Top Eight MWM Posts All-Time

The eight most popular posts to date on this blog are not necessarily my personal favorites, but that's OK. I compiled this list, in the spirit of March Madness, after realizing that the "count" of all-time most viewed posts that Blogger offers on its Stats tab is thoroughly and inexplicably broken, i.e. its numbers are different from and lower than the numbers given for each post individually, and some posts are omitted from that list altogether.

1. Finding Ancestors in Fort Wayne, 31 March 2013.

2. Why We Don't Write, 6 May 2012.

3. State and Regional Genealogy Journals (joint post with Michael Hait), 20 June 2011.

4. Getting Serious about Genealogy, 3 June 2013.

5. Moderately Recent Blog Posts I Have Enjoyed, 15 May 2012.

6. Eight Tips for Those Considering Certification, 15 August 2012.

7. Nine Indexes and Finding Aids on the Web Site, 5 July 2013.

8. What I Knew About PERSI That Wasn't So, 22 February 2014.



Harold Henderson, "Top Eight MWM Posts All-Time," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 13 March 2014 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

What I knew about PERSI that wasn't so

Genealogy periodicals don't get enough respect as research sources. And the Periodical Source Index (PERSI) -- once a print volume, now a virtual entity, but always based at the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne -- is almost the only way to get at them in bulk. (And that's important because people often publish where they are living and not where the ancestors were.)

Having used it for years, I recently learned that it has always been designed as a subject index -- not a title index nor an every-name index. This means that when you title your great new article, putting more than three surnames in the title will not help! The rule is that up to three principal surnames covered in the article or transcription qualify as "subjects" to be indexed; beyond that, not. I'm sorry if I misled anybody on this point.

The general subject headings PERSI uses are:
* biography
* cemeteries
* census records
* church records
* court records
* deeds
* directories
* history
* institutions
* land records other than deeds
* maps
* military records
* miscellaneous records
* naturalization records
* obituaries
* passenger lists
* probate records other than wills
* school records
* tax records
* vital records
* voter records
* wills

 Now and again folks ask for a checklist of important source types so that they don't miss any. There is no such animal, and no checklist you can run down in any given case and be sure you haven't missed something. But for a quick rundown of generally available record types, here you have it!

When you think about it, there is an awful lot of research that never gets known beyond the local or state periodical level. I would hesitate to start a sweepstakes for the "most underused" record type, considering that there are so many contenders, but genealogy periodicals are very much underused in my experience. I think the new Find My Past interface will entice more of us to use them (it's already got me going!). Those of us who live close enough to visit the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center on a regular basis can use that search function, and then locate the promising originals on our own on the site -- #1 in the world for genealogy periodicals. For this purpose I would rather be in Fort Wayne than in Salt Lake City!



Harold Henderson, "What I knew about PERSI that wasn't so," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 22 February 2014 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

On Wisconsin and On to FGS Fort Wayne

Cross-posted from the FGS 2013 conference news blog:

Is Wisconsin on your way to or from the 2013 FGS conference in Fort Wayne? You'll love the Badger State's hospitable research stopovers – and leave your down coat at home: August is a good time to visit.

Wisconsin Historical Society
816 State Street, Madison
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/
That's library AND archives, including pre-1907 vital records (index on line), US census agriculture schedules, and a famous newspaper collection. If have time for only one stop en route to Fort Wayne, this is it.

13 Area Research Centers
La Crosse, Platteville, Whitewater, Parkside, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Stevens Point, Eau Claire, Stout, River Falls, Superior, and Ashland
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/arcnet/
Check out the map and links to localized holdings in 13 places besides Madison. (La Crosse has steamboat photographs.)

Milwaukee Public Library
814 West Wisconsin, Milwaukee
http://www.mpl.org/file/hum_genealogy.htm
Sailors in your pedigree? Check out the Great Lakes Marine Collection, including data on more than 10,000 ships: http://www.mpl.org/file/hum_marine_index.htm



Harold Henderson, "On Wisconsin and On to FGS Fort Wayne," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 17 February 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Three Talks at FGS 2013

I will be giving three talks at the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in Fort Wayne next August (just a little more than nine months from now):

Thursday, August 22, 5pm, "First Steps in Indiana Research," from Indiana's Big Four to some archives and county-level resources.

Friday, August 23, 2pm, "Beyond Fort Wayne, Madison, and the Newberry: Lesser-Known Midwestern Archives," a personal selection of useful archives I have known in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Saturday, August 24, 8 am, "Three Ways to Improve Your Speaking Ideas," sponsored by the Genealogical Speakers Guild with some ideas applicable even to those who don't lecture.

If none of these tickle your fancy, FGS has plenty more to offer, and the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center as a jumbo-sized research bonus.




Harold Henderson, "Three Talks at FGS  2013," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 13 November 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Ramping up the web site

This past week I've added a couple of features to my Midwest Roots web site -- sixteen available presentations (formerly known as lectures), and seven books in which I will do free lookups within reason. In the right-hand column of any page, you'll see the picture of the sandhill cranes at Jasper-Pulaski, and below that a list of categories. Click on whichever one suits your fancy, but "presentations" or "free lookups" will show what's available -- everything from old court records and place names to a talk on the ten (genealogical) commandments.

I hope to add soon some lookups in unpublished materials I've indexed. In all cases, as usual around here, the content is mostly but not exclusively Midwestern.

Other somewhat recent additions are four "unfindables," my indexes of library resources not easy to locate either on line or in person: in Fort Wayne, microfilmed small-city directories in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan from the early 20th century; and in Mishawaka, a sizeable collection of out-of-county microfilmed Indiana newspapers.








Harold Henderson, "Ramping up the web site" Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 19 May 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]