Just the name! My top tip for using "Full Text" on FamilySearch

by Sherri Mastrangelo, 23 April 2026

Have you tried the Full Text search feature? You can find it under the Search tab, or here (free with registration): https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/full-text

“Full Text”, once one of FamilySearch’s lab experiments, moved to the main page a few months ago. It allows you to search a large amount of historical records that have yet to be indexed, and therefore would not show up on the main record search. It uses AI-generated transcriptions of images, many of which are handwritten, which are also translated to English if needed. These transcriptions are of the whole text, not just names and dates, which also differs from main record search. In my opinion, it is flat-out AMAZING and I am so happy with the new-to-me records I have discovered. Note that Full Text is not all encompassing yet and they are still adding collections - and the AI transcription is not always accurate.

Now to the good stuff. With today’s tip, less is more when it comes to your search input.

Use a name (and only a name!) and then filter results down to a place (not name + place in your first search). This is my biggest and best tip, and how I conduct all my searches.

When you use the place name in your initial search, the place name will show up in the highlighted search text, even when your name does not appear. This causes a multitude of unrelated “matches” that are not relevant to our name search, as shown below:

However, when you search based on a name alone, and THEN filter results by place, you get results with the name only - in the correct place! No results with just the place name.

Within the search results, you can hit “Edit Search” and change parameters easily to check other locations. It may be helpful to do a narrow location search, such as “Halifax”, and then another search with the broader “Nova Scotia”, and then cast an even wider net with “Canada” for example.

While most other genealogy searches will have you use the specific name of the location based on the time period - such as selecting “Halifax, Nova Scotia, British North America” for records prior to 1867 and “Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada” for post 1867, in Full Text we just filter to “Nova Scotia” then “Halifax”.

So do you agree with this tip?

My next posts will explore whether it is better to use the “Name” field or “Keywords” field, how to use wildcards and other punctuation, and how to unlock unindexed collections using the Image Group Number - but I also would love to hear any tips you might have as well! How is Full Text going for you?

-S

*I am not affiliated with FamilySearch and this post is in no way sponsored by them.

Include these things in your Time Capsule

By S. Mastrangelo, 26 March 2026

The Crypt of Civilization was sealed in 1940, stored in Atlanta, Georgia, and won’t be opened until the year 8113. That’s some six-thousand years, and a bit overkill if you ask me. A time capsule sealed off for a century, or even a decade or two, can still be quite meaningful. A time capsule - whether for your local historical society, your city, or your own family - is a great way to preserve your history and stories.

Think about the following:

  • Will this be opened in 10 years? 25 years? 100? How might life be different than today?

  • What is important to us today? What do we value in life as a society, or as a family?

  • What physical objects represent our community? How can we show our daily way of life?

  • If someone handed you a box of your ancestor’s possessions, what treasures would you hope to find inside?

With your personal answers to these questions in mind, start forming your list. Here are some ideas:

  • Audio recordings

    • Use high-quality format that will last, like an archival M Disc, or other archival DVD-R and store properly. Note you may need a special burner (affiliate links).

    • Save the audio with multiple format type options for the same clips, like WAV and MP3.

    • Include interviews with family members (or locals for a city capsule). Be sure to say full names and relationships to start each clip.

  • Children’s items

    • Artwork, with name and age.

    • What they are studying in school - perhaps a recent test.

    • A local yearbook, if not too big and bulky.

    • A list of slang / memes popular today (6, 7 anyone?)

  • City / local artifacts

    • City websites (archive in the Wayback Machine and share a link). This isn’t guaranteed.

    • Describe struggles facing the city today, such as low-income housing or climate change.

    • Detailed map of the area with landmarks.

    • Information about the area’s history.

    • Parks and Rec activity booklet.

    • Population and demographic area.

    • Weather forecast for the area.

  • Ephemera / other items showcasing current life

    • A mask or test from covid times.

    • A newspaper (copied onto archival quality paper).

    • Screenshots that showed how we actually got news.

    • A list of bestselling books.

    • Candy wrapper or other product packaging.

    • Receipts or bills that show daily life and average prices.

    • Protest signs, buttons, or stickers.

    • Concert tickets.

    • Cost of airline flights.

  • Favorite foods and recipes (nothing perishable)

    • What are some average dinners for locals? Favorite meals? Special holiday meals? Desserts? Include pictures.

    • Are there local specialties, or famous food from this area?

  • Local business memorabilia

    • Menus from local restaurants.

    • Grocery store flyer with prices.

    • A real estate brochure with current house sale prices.

    • List of house and apartment rentals.

    • Movie theatre list of current movies.

    • Job listings from big companies that seem relevant to today, like AI prompt engineer.

  • Photo prints on archival paper (lignin free, acid free, carbon-based ink), with labels!

    • Identify the people, and their relationships to each other. Where was this picture taken? What was it celebrating?

    • Photos showing downtown area businesses, and people enjoying them

    • Photos of your neighborhood, with houses and cars

    • For a personal time capsule, showcase the interior of your home and bedrooms; your workplace, your schools.

    • Take photos of current technology, like a screenshot of your conversation with an AI model, or of your phone and it’s apps, or of a self-driving car.

    • Note you can also save photos digitally on archival M Discs or archival quality DVD-R’s, as mentioned above in audio.

  • Pop culture

    • What songs or music is popular? Or important to you? Write a playlist. If preserving audio, include a few tracks.

    • A trendy collectible item, such as Pokémon cards.

    • Recap what’s happened in pop culture the past few years.

  • Social media screenshots

    • From Myspace to Facebook, Twitter to X, Vine to Tik Tock, and everything in between. Preserve your social media handles, screenshots of a few memorable posts or conversations.

    • If saving media, preserve video files in widely supported archival formats such as MKV (with FFV1), or MPEG-2.

  • Something that will be harder to find in the future, or that might change.

    • A penny, or low value currency.

    • Bus fare token or transit card.

    • Seeds, dried and stored in an air-tight container.

    • A written summary of current technology use (go ahead and use AI to write it as an example of it’s writing style!)

  • Sports memorabilia

    • Small items from the local teams.

    • Trading cards.

    • Ticket stubs.

  • Written letters, messages

    • Describe current events and what daily life is like now.

    • Your favorite memories. For a city, have locals share their favorite times.

    • Notes from your children (or locals) with name and age.

    • Predictions and hopes for the future.

Keep in mind that technology will change, and certain items like a “DVD” or “CD” or flash-drive might not be compatible with anything in the future and will also degrade over time. Use archival quality technology.

Paper itself will also degrade, so store those letters and photos carefully. Use acid free ink, paper, tape, and so on. That also means no rubber, plastic, liquids, or anything perishable. Nothing that will leak moisture, grow mold, or attract pests!

For a city or historical time capsule, don’t publish a list of contents - keep it a secret for future generations. But you should include a list on the inside!

Be sure to mark the location of your capsule with a physical plaque, and store indoors if possible. Time the planned opening with a historical celebration, like a city’s bicentennial. It should be clear on the capsule which way is up. It should be packed with the heaviest items on the bottom, with minimal movement of items.

Genealogy Jobs List - October 2025

by Sherri Mastrangelo, 4 October 2025

Start Researching makes no claims or guarantees about the legitimacy, validity or availability of any positions listed below, and we are not responsible for any associated aspects of application or employment. We are also not associated with any companies listed below, and are not sponsored in any way (other than ads that may appear on this site).

  1. Archival Digitization Specialist - Ancestry - Des Moines, Iowa (Ancestry.com)

  2. Archival Digitization Specialist - Ancestry - Washington, DC (Ancestry.com)

  3. Archivist - Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn - Brooklyn, NY - (Indeed.com)

  4. Archivist (part-time) - Sisters of Notre Dame - Belmont, CA (ZipRecruiter)

  5. Assistant Archivist - American Ancestors - Boston, MA (AmericanAncestors.org)

  6. Associate Curator - San Mateo County Historical Association - Redwood City, CA - (Indeed.com)

  7. Data Engineer (Genealogy) - The Lifetime Value Co. (Remote) (Indeed.com)

  8. Data Product Manager Lead - 23andMe - Palo Alto, CA (23andMe.com)

  9. Digitization Technician - Historical Document Preservation - Ancestry - Lehi, UT (Ancestry.com)

  10. Experienced Genealogical & Probate Researcher - American Research Bureau - Millcreek, UT (Indeed.com)

  11. FamilySearch Director of Product Management & Design - Salt Lake City, UT (ZipRecruiter)

  12. Forensic Genealogist - University of North Texas System - Fort Worth, TX (ZipRecruiter)

  13. Forensic Investigative Genealogist - New York City - Bronx, NY (JobsNYC)

  14. Genealogist (on-site / limited hybrid work schedule) - Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Washington, D.C.

  15. Genealogist / Historian - Davidson County, NC (Indeed.com)

  16. Genealogist / Probate Generator of HeirSearch Division - Lauth Investigations International

  17. Genealogist Researcher -Boulder, CO - Lauth Investigations International

  18. Genealogy Librarian - RFT - St Louis Public Library (Indeed.com)

  19. Genealogy Senior Clerk I - Jefferson County Library - High Ridge, MO -(Indeed.com)

  20. Heirship Researcher - Purple Land Management - Charleston, SC - (Indeed.com)

  21. JewishGen Administrative Assistant - Museum of Jewish Heritage - New York, NY - (Indeed.com)

  22. Librarian II - Reference Genealogy and Local History (Part-time) - Santa Clara, CA (GovernmentJobs.com)

  23. Microfiche Digitization Technician - Evening Shift - Internet Archive- San Francisco, CA (Archive.org)

  24. Onsite Records Lookup - Contractor - (Remote) - Legacy Tree Genealogists

  25. Part time Metadata Specialist Intern FamilySearch, Korean Genealogical Records - Lehi, UT (Indeed.com)

  26. Processing Archivist II - Maine State Archives - Augusta, Maine (Society of American Archives)

  27. Product Design Lead - 23andMe - (23andMe.com)

  28. Reference Desk Assistant - The Georgia Historical Society - Savannah, GA (Glassdoor.com)

  29. Registrar - Dallas County Historical Foundation - Dallas, TX (Indeed.com)

  30. Skip Trace & Property Researcher - Titan Genealogy & Property Research, LLC - Houston, TX (Indeed.com)

  31. State Historical Society Archivist - University of Missouri - St. Louis, MO (SimplyHired.com)

Have a job opportunity to submit?

