A collection of Welsh-language Bibles will be saved for future generations thanks to a multi-million-pound investment in a new archive.

It was feared that the William Morgan Bibles collection, which is currently kept in Ruthin, could deteriorate to the point of destruction if urgent action wasn’t taken to keep the precious texts safe from damage.

Plaid Cymru councillor Emrys Wynne, cabinet member for the Welsh language, culture and heritage on Denbighshire County Council, hailed the investment as “hugely important to our cultural heritage in Wales”.

The William Morgan Bibles collection is currently stored at Ruthin Gaol, on Clwyd Street, but the system used to maintain the delicate air quality that is necessary to safeguard the material is old and will cease to function in a few years.

The texts are also at risk from the Gaol flooding again.

But thanks to a £7.3million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which is subject to a successful development stage review, contributions of £2m from Denbighshire County Council and £3m from Flintshire County Council their future has been secured.

The investment will be used to establish a new facility for the North East Wales Archives (NEWA).

Archives currently spread across Ruthin and Hawarden, will be moved to a single, purpose-built, net carbon-zero facility in Mold.

Moving the archives will enable Ruthin Gaol to be further developed as a popular attraction.

You can read more in an article by Matthew Chandler published in the denbighshirefreepress.co.uk web site at: 

One of the towering figures in the evolution of computer science was Grace Hopper, an American mathematician, academic, and Naval reservist, whose work gave us the first programming languages, compilers, and much more. Sadly she passed away in 1992, so her wisdom hasn’t directly informed the Internet Age in the manner of some of her surviving contemporaries.

During her life she gave many lectures though, and as [Michael Ravnitzky] discovered, one of them was recorded on video tape and resides in the archives of America’s National Security Agency. With the title “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People”, it was the subject of a Freedom Of Information request. This in turn was denied, on the grounds that “Without being able to view the tapes, NSA has no way to verify their responsiveness”. In short, the recording lies on Ampex 1″ reel-to-reel video tape, which the NSA claims no longer to be able to read.

It’s fairly obvious from that response that the agency has no desire to oblige, and we’d be very surprised to find that they keep a working Ampex video system to hand on the off-chance that a passing researcher might ask for an archivåe tape. But at the same time it’s also obvious that a lecture from Rear Admiral Hopper is an artifact of international importance that should be preserved and available for study. It’s an interesting thought exercise to guess how many phone calls Hackaday would have to make to secure access to a working Ampex video recorder, and since we think for us that number would be surprisingly low it’s likely the NSA know exactly who to call if they needed that tape viewed in a hurry. We don’t have influence over secretive government agencies, but if we did we’d be calling shame on them at this point.

If you’re curious about Grace Hopper, we’ve talked about her work here in the past.

UPCOMING DLG WEBINAR: Scrapbooks as Archival Records and Digital Artifacts

Date: Thursday, August 15 | Time: 2 pm EST

Join the DLG and presenters Joshua Kitchens and Lauren LeDesma, from the Archival Services and Digital Initiatives unit of Georgia Public Library Service, who will address preservation concerns for both physical and digital versions of scrapbooks and explore digitization procedures for scrapbooks.

This webinar will cover the significance of scrapbooks as archival records and their value as digital artifacts.

Register here: https://tinyurl.com/dlg-scrapbooks-2024-08-15

For those who cannot attend: The webinar will be added to the DLG’s webinar channel at https://tinyurl.com/dlg-webinar-channel

…And while you’re here: Have a look at the (more than 400) scrapbooks represented in the DLG! 

You’ll see a page from one scrapbook at the top of this post!

Speaker Bios:

Joshua Kitchens

is currently the Director of Archival Services and Digital Initiatives for GPLS. Josh previously served as the Director of Archives and Information Studies Programs at Clayton State University. Josh managed the program and taught various courses, including Law and Records, Digital Preservation, and many others. Before working at Clayton State, Josh was an Archivist for Special Collections at the Georgia College Ina Dillard Russell Library. He was responsible for digital collections, the library’s institutional repository, the Knowledge Box, and university archives.

He holds a BA in history from Georgia College, an MA in Applied History from George Mason University, and a master of Archival Studies from Clayton State University. Joshua is also a Certified Archivist.

Lauren LeDesma

is a Local Archivist at the Georgia Public Library Service, providing support for various archival collections in the state. She has previous experience as a Records Manager/Assistant Archivist for the Archdiocese of Atlanta and as a Processing Archivist/Records Analyst at the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Lauren holds a BA in History, an MA in Public History, a Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation, and a Graduate Certificate in Records and Information Management. She is also a Certified Archivist and a Certified Records Analyst.

Image credit at top of page: Scrapbook [page 2]. Sanford Henry Lee papers. Archives Division, Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/aaed/do:aarl96.001-002-001

A Los Angeles man was arrested in connection with the unsolved murder of a woman in 1984.

Moore was 19 years old when prosecutors alleged he attacked the woman on the 300 Block of Atlantic Street in Roseville. He then dragged her body into an alleyway where she was beaten to death, officials said.

