The New England Historic Genealogical Society now offers an online chat session every Tuesday from 3:00 to 4:00 pm (Eastern Time). Experts from the society will be available to help explain a resource or website, make recommendations on where to find records and even define the meaning of a phrase or unfamiliar term. Get the details at their American Ancestors website.
The web browser is probably the most important tool for online research. While most of us are only using the browser that came with your computer/device, there are other browsers with features that make your research efforts easier and safer. At the top of that list is the Firefox browser.
Firefox is free and supports Windows, Mac and Linux desktop computers as well as both iOS and Android devices. It supports private browsing by blocking online trackers. With trackers out of the way, you’ll find pages load much faster. If you are using Firefox on both your desktop and mobile devices you can take your privacy, passwords and bookmarks wherever you go just by creating a Firefox account. You can also install add-ons that give you even more flexibility. For example, the RecordSeek extension will convert any website into a source citation with virtually no effort. If you are blogging with Tumblr, you can post to Tumblr right from your browser’s toolbar.
FamilySearch viewed via Firefox
In the example above you an see that Firefox supports tabs, bookmarks and an impressive number of tools. The star icon in the address box will bookmark the current page with one click. Other tools let you view your browsing history, open the sideboar, access your password manager and more. Speaking of password managers, Firefox has just released Lockwise – an add-on to your Firefox browser which manages your passwords for you. Once installed, when you visit a site that requires a login/password, Lockwise will automatically find and enter the login data for you. It’s quite amazing.
Firefox is an impressive web browser for researchers with many whistles and bells to support your research efforts along with some amazing privacy and security tools to keep you safe. All of this browsing goodness is free and easy to use.
The Family History Library has announced their online classes for June. They include:
Using the FamilySearch Catalog Effectively – June 4th at 10:00am
Using the FamilySearch Research Wiki – June 11th at 10:00am
Using the FamilySearch Mobile Apps – June 18th at 10:00am
Germans from Russia: An Overview – June 25th at 11:00am
German Research: Mecklenburg Censuses – June 25th at 1:00pm
The class times shown here are Mountain Time.
You can learn more about the Family History Library’s Classes and Webinars at the Library section of the FamilySearch Research Wiki
Did you know that you can checkout digital books from the St. Johns County Public Library? All you need is your library card and a mobile device with the Kindle Reader app and/or Libby app installed. I found 13 genealogy books listed and most are available to check out now. Two were audiobooks.
Want to learn more? Visit the Overdrive page at the St. Johns County Public Library website.
Final Notes
Each new post published at SAGS Support is automatically emailed to member subscribers and/or delivered to their newsreader. Research Notes is published every Monday morning and other articles are posted during the week. Subscribers have the option to control how often these updates are delivered. Look down at the bottom of this message and you will find a Manage Subscriptions link in the fine print as you see in this example. Click it and you will be taken to the WordPress.com Subscription Management page. Use the Delivery Frequency column to change your delivery options from “Immediate” to either “Daily” or “Weekly”.
Sample of the “fine print” at the bottom of each post.
Also down at the bottom of each delivered post is a Comment button. If you would like to comment on something discussed in a post or ask a question, just click the Comment button and you will be taken online to the comment section of the post where you can share your thoughts and read what others have shared.
To learn more, download a copy of the SAGS Support Guide.
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