Looking to hire a professional genealogist? See: APGen.org

A Private Family Tree on FamilySearch: the Controlled Edit Tree (CET)

26 May, 2025 by Sherri Mastrangelo

Have you ever been surprised by another user’s edits on your Family Tree on the FamilySearch platform? Did you know you can avoid that issue, with a free private tree? While the CET was first introduced in the fall of 2024, it seems not many know about this helpful option.

Right now the CET feature is only available to selected users that sign up and are approved: https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/docs/CETsLearnMore

FamilySearch’s User Owned Tree, or Controlled Edit Tree (CET), allows it’s users to create and manage private family trees on their platform, with all the tools and resources of their main tree. Until now, private trees have not been available on FamilySearch. While you could upload a tree with the Genealogies feature, it could not be edited - even by the owner.

While the CET can only be edited by the owner, others can be invited as collaborators. You have the option to make it public or private.


What makes the CET different than the main Family Tree?

  • Privacy options. You can choose to have your tree public, meaning that other users can view your tree, but they can not edit it - or private*, with only you and your invited guests able to view it. With the public option, living individuals in the tree are still hidden from other users. This public mode is the default.

    • Even with private settings, some items attached to confidential people are public by default, like memories. Be sure to review all privacy settings.

  • No outside collaboration, unless invited.

  • The tree may not necessarily start with you, unlike your access to the main tree. The API guide states: “a [CET] tree is not guaranteed to contain a person who represents the current user. Therefore, the concept of the user’s person may not be supported.” You can set a starting person when editing your tree.

  • Relationship views to self not supported, as no current user. Again, per the API guide for developers, “the ability to view a user’s relationship to persons in the [CET] tree is not supported because there may not be a person representing the user in the tree.”

  • Certain features not supported yet.

  • Not available to all users yet.


How to Create and Use a CET

  1. Once approved, login and upload your GED file. (Need a GED? If you are trying this from Ancestry.com, you can download your GED file from your Tree Settings page). This process could take hours, depending on the size of your file.


  2. Continue to edit the tree as normal. However, please note:

    • You must add sources! While the GED upload will create a citation, it will not copy over the file from other sources like Ancestry.com. It does preserve web links.

    • Also, when searching for records on FamilySearch, you must search from your CET to be able to attach the record.


  3. You can access your CET anytime you are logged in from the Family Tree tab under CETs.

  4. Optionally: add an image to your CET by clicking the black and white default picture, and uploading a new image.


It is not known when, or if, the CET feature will be available to all. We suggest subscribing to their blog for latest updates.


Though I immensely value the public Family Tree on FamilySearch for it’s collaboration and wealth of information, CETs are a good way for researchers to keep the integrity of their research without outside interference, and vice versa - CETs are also a way to explore possible relationship models or trees without affecting the main Family Tree data.


Additional Resources

Testing Search Engine Alternatives for Genealogy

by Sherri Mastrangelo, 26 April 2025

DuckDuckGo, Brave, Kagi, Mojeek… Swisscows? Are any of these alternative search engines good for your genealogy research?

Every good genealogist knows there is much more to research than an online Google search - most of the records you need are within databases, in books, or in offline record repositories. And yet we still need the web to find out where these records might be held, and how to access or request the needed information. We also may need the web to find and use the online tools needed to correlate our data, provide historical context, and research locations. We may need to look up other forms of data available online, like obituaries, newspaper articles, or even photos on social media. We may try to find others that are researching the same surnames as us, or even the same ancestors. We may try to connect with other researchers on forums, or within Facebook groups. We may even use the Wayback Machine to find websites or mailing lists that don’t exist anymore. There are many reasons to use the internet as a genealogist, and a search engine is going to help you find what you need.

A search engine, like Google, is an online tool that crawls the internet to collect information about websites, indexes that information, and then ranks and searches that index to try and give you the best results.

While Google currently sits at more than 86% of the search engine market share in the U.S. (per statcounter), it’s important to know that there are alternatives, and they may give you different results that may be useful.

Some are heavy on privacy, like DuckDuckGo or Startpage, but may not have as much advanced search features. Some, like Kagi Search, have privacy but aren’t free. Many are driven by other search engines, like Yahoo, and Ecosia, which are both empowered by Bing. Actually, Bing powers DuckDuckGo, Swisscows, and others too - as you can see on searchenginemap.com You can see Mojeek provides results for Kagi, which also pulls from Google (and Mojeek is not subscription-based, unlike Kagi).

So how would I rank all of these various options? Let’s test them, with genealogy! A quick reminder that this is NOT a sponsored post (though I use Adsense) and this rank is entirely my subjective opinion. With these test queries I tried not to use the AI search capabilities, if they were available, but I didn’t exclude it. The queries also use my own ancestors, because why not. I also included Google in the test, for comparison.

To keep score, I made up a point system :

+1 point for each accurate result link on the first page of results.

+1 point for any accurate links in the top three results, including any already counted, not counting sponsored results.

That’s it! I ran five tests, or search queries, on a multitude of search engines, as shown in the five images below. I did not use any search filters or advanced methods, other than quotations.

The winners the first round were Metacrawler and Yahoo with 5 points each, then Bing and Qwant with 4 points each. It looks like these are all powered by Bing (though I can't find an accurate answer about what drives Metacrawler, other than its multiple search engines). Data about which platform powers each is mainly from searchenginemap.com

Accurate results for this first query, of my great-grandmother Ida Cook (1894 - 1938), included her FindaGrave memorial page, as well as her daughter Phyllis’ obituary. While several links appeared relevant at first glance, I did not include them. These results are judged subjectively! For example, a newspapers.com article for an Ida Cook was a google result, but it was not from Massachusetts, and it was not my ancestor, so I did include it as accurate.

I dropped the search engines above that had no results, and continued on with the 15 below:

For the above search, accurate results included my ancestors with the Prunier surname from Yamaska (Elizabeth, Catherine, Martin, Jean, Antoine, Francouis, and many more). Results not counted were for the Prunier wine or restaurant in France, or for fruits and flowers.

I was very impressed by Gibiru and Presearch for the amount of quality results. Somehow both powered by Google, but did better than Google for accuracy - at least in my opinion.

For the next query, we’ll go with something more generic, that a genealogist may need:

How did Kagi have 31 accurate results (with two in the top 3) all on the first page? And again, Gibiru and Presearch came in high.

Another generic query next, this time for Ireland records:

Kagi with 22 accurate results. Again, this post is not sponsored by anyone.

For the last test query, I’ll use another ancestor - my great grandfather, who was born in 1904 in Massachusetts and married to Alice Grandpre.

Interesting that many search engines did so poorly with this name. Looksmart did the best here.

And the winner is…..

Kagi in first, followed by Presearch, then Gibiru - all three came out ahead of Google. Kagi is a subscription search model, though you can sign up for a trial of 100 free searches with your email.

Will you be trying any of these three for some of your genealogy research?

Note: I did not include Yandex, as it is based in Russia (though you can search in English), or platforms in other languages like Baidu, Sogou, or Naver. I also did not include sites I couldn’t access, like SearchBoth, which gave me a too much traffic error, or AI platforms, like Search.com or Perplexity AI, or anything with an onion domain like SearXNG.


Finding Naturalization Papers with the COA Number

by Sherri Mastrangelo, 23 January 2025

This post is a follow-up to the last, Certificate of Arrival Numbers on Passenger Lists and Naturalization Forms

Is it possible to find naturalization paperwork by searching with a Certificate of Arrival (COA) number that we found on a passenger list?

Let’s say we found our ancestor, or research subject, on an early 20th century passenger list. That would be from 1906 through the early 1950’s or so, when COA’s were used most. To the right of the handwritten COA number is also likely the date the immigration clerk wrote it down, around the time the Declaration of Intent was filed.

FamilySearch

FamilySearch recently launched a set of experimental features within “FamilySearch Labs”, one of which is “Full Text Search”, and it is simply amazing.

You can start at: https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/ and look for the “Full Text” experiment, or go right to https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text if you have used it before.

In the example search pictured below, I used the Certificate of Arrival number of Anna Miseiko, that we found in her passenger list as shown in my previous post, to pull up her Naturalization file. Until now, this was not possible within FamilySearch, or really anywhere else!

If you’re familiar with FamilySearch, you know there is no search field box to enter any certificate numbers when searching for records. This Lab allows you to search records in a new way, and with seemingly great results.

We don’t know how long this FamilySearch Labs feature will be available, but you should definitely take advantage of it while you can.

Have you tried this Lab? What else have you been able to find?


Certificate of Arrival Numbers on Passenger Lists and Naturalization Forms

by Sherri Mastrangelo, 20 January 2025

A follow up to this post - Passenger Lists: The Meaning behind the Notations, Abbreviations, and Marks

A reader recently sent in a great example of a Certificate of Arrival number on a passenger arrival list, along with the corresponding COA, so it’s a great time to revisit this set of naturalization numbers.

In the above example, we see the COA number is written on the passenger list, followed by the date the Certificate of Arrival was issued in 1939.

What is a Certificate of Arrival? For ancestors that arrived after the year 1906 (when the Basic Naturalization Act went into effect), a Certificate of Arrival was created during the naturalization application process. This was often many years later, as the ancestor would have requested this document as proof of their arrival in order to file the Declaration of Intent and later petition for citizenship. This document usually includes more information about your ancestor (and possibly alternative name spellings!) At the time of its creation, the COA number was written on the passenger list by the immigration clerk.

The COA number is an important part of information, as it can be supporting evidence that links naturalization paperwork and passenger lists. This can be especially helpful when the handwriting on a passenger list is hard to read for example, or if you’re not sure if the passenger list belongs to your ancestor. Information in the linked COA can help you determine this.

Note: on passenger lists prior to 1906, when the Certificate of Arrival was not required, you may still see “CL” abbreviation for Certificate of Landing. Also of note, if an ancestor could not be linked to their passenger record by the immigration clerk, you may see marks like “No CA” or “No C/A”.

