The books I bought at FGS

For moderately regular attendees, a national genealogy conference is an oasis of extreme sociability in a normally quiet, if not quite solitary, life. I love conferences, but they do make it difficult for me to work, blog, think, research, compose presentations, or otherwise do the things that give us food for conversation when we're there.

I did not buy a single book at full price during last week's FGS conference in Fort Wayne, but if I hadn't already bought it at NGS, I would have purchased Tom Jones's Mastering Genealogical Proof. I did have occasion to recommend it to many ambitious people. Here's what I did buy at Maia's Books, the Ohio Genealogical Society booth, the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania booth, and the perpetual used-book sale just inside the east end of the Allen County Public Library:

Scott E. Casper, Constructing American Lives: Biography and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999).

Leslie Brenner, American Appetite: The Coming of Age of A National Cuisine (New York: HarperCollins, 1999).

James M. Duffin, comp., Guide to the Mortgages of the General Loan Office of the Province of Pennsylvania, 1724-1756 (Philadelphia?: Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 1995).

Dale Roylance, Graphic Americana: The Art and Technique of Printed Ephemera from Abecedaires to Zoetropes (Princeton: Princeton University Library, 1992).

Charles E. Rosenberg and William H. Helfand, "Every Man his own Doctor": Popular Medicine in Early America (Philadelphia: The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1998).

Roberta P. Wakefield, ed., Special Aids to Genealogical Research in Northeastern and Central States (Washington DC: National Genealogical Society, 1962).

Milton Rubincam, ed., Genealogical Research: Methods and Sources (Washington DC: American Society of Genealogists, 1960).

Encyclopedia of World History (New York: Facts on File, 2000).

Were they worth it? You tell me, I've got a deadline!



Harold Henderson, "The books I bought at FGS," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 26 August 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

The 200-Year-Old Genealogist

Everyone who's even thinking of going to the Federation of Genealogical Societies' national conference in Fort Wayne in August (or who's thinking of signing up before July 1 to get the early-bird discount) should already be reading both the FGS conference blog and the blog of the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library, one of the two local hosts. In just the past few days I've learned:

* how the center's unique adaptation of the Dewey Decimal System works, so that you won't miss anything in searching the printed materials, and

* that the librarians on staff there have among them more than 200 years' worth of genealogy experience.

My free 26-page guide to the center, Finding Ancestors in Fort Wayne, doesn't include either of these fun facts -- yet -- but it can still help you make the most of your limited time there.




Harold Henderson, "The 200-Year-Old Genealogist," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 17 June 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Ohio Research on Your Way to FGS in Fort Wayne

Besides containing one of the premier genealogy libraries -- the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center -- and hosting next year's Federation of Genealogical Societies conference, Fort Wayne is also surrounded in every direction by other useful repositories. The following (by me) was just posted on the FGS 2013 conference blog, third in a series of short posts on ways to pack in extra research on your way to or from the conference in Fort Wayne. 

 If Ohio is on your way to or from the 2013 FGS conference in Fort Wayne, the Buckeye State offers a variety of research stopovers en route. (Travel note: Drivers with the option may find US 30 west of Mansfield more direct and less expensive than the Ohio Turnpike.)

Western Reserve Historical Society Research Library
10825 East Boulevard, Cleveland
http://www.wrhs.org/properties/Hours_Admission-3#Research_Center_Hours_and_Admission
Focus on Cleveland and the Western Reserve. Check website for hours and fees for non-members.

Cleveland Public Library
325 Superior Ave., N.E., Cleveland
http://www.cpl.org/Research/PopularTopics/Genealogy.aspx
Don't miss their guide to genealogy resources and records:
http://www.cpl.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=UmtldL7pyY8%3d&tabid=158&mid=1831

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Spiegel Grove, Fremont
www.rbhayes.org
Famous for its ever-growing obituary collection, located at the south edge of Fremont on well-shaded
grounds beautiful enough to keep your non-genealogist companions pleasantly occupied.

Ohio Genealogical Society Library
611 State Route 97 West (South side) Bellville (just east of I-71)
http://www.ogs.org/ogs_library/holdings.php
The newest genealogical library around, with many unique resources. Fee for non-members.

Columbus Metropolitan Library
96 South Grant Ave., Columbus
http://www.columbuslibrary.org/research/local-history-genealogy
Home to the State Library of Ohio's genealogical collections and much more.

Ohio Historical Society
800 East 17th Ave., Columbus
http://www.ohiohistory.org/collections—archives/archives-library
1.6 million objects and 70,000 cubic feet of records -- a unique source of information in all formats.

Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
800 Vine Street, Cincinnati
http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/main/genlocal.html
Strong in “local history and culture, river history, genealogy, and African American history.”



Harold Henderson, "Ohio Research on Your Way to FGS in Fort Wayne," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 17 January 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Methodology Monday with Coin-Coin

The APG Great Lakes chapter's article discussion this month was Elizabeth Shown Mills's "Documenting a Slave's Birth, Parentage, and Origins (Marie Therese Coincoin, 1742-1816): A Test of 'Oral History'" from the December 2008 National Genealogical Society Quarterly (96:245-66).

The article operates on two levels, just as the double title suggests. On one level it's a vivid reminder that "tradition" and "local lore" have an amazing amount of junk encrusted around a possible inner pearl of truth. On another level, it's a demonstration of how to prove ancestry in circumstances when many genealogists would despair. If you like indirect evidence and conflicting evidence, you'll love this article. It definitely repays rereading. Mills also lectured from the same material at FGS Little Rock earlier this fall, so there's a companion CD from Jamb Tapes, Inc., in St. Louis.