This week the Christian world will celebrate Fat Tuesday – the last day before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (March 1st). These celebrations have different names and customs in different countries. Along the northern Gulf coast there will be all kinds of Mardi Gras celebrations while the German-speaking countries celebrate Fasching and Italy, Spain and Brazil celebrate Carnival.
Does your family – past or present – celebrate Fat Tuesday? If so, capturing the customs, foods and photos that made these events so special would be a great way to pass your family history to the younger generations.
Saturday is the North Florida Genealogy Conference. Online registration ends Thursday, March 2nd. Although walk-in registration will be available Saturday morning, the registration fee goes up to $30. We just learned that Fun Stuff for Genealogists will have a “booth” in the main hall. And I thought my checkbook wouldn’t suffer at this conference . . .
To learn more and get registered, visit the conference site at https://nfgenealogyconference.org.
The big winner at RootsTech’s Innovators Showdown was an app called OldNews USA. This app makes searching the historical newspaper archive at the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America easy and more effective. Right now there is only an Android app available but an iOS app is on the way. The app walks you through the process to define your search then will present any news items it finds. The app is free to try and it will cost you a whopping $2.99 for the full version. Here’s a presentation describing the app.
Note: If you don’t see the presentation in you email edition of Research Notes, scroll down to the bottom of the email message and click the link you find just below the Trouble clicking? line. It will take you to the online copy of this post and you’ll be able to view the presentation there.
Recommended Reading
For those of you who are using the WordPress Reader to follow SAGS Support, we have some additional genealogical sites you might find interesting. To add sites to your reading list, just click the Manage button next to Followed Sites in the left sidebar then enter the URL (address) to the site you want to follow. Check out the SAGS Support guide for more information.
This week’s recommendations include:
Michael John Neill’s Genealogy Tip of the Day always delivers great ideas to support your research effort.
Olive Tree Genealogy is full of tutorials, book reviews, app reviews, genealogy news and research help with a Canadian focus but also offering plenty to keep Americans happy.
These sites aren’t the only ones offering genealogical research support. There’s a tremendous amount of instructional information already online. Genealogy 101 (https://genealogy101.live) can point you to them. It will also keep you updated on the latest deals, news from the archives, software updates and more.
Final Notes
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