by Diane L. Richard, NCGS Journal Editor, journaleditor@ncgenealogy.org
Putting Down Roots: Grounding Your Ancestors in Time and Place
The NCGS Spring Workshop, “Putting Down Roots: Grounding Your Ancestors in Time and Place”, will be held 25 February 2017 in Gastonia, North Carolina. I will be presenting a journal-related lecture, “NCGS Journal Gems.” The following description of this talk is taken from the NCGS website:
Finding previously unpublished content for the NCGS Journal is like hunting for gemstones. Diane L. Richard has found that the holdings of North Carolina repositories include some real gems when it comes to unpublished, invaluable, and often overlooked types of records. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ledgers (business, physician, etc.), petitions, treasurer and comptroller records, poor records, election records, Red Cross membership rolls, and stock marks are just a few of the treasures already discovered. We’ll look at these and other off-the-beaten track records that are sure to enhance your family history.
I hope to see you there. We’ll have fun as we look at some of the gems found as I hunt for unique, interesting, and informative treasures to publish in the Journal!
Photos
You may have noticed that whenever there is the potential for “white space” in the Journal, we insert an image. We could use your help with this! Do you have images of North Carolinians or the places where North Carolinians lived or worked? Are you able to share those with us? (Basically, we need to make sure that we have explicit permission to use the provided images.)
There is always something special about pictures of real people and real places. Please do consider sharing some of your family photos with us to be published in the Journal.
Please send such images to journaleditor@ncgenealogy.org and be sure to include a caption for the photo (who, where, when), your name, and contact information (optional) to be published.
Reminder: Seeking WWI Materials and Suggestions
It’s 2017 and we are celebrating the 100-year anniversary of World War I. We’ve already shared some WWI Red Cross records (with more coming). Matthew Peek, Military Collection Archivist at the State Archives of North Carolina, has been keeping us abreast of non-military WWI-era records and will be sharing some of those with you throughout 2017.
If you know of another non-military North Carolina WWI record set, please do let us know! Non-military records are typically less accessible to researchers and include mentions of those who served back home. We’d like to take this opportunity to give them some visibility. Send suggestions, submissions, etc., to journaleditor@ncgenealogy.org.
Additionally, if your ancestor from North Carolina served, please consider sharing their story with readers.
Volume 42, Number 4 Delivered
Volume 42, number 4 of the NCGS Journal was made available digitally in early December in the members area on NCGS website. The print version should have been delivered to members by mid-December. As always, thanks to everyone who provided articles and transcription support to make this a jam-packed issue cutting across time and space in our quest to learn more about North Carolinian ancestors and resources that might assist our family history research.
Webinar — Accurate Transcription for Historical Records
We hope you have checked out the free webinar, “Accurate Transcription for Historical Records,” on the NCGS website. (Scroll down the main page to find the article for this webinar.) Feel free to share this webinar with anyone who transcribes for the NCGS Journal, any genealogy publication, or any individual for personal use. Transcribing can be challenging and yet the output is priceless!
Indexing Help
We are still seeking assistance with indexing the NCGS Journal. If you might be able to help, please read the Journal Jottings published in November 2016 for further details.
Reminder: Help Acquire Material for the Journal
Remember, if you regularly visit (or even are just planning one trip) to a particular archive, whether in North Carolina or elsewhere, please consider copying/photographing/scanning documents with a North Carolina connection. I’d happily cover the costs (copying, parking, etc.) to acquire material from the repositories that I don’t visit to add to the pool of material to be transcribed for the NCGS Journal. Not sure what to get? Let me know where you are headed and I’ll provide you with a “wish list.”
Planning a visit to UNC (Wilson Library) or ECU (Joyner Library)? Let me know. I already have “wish lists” created for those repositories.
Transcribers Needed
Though there is a cadre of dedicated transcribers who have been doing a wonderful job, more are always needed! There are still existing projects not yet completed as well as the new projects mentioned above which have not yet been started. If you are interested, please e-mail me at journaleditor@ncgenealogy.org and I’ll let you know you know what projects are currently available.
Remember, you do NOT have to be an NCGS member to support the NCGS Journal.
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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!