January 2008

Genealogy Gems:

News from the Fort Wayne Library No. 47, January 31, 2008

In this issue:

Who Went Where and Did What?! The Importance of Directories

Directories of Photographers Can Help Identify Old Photographs

Why Microtext?

Preservation Tip of the Month

GenealogyCenter.Info Site Update

March Madness--Genealogical Style

Librarians On Parade

Area Calendar of Events

Driving Directions to the Library

Parking at the Library

Queries for the Department

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Who Went Where and Did What?! The Importance of Directories by Curt B. Witcher

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Many of us use them every day--most of us use them every week. They are all around us, both in print and online. Some of us keep printed ones forever while others of us toss them out as soon as the next edition is published. What are they? Directories!! Genealogists have long appreciated the important role new and old directories play in helping us locate both living family members and ancestors or potential ancestors. However, many somewhat frequently find themselves in a quandary about what to do with directories deemed no longer useful. I fear that many times these directories simply get tossed. I have what I believe is a better solution--gift the directories to the Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library. There are many different kinds of directory publications though most of us typically know them as simply directories or yearbooks. The Genealogy Center already maintains one of the largest directory collections in the country. The core of that directory collection is the nearly 51,000 print city directories, a large number of them published by R. L. Polk & Company. In addition, we have several thousand rolls of city directory microfilm covering major cities around the country from 1861-1960 and hundreds of microfiche covering even earlier time periods. Though we have a significant quantity, city directories are not the only type of directory we collect. The Genealogy Center also contains church directories and yearbooks, school directories and yearbooks, alumni association directories, occupational directories, and rural or prairie farmers directories. Just last year, we were able to add more than two thousand school yearbooks to our collection. And our treasure trove of rural directories can just amaze one with the quantity of data presented. For some counties, a rural directory may not only contain the names of the farmers but also an exact legal description of their property, whether native born or the date they came to the county, their religious and political affiliation, marital data, and names of children. In a very real way, directories and yearbooks can constitute a type of census as they place people in a particular geographic location at a specific time. In this issue of “Genealogy Gems,” my colleague John Beatty illustrates more reasons why directories are significant in his discussion of directories of photographers. Clearly directories are a source to be included in your research; and what is equally clear, the Genealogy Center is the place for your unwanted directories.

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Directories of Photographers Can Help Identify Old Photographs by John D. Beatty

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Many genealogists face the unenviable task of identifying unlabeled family pictures. They may have inherited a boxful of nineteenth century studio portraits, but since no one who knew the subjects ever thought to label them, the genealogist now must try to give each one a proper identity. Many photographs in this era bear the name or mark of a photographer. By identifying when and where a photography studio existed, a genealogist might be able to discern some clues about the subject, especially if one has identified specific relatives living in a city at the time period when the photographer worked there. Several historians have worked to compile historical directories of photographers for this specific purpose. Daguerreotypes, the earliest type of photograph, appeared on glass and were mounted in cases, beginning in 1839. They are notoriously difficult to identify, in part because there was no place on the case to affix an identifying label. John S. Craig’s two-volume “Craig’s Daguerreian Registry” (2003) (973 C844cj) attempts to identify every maker of daguerreotypes who worked in the United States between 1839 and 1860, as well as persons in related fields, such as case-making, apparatus manufacturing and die-engraving. Volume 1 is arranged alphabetically by photographer surname, and the accompanying biographical sketches are often quite detailed and drawn from city directories, newspaper advertisements, and a variety of other sources. Volume 2 contains a geographical directory by state and city. Diane VanSkiver Gagel has compiled “Directory of Photographers in the United States 1888 & 1889 and Canada 1889,” (929 G121wia), which is based on a much more obscure, earlier work: the first and second annual editions of the “Lithographers’ and Photographers’ Directory: A Directory for Lithographers, Photographers and for All Allied Arts and Trades in the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America,” published in 1889. Though not a biographical work, Gagel’s book, like Craig’s, is divided into two parts. The first is an alphabetical listing of photographers and includes for each one, if known, their street address, city and state. The second part is arranged geographically by state and city. In addition to the above works, a variety of photographer directories attempt to list photographers by state. Gagel has also written “Ohio Photographers 1839-1900” (977.1 G121o) that not only lists every known photographer in that period, but also provides useful biographical sketches. A search of our online catalog under “Photographers Directories” will produce a list of similar directories for other states, including California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Texas, as well as for Ontario and western Canada. A useful bibliography to these and other directories is Peter E. Palmquist’s “Photographers: A Sourcebook for Historical Research” (2000) (929 P566pL). This work is international in scope and significantly includes references not just to books, but also articles about photographers from a variety of historical journals. Identifying an unlabeled family photograph is always a challenge, but with an arsenal of photographer directories now in print, the task can sometimes be made less daunting.

