National Archives Announces Website for Free 1940 Census Release Online on April 2, 2012: 1940census.archives.gov
http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2012/nr12-70.html
“Today the National Archives, with its partner Archives.com, launched its new website http://www.1940census.archives.gov/ in preparation for its first-ever online U.S. census release, which will take place on April 2, 2012, at 9 a.m. (EST). The public is encouraged to bookmark the website now in order to more quickly access the 1940 census data when it goes live. No other website will host the 1940 census data on its April 2 release date.”–From the Press Relase from the National Archives.
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
http://www.immigrantships.net/
Some passenger manifest information from immigrant ships is found here.
The USGenWeb Project
“Welcome to The USGenWeb Project! We are a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone.”–From the Website.
101 Best Genealogy Websites Of 2010
http://familytreemagazine.com/article/101-Best-Websites-2010
FamilyTreeMagazine offers its list of the best genealogy websites of 2010. All of which are not free.
Digital Library on American Slavery
http://library.uncg.edu/slavery/
“The Digital Library on American Slavery offers data on race and slavery extracted from eighteenth and nineteenth-century documents and processed over a period of eighteen years. The Digital Library contains detailed information on about 150,000 individuals, including slaves, free people of color, and whites. These data have been painstakingly extracted from 2,975 legislative petitions and 14,512 county court petitions, and from a wide range of related documents, including wills, inventories, deeds, bills of sale, depositions, court proceedings, amended petitions, among others. Buried in these documents are the names and other data on roughly 80,000 individual slaves, 8,000 free people of color, and 62,000 whites, both slave owners and non-slave owners.”–From the website.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services — Genealogy
“The USCIS Genealogy Program is a fee-for-service program providing family historians and other researchers with timely access to historical immigration and naturalization records.”–From the Website.
Afrigeneas : African American and African Ancestored Genealogy
This is a site devoted to African American genealogy, to researching African resources in the Americas in particular, and to genealogical research and resources in general. It includes links to Census Records, a Surnames Database, a Slave Data Collection, a Marriage Records Database, photographs and much more.
Build Your Family Tree
Thanks to Mary Seratt and Hillary Pesson for passing this along!
dynastree is a site that allows users to create their own family trees. This could be very helpful for children who need to do a genealogy project. There is also a great tool that will map the distribution of a particular surname in the U.S. A free registration is required to build a family tree, but the mapping tool can be used without a registration.
Genealogy Resources, By State
http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/History_Family/State_Genealogy.shtml
USA.gov offers links to genealogical resources in each state here.
WorldGenWeb Project
This is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization “that is dedicated to the free use and access of public domain genealogical information”–From Website. The site uses websites to create repositories of information available to world-wide genealogical researchers. Such information as local resource addresses of county/country public record offices cemetary loctions, maps, library addresses, archive addresses and more is included on a website. A country index is included.
Access to Archival Databases
From Neat New Stuff:
“The National Archives is a goldmine of records for historians and genealogists. You can search all data files simultaneously, or browse through categories like war casualties, immigrants, soldiers, personal names, etc.”
Government Info Finding Tools
From Philip Williams (Cordova):
Gov Gab
http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/
“Gov Gab is a new blog from USA.gov and the U.S. General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services. Written by six federal employees with different backgrounds and interests, Gov Gab will reflect the writers’ personal lives and experiences, as well as the expertise they’ve gained working on USA.gov, the Federal Citizen Information Center, and 1 (800) FED-INFO. Each weekday, you’ll find a fresh post with helpful facts and tips from the government. Readers can join the conversation by leaving comments or e-mailing the bloggers.”
Find a Federal Job
www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Education_Training/Finding_Jobs.shtml
“You can now search for jobs directly from USA.gov. In the Search Federal Jobs box, enter keywords or a location and you’ll quickly find job announcements from the federal government.”
Find a Federal Recreation Area
www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Travel/Recreation.shtml
“In USA.gov’s Recreation Area Search box, enter keywords—such as camping, hiking, and fishing—and the state, and you’ll find recreation opportunities on federal lands.”
Veteran Gravesite Locator
www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/History_Family.shtml
“Use the new Veteran Gravesite Locator box to search by name for burial locations of veterans and their family members. You’ll get results from military cemeteries and private cemeteries in cases where a grave is marked with a government grave marker.”
RACE: Are we so different?
This is a really well-designed site from the American Anthropological Association. A section on History covers race issues from 1600 to the present, with chronologies and articles on topics such as Civil Rights, Immigration Reform and the Indian Wars. The Human Variation Section examines the spectrum of race, its connection with DNA and the health implications of racism. The Lived Experience section allows users to explore others’ experiences and test their own impressions of race.
Penny Postcards
From Wendi Glenn (Raleigh):
www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/special/ppcs/ppcs.html
“You can search the state and county and find pictures of historic sites.” The site, hosted by USGenWeb Archives, is a bit slow to load, so be patient!
Baby Name Wizard’s NameVoyager
http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html
An oldie, but a goodie… I have enjoyed the function and design of this site for a while now. For anyone interested in names and their popularity, this site uses Social Security data to track statistics on name use from 1880 to the present. All that, and it’s fun to play with!