You may come across a COA while searching naturalization records, as it is often included in the C-File - but not always.

This COA number is NOT the same as a person’s naturalization number. You will note it does not match the number in the top right corner of the Declaration of Intent, though it does appear later in the form.

Both of these numbers appear again below on the Petition for Naturalization form:

The USCIS Genealogy Program allows you to request your ancestor’s C-File for a fee, though it may be handled by the National Archives (NARA) post 2024, which also handles Alien Registration forms, or the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for records post 1956.

Visit the USCIS website for more information about Certificate Files, or C-Files (1906 - 1956), Alien Registration Forms (1940 to 1944), Visa Files (1924 - 1944), Registry Files (1929 - 1944), and A-Files (1944 - 1951).

In some records, like this example on FamilySearch, I noticed the Certificate of Arrival number is shown on the details index of the search screen:

While it matches our COA number in this case, I think the AI is just pulling the certificate number from the first form in the file, and it won’t always match. But it does tell us this number might match sometimes, and might be indexed and therefore searchable.

So how do we search FamilySearch by a possible Certificate number? Say we found the COA on a passenger list, and want to quickly find the Naturalization paperwork. Is it possible?

I’ll show you the ways I tested this in my next post!

And thank you to Parker G. for sharing his findings and examples!









How to Save Your Social Media Data

by Sherri Mastrangelo, 31 December 2024

As you switch from X (formerly Twitter) to BlueSky or Threads, you may wish to download a history of your posts and conversations. And with the possible TikTok ban looming in the U.S., you may be aware that your content and saved video collections may not be available much longer. Whether you move on from a social media platform first, or the platform itself ghosts you - its probably a good idea to back up your valuable media every now and then.

All icons and logos are copyright of their respective companies.

Skip ahead to learn how to backup: TikTok / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Snapchat / X (Twitter)

Social media is a record of your personal life, events, thoughts, and connections. As an elder millennial, my early social media was AOL chatrooms and instant messenger, followed by LiveJournal (which is still up, surprisingly!) and Myspace, then the early days of Facebook. These days I mostly doom scroll TikTok and Instagram, post cute photos of my kids on my small family Facebook group, and follow friends on Threads. But I also use social media for genealogy! When not self-promoting Start Researching or reaching out to contacts, I also look utilize Facebook groups to help with genealogy research, such as the Abruzzo and Molise (Italy) Genealogy Group, or one of my personal groups of extended relatives that we use to share pictures of family members and ancestors. And think about how amazing it is - or would be - to find one of your ancestor’s diaries! Future generations may look back on social media the same way, with hopes of finding your profiles.

Here’s why you should save your media:

  • Your images, videos, and content are valuable to you! While you may look back and cringe at old photos or captions, you may also cherish those memories.

  • Content you have saved, not just created, is also valuable to you (do you also have a million recipes saved on TikTok like I do?).

  • Your personal contacts and connections are important to you. You like social media for the reason it was intended, to stay in touch or follow the lives of your friends and family, and want to stay in touch.

  • You value other content creators and have grown attached to them (even if you do not personally interact with them) and wish to follow them on another platform.

  • You can’t trust the platform to be reliable:

  • Your own profile or page could be hacked or deleted without warning. You may also be subject to an account suspension or deactivation.

  • The platform may have an outage or lose data without warning (like when Myspace lost all of my photos).

  • The platform may shutdown, with or without warning.

So what does “saving” look like? The majority of social media platforms have an option to export your data as an archival zip file from your account settings, but this may not include everything you want to save. For example, in Instagram and Facebook this may not include any photos that belong to other people, including photos you are tagged in. Another option is to save each image or video individually. Be sure to download high-res if possible. You can also take screenshots or image captures, especially if you want to capture the comments on a photo together with the image. Saving also looks like downloading your contacts so you can reach out to them or find them on another platform.

What about the WayBack Machine?

Above: How “thefacebook” looked on February 12th, 2004, according to a backup from The Wayback Machine.

The WBM does not work for pages that were never indexed, or for most social media platforms that require a login. You’ll most likely be able to find the main login screen, which is still fun to look at!

Can you use the Wayback Machine to back up your information now? If you have a public blog or website, absolutely give it a try by pasting the link to your site in the “Save Page Now” feature. Give it a try with any of your public social media, but keep in mind it will not work for anything private that requires a login to view. Having just tried this again with Facebook, I can confirm it will not work and just saves a login screen. Another note: the Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine is also subject to outages, as we recently had. If it works, be sure to use a secondary backup form as well.

You may also try your hand at ArchiveWeb.page to back up your sites.

There also cloud services that run automatic backups of certain social media sites for a subscription fee, but be sure to check they cover the platforms you need before purchasing.

What can you do with this all this information and media you have backed up?

  • You may be able to transfer some of your data, including your contacts, to a new platform.

  • Store backups in your computer, or however you choose to organize your photos and videos.

  • Create a photo book as a way to showcase your images.

  • If you run a business, you may want to keep the data for legal archives or records.


Note - when you request a download from these platforms below, It may take a day or two (sometimes up to a month!) to process the request before you receive notification that your download is ready. Then the link is usually only good for 4 days so proceed as soon as possible.

TikTok

With TikTok, follow the steps to download your data below, but also be sure to save your videos - either individually or in bulk with a tool.

Your data download can include your account info, your direct messages, your posts on TikTok, your follower information and accounts you follow, and your activity. Within the app:

  1. Profile > Settings and Privacy > Account > Download your data

  2. Select data to download. If you chose “All data” you will get more information than “custom”.

  3. Select file type.

  4. Request download.

  5. When your download is ready, access it from the second tab, and download.

As you are likely doing this from your phone app, you will want to download it to your phone’s files. I prefer to then email it to then save off my phone.

You can also download videos individually, by “saving video” to your phone, which will keep the TikTok watermark. If you wish to save without the watermark, use a tool like SnapTik.

For batch downloading, there are other tools you can try from browser extensions to apps (EaseUS Video Downloader may work, though I have not tested). There is also a recipe organizer called ReciMe that allows you to import tiktok video recipes, though I believe it just scrapes the recipe itself.

Keep in mind these tools are not likely to work on private accounts you follow. TikTok’s terms of service also say not to download copyrighted content without permission, but the important thing is not to share or reupload the content you download from others.

Instagram

  1. Settings > Account Center > Your information and permissions > Download your information

  2. Choose accounts and profiles

  3. Choose all or some information

  4. Download to device (choose date range, email, format, and media quality) or transfer to destination (Google Drive, Dropbox).

If you are doing this from your phone, find the download and email to yourself or upload to a secondary storage, like Google Drive (preferably more than one location as backup).

This data download will not include photos you are tagged in, nor will it include other people’s photos.

While you can save to your collections within Instagram, this does not save to your camera roll. The only real option to save photos is to take screenshots of images you wish to save.

Third-party tools like SaveInsta or Toolzu may be helpful, but use at your own risk.

Facebook

Note that mobile devices might differ from web, and that Facebook is often moving this navigation and link menu around.


1. Menu > Settings > Account Center > Your information and permissions > Download your information

2. Download information > Facebook > Available information (or Specific types) > Download to device (choose date range, email, format, and media quality) > Create files


Again, your download will not include any photos you are tagged in, or other people’s photos. You might also be missing captions, or text you included with photo albums. I also recommend saving video files directly from Facebook, as their video archive playback is a little wonky.

Don’t forget to save information directly from any of your groups, or any of your friends photos you wish to save.

YouTube

You can use YouTube Studio to download videos that you have uploaded to YouTube, or Google Takeout.

This does not work to download other people’s YouTube videos. You can watch them offline with a premium membership, or try third-party tools to download videos (with permission).

If your account is suspended, you cannot download your own data.

Looking for a deleted video? Try the Wayback Machine or on reddit, ask in r/DHExchange

See also: yt-dlp on github

Snapchat

  1. My Data > Select data, email address, date range, and submit

Snapchat’s export service works best on a computer, rather than a mobile device, as it can be a big file.

Snapchat also has features like Memories and Smart-Backup, which you should ensure are enabled. You can also save individual snaps and stories by downloading to your phone.

Snapchat does not include chats in their archiving service, but have been known to send chat archives through support requests.


X (formerly Twitter)

  1. Profile > Settings and privacy > Your Account > Download an archive of your data > Download archive > Download

You may have to sign in again with your password at the download stage.

People have had the most success backing up thousands of their “tweets” with various third-party apps (Circleboom, Tweet Binder) or chrome extensions (TwExportly). Note that some, like Tweet Binder, have a cost.


As a bonus, here’s how friendster’s login page looked on June 1, 2005, more than 24 years ago:

Screenshot from the Wayback Machine.



New blog post series: "Surname Searches"

25 May, 2024 (Updated 11 July, 2024) by Sherri Mastrangelo

There’s a new blog post series on Start Researching, called “Surname Search”. Each post will feature a quick study of one surname at a time, providing links to resources available related to these surnames - found mostly online, but all available for free.

The goals for these posts include: providing a singular location for researchers to connect with those interested in the same surnames; sharing resources that may be difficult to find; highlighting resources available to all; and preserving aging and decaying internet websites for future researchers.

Currently there are twenty-two surnames studied:

  1. Allen / Allan

  2. Anderson

  3. Brown

  4. Clark

  5. Davis

  6. Evans

  7. Gentry

  8. Haggard

  9. Hall

  10. Hodge / Hodges

  11. Johnson

  12. Jones

  13. Kavanagh / Cavanagh

  14. Miller

  15. Moore

  16. Robinson

  17. Sharp

  18. Smith

  19. Taylor

  20. Upham

  21. Warren

  22. Wilson

Our goal is to hit 100 by the end of summer!

The categories of these resource links are as follows:

  • Related surnames or alternate spellings

  • Notable ancestors

  • Genealogy websites

  • Message boards

  • Social media groups & societies

  • Photographs

  • Local historical or genealogical society web clippings

  • Online news clippings or blog posts

  • Artifacts

  • Correspondence & letters

  • Homes & historical markers

  • Oral histories

  • Books (online & in print)

A few categories, like Books (online & in print), may refer to a work that is not available online, with the hopes you are able to find the material in other ways, like at your local library or used book store.