SincA Los Angeles man was arrested in connection with the unsolved murder of a woman in 1984.

Richard Moore, 59, was taken into custody at his Echo Park home on June 27 for the murder of Madeline Garcia, 69, in Northern California.

Moore was 19 years old when prosecutors alleged he attacked the woman on the 300 Block of Atlantic Street in Roseville. He then dragged her body into an alleyway where she was beaten to death, officials said.

Since the woman’s killing, detectives investigated the case but could not find solid leads. The case eventually went cold.

Now, 40 years later, with the help of multiple law enforcement agencies and a breakthrough in DNA technology, Moore was identified as the suspect and tracked down by authorities.

Neighbors who lived by Moore in a quiet Echo Park neighborhood said they were in disbelief over the allegations, with many saying the man seemed friendly and helpful.

“It’s been a shock to learn that something so crazy is happening with someone who we live near,” one neighbor, who did not wish to be identified, told KTLA’s Angeli Kakade. “He was always pretty friendly. I rode my bicycle by one time and he asked if I needed to air my tires.”

As police surrounded Moore’s home on June 27, neighbors were left stunned.

“We got up early to walk the dogs and noticed a bunch of unmarked cop cars, like Toyota Camrys and Hondas with the red and blues,” the neighbor recalled. “It definitely had a heavy sort of feeling to it that something big has gone down.”

Moore was transported back to Placer County where he was charged with one count of murder along with special allegations relating to kidnapping and rape.

He appeared in court on July 8 for an arraignment hearing where a public defender was appointed and he entered a not guilty plea. The next court date is scheduled for July 22, according to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.

The decades-long investigation involved several agencies including the Placer County District Attorney’s Investigations Unit, the Roseville Police Department, and the FBI Sacramento Field Office

Neighbors who lived by Moore in a quiet Echo Park neighborhood said they were in disbelief over the allegations, with many saying the man seemed friendly and helpful.

“It’s been a shock to learn that something so crazy is happening with someone who we live near,” one neighbor, who did not wish to be identified, told KTLA’s Angeli Kakade. “He was always pretty friendly. I rode my bicycle by one time and he asked if I needed to air my tires.”

As police surrounded Moore’s home on June 27, neighbors were left stunned.

“We got up early to walk the dogs and noticed a bunch of unmarked cop cars, like Toyota Camrys and Hondas with the red and blues,” the neighbor recalled. “It definitely had a heavy sort of feeling to it that something big has gone down.”

Moore was transported back to Placer County where he was charged with one count of murder along with special allegations relating to kidnapping and rape.

He appeared in court on July 8 for an arraignment hearing where a public defender was appointed and he entered a not guilty plea. The next court date is scheduled for July 22, according to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.

The decades-long investigation involved several agencies including the Placer County District Attorney’s Investigations Unit, the Roseville Police Department, and the FBI Sacramento Field Office.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

We added baptisms, marriages and more this week.

If your family tree has London branches, it just got easier to fill in those pesky gaps. This Findmypast Friday, we added 25,418 baptisms and over 2,500 marriage records from London, Middlesex and Surrey. 

These new additions stretch as far back as 1750 and include parishes in Barking, Lambeth, Camden and Bermondsey. We also added two English titles to our newspaper collection this week.

Surrey Baptisms

These 12,190 new additions cover from 1785 to 1865, meaning it's easier than ever to delve into your family tree's 18th and 19th-century branches.

Middlesex Baptisms

We've also added over 12,000 baptisms from Middlesex, covering 122 years. 

Map of Middlesex, c.1800.

The parishes included span the Greater London area.

Greater London Marriage Index

Lastly, we added 2,494 transcriptions (spanning 1785 to 1815) to our Greater London Marriage Index this week.

Over 320,000 new pages to explore

Two brand new titles - the Warwick Courier and the Bicester Review - joined our newspaper collection this week. 

Dundee Courier, 6 January 1995.

We also updated 21 of our existing publications, with a total of 320,851 new pages added.

Here's everything that's been added to the newspaper archive this Findmypast Friday.

New titles:

Updated titles:

Last week we added a bumper release of US and British records. You can explore all that was added here. 

Episode 4 of Was Justice Served? out now

In the fourth episode of the podcast, Jen and David take a look at the mysterious death of Julia Lewin in 1906. Who was responsible for her sudden demise - was it a tragic accident, or were malicious factors at play?

After listening to the podcast, explore the case files for yourself. Review the evidence, and come to your own verdict: was justice served? For each episode, you can vote on it here.

A victim of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre whose remains were found during an archaeological dig at Oaklawn Cemetery has been identified through DNA genealogy, Tulsa officials announced.

Mayor G.T. Bynum announced at a news conference Friday the victim’s identity as C.L. Daniel, a veteran who served in World War I.

“His family did not know where he had been buried for the last 103 years until this week,” Bynum said.

Officials say Daniel was identified “using data submitted through GEDmatch and Family Tree DNA” and with the assistance of Intermountain Forensics, a laboratory that conducts genealogy work, according to a news release.