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Why Microtext? by Don Litzer

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Microfilm and microfiche, collectively called “microtext” at the Genealogy Center, have long been valued as low-cost, reliable, standardized, and preservationally stable storage media for document images. The Genealogy Center has been able to purchase, accumulate, and make available millions of otherwise unavailable or unaffordable records through a microtext format. However, as computers and the Internet have heightened expectations for ease and speed of information access, to some researchers microtext seems archaic, dowdy and cumbersome. Should genealogists still care about microtext? Microtext images may be the closest a researcher can get to a document’s original. In some cases, as with the 1900, 1910 and 1920 U.S. federal censuses, whose original copies were destroyed after filming, microfilm is literally the best available copy. It is also erroneous to presume that any digitized image is an optimal rendition of an original. The collective utility of U.S. federal census images produced by Ancestry.com (in grayscale) and HeritageQuest Online (in black-and-white) testify that no one method is always best. Individual scanned pages may bring out faded text in one section, but thus render another section unreadable --detail possibly recoverable in the microtext image. It may require the efforts of a persistent researcher to discover that a scanned image is of suboptimal quality. A case in point is the New York State Census Collection, digitized by Ancestry.com and held, in large part, by the Genealogy Center in microtext format. A search for “Sally Casselman” at Ancestry.com’s basic Historical Records search screen will lead you to page 2 of the 1892 census for Busti District, Chautauqua County, New York, where Sally is enumerated. The names immediately to the left of Sally’s are impossible to read--on Ancestry’s scanned image. However, on the microfilm of that same document, those persons are identifiable using the Genealogy Center’s S-T Imaging digital film viewer. The 58, 31, 28, 5, and 3-year old persons identified only as “Stoddard” in Ancestry’s every-name index are revealed as Orlando J., Merle C., Mary, Clayton, and Abbie Stoddard. The twelve persons following the Stoddards, omitted from Ancestry’s index altogether, can also be identified, including Hulda Carlson, age 17, domestic, born in Sweden. Since another 17-year old Hulda Carlson, born in the U.S., is enumerated only two pages later in the same district, a Carlson genealogist searching for western New York ancestors might be confused and misled! For the above reasons among others, while digitization provides an important tool for accessing original documents, it is extremely likely that microtext resources will continue to be a source of authoritative information, critical to the compilation of solid genealogical research, well into the future.

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Preservation Tip of the Month

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Many individuals engage in scrapbooking as a part of displaying and preserving family history documents. If you are among that number, the official website of the Scrapbook Preservation Society might be worth a look.  The mission of this organization is “to collect, review, organize, and distribute science-based preservation information to the scrapbook community through the publication of preservation guidelines, informational articles, and technical papers, and through the presentation of educational programs.” The articles and links are well done and useful.

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GenealogyCenter.Info Site Update

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We are pleased to announce that a searchable index to the recently published “History of Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana, 1700-2005” is now live on the site. More than fifty-seven thousand individuals, organizations, places and events are indexed. This month’s update to the Allen County Obituary Index takes the number of records in that data file over the half million mark. Through the diligent work of Genealogy Center staff and volunteers, numerous corrections and modifications to previous entries have been made. Truly, the index is better than ever. The new Military Heritage component of the site has more than eight thousand images, and growing. With its own “Search” and “Roll Call” features, it is an interesting area in which to browse or look for specific individuals.