Also, the internet can be a fickle place. Occasionally links may reference sites that are no longer active, such as a family genealogy blog on rootsweb, and may instead include an archived link from the Wayback Machine. As I find these resources I archive them on the WBM as well, helping to preserve these resources for as long as the WBM is active. However, items found on auction sites like eBay may disappear when the listing is sold or removed.

Resource links are provided as a stepping stone to your own individual research, and are not vetted for accuracy or authenticity.

Please also remember that there are many individuals throughout time that share the same name, and possibly the same birth year or other attributes, and it is up to you to determine whether or not it is actually your ancestor. Not every ‘Jane Doe’ is your ‘Jane Doe’.


What these posts are NOT:

  • No individual database records. No census records, vital records, newspaper records, etc. or links to such, from sites such as Ancestry.com or Findmypast.org.

  • No links behind pay walls or anything that requires membership (other than an occasional registration with sites like FamilySearch.org to read an online book, for example).

  • No references to living individuals, to the best of our knowledge, for privacy.

  • No uploads of your research, family trees, or files (we will link to a public website of your work, however).

  • No research done within the blog post.

  • No database of surnames to search at this time.


These posts will also be updated in real time when new information is available.

Which surnames should be featured next?

The cat that didn't belong - could you tell these historical photos were edited?

24 March 2024, by Sherri Mastrangelo

A local historical association member has been adding a picture of their adorable cat to the historical photos they post on Facebook, as the official Palo Alto Historical Association, without any mention that the photos have been edited. Did anyone notice? And should we care?

Palo Alto, California, established 1894, is located south of San Francisco, on the bay area peninsula. It is the self-declared “birthplace of Silicon Valley”, as the founding location of many well-known tech companies, and is home to Stanford University. On their homepage, pahistory.org, the Palo Alto Historical Association says “Our mission is to collect, preserve and make available to the public information about the history of Palo Alto.” Their Facebook page has 1.4k followers.

Recently, when browsing Facebook, I noticed something odd about their images….

At first glance, would you think this cat was original to this photo?

Honestly, I didn’t think anything was strange about the above photo of the feline in the pharmacy, until I saw a few of the other “historical” photographs - like the well-dressed kitty in the below image:

This one made my six-year old laugh. A joke to be sure - but at the time of the event, or when it was posted here?

As you can see, these images are part of a Facebook post. Does the post mention anything about the cat? Well, yes and no.

1929?

In this example to the right, the Facebook post describes the images in the post. With regards to the photo shown above, the post mentions “a cat in an off-the-rack, untailored suit, 1929…”

Obviously this is meant as a bit of humor. When reached for a comment, the poster, who stated he is a board member of the Palo Alto Historical Association, replied that “Adding my cat to selected photos is a fun pastime that I hope draws viewers in to explore what the photo represents to our local (Palo Alto) history.”

He also says “I've placed my cat Kiara in photos for a year now since adopting her from a rescue.”

It’s unclear if those in the group are even aware of the adorable additions, aside from one or two comments about noticing a cat in the image. What do you think?

If historical photographs are edited in any way, should that be disclosed to the audience? Even if it’s meant to be amusing?

Furthermore, how can we as researchers trust any historical images we find online these days? And what counts as a reputable source?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’ve included a few more photos of Kiara the time-traveling cat below. These images can also be accessed on the Facebook page of the Palo Alto Historical Association.

Matching hats of the time.

The cat appears in the doorway in the center of the image above.

Kiara, not afraid of heights.

At first glance I didn’t see her in this one…

The sepia-toned cat going for a ride.

Share your thoughts below.

Reader Question: What does "do7" mean on this record from 1749?

27 January 2024 (updated 28 Jan), by Sherri Mastrangelo

Today’s reader question is: “What does “do7” mean on this record from 1749?”

In this book of U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records from Albany, New York (as found on Ancestry.com, linked below) from the mid 18th century, there are pages of baptism records. There are three handwritten columns per page. The first column has the infant’s name, and a date. The second has the parent’s names, and the third has the names of the witnesses.

In place of some of the surnames is an abbreviation that appears to be “dol” with the “o” character raised superscript and the last character perhaps a number “7”, or the letter “I”, or letter “L”, as seen in the examples below:

The example above is from the “U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639 - 1989” on Ancestry. under New York, Albany, Albany Vol. II, Book 2.

It appears that this abbreviation is replacing some surnames, but not all - only the surnames that are the same as the person above has the abbreviation. I think it is safe to assume that this abbreviation, whether it is do7, doI, or doL, means some form of “ditto”, or same as above.

Can we take it further? We’ve seen “do” as an abbreviation for “ditto” in the past, but not usually with any extra letters or numbers.

We know these are based on Dutch records, and a quick google translator search tells us “ditto” in Dutch is “Idem Ditto”, meaning the same. Therefore I believe the abbreviation is of “doI” meaning “idem ditto”, or this person has the same surname as the person above.

Looking back a few years, the earliest example of the use of this abbreviation seems to be in 1725 (page 238 of Albany, Vol 1.) though the records seem to jump from 1700 to 1725. While the records of 1700 continue in Volume II, page 82, they are written after the 1740s records so it makes me question the time frame when they were actually written down. The 1700s recorded in the second volume may have been copied from an earlier record, but actually written in the book in the 1740s.

POST UPDATE Jan 28: A comment brought up a great point - this is a collection of transcribed records by “The Holland Society of America”, which you can see if scroll to the beginning of the collection with the book cover image and interior stamp. I don’t see a creation date, but a quick search for The Holland Society of America tells me they were created in 1885 and most likely added the ditto at the time of transcribing sometime after that date. We’d have to look at the original records to be sure.

Of course all this sent me down the rabbit hole on the origins of the phrase “idem ditto” as well as the use of “ditto”. It seems “idem” is a Latin word, though “ditto” is Italian (Tuscan) based on an earlier Latin word, and the phrase “idem ditto” is specifically Dutch. The latin verb “dicere” (to say) became “dire” in Italian , conjugated as “detto”, which then became “ditto” in Tuscan dialect, when referencing the same month as written before.

Early uses of “ditto” in English writing include:

In fact, I found it even earlier than 1625 - which I’ll post in a follow-up to this!

What’s the earliest written example of “ditto” or “idem ditto” you’ve found? Might these Dutch records from New York be the first example in the US?

Have you seen this use of “doI” or “idem ditto” on records elsewhere? Share with us!

Sources and Further Reading:

How to do a "Binary Search": Applying Computer Science Algorithms to Genealogy Research

6 January 2024 by Sherri Mastrangelo

Let’s take the ideas and concepts from certain computer science algorithms, break them down into simpler terms to understand them better, and learn how we can apply them to our genealogy research. No tech skills or coding required! In fact, you may already utilize some of these methods without even recognizing them.

The first algorithm we’ll discuss is called a “Binary Search”.

A binary search reduces the search to half at each step, to save time. Think of it as “divide and conquer”.

If you’ve ever tried to go to a certain page number in a book, say you are looking for page 343, you may have implemented a form of binary search by opening the book in the middle. You’re at page 201, so you know you need to go higher. Instead of turning the pages one by one, you estimate another chunk of pages and now you’re at 356, so you need to go lower. This is basically the concept behind a binary search. You would continue dividing the sections into smaller and smaller results until you find the target page.

Instead of working in a linear pattern, i.e. starting at the beginning of a list and reading the values all the way through the end, a binary search would start in the middle and either ascend or descend the list depending on if the resulting value is greater or less than the target value, repeatedly dividing each new search area, until it either finds the target or determines it is not there. Of course there is more to it when it comes to the writing the formulas to make the algorithm work, and the computer algorithm may be more precise in terms of dividing each resulting search array in half while you have roughly estimated, but I think this explains the general concept we need to implement.

It’s important to note that a binary search will only work with an ordered set of data, like an alphabetized list or a set of files organized chronologically. The list can be sorted ascending or descending, as long as its ordered. If the set of data is compiled randomly this method would not work successfully.

Image above generated with in part with AI tools.

Another example I’ve heard to describe binary search would be that of a detective watching security footage tapes (as pictured above), trying to figure out when a car was stolen overnight. This example might be a bit outdated with today’s technology but the same idea applies. Let’s say there is perfect high resolution video, aimed directly at the car, that disappeared sometime between when the owner parked it at 8 pm and when they noticed it was gone at 7 am. Instead of sitting down and watching eleven hours of video footage from start to finish, which would take all day, even sped up, the detective is going to implement a form of binary search. He will fast forward the video halfway to 1:30 am. If the car is still there, fast forward half of the remaining time to 4:45 am. If the car is no longer there, go back and divide the previous time between 1:30 am and 4:45 am, and so on until the target time is discovered. This method of searching would take significantly less time than watching hours of video footage!

So how can we apply the concept of binary search to our genealogy research?

The best case scenario for applying this method to genealogy research, would be when you have to look through records that are not indexed, or not transcribed correctly (but are still in some order - alphabetically, chronologically, or otherwise) and you need to narrow down your scope quickly.

Some examples of this and additional scenarios:

  1. A large set of record images in a database online, like FamilySearch, that is not indexed (therefore not searchable by name) where you need to find the year in order to narrow down the hunt for your record. I know it can seem overwhelming when you come across these huge image-only datasets to browse - but using the binary search method will help save a lot of time! First confirm there is an order within the collection - are the surnames alphabetical? Or is the information organized by date? Look at the first few pages to give you an idea, then skip ahead to half. Depending on what you need, either skip ahead by another half or backwards by half. Note your page numbers to remember where you have searched. Just be aware often these collections have other, smaller collections within them, and there is usually a small note on the microfilm image when a new section starts.

  2. An alphabetical City Directory where you need to find a certain surname. Maybe it’s a physical book in your hands, or a digital copy you found on Internet Archive or Google Books. You wouldn’t start with “A” and flip page by page if your surname started with an “R”, you’d skip ahead, and then back, as needed. And once you got to the “R’s” you would do the same for the full surname.

