e-Newsletter

By Lisa L. Cooke

June 2007

Thanks for subscribing to the Genealogy Gems Podcast Newsletter. Summer will be greeting us this month. Gardens are growing taller and school will be ending. Perhaps there will be time for a genealogy field trip or two!

I love having this additional method for us to chat about family history. It’s great to have a way to share extra tidbits with you that come along throughout the month that I didn’t have room for in the show. I don’t’ want you to miss a thing!

This month in History...

June 14 - Flag Day

It was on this day in 1777 that the flag of the United States was adopted by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day. In August of 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. However, Flag Day is not an official federal holiday.

“A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in…and how many want out.” Prime Minister Tony Blair

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is currently trying out 142 U.S. history and government questions for the U.S. naturalization test. They are administering the test to about 6,000 volunteer citizenship applicants in 10 cities. Several of the questions are specifically about Old Glory:

Question #137 - Why do we have 13 stripes on the flag?
Answer: Because the stripes represent the 13 original colonies

Question #138 - Why does the flag have 50 stars?
Answer: There is one star for each state.

Try the test for yourself by clicking on this Citizenship Test Link

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.
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For a quick lesson on how to use Naturalization records to find your ancestors check out the RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees Lesson 16:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson16.htm

Genealogy Gems Podcast Extras

Episode 03 – Shadow Box Follow Up

In this month's Lowes’ Creative Ideas magazine there is an article about making shadow boxes to display photos and other memories. They have also put a how-to video on their Web site: http://lowescreativeideas.com/0507/unwindAndDesign.asp

Episode 05 & 06 – Silhouettes Follow Up

And speaking of the Creative Ideas website, it also has information on silhouettes! We must have been on a very similar creative wavelength! They are definitely becoming popular again. An instructional video can be found at http://www.lowescreativeideas.com/0407/unwind_video.asp.

Episode 10 – Interview with Steve Morse

Episode 11 – Decoupage Plate, A Modern Family Heirloom

If you’re interested in more information about the history of Decoupage, I encourage you to visit the Studio D: Decoupage & Design website: http://www.studiod.decoupage-online.com/history.html

In addition, National Guild of Decoupeurs website also has a history of decoupage: http://www.decoupage.org/abitof.htm

Michaels Craft Store (where you can get the supplies I mentioned in the podcast) has a quick and easy Decoupage 101 at http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayArticle?articleNum=as0086

Episode 14 – Silent Movies & My Interview With Archivist, Sam Gill

Here’s a sneak peek at my upcoming interview with Sam Gill, retired archivist of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Hollywood…

Lisa: What influence do you believe the young medium of silent movies had on the culture of that time (1900-1930)?

Sam: Huge influence. I believe films from the very beginning had an enormous impact on our culture, and the culture of every country when and where films began to be shown. And as sound was added, even with radio, and later with the immediacy of television, the impact has become even more profound. Many immigrants have commented, too, then as now, on the importance of going to the movies to learn the language and culture of their new country. I believe youth especially has been

affected, but probably all ages. I mention youth because young people are so impressionable, and so things such as fashion, dating techniques, job aspirations, desires of where one might live and play, attitudes toward family and community, nearly every aspect of life has been represented and thus made available to audiences for their “selecting,” taking what each person wants or “needs” and leaving the rest. With what they take, they can mold their lives, or re-define what it is they believe they know and want.

Lisa: Any other thoughts on the subject as it pertains to folks interested in learning more about the era of 1900-1930?

Sam: There are more and more films available on DVD but I still love books, and what one can discover going to the library and pulling film books off the shelves to read at one’s leisure—historical works, cultural studies, picture books (even coffee table books), encyclopedias, biographies and autobiographies, corporate histories of film companies, on and on.

It’s all fascinating, and it’s all out there…to be discovered. Many years ago, someone told me he thought I “lived in the past,” and implied that that was a pretty terrible thing to do. I answered, “I don’t think of it as LIVING in the past, but of EXPLORING the past, like an archaeologist.” I think the truth of that may be the same for genealogists, to explore the past through the discovery of family history, which is after all, human history. Visiting with Sam Gill

Computer Gem...

Googling By Date

Here’s one of Steve Morse’s cool Internet tools. (to hear my interview with Steve Morse, listen to Episode #9) Go to: http://stevemorse.org/google/googledate.html

You know how I’m always talking about visiting websites on an ongoing basis to see what’s new that might pertain to your ancestors, right? Well, here’s a great tool to help you with this task.

Google's advanced search form allows you to find webpages that were "updated" in the past – you specify the number of months in the past that you want searched. However, what Google is really referring to is when Google "indexed" the page, rather than when the page actually had it’s content "updated". Steve thought it wasn’t very useful to find pages based on when Google decided to index them, so he designed this tool to allow you to find pages based on when they were last modified. Steve’s “Googling by Date” webpage allows you to ignore pages that are possibly obsolete, and get only results that were truly updated.

Timelines Online

Try Ourtimelines.com to create a custom timeline that includes other historic events as well: http://www.ourtimelines.com/index.shtml

Podcasting Tidbit: did you know that...

You DO NOT have to have an ipod to listen to a podcast. You can listen through itunes or other “podcatching” website player online, or download them to any MP3 player.
Podcasting is still in it’s very early stages, having gotten off the ground around 2004.

Ask Lisa...

Do you have a genealogical question that you’d like some help with? Email me at genealogygemspodcast@gmail.com & put “QUESTION” in the subject line, and you may get an answer to your question featured in an upcoming newsletter!

Other things change us, but we start and end with the family.
--Anthony Brandt

If you enjoy this newsletter, please forward it to your family and friends who are interested in genealogy & encourage them to subscribe at GENEALOGYGEMSNEWSLETTER@GMAIL.COM. Tell them to type “SUBSCRIBE” in the subject line, and include their name, state and the fact that YOU referred them to the podcast. Thanks friend!

Wishing you bucketloads of genealogical gems!

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