Research Blog : history

Remembering 9/11

librarianinheels@evpl — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:30:00 GMT

As a student of history, I am fascinated by the interactive ways in which New Yorkers (and others who were in NYC at the time the World Trade Center was attacked) are contributing to the memory of 9/11. The outpouring of personal stories, videos, photos, items from loved ones and other ephemera is staggering and impressive. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum has just launched (today) an online initiative to collect as much material on a special website as folks want to contribute. It's a browsable, real-time collection of photos, videos and audio material contributed by those who experienced 9/11 first hand. It's called Make History, and invites citizen journalists of the world to contribute to the memory of the terrorists attacks. The site contains largely unedited material, however, and may contain graphic and disturbing images and some foul language, so be forewarned. Still, this huge collection of grass-roots data is a fitting tribute to the memory of those who perished in the attacks, and it's fascinating to look at what's being contributed. (Click here for a link to the Yahoo article discussing the new site.)

Note: The site may not load right away, due to the large amount of anticipated traffic as the 8th anniversary of the terror attacks passes. Additionally, if you arrive at the site and it takes a longer than usual time to load, try clicking on the "Skip to low-bandwidth story search" option.

Two New Databases Emphasize U.S. & World History

Bufkinite@evpl — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:47:00 GMT

History buffs now have two new resources at their disposal 24 hours a day through the databases page at the EVPL web site. The History Resource Center: World and History Resource Center: U.S. are easy to navigate, rich resources.

History Resource Center: U.S. was named a "Best Reference" by the New York Public Library, and provides a easily searchable interface to a unique combination of primary and secondary sources. The most extensive online collection of historical information available today, History Research Center U.S. delivers:

- comprehensive coverage of the most-studied topics in U.S. history, including the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the post-Cold War era
- a "roll-over" chronology that features a graphical, annotated timeline of significant events spanning pre-Columbian prehistory to today's headlines
- more than 5,000 primary source documents, including more than 9,000 commentaries
- over 350,000 periodical articles
- over 130 reference books
- thousands of downloadable images, maps, charts, and flags

Whether you're a student in high school, college, or a life-long learner, History Resource Center: U.S. delivers unmatched pinpoint results and reliable sources, allowing you to establish the context within the content.

History Resource Center: World was named a "Best Reference" by Library Journal, and offers students and researchers access to more than 5,000 years of world history, including 15,000 pages of primary source material, more than 50 encyclopedias and compendiums, more than 150 academic journals, more than 1,600 maps, atlases and other images, hours of video content, and daily podcasts from NPR, CBC, and other reputable sources, and annotated Web links to history-specific academic and news information sites.

Featuring extensive coverage of the 20th century, this resources also features coverage of teh Ancient Mediterranean, Ancient Near East and Asia as well as the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the modern Middle East and Latin America. Other highlights:

- Asian history recounts the events from Bronze Age China to modern India
- African, Indian, and Latin American history includes the end of colonization in Africa and India as well as the social and political movements in Latin America
- the same kind of "roll-over" timeline as the one featured in History Resource Center: U.S.

Both of these resources feature a very simple search tool, which allows you to search either one - or both - resource centers with one search by clicking the appropriate radio button. An example of the search box can be seen below. You can also search by a person or by a subject, and there is an advanced search option that allows you to limit by document type, historical date ranges, date of publication of the resource, and to use Boolean operators.

Historical magazines at Central Library

googler@evpl — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:58:00 GMT

Central Library has a large collection of magazines, most of which are held for five or ten years. But there's also a pretty impressive collection of older magazines, which have been bound into hardcover and are being retained for their historical value. They can't be checked out, but they can be used in the library.

The oldest is the American Magazine, which the Library has from 1908 to 1953. This was a general interest magazine that was known for publishing features in the muckraking vein, inspirational "Horatio Alger" type success stories, fiction and poetry, and eventually settled into a family magazine slot, much like Life. Other general interest magazines in the collection are Atlantic Monthly (1921-1974), Harper's (191-1973), Life (1936-1972), New Yorker (1956-1974), Reader's Digest (1931-1974), Saturday Evening Post (1956-1968), and Saturday Review (1924-1942).

There are also a few good examples of women's magazines, Good Housekeeping (1924-1954) and Ladies' Home Journal (1927-1949). I sometimes think today's young women would benefit from looking at the stereotypical way women used to be portrayed in publications like this (or in the display ads of any historical magazine).

Another great cultural resouce are old issues of Architectural Record, which the Library has from 1940 to 1970. Enthusiasts of mid-century design and decor will find a lot to enjoy there. Also, business is represented by Fortune from 1930 to 1974. It's a valuable primary source on the Great Depression.

There are also historical issues of news magazines, for contemporary takes on past events: The Nation (1926-1949), Newsweek (1937-1975), Time (1926-1974), and US News and World Report (1951-1974).

The Library has also retained a few important titles in the sciences (although please understand that the older scientific information is, the less accurate it's likely to be). Bound issues of National Geographic is held from 1920 to 1961, and Scientific American from 1930-1974.

And if you use these volumes in the library, please don't reshelve them! Because they don't check out, the only way we know they're being used is when we reshelve them. And we really like knowing they're being used!

Start a new hobby in the new year!

GenCrazy@evpl — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:36:00 GMT

Need a hobby? Try genealogy.