  3. You don’t have a date of death for your ancestor, but you know their address and can look them up in City Directories. You know she must have died sometime between the birth of her youngest child in 1931 and the 1940 Census, where her husband is widowed. Instead of looking at all the city directories in a linear fashion, 1932, 1933, 1934, and so on, you can start with 1936 (about halfway), and you’ve likely just cut your search time in half. If she’s alive, you only have 4 more years. If she’s not alive, you work backward - cutting each new search in half.

    Of course you could “get lucky” when searching in a linear fashion, if the information you needed was in first City Directory you checked, for example. This is just an example to illustrate the search method. And remember to check the printing date on City Directories to be precise.

Can you think of another case scenario where this might come in handy?

More computer science algorithms coming soon!

Sources & Further Reading



The Forgotten History of "Time Balls"

31 December 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

Before there was a celebratory ball drop in downtown New York to countdown the New Year, there were “time balls” in use by naval observatories along the coasts and in high vantage points through out many countries. These large balls on the tops of buildings and towers were visible for miles, and were created as a way for everyone to agree on the time. When the ball starting dropping, people knew it would be 1 pm (or noon in the United States - why the difference I’m not sure).

You’ve probably seen a handful of these time balls in person on historical buildings, or through your research looking at old photographs and postcards. Whatever the case, you’ll notice them all the time now!

Courtesy of Wikimedia, captioned: “The Customs House building on the Wellington [New Zealand] waterfront, built in the 1860s on reclaimed land, and showing the time ball which began operating on 8 March 1864.”

The world’s first time ball was tested in 1829 in Portsmouth, England by the British Admiralty, influenced by an officer named Robert Wauchope, who wanted a visual signal from the shore for sailors to set their chronometers by - as opposed to the then practice of keeping time by gun shot sounds (Kinns, Fuller & Bateman). A couple years later, “one of the first time balls, installed at 1833 at the Royal Greenwich Observatory outside London, England, dropped daily at 1 PM so that captains of ships passing on the River Thames could verify the time on their chronometers. Since typically only the rich owned personal clocks and watches, the rest of the population relying on local sundials, time balls provided a solution to standardizing what time it actually was.” (Matthias, Britannica). In addition, those that had watches could set them accurately by tracking these time balls.

More and more people needed to determine the accurate time, especially with the growing railways and the need to catch trains, and the growing industrial workforce with employees clocking in and out of their jobs.

”The first time ball established in the United States was dropped from the dome of the Naval Observatory at Washington in 1855…The New York time ball, established in 1877, is dropped at New York noon, by an electric signal, sent from the Naval Observatory at Washington. It was erected and is maintained by the Western Union Telegraph Company, and is dropped from their building on Broadway.” (Pritchett). Interestingly this was before the establishment of time zones in the United States, and the local time in Washington was different than New York.

By the beginning of the 20th century, there were hundreds, if not more, of these time balls, as this 1901 newspaper article shares that “…in order to keep the country well regulated so far as time is concerned the naval observatory under takes to correct the clocks of the country. When the hour of noon strikes at the observatory electrical signals go forth to all parts of the country, and over 70,000 clocks are simultaneously set exactly at the noon hour…At the same time thousands of time balls along the coast drop theirs signals to indicate to mariners and others that the hour of noon is here” (Washington Standard, 1901).

So why the traditional ball drop in New York on NYE?

It all started with a party held by the owner of The New York Times newspaper, when “in December of 1904, this newspaper celebrated the move to its new Times Square building with a New Year's Eve party, which thereafter grew year by year. When, in 1907, a ban on fireworks prompted The Times to find a new celebration finale, a time ball was brought in, and the tradition began.” (Huler, The New York Times). The tradition continued “with the exceptions of the World War II “dimouts” in 1942 and 1943, the New Year’s Eve Ball hasn’t missed a year since its 1907 debut” (Britannica).

Though the ball drop on New Year’s Eve in Times Square isn’t an authentic “time ball” in the historical sense. ”The Times Square ball isn't quite a true time ball. The eye can easily pick up motion, so precise time balls mark time by starting to move, not by stopping. The Times Square ball marks time with the end of its motion -- hard to perceive and inexact, but presumably more fun for counting backward” (Huler).

I’m willing to bet it is the only time ball covered in triangles of Waterford Crystal and lights though!

Source: Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 02 July 1905. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1905-07-02/ed-1/seq-44/)

In the image above of a 1905 advertisement for the American Waltham Watch Company, we see the crowd setting their pocket watches with a time ball at the top of a distant building.

Image Source: The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]), 23 May 1909. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1909-05-23/ed-1/seq-6/>

Above: a 1909 newspaper article of the The San Francisco Call describing the time ball on the roof of the Fairmont Hotel.

“The Boston Time Ball (1881)” courtesy of Wikipedia, public domain. Caption reads: “The Boston Time Ball on the roof of the Equitable Life Assurance Society building, at the corner of Devonshire and Milk Streets, Boston MA.” Note the pulley system for raising and lowering the ball at noon. View from the street in the top right corner of this image of 67 Milk Street.

The Boston time ball, pictured above, received it’s signal from the Harvard College Observatory, and was made “of copper and weighs about 250 pounds…The cost of the ball and machinery was about $1200. The electric signal which drops it, is given by the clock itself, the ball having a drop of fifteen feet” (Pritchett). Accounting for inflation, the cost for the ball would be just over $36,000 today.

Though largely accurate, time balls were subject to errors caused by weather or other issues. “For the year ending Nov 1st, 1880, the ball was dropped exactly at noon on 355 days; on four other days at five minutes past noon…on four other days it was not dropped, leaving only three cases of inaccuracy of dropping” (Pritchett). While some time balls would have a red flag raised when the ball was raised and dropped late, others would simply report the error in the following morning’s newspaper. In some areas, the balls were not dropped on Sundays or holidays, however.

Image courtesy of flickr user daves_archive_inactive_at_current_time, some rights reserved.

Above: note the red time ball at the top of the tower of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich - which still operates today as part of a museum.

Time Ball Tower, South Africa. Photo by Andrew Hall, wikimedia CC by SA 3.0

Have you noticed any historic time balls on buildings near you?



Sources and Further Reading

  • Huler, Scott. “A Brief History of Time Balls”. The New York Times, 30 December 2004. (https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/opinion/a-brief-history-of-time-balls.html#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20Naval%20Observatory,it%20kept%20dropping%20until%201936.)

  • Kinns, Fuller & Bateman. “Exploring the Portsmouth Time Balls” Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 19 April 2023. Vol 24, Issue 3 (https://www.sciengine.com/JAHH/doi/10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2021.03.13)

  • Pritchett, H.S. “The Kansas City Electric Time Ball” 1881 (https://archive.org/details/jstor-2900500/page/n1/mode/2up)

  • Matthias, Meg. “Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year’s Eve?” Britannica. (https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-we-drop-a-ball-on-new-years-eve)

  • Unknown Author. “When Noon Comes: Government Sends Exact Time to Every City”. Washington Standard (Olympia, Wash. Territory), December 6, 1901 (https://lccn.loc.gov/sn84022770)

67 Recommended Genealogy Books

22 November, 2023 by Sherri Mastrangelo

This list, submitted without additional commentary and straight from my bookshelves, is a comprehensive collection of reference material, research techniques, and general knowledge that benefits genealogists at all skill levels. Please note this post contains affiliate links that help support this site. And yes, that’s my coffee - getting pretty good at the latte art!

  1. “31 Days to Better Genealogy” by Amy Johnson Crow (2018).

  2. “500 Amazing Online Archives and Digital Collections You’ve Never Heard of: US Edition” by Thomas MacEntee (2023)

  3. “A Genealogists Guide to Discovering your African American Ancestors: How to Find and Record Your Unique Heritage” by Franklin Carter Smith and Emily Anne Croom. (2009)

  4. “A to Zax: Comprehensive Dictionary for Genealogists” Barbara Jean Evans. (1995).

  5. “Abbreviations and Acronyms: Guide for Family Historians, Second Edition” by Kip Sperry. (2003).

  6. “Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques” by George Morgan and Drew Smith (2013)

  7. “Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies” by Debbie Parker Wayne. (2019).

  8. “Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History, Second Edition” by Mark Herber (2009)

  9. “Black Genesis: A Resource Book for African-American Genealogy” by James R Rose and Alice Eicholz (2003)

  10. “Bringing Your Family History to Life Through Social History” by Katherine Scott Sturdevant. (2000)

  11. “Courthouse Research for Family Historians: Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures” by Christine Rose (2020).

  12. “DNA for Native American Genealogy” by Roberta Estes. (2021).

  13. “Elements of Genealogical Analysis” by Robert Charles Anderson (2014)

  14. “Essential Skills for the Occasional Genealogist: Beyond beginner Genealogy Skills for Busy Family Historians” by Jennifer Patterson Dondero (2023)

  15. “Evidence Explained: History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, 3rd Edition Revised” by Elizabeth Shown Mills. (2017).

  16. “Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian” by Elizabeth Shown Mills. (1997).

  17. “Family Photo Detective: Learn how to find Genealogy Clues in old photos and solve Family Photo Mysteries” by Maureen A Taylor (2023)

  18. “Finding Your Ancestors’ Obituaries: The Complete Genealogy Guide to Obituaries” by Kenneth R. Marks (2023)

  19. “Finding Your Italian Roots: the Complete Guide for Americans, Second Edition” by John Philip Colletta (2009)

  20. “Forensic Genealogy” by Colleen Fitzpatrick. (2005).

  21. “Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case” by Christine Rose. (2014).

  22. “Genealogy Standards, Second Edition Revised” by Board for Certification of Genealogists. (2019).

  23. “Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy” by Drew Smith (2023)

  24. “Guide to Naturalization Records of the United States” by Christina K. Schaefer (1997).

  25. “History for Genealogists: Using Chronological Time Lines to Find and Understand Your Ancestors” by Judy Jacobson (2015).

  26. “How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records: A Genealogist’s Guide: With Specific Resources for Major Christian Denominations before 1900” by Sunny Jane Morton. (2019)

  27. “In Search of Your German Roots” by Angus Baxter (2015)

  28. “International Vital Records Handbook, 7th Edition” by Thomas Jay Kemp (2017).

