monday 15 November. Commemorate the sacrifices of your military ancestors by discovering their stories with over 106 million free records from the UK, Ireland, North America, Australia, New Zealand, British India and beyond.

From service records, pensions and rolls of honour to medals, casualties, personnel lists, burials and much more, explore documents spanning more than three centuries and covering a wide variety of conflicts ranging from the Napoleonic, American Revolutionary, Crimean and Boar Wars to both World Wars and beyond.