October 2008 Wisconsin SGS Newsletter --or is that SOS?

Two record compilations fill the latest issue of the Wisconsin statewide genealogy publication:

"Jenson Cemetery Edgerton Wisconsin," Rock County, tr. Bernie Farmer

"Deaths Among the Membership, Wisconsin WCTU 1927-28"

WSGS turns 70 this year, and will hold the annual Gene-A-Rama featuring Christine Rose, CG, 3-4 April in Madison.

Retiring editor David McDonald, CG, offers a farewell note that should be disquieting to those of us who think there's a lot of interesting genealogy to do in Wisconsin: "Since taking on this task in 2007, I have been truly surprised at how little correspondence from members it engenders. With two exceptions, nothing has been forthcoming from members to be included."

Wisconsin records off the beaten track

Contents of the July 2008 issue of the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society Newsletter:

"Deaths Among the Membership, Wisconsin WCTU, 1923-26," alphabetical

"'Slacker' Lists from World War I," listed by draft board, evidently from the Congressional Record

"Delegates to, and Member Churches of the Wisconsin Baptist State Convention, Fifth Anniversary Convention, 8-10 October 1850," extracted from Minutes of the Fifth Anniversary of the Wisconsin Baptist State Convention held in the Church Ediface of the First Baptist Church, Milwaukee, Wis. (Milwaukee: J. Hamilton for the Convention, 1850). Ah, the headaches of transcribing names! My wife may have an ancestor on this list, but only if what is rendered "J. Moosely" is really "T. Mozley." Without laying hands on the original I couldn't say which is more improbable!

Digitized newspapers in Champaign County, Illinois

If that headline doesn't make your heart go pit-a-pat, then you're reading the wrong blog! IMHO, digitized every-word-searchable newspaper images are the gold standard, and a gold mine. So it's a happy day when the Scout Report brings word of the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Right now the collection offers the UIUC student newspaper, the Daily Illini, from 1916 to 1936, with 1936-1945 promised soon; and the local daily, the Urbana Daily Courier from 1916 to 1925, with 1902-1915 and 1926-1935 promised soon.

Here's some of the tech part:

The Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection (IDNC) is a project of the History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. The IDNC is a repository of digital facsimiles of historic Illinois newspapers. Using digital imaging technology, we have converted microfilmed newsprint into preservation quality image files. Equipped with Olive Software's Active Paper Archive platform, the IDNC delivers access versions of the image files through the customizable user-friendly interface. The interface allows users with internet connections to browse the newspapers by date or search by keyword across articles, advertisements and photo captions. Users can print, download, or e-mail individual articles. And it's free! We plan to add additional years of Illinois newspapers to the repository as funding becomes available.

The genealogy part doesn't need much explanation. I've already found a fascinating account of a second cousin on my mother's father's side (with the unhelpful surname Aye) who gave an impassioned speech to the local WCTU about alcoholism. He is described as a "newspaperman, and a former Methodist minister," and someone "whose experience for the past twelve years covers every phase of the evil, both from the inside and the outside." Hmmmm...