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March Madness--Genealogical Style

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As mentioned last month, we are offering a great line-up of programs the first week in March. Now is the time to reserve a place on your calendar and sign up for these great learning opportunities. A complete descriptive listing is on our website at:   Dates and topics are listed below. Saturday March 1, 2008: “Beginning Genealogy,” Margery Graham, Instructor, sponsored by the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana, Meeting Room A. Fee $10. Pre-registration required. Call 260-672-2585 for more information, or use the form at http://www.acgsi.org/workshop.pdf to register. Sunday March 2, 2008: “The Five Forts That Make Fort Wayne.” Presented by John Beatty. ACPL Theater, 1-2 PM. Monday March 3, 2008: “Searching Ancestry.com.” Presented by Melissa Shimkus. Computer Classroom, 2:30-3:30 PM. Tuesday March 4, 2008: “Fingerprinting Our Families: Using Ancestral Origins as a Genealogical Research Key.” Presented by Curt Witcher. Meeting Room C, 1-2 PM. Wednesday March 5, 2008: “Using PERSI at HeritageQuestOnline.com.” Presented by Delia Bourne. Computer Classroom, 2:30-3:30 PM. Thursday March 6, 2008: “Ask the Librarian.” Meeting Room A, 2:30-3:30 PM. Friday March 7, 2008: “Not Just Ancestry: Using the Entire Internet for Genealogy.” Presented by Don Litzer. Meeting Room A, 10-11 AM.

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Librarians on Parade

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Curt Witcher Feb. 13, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza. Topic: “All That Other Stuff!: Other Census Records Beyond the Population Schedules.” Feb. 23, 2008, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the St. James Episcopal Church, Port Charlotte, FL. Charlotte County (FL) Genealogical Society Spring Symposium. Topics: Passenger & Immigration Research; Using Church Records in Your Genealogical Research; Who Went Where . . . And Did What? Using Directories in Genealogical Research; and More than Surname Surfing: Best Practices for Using the Internet for Genealogists. Mar. 4, 2008 at 1 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza, Meeting Room C. Topic: “Fingerprinting Our Ancestors: Using Ancestral Origins as a Genealogical Research Key.” John Beatty Mar. 2, 2008 at 1 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza, Theater. Topic: “The Five Forts That Make Fort Wayne.” Delia Bourne Mar. 5, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza, Computer Classroom. Topic: “Using PERSI at HeritageQuestOnline.com.” Don Litzer Mar. 7, 2008 at 10 a.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza, Meeting Room A. Topic: “Not Just Ancestry: Using the Entire Internet for Genealogy.” Mar. 12, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza. Topic: “What's in a German Place Name?” Melissa Shimkus Mar. 3, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza, Computer Classroom. Topic: “Searching Ancestry.com.”

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Area Calendar of Events

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Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana (ACGSI) Feb. 13, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza. Genealogy Center manager Curt Witcher will present “All That Other Stuff!: Other Census Records Beyond the Population Schedules.” Mar. 12, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza. Genealogy Center librarian Don Litzer will present “What's in a German Place Name?” Apr. 9, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza. ACGSI members Adam Barrone, Sue Downey, and Phil Husband will present “Software Available for Doing Genealogy.” Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) "First Wednesday" program of lineage assistance is Wednesday, February 6, 2008, 9 am – 7 pm at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza, in the Genealogy Center. Expert help from members of the DAR on becoming a member of that organization. Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, 302 East Berry, Ft. Wayne, IN Feb. 3, 2008, 2 p.m., Rubin L. Brown presents “In Need of Change: Early African-American Doctors in Ft. Wayne” Mar. 2, 2008, 2 p.m., Gen Dornbush and Jacqui Seals present “Quilting: Art, Politics and Superstitions” (Featuring work by Sisters of the Cloth) Apr. 6, 2008, 2 p.m., Terry Lacy presents “The Artist as Historian: Painting the Wabash & Erie Canal”

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Driving Directions to the Library