Said to be second only to gardening, genealogy is the fastest growing hobby in North America.

I have been doing genealogy since I was 15 years old. I now consider it more an addiction than a hobby, but it is not a bad addiction to have. There is usually an event that gets you started. For me, it was the death of my grandma. She had been in an orphanage as a child, but I really never understood why, so I decided to find out.

Many people wonder how to begin. The best way to start is by writing down what you already know. Your full name, your birth date, and birth place. You can verify the information by getting a copy of your birth certificate from the county health department. Write down the names of you mother and father and their dates of birth, birth places. Add marriage information. You can verify this with a copy of their marriage license. In order to find and verify information, you must figure out the state and county in which a birth, marriage or death occurred. The county is where you can find the vital records. There are many websites that can provide clues or facts that you can later verify. One is the Browning Obituary Database. It can be found at http://browning.evpl.org/. This database is great! You can find relatives you may not have known existed. If you are looking for a relative, but you are not sure if that person is still alive, you may want to check out the Social Security Death Index at http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/. There are likely many people with the same or similar names, so use more than one source to make sure you have the right person. You may find surprises along the way.

As you go back in time, the census records hold a wealth of information. Census information is only released 72 years after that census is taken. Generally, people are listed by household. Census records are by state, county and then by township. You may find out about relatives who died as children that you didn't know existed. You may find out that grandparents lived with their extended families.

Once you have found a little information, you can post queries or questions on various websites. Some sites are by county, some are by surname (last name), and some are by subject, like orphanages.

You can also check on military records. You many discover that one of your relatives fought in WWII, WWII or the Civil War; or that two brothers fought on opposite sides during that war.

As you look, don't be afraid to ask questions or post queries. Somebody out there may already know the answer or at least have some pieces to the puzzle. Most people who do genealogy are willing to share the information they find. The internet has made that easier.

Be careful not to give out too much information on people who are still living. Identity theft has become a large problem. Let me know how your search is going. Also feel free to send me questions if you get stuck.

Evansville Historical Records for Businesses and Immigrants

seeker@evpl — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:51:00 GMT

The people at the Browning Family Foundation, who brought you the Browning Genealogy Database (Evansville area newspaper obituaries) and contributed to the Local History Database, have constructed 3 more historical databases to help local history buffs!

If you're looking for an early business and want to know when it started or who started it, many businesses filed Articles of Association with the courts. The Browning Family Foundation volunteers and employees have indexed these records covering the 1850's up to the 1980's in the Evansville, IN Business Entity Database. The Simple Search allows you to search by the name of the business or by the names of the businessmen signing the Articles of Association, usually principal officers and major investors. The record you see will include the business name, type of business, and the names of associated businessmen. Advanced search can search on any portion or combination of business type (church, oil refinery, livestock), business name, individual's name or address.

If you're interested in early immigrants to this area, check out their 2nd database. The Evansville IN Immigration Database allows you to search the intentions to immigrate and naturalization papers from 1850's to 1920's filed in Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties. In Advanced search, you will be able to search by any combination of name (last or first), birth location or date, or country emigrated from. The records differ, but may give name, petition number & page & vol number, birth date & location, country emigrated from, arrival location or vessel or date, occupation, current address, names of family members, and notes the petitioner thought important to include. These books are old and fragile and are due to soon be sent to the Indiana State Archives. As time permits, photos of the original pages will be attached to the information already abstracted so that these important documents will still be available to genealogists.

The 3rd database, Browning Obituaries, is an ongoing work-in-progress to expand the information available in the Browning Genealogy Database with obituary information from 3 more counties: White County (IL), Gibson County, and Posey County. In some cases, this will include scans of the actual newspaper obituaries with photo. Additional information available includes records, photo, and biographical essays from the Browning Funeral Home.

I was delighted to try these databases out to see how much information is in them and how many different ways they are indexed. Genealogists and those interested in local history will be first in line, but they're rather intriguing just to poke around in. Kudos to the industrious people at Browning Family Foundation for their hard work in making these databases of valuable information available!

Get inspired to vote: American history art exhibition at Louisville museum

dsrs@evpl — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:49:00 GMT

Based on this Courier-Journal review by Louisville attorney Richard Clay, I'm going to take a break from incessant TV election campaigning and get truly inspired to vote by visiting the Speed Art Museum. "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery" runs from now through January 4, 2009. Check the Planning a Visit page for directions and other suggestions for organizing an easy, top notch day trip.

While we're on the subject, here's a link from the library catalog to Vote: the Machinery of Democracy, an online, interactive exhibition from the National Museum of American History.

Indiana Memory

lotech@evpl — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:42:00 GMT

Many books, manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, and maps have and are being digitized to make them viewable online on the relatively new website, Indiana Memory, http://www.in.gov/memories. You can search by broad topic or by keyword. The Indiana State Library coordinates this project, but the items are from library collections all over the state. This is Indiana's version of the on-going project of the Library of Congress, American Memory, http://memory.loc.gov.

Where (almost) no one has gone before

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:05:00 GMT

Found on one of my favorite blogs, Boing Boing, Good Magazine has created an interactive site documenting "history's greatest journeys." For all you armchair travelers, or students with the infamous "explorers" report, this Web site looks really nifty--check it out!

http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/features/011/Wanderlust/