  29. “Land and Property Research in the United States” by E. Wade Hone (2008)

  30. “Locating Your Roots: Discovering Your Ancestors Using Land Records” by Patricia Law Hatcher (2003).

  31. “Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses 1790 - 1920” by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide (1995)

  32. “Mastering Genealogical Documentation” by Thomas W. Jones. (2017)

  33. “Mastering Genealogical Proof” by Thomas W. Jones (2013)

  34. “Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher” by Drew Smith (2016)

  35. “Our Quaker Ancestors: Finding Them in Quaker Records, Second Edition” by Ellen Thomas Berry and David Allen Berry

  36. “Pitfalls in Genealogical Research” by Milton Rubincam (1987)

  37. “Polish Roots, Second Edition” by Rosemary A. Chorzempa (2014)

  38. “Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards” by Elizabeth Shown Mills. (2018).

  39. “Reading Early American Handwriting” by Kip Sperry. (2008).

  40. “Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources, Third Edition” by Alice Eicholz. (2004).

  41. “Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist’s Guide” by Diana Elder, AG and Nicole Dyer (2018)

  42. “Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors” by William J. Roulston (2022)

  43. “Scottish Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond” by David Dobson (2021)

  44. “State Census Records” by Ann S. Lainhart (1992).

  45. “The American Census Handbook” by Thomas Jay Kemp. (2002)

  46. “The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy: Trace Your Roots, Share Your History, and Create Your Family Tree” by Kimberly Powell (2014)

  47. “The Family Tree Cemetery Field Guide: How to Find, Record, & Preserve Your Ancestors Graves” by Joy Neighbors (2017)

  48. “The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy” by Blaine T. Bettinger. (2019)

  49. “The Family Tree Polish, Czech and Slovak Genealogy Guide: How to Trace Your Family Tree in Eastern Europe” by Lisa A. Alzo (2016)

  50. “The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-and-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors” by Marsha Hoffman Rising (2019)

  51. “The Genealogist’s Guide to Researching Tax Records” by Carol Cooke Darrow and Susan Winchester (2019)

  52. “The Genealogist’s Guide to Y-DNA Testing for Genetic Genealogy” by David Vance (2020)

  53. “The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 11th Edition” by Holly Hansen (2006)

  54. “The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 4th Edition” by Val D. Greenwood. (2017).

  55. ”The Royal Descendants of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States, Vol 1”; “The Royal Descendants…Vol II”, and “The Royal Descendants…Vol III” by Gary Boyd Roberts (2022)

  56. “The Sleuth Book for Genealogists. Strategies for More Successful Family History Research” by Emily Anne Croom (2009).

  57. “The Source: A Guidebook for American Genealogy, Third Edition” by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (2006)

  58. “They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records and Ethnic Origins” by Loretto Dennis Szucs. (1998)

  59. “They Came in Ships: A Guide to Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor’s Arrival Record” by John P. Colletta (2002)

  60. “Tips and Quips for the Family Historian” by Elizabeth Shown Mills and Ruth Brossette Lennon (2017)

  61. “Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, Fifth Edition” by John Grenham (2019).

  62. “Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors” by the National Archives and National Records of Scotland (2020)

  63. “U.S. Military Records: Guide to Federal and States Sources, Colonial America to the Present” by James C. Neagles (1994)

  64. “Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com: How to Find Your Family History on the #1 Genealogy Website”. by Nancy Hendrickson. (2018)

  65. “Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch.org: How to Find Your Family History on the World’s Largest Free Genealogy Website” by Dana McCullough (2020)

  66. Who Do You Think You Are? The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History” by Megan Smolenyak (2010)

  67. “Your DNA Guide - the Book” by Diahan Southard (2020).

Some of the links above might be to used copies if a new one is unavailable. There are also a couple that are harder to find but still recommended:

Out of print / used:

Bonus Book(s):

How did you score? What books would you add to the list?

Now search by "Text-on-Maps" in the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

28 September, 2023 by Sherri Mastrangelo

I’m not sure how “new” this feature is, but I just discovered it and have been playing around with it all afternoon! This is a great new way to search historical maps.

The David Rumsey Map Collection, (davidrumsey.com) is an immensely valuable resource with over 125, 000 and counting historical maps and images digitized online for free public viewing. Someday I’ll do a post on all the amazing features of this website, but for now I’ll encourage you to visit and explore - and limit today’s post to the new “search by Text-on-Maps” tool.

This feature is utilizing a machine-learning program called mapKurator, which you can read about in detail on their blog: https://machines-reading-maps.github.io/rumsey/

Right now you can access it from the home page, front and center, or in the top right hand search box. Be sure to select “by Text on Maps” if you use the top right hand search box.

A check of one of my ancestors’ surnames, “Kavanagh”, came back with 38 map results. The results default to this view, with each name a link to the map result. You can also toggle to view by map on the top right (side note: I noticed the number of results went down when I changed the view from 38 to 32, strange).


Most of the results were not relevant to my ancestral lines, but some were! Check out this map showing the Kavanagh family house in 1803 in Maine, built for James Kavanagh. Though I’ve search maps of Maine before, and seen his house in other images, I’ve never seen this particular map.

Furthermore, you can open this or any map in the “GEOREFERENCER” and use one of my favorite features on this site, the map overlays! View your maps on other maps, including modern day or your own personal maps of ancestor’s homes, and toggle the opacity.

I’ve used another map result as an example, with the overlay toggle around 50% between the historic map and modern day:

Now with 38 results for my surname ‘Kavanagh’, it wasn’t too hard to wade through the results. But what if you get thousands of results, like I did when searching the surname of “Costa”? When searching a name that’s also a place, like Costa Rica, you definitely need someway to filter the matches.

It seems like you can’t filter the view after the search, but you can do an “advanced search” before hand to narrow down results.
You’ll find it in the top right corner, as illustrated below:

There are many different ways to filter results here, and may take a little trial and error to get what you need.

What seems to work for me is using a combination of geography filter, like “state/province”, and the keyword you want to search in the “All Text on Maps” field:

Have you seen any similar text on historical map search capabilities? Share in the comments!


As always, have fun exploring and good luck with your research!
















Passenger List Codes: These numbers in the 'Death' column don't mean they died!

17 September, 2023. By Sherri Mastrangelo

This post is a continuation of my series on passenger list markings and codes. Please also reference these posts:

Today I’ll be looking at a series of numbers in the far right column of early passenger lists from the late 19th century, specifically a New York arrival record from 1895. In a recent email, a reader asks:

“The person I am looking at has numbers written under the row of “Date and Cause of Death”, the numbers 5-3. She is listed with her children but no other adult, this leads me to believe that she may have died on the ship, and the note added later on….I would appreciate any help you can provide me with in regards to these numbers, would you happen to know if these refer to a date, place, or code for a specific cause of death? 

Above image shows numbers written that were not a part of the original form. Image excerpt of a passenger list from Ellis Island, NY, 1895, as found on FamilySearch.org.

Looking at the example passenger list above, in the column titled “Date and Cause of Death”, there is a series of numbers including “4 -2”, “2 - 1”, “1-0”, and “6-4”. it was a perfectly reasonable assumption to think they would be related to a death on the ship’s voyage, as they appear in this column.

Perhaps a “4 - 2” means the individual died the 2nd of April. However, in this instance the ship SS. La Champagne arrived at Ellis Island on December 17, 1895 - a voyage which would not have taken more than eight months to complete. There is no possibility they died on the ship in April. Following this logic the numbers “2 - 1” and “1 - 0” could not mean the passengers died in February or January, as the ship was not sailing then. If you go back a few pages, you’ll see higher sets of numbers like “17 - 8”, which would confirm the first number is not related to a month.

In fact, these numbers have nothing to do with any date, nor do they have anything to do with the column about the cause of death!

I reached out to another genealogist during my research on this, and they discovered a relevant discussion on a forum of JewishGen. On this comment thread from a few years ago in 2020, expert Marian Smith shares that “Those numbers in the Cause of Death column on Customs Lists have long been a source of confusion. They are annotations made later by gov’t statistical clerks when “coding” the documents for official US immigration statistics. Clerks used that column for this data because it was usually the largest block of available empty space on the page…”

Great! But what do they mean?

Commenter David Rosen says “these numbers in the last column are a count of the males - females on the passenger list….At the bottom of the last column there should be a total, e.g., 16 - 11 - 27” and another, Stephan Parnes, agrees. Parnes expands on that it is a “tally of the passengers by nationality. Thus, on this page, for example, there are 2 males and 0 females from England, 1 male and 0 females from Bohemia, 2 males and 1 female from Holland, 9 males and 5 females from Germany, and so forth.”

Why did they feel the need to calculate the number of males and females of each nationality that arrived in the US?

Well, the immigration ship’s captain was required to track and report such information since the Steerage Act of 1819:

"Statistics relative to immigration to the United States date from 1819, when the first United States law regulating the carriage of steerage passengers at sea was enacted In addition to the requirements respecting the carriage of steerage passengers, the act of 1819 provided that the captain or master of any ship or vessel arriving in the United  States from any foreign place should - deliver and report to the collector of the district in which such ship or vessel should arrive, a list or manifest of all the passengers taken on board of the said ship or vessel at any foreign port or place; in which list or manifest it shall be the duty of the said master to designate, particularly, the age, sex, and occupation of said passengers, respectively, the country to which they severally belong, and that of which it is their intention to become inhabitants….."

- United States, from the “Statistical Review of Immigration to the United States, 1820 to 1910," pg. 55.

Copies of these manifests were given to the Secretary of State, who would report on this statistical data to Congress. Various government departments tallied the data over the years, as “statistics of immigration were collected by the Department of state from 1820 to 1874 and by the Bureau of Statistics from 1867 to 1895. Since 1895 they have been gathered exclusively by the Commissioner-General of Immigration, whose bureau began the collection of these statistics several years prior to that date" (United States, “Statistical Review..”)

So in our example of an 1895 passenger arrival list from Ellis Island in New York, the tally marks we noticed in the ‘death’ column were either made by government clerks from the Bureau of Statistics or the department of the Commissioner-General of Immigration (as there was some overlap) for the purpose of a government report. To my knowledge there were no immigration regulations or quotas at this time, but they later may have been based on some of this information.