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Wondering how to get to the library? Our location is 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the block bordered on the south by Washington Boulevard, the west by Ewing Street, the north by Wayne Street, and the east by the Library Plaza, formerly Webster Street. We would enjoy having you visit the Genealogy Center. To get directions from your exact location to 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, visit this link at MapQuest: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=900%20Web ster%20St&city=Fort%20Wayne&state=IN&zipcode=46802%2d3602&country=US&geodiff=1 >From the South Exit Interstate 69 at exit 102. Drive east on Jefferson Boulevard into downtown. Turn left on Ewing Street. The Library is one block north, at Ewing Street and Washington Boulevard. Using US 27: US 27 turns into Lafayette Street. Drive north into downtown. Turn left at Washington Boulevard and go five blocks. The Library will be on the right. >From the North Exit Interstate 69 at exit 112. Drive south on Coldwater Road, which merges into Clinton Street. Continue south on Clinton to Washington Boulevard. Turn right on Washington and go three blocks. The Library will be on the right. >From the West Using US 30: Drive into town on US 30. US 30 turns into Goshen Ave. which dead-ends at West State Blvd. Make an angled left turn onto West State Blvd. Turn right on Wells Street. Go south on Wells to Wayne Street. Turn left on Wayne Street. The Library will be in the second block on the right. Using US 24: After crossing under Interstate 69, follow the same directions as from the South. >From the East Follow US 30/then 930 into and through New Haven, under an overpass into downtown Fort Wayne. You will be on Washington Blvd. when you get into downtown. Library Plaza will be on the right. ***************************************

Parking at the Library

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At the Library, underground parking can be accessed from Wayne Street. Other library parking lots are at Washington and Webster, and Wayne and Webster. Hourly parking is $1 per hour with a $7 maximum. ACPL library card holders may use their cards to validate the parking ticket at the west end of the Great Hall of the Library. Out of county residents may purchase a subscription card with proof of identification and residence. The current fee for an Individual Subscription Card is $70. Public lots are located at the corner of Ewing and Wayne Streets ($1 each for the first two halfhours, $1 per hour after, with a $4 per day maximum) and the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Harrison Street ($3 per day). Street (metered) parking on Ewing and Wayne Streets. On the street you plug the meters 8am – 5pm, weekdays only. It is free to park on the street after 5pm and on the weekends. Visitor center/Grand Wayne Center garage at Washington and Clinton Streets. This is the Hilton Hotel parking lot that also serves as a day parking garage. For hourly parking, 7am – 11 pm, charges are .50 for the first 45 minutes, then $1.00 per hour. There is a flat $2.00 fee between 5pm and 11pm.

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Genealogy Center Queries

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The Genealogy Center hopes you find this newsletter interesting. Thank you for subscribing. We cannot, however, answer personal research emails written to the e-zine address. The department houses a Research Center that makes photocopies and conducts research for a fee. If you have a general question about our collection, or are interested in the Research Center, please telephone the library and speak to a librarian who will be glad to answer your general questions or send you a research center form. Our telephone number is 260-421-1225. If you’d like to email a general information question about the department, please email: Genealogy@ACPL.Info.

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Publishing Note:

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This electronic newsletter is published by the Allen County Public Library's Genealogy Center, and is intended to enlighten readers about genealogical research methods as well as inform them about the vast resources of the Allen County Public Library. We welcome the wide distribution of this newsletter and encourage readers to forward it to their friends and societies. All precautions have been made to avoid errors. However, the publisher does not assume any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, no matter the cause. To subscribe to “Genealogy Gems,” simply use your browser to go to the website: www.GenealogyCenter.Info. Scroll down toward the bottom of the first screen where it says, "Enter Your Email Address to Subscribe to "Genealogy Gems." Enter your email address in the yellow box and click on "Subscribe." You will be notified with a confirmation email. If you do not want to receive this e-zine, please follow the link at the very bottom of the issue of GenealogyGems you just received or send an email to kspears@acpl.lib.in.us with "unsubscribe e-zine" in the subject line. Curt Witcher, editor pro-tem