The dig is part of the 1921 Graves Investigation, an effort to identify currently unknown victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, CNN previously reported.

Alison Wilde, the genealogy case manager for the 1921 Graves Investigation, said that they compared the DNA profiles and the GEDmatch in the family tree databases.

With the help of the National Archives, officials found records showing Daniel was drafted into the US Army in 1918, was stationed at Camp Gordon and then honorably discharged in December 1919, the news release said.

Another letter, written by Daniel in February 1921, showed that he was in Ogden, Utah, and was trying to make his way back home to his mother in Georgia, officials said at the news conference.

Wilde said that this letter came from the same records request, which was written to the Veterans Administration and the War Risk Insurance Department.

There was no mention of Tulsa in the 1921 letter, Wilde said.

Officials said they could only assume that in his efforts to travel back to Georgia, he went through Tulsa, since his remains were found in the city.

This is a quick "head up" message about my difficulties with the EOGN newsletter:

I presently own 2 houses, about 1,200 miles apart. That is a long and tortuous story by itself. I'll skip the story about how I got myself into this mess, other than to say "never again!"

Last week, I travelled from the old house (which is up for sale but nobody has made an offer for it yet) and I flew to the new house to take care of chores (buy a lawnmower and numerous other things I didn't have in the old house, mow the grass, make arrangements for mail at the new house, and more).

The Internet connection was working when I was last at the new house about 6 months ago. When I arrived Thursday evening (in the dark) the Internet connection was dead. Zero. Nada.

Skipping the long and dull part of the story, I didn't get it repaired until this afternoon.  Well, I can't take credit for getting it fixed; a tech support guru in some foreign country (I didn't ask where) really deserves all the credit. I simply served as his eyes and fingers on the keyboard.

He was the real "fixer." He had me doing troubleshooting techniques I had never heard of before.

I am going to take the rest of the day off (I am exhausted) but hope to be back in business tomorrow.

Thank you for your patience.

 - Dick Eastman

From an article by Anne Helen Petersen:

"I understand why newsletters took off and RSS didn't. Most people are never going to download a dedicated app for reading news and take the time to set it up—but everyone has email. That doesn't change the fact that I, personally, prefer an RSS reader to keep up with news and another to manage my email.

"The problem for people like me is that a lot of the best content out there is only available as a newsletter. Luckily, there's a compromise, of sorts. Most newsletter services provide an RSS feed—but if not, you can usually just make your own.

"Find existing RSS feeds for newsletters

"Most of the major newsletter services—Substack, Buttondown, Ghost, and BeeHiiv—offer some kind of RSS feed. And in the case of both Buttondown and BeeHiiv, the feed is generally easy to find—just look for the "RSS" option in the header. Click that to open the feed, which you can copy to your RSS reader of choice.

Can't find the RSS feed? Make one instead"

You can find more, including information on how to create an RSS newsfeed, at https://lifehacker.com/tech/rss-feed-for-newsletters

Note by Dick Eastman: The RSS newsfeed for this EOGN.com newsletter is available at: https://eogn.com/page-18080/rss.

The Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project has been updated and the main Index now holds 595,067 index records from 61,422 memorials of deeds. They are freely searchable.

Every one of these memorials has been indexed by a volunteer, releasing fascinating genealogical information unlikely to be available elsewhere, and likely to remain hidden away, undigitised, in Dublin's Registry of Deeds for many years yet. This Index Project, set up in 2007 by Nick Reddan FIGRS, has moved on a pace since 2016 when FamilySearch uploaded its library of microfilmed images created many years ago. 

These images are free to view at the FamilySearch site, allowing volunteers to index memorials from their own device in their own home, rather than having to visit the Dublin repository.

You can read more at: https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2024/07/irish-registry-of-deeds-index-project.html. 

The Silk Roads have linked diverse communities across Asia, Europe and Africa for millennia. They not only unified people through trade, they also helped spread ideas, inventions, knowledge and artistic traditions — bringing distant parts of the world a little closer together. We’re fortunate that many of the treasures from this cultural exchange have been preserved for all to see.

Today, UNESCO Almaty Regional Office invites everyone to join us on a virtual journey across Central Asia through cultural treasures of the Silk Roads on Google Arts & Culture. We’re excited to share this in the form of a new “Pocket Gallery” experience helping anyone to immersively explore the treasures brought together from the region’s national museums.

Learn about the nomadic mythologies told through a diversity of pottery and figurines of animals and people. These artifacts show the sheer variety of civilizations that came in contact with each other through this historic trade network.

From clay sculptures, to bronze statues, azure-blue glazes and handwoven carpets, discover highlights from across Central Asia from Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — or explore the full collection of high-resolution 3D objects.

Item 1 of 6

The "Golden Warrior" is a masterpiece of the jewelry art of the Scythian-Saka "animal" style. " There are more than four thousand gold plates on his attire, which were made using various metal processing techniques - casting, forging, stamping, chasing, engraving, granulating, embossing and carving.

You can read more about this and other topics in an article at: https://bit.ly/3S2z2IN