Now that we know who made the tally marks and why, can we find the reports they created from this data?

In the government abstract, “Statistical Review of Immigration, 1820 to 1910” we see several charts displaying the information collected over the years. I found one with a male / female breakdown by country of origin, pictured partially below:

An excerpt from “Table 9 - Immigration to the United States, 1820 to 1910; Part 2: By Country of Origin and by Sex, for Years Ending June 30, 1869 to 1910, Inclusive” highlighting years 1895, 1896, and 1897, from the abstract “Statistical Review of Immigration, 1820 to 1910”, published by the United States.

This one should include the year 1895, but for some reason they only have the total and not the sex breakdown. A note at the bottom of the chart says “sex not reported” for that year, though we know it was reported on some manifests. Other tables within the same abstract display similar data, such as Table 4, which shows the amount of male and female immigrants per year, but not by country.

In summary, another great example of “codes” left on forms by government clerks that confuse genealogists many decades (or in this case, more than a century) later.



Sources and Further Reading:

Smith, Marian L., David Rosen, Stephen Parnes, and others. Groups.JewishGen.org, May 2020 (https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main/topic/74486548?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate/sticky,,,20,2,0,74486548) Accessed 17 September 2023.

“New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892 - 1924,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-91D4-DY3?i) Roll 652, 6 Dec 1895 - 31 Dec 1895; (NARA Series M237). Accessed 17 September 2023.

United States. “Abstracts of reports of the Immigration Commission: with conclusions and recommendations, and views of the minority (in two volumes)”. Washington, 1911. Vol 1, ABSTRACT OF THE STATISTICAL REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES, 1820 TO 1910. (https://nrs.lib.harvard.edu/urn-3:fhcl:949022) Collection Development Department, Widener Library, HCL; Harvard University. Accessed 17 September 2023.


Reader Question: "What does 'Polish Soe' mean on this detained aliens list?"

26 August, 2023 by Sherri Mastrangelo

One of the interesting questions I received this week was from someone looking at a “Record of Detained Aliens” form from the 10th of July, 1907 found in a collection of New York passenger arrival records on Ancestry.com.

Under the “Disposition” column, several of the immigrants had a phrase that appears to be “Polish Soe” - what could that mean?

Excerpt from the “New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820 - 1957”, July 10th, 1907; page 160. As found on Ancestry.com.

The cursive is a bit hard to read. First word is definitely ‘Polish”, but the second word could start with an “L” or “S”, have an “A” or “O” in the middle, and end with an “E”, “C”, or “S”.

Before I share my findings, let’s go over the meaning of this column and the form. This particular “Record of Detained Aliens” was for immigrants to the U.S. who arrived to New York on the U.S.S. Batavia and were held at the port for various reasons. They may have been waiting for a relative or spouse to pick them up, or they telegraphed someone to send them money if they arrived with not enough - so they could afford a railroad ticket or other transportation. You’ll also notice some on this record were discharged to immigrant care homes, like the United Hebrew Charities. I’m pretty sure that’s what we’re dealing with here in our example, a care home for Polish immigrants. Perhaps “Loc” for location or “Soc” for society?

I browsed all the pages of this record with the same handwriting, and found an example with an address:

Though a quick Google Maps search of “117 Broad, New York, New York” only turned up modern skyscrapers, I found a hit in Google Books, shown below:

An excerpt from “The Official Catholic Directory and Clergy List, Volume 20”, The M.H. Wiltzius Company; 1906. As found on Google Books.

In this directory we find the “St. Joseph’s Home for Polish and Lithuanian Immigrants” at 117 Broad St, run by the Felician Sisters. I’d say that’s a match, and I’d wager our phrase stands for “Polish Society”.

My next steps would involve researching the name of this aid group, as well as the Felician Sisters and the specific names mentioned, in local records and especially newspapers of the time. What else would you do?

If you have any questions during your research, feel free to reach out anytime!





Index and Excerpts of Vol. 1. of "America's Centenarians" [Part 1]

11 May 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

From 1963 through 1971, the Social Security Administration published several volumes of “America’s Centenarians: Reports of Interviews with Social Security Beneficiaries Who Have Lived to 100”. Interviews were conducted across the country, over a few years, by the staff of various social security district offices whom followed a series of 22 prompts. Questions such as “What is the earliest thing you remember?”, “What was the most exciting event in your own life?”, and “Do you have any ambition you have not yet realized?” can give great context to your ancestor’s life. Others were more based on the SSA, including “What kind of work did you do to earn your social security credits?” and “What do your social security checks mean in your life today?”. And then there are questions of great genealogical importance, such as “Where were you born?”, “Did you have any children? How many? Where are they now?”, and “How many grandchildren and great grandchildren do you have? Any great great grandchildren?”

An excerpt quoted from Volume 1 of “America’s Centenarians” by the Social Security Administration

If you’re ancestor was included within these volumes, consider yourself lucky! Even if you don’t have ancestors within the volumes, I suggest reading the series to learn about our shared history.

Mr. William C. Beckett, born the 10th of September 1861, recalled “viewing Abraham Lincoln’s funeral entourage pass by railroad through Pittsburgh. The casket was on view in the baggage car and was guarded on either side by an attendant…He also added, “there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd so I cried too.”

Mr. Henry Allen, born the 4th of October, 1862, recalled that “in those days we only went to school two months of the year, January and February — the rest of the year we had to work and so did all the other children…” He also lamented that “I think $1.75 is too high for a haircut, because I used to be able to get both a shave and a haircut for 25 cents.”

Mr. Henry Bean was born about 1855, into slavery. They shared of his wedding ceremony where he was “joining hands with each [girl] and jumping over a broom held outright about a foot off the ground by his white master. This act constituted marriage for the slaves…They usually married a girl picked out by their owner. He couldn’t remember how many times he had been married but insisted that it was quite a few…and claims to have fathered more than 40 children”.

The earliest thing Mr. David C. Austin (born the 18th of August, 1861) remembered was “watching the parades when the soldiers came home from the Civil War. This was the most exciting. I saved uniform buttons. In fact, all the young boys did this. We made a game of it to see who could collect the most buttons.”

Mrs Annie V. Cunningham, born the 27th of September 1861, “was active in the fight for female suffrage and participated in the first Presidential campaign she could - when Woodrow Wilson was elected. She marched in a suffragette parade in Washington, D.C. at that time (much to her husband’s disgust).”

View the entire collection online in the: SSA Library Digital Documents Collection. Find an index of the names of those interviewed in Volume 1 below.



America’s Centenarians, Vol. 1

Access here: online link at the SSA or alternate link at FamilySearch

Names of those Interviewed (in the order they appear in the Volume)

  • Isaac Abrahamian (b. 18 December 1863)

  • Will Adams (b. 20 August 1850)

  • Ernesto Aguiar (b. 26 February, 1862)

  • Yer Sun Ahn (b. 15 October 1860)

  • Albert R. Alexander (b. 8 November, 1859)

  • Esteban Nieves Alicea (b. 1 July 1863)

  • Anna B. Allen (b. 19 November 1860)

  • Henry Allen. (b. 4 October, 1862. d. 17 August, 1962)

  • John Arentsen (b. 11 July, 1862)

  • Joseph A. Augustaukis (b. abt 1856, d. about 1957 o5 1958)

  • David C. Austin (b. 18 August 1861, d. 5 August 1962)

  • Gregorio Duran Baez (b. 28 November 1858, d. 29 April 1960) *With picture!

  • Edward Bailey (b. 5 September 1862) *With picture!

  • Katharine Bainbridge (b. 30 June 1863)

  • Charles Seymour Ball (b. April 1857, d. April 1961)

  • Albert Barker (b. 16 May 1860, deceased)

  • Elizabeth J. Barton (b. 27 April, 1857) *With picture!

  • Florence Bashen (b. 4 October 1863)

  • John W. Beaird (b. 15 April 1854, d. June 1959)

  • Henry Bean (b. February 1855, d. November 1960)

  • William C. Beckett (b. 10 September, 1861, deceased).

  • Icik Benkowitz (b. 1855, d. 1963) With picture!

  • Lida Bercaw (b. 11 September, 1863)

  • Victor Bergwall (b. October 1858, d. 5 May 1960)

  • Mollie Black (b. 4 July 1862)

  • Ernest Blackmer (b. 5 October, 1863)

  • William C. Blackwell (b. 11 April 1957)

  • A.O. Blix (b. 23 March 1858, d. 1960) *With picture!

  • Lina E. Blood (b. 23 July 1860)

  • Charlotte Bonner (b. 26 April 1850, d. 8 September 1959) *With picture!

  • Nick Bonner (b. August 1854, deceased)

  • Joseph Borrin (b. 22 March, 1862, d. 26 March 1963)

  • Jackson D. Brandenburg (b. 27 January 1863)

  • Bishop Brantley (b. 11 May, 1860)

  • Alexander Brown (b. July 1859)

  • Andrew Brown (b. 10 May 1855, d. 18 April 1961)

  • Erastus A. Brown (b. 12 August 1856, d. 16 September 1956)

  • William Brown (b. 10 August 1861, d. 28 November 1962)

  • Everett B. Burlingame (b. 6 June 1862)

  • Isaac C. Burrell (b. 25 December 1869, d. 14 December 1962) *With picture!

  • Sarah A. Bute (b. 5 May 1861)

  • Benjamin Cain (b. 3 October, 1863)

  • Lawrence Carlbon (b. 20 May, 1863)

  • John Wesley Carr (b. 13 December 1859, d. 18 February 1960)

  • Julia G. Cash (b. June, 1856)

  • Ellen Caveney (b. 25 June, 1863) *With picture!

  • Placido Cepeda (b. July, 1853)

  • Archer Chadwick (b. 25 January, 1861)

  • John B. Chaney (b. 12 October, 1859)

  • Waldo Chase (b. 12 February, 1862) *With picture!

  • Caroline Clayton (b. 31 March 1860, d. 26 March 1962)

  • Prescott F. Cogswell (b. October 1859, d. 15 January 1961)

  • Richard Crouthers (b. 19 August 1861)

  • Mary E. Crowell (b. February 1858, d. November 1960) *With picture!

