Today is the day we celebrate Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. The United States isn’t the only country celebrating. Many countries in the Americas memorialize it while Spain celebrates Fiesta Nacional.
FamilySearch discontinued its microfilm circulation services in September, but that doesn’t mean those records are out of reach. More than 1.5 million microfilms have already been digitized and the operation is adding 1,000 films per day. These new images will be made available on FamilySearch.org as they are scanned. However, to make the records on those films searchable, they must first be indexed. This means someone must look at each record and transcribe the information it contains so search engines can read them. Fortunately, the FamilySearch indexing program recently released a new web-based platform that is quite easy to use. The have also scheduled a worldwide indexing event from October 20-22.
Indexing isn’t difficult and this new platform makes it even easier. Right now almost 21,000 volunteers have signed up. If you are interested in participating, visit https://www.familysearch.org/indexingevent2017 to sign up, take the tour of the indexing program and try it out by indexing a record or two. During the indexing weekend, index as many or as few as you wish. Every little bit helps make more records available to everyone!
The National Archives will host a live, virtual Genealogy Fair via webcast on YouTube. The fun begins Wednesday, October 25th starting at 10 a.m. Participate in our biggest genealogy event of the year! Sessions offer advice on family history research for all skill levels. Topics include Federal government documents on birth, childhood, and death; recently recovered military personnel files; Japanese Americans during World War II; 19th century tax assessments; and a “how to” on preserving family heirlooms. For the schedule, videos, handouts, and participation instructions, visit the Virtual Genealogy Fair online.
All you need to participate is a computer with speakers or a mobile device such as an iPad or Kindle Fire and a high-speed Internet connection (Comcast, AT&T, RoadRunner, etc.). See the October Ancient City Bulletin – delivery date October 16th – for more information.
Reminder . . . Judy Wright returns for our October member meeting to share her tips and tricks for using Family Tree Maker 2017. See you on October 21st at 1:00pm.
Final Notes
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