by Diane L. Richard, NCGS Journal Editor, journaleditor@ncgenealogy.org
By the time you read this, the NCGS Journal, volume 42, number 2, will be at the printers and hopefully posted to the NCGS website.
Transcribers Needed
Though there is a cadre of dedicated transcribers who have been doing a wonderful job, more are always needed.
Recent new projects worked on include Bertie Tax (1785) records (scraps of paper submitted by those paying taxes) and Chatham Road (1781-1799) records.
I have a long list of new records to look at and possibly acquire by the time you read this. Drop an?e-mail to me at journaleditor@ncgenealogy.org if your curiosity now has the better of you!
Finding Records in Unusual Places
Just a reminder that even if you dont live in North Carolina and/or are accessing North Carolina or United States records, you still might find mention of particulars about North Carolinians in those records from other locales.
The other day I was researching in Canadian records and found mention of some eighteenth century North Carolinians. It ends up that the records are actually stored at the (British) Archives in London and I now have permission from London to publish a listing of those records in the NCGS Journal. How neat is that?
As you are doing research in records anywhere, please keep your eyes open for mentions of North Carolinians. Im happy to pursue such identified records and maybe a virtual world tour will be involved.
NGS Conference
Will you be in Florida attending the NGS 2016 Family History Conference? If so, come meet me and lets talk about the Journal when I staff the NCGS booth in the exhibit hall from 12:15 to 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 4 May, and Friday, 6 May. Hope to see you in Fort Lauderdale.
Thanks
Thanks to those who e-mailed me with their top three counties and time periods for my informal survey. I am busy compiling the results and your input will help determine future Journal content.
Transcribing Webinar Coming
A date in May has been set for the recording of a video that will include an introduction to transcribing, what to watch out for, some tricks of the trade, and examples. When the video is available on the NCGS website, Ill get the news out via a future edition of Journal Jottings, Facebook, and an e-mail to those already volunteering as transcribers.
Reminder: Transcription Project Manager Needed
Do you consider yourself an organized person? Is managing people up your alley? Help is needed in managing the transcription projects and transcribers. I love using crowdsourcing techniques to involve as many people as possible to make light work of making new and exciting content relevant to researching North Carolina ancestry. The more the merrier as they say. A volunteer project manager will free me from performing administrative tasks and allow me to scout out and acquire more new material for the Journal.
Responsibilities for this volunteer position would be:
1. Keep the Dropbox project list current with each projects status and which transcribers are assigned to which content.
2. Follow up with new volunteers by providing the guidelines document, helping to ID a project to work on, getting the ball rolling, assigning a due date, etc.
3. Follow up with volunteers with a gentle reminder as the Journal deadlines near.
4. Periodically send out e-mails to past volunteers to let them know of new transcription projects and let the webmaster know of any updates needed on the NCGS website.
5. Maintain a master project list of incoming, in process, and completed projects.
If this sounds like just the volunteer task for you, please e-mail me at journaleditor@ncgenealogy.org to express your interest. Again, you do NOT have to be an NCGS member to volunteer in this way.
Thanks again to all who have helped and to those who will volunteer in the future. It does take a village to create a journal.
Go Journal Team!