  • Annie V. Cunningham (b. 27 September 1861, d. 25 January 1961)

  • Leonard J. Curtis (b. 28 October 1862)

  • Jim Daniels (b. March 1856, d. 27 February 1960)

  • Albert P. Davis (b. February 1859, d. 6 March 1963)

  • Alice Davis (b. 27 September 1858)

  • William E. Davis (b. 24 December 1838, d. 23 December 1960) *With picture!

  • Mattia Decimato (b. 25 February 1862)

  • Martha E. Dees (b. 17 January 1863)

  • John DeKok (b. 11 July 1863)

  • Irene DeMoss (b. 10 January 1863)

  • David DePuy (b. 28 August 1862, d. April 1963)

  • Frank Dewitz (b. 26 May 1856, d. 1957)

  • Charles Grant Dobie (b. 19 June 1862)

  • William Dorn (b. 1 January 1858)

  • Joseph Drendel (b. 1 August 1861)

  • Henrietta S. Dull (b. 7 December 1863) *With picture!

  • Flora M. Dunham (b. January 1859, d. 1959-1960)

  • Elizabeth P. Dunn (b. 25 November 1860, d. 30 December 1962) *With picture!

  • Tatzumbie DuPea (b. 20 July 1849) *With picture!



For some of these interviews, such as Judge Albert R. Alexander and Henrietta Dull, notes say “a tape-recorded interview is available upon request”. Perhaps they are still available.









Understanding the "Hachette v Internet Archive" Case

25 March 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

The Internet Archive, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, has been an immensely valuable resource for genealogy researchers, including myself, for decades. I refer to it for finding local town histories, city directories, and biographies - most of which are out of print and not available elsewhere. I also utilize their Wayback Machine to reference broken links to older internet pages that no longer exist, but have been preserved by the Archive.  All of these sources are a beacon of truth in a world where it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish fact from fiction, especially online.

For the past three years the Internet Archive battled against several book publishers, over licensing fees and copyright issues with their lending library programs, including one launched during the pandemic called the “National Emergency Library”. The case is called Hachette Book Group, Inc. v. Internet Archive, and though litigation started back in 2020, the lawyers were able to argue their cases in front of a New York federal judge a few days ago. A judgement came back on the 24th - which I’ll get to shortly.

(The above graphic was created with Canva’s new text to image AI generator - so fun!)

For almost 27 years, the Internet Archive (“IA”), founded by Brewster Kahle, has had the mission to “provide Universal Access to All Knowledge” by creating a digital history of our society through archiving the internet, literary works, and many forms of multimedia. There’s over 735 billion web pages, 41 million books and texts, 14.7 million audio recordings, 8.4 million videos, 4.4 million images, and 890k software programs (archive.org). The Archive works with the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and many other libraries and universities in the world to maintain unique digital collections. Their website states they currently “scan 4,300 books per day in 18 locations around the world”, working hard to provide everyone - including those with print disabilities - free access to their digital library. 

While books published before 1924 and those in the public domain can be downloaded, newer books can be borrowed. In 2011, the Archive started a lending program through its “Open Library” that allows a single user to digitally check out a scanned book. This “Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) initiative allows one person to check out the digital copy of each scanned book. The idea is that the purchased physical book is being lent in digital form but no extra copies are being lent” (Claburn). In other words, the Internet Archive has in its possession a physical copy of a book, which it has scanned, and allows one person at a time to access it digitally, for free. I believe users can currently have up to 10 checked-out books at a time.

Many libraries today operate in a similar manner with their digital lending and e-book programs, though your local library has licensing restrictions that may limit things like how often the book can be checked out, or how long they can have the e-book in circulation. Your local library (unless they worked with the IA), paid publishers for the right to distribute e-books to their patrons.  

During the pandemic lockdown, when libraries across the country closed for health reasons, the Archive removed the one person at a time restriction in the CDL by declaring a temporary “National Emergency Library” and providing digital copies for anyone to borrow from their homes. In addition to the millions of public domain books offered, the Emergency Library program also allowed authors to opt-in by donating their books for readers, or opt-out if they requested it. This National Emergency Library program ended in June of 2020 - but it was enough to ruffle the feathers of publishers whom seemed to have looked the other way since 2011.

The same summer in 2020, four book publishers: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House, filed a lawsuit over this digital lending, claiming copyright infringement and financial harm.  Oral arguments in this case, Hachette v. Internet Archive, were heard this past Monday, the 20th of March, three years later.

The Archive did not pay licensing fees to the book publishers for this National Emergency Library program, which allowed multiple people to check out a book at the same time, or their Open Library lending program. The court complaint states “without any license or any payment to authors or publishers, IA scans print books, uploads these illegally scanned books to its servers, and distributes verbatim digital copies of the books in whole via public-facing websites” (see link below for full text). These were books that the Archive had at least one physical copy in their possession, and had scanned into their digital library. “The central question in the case, as summarized during oral arguments by Judge John Koeltl, is: does a library have the right to make a copy of a book that it otherwise owns and then lend the ebook it has made without a license from the publisher to patrons of the library?” (Claburn)



View a transcript of the whole complaint, filed in 2020: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.1.0_1.pdf



Defendant’s answer:  https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.33.0_1.pdf


Publishers claimed a financial loss from the Archive’s lending programs, but the lawyer for the Internet Archive, “Joseph Gratz, argued that the Open Library’s digitization of physical books is fair use, and publishers have yet to show they’ve been harmed by IA’s digital lending” (Belanger). Additionally, a recent Ars Technica article points out that “during this same time, however, the book publishing industry experienced so much demand that revenues rose by 12 percent, amounting to a $3 billion spike in sales by 2021…” (Belanger).

The pandemic was no doubt a profitable time for book publishers - yet they argue they could have made more. The book publisher’s lawyer, Elizabeth McNamara, “seemed to suggest that publishers would have been further enriched if not for IA providing unprecedented free, unlimited e-books access. She also told Koeltl that publishers suing - Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley - are concerned that there are already some libraries avoiding paying e-book licensing fees by partnering with IA and making their own copies. If the court sanctioned IA’s digitization practices and thousands of libraries started digitizing the books in their collections, the entire e-book licensing market would collapse” (Belanger).

To be fair, I might side with the book publishers views on the licensing fee issue - but I’m very worried what the outcome of this case might mean for the future of the Internet Archive and similar digital libraries. It’s easy to see the book publishers as a bit greedy here, but should they allow libraries to make and distribute copies of their books? Does current copyright law protect digital libraries? What about in the case of a national emergency, like a pandemic?

The Internet Archive feared the worst, as founder Brewster Kahle wrote: “It’s not fair to assume that other libraries will take on the IA’s role or repository if there is a judgment against them, as “the publishers are now demanding that those millions of digitized books, not only be made inaccessible, but be destroyed. This is horrendous. Let me say it again - the publishers are demanding that millions of digitized books be destroyed…And if they success in destroying our books or even making many of them inaccessible, there will be a chilling effect on the hundreds of other libraries that lend digitized books as we do.” (Claburn, quoting Kahle).

The court case does state that “the Internet Archive provides a number of services not at issue in this action, including its Wayback Machine and digitization of public domain materials” so we don’t have to worry about that at the moment.

According to the Internet Archives defendant response, they mention “all of the works at issue in this case have been removed from the Internet Archive’s websites” back in 2020. I assume this means they have retained the physical copies, and digital scans, but have removed them for public display and from the lending program.

It’s not the first such case where digital libraries have come under fire. Past related litagtions include: Authors Guild v. Google; McGraw-Hill v. Google; and Authors Guild v. HathiTrust. If you’re interested in reading more, I found the following article by Argyri Panezi found in the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy does a good job summarizing these past cases and details of the copyright issues: https://community.lawschool.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Panezi-final-1.pdf


The Judgement

With a loss for the Archive, “after three years of litigation Koeltl easily found for the publishers, holding that the Internet Archive’s scanning and lending clearly constituted a prima facie case of copyright infringement and that the Internet Archive’s fair use defense failed on the facts and the law” (Anderson). This detailed Publishers Weekly article explains Judge Koeltl’s reasoning.

Furthermore, the Judgement says “IA’s wholesale copying and unauthorized lending of digital copies of the publishers’ print books does not transform the use of the books, and IA profits from exploiting the copyrighted material without paying the customary price” (Anderson).

View the full Judge’s opinion and Order, as of 24 March 2023:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.188.0.pdf

So what does all this mean for the future of the Internet Archive?

Within the order, it states that “IA remains entitled to scan and distribute the many public domain books in its collection...It also may use its scans of the Works in Suit, or other works in its collection, in a manner consistent with the uses deemed to be fair in Google Books and HathiTrust” (pg 45, link above). While this means the digital scans stored at Internet Archive likely won’t be destroyed, some of your search results for books not in the public domain may soon be limited to “preview” only sections, or even less: indexed titles.

A statement from the Internet Archive founder, Brewster Kahle, reads:

“Libraries are more than the customer service departments for corporate database products. For democracy to thrive at global scale, libraries must be able to sustain their historic role in society - owning, preserving, and lending books.

This ruling is a blow for libraries, readers, and authors and we plan to appeal it” (blog.archive.org).


While it is too late to make a difference in this case, there are still some things you can do:


Sources and Further Reading:

Does Bing AI work any better than ChatGPT for genealogy research?

11 March, 2023 by Sherri Mastrangelo

After a short time on a waitlist, I gained access to Microsoft’s Bing AI last night, which refers to itself simply as “Bing”. This Bing AI uses a newer version of GPT-3. It has access to web results from the Bing search engine, whereas ChatGPT is limited. Bing can also get up-to-date information, whereas ChatGPT has access up to 2021.

(See my previous blog post: “Can you use ChatGPT for genealogy research”, 20 January, 2023)

Furthermore, ChatGPT only supports English while Bing can support other languages including Japanese, Spanish, French, German (to switch, sandwich hashtags like #japanase#). Bing has three optional conversational models you can choose from: “more creative”, “more balanced”, and “more precise” - though I didn’t notice much of a difference by playing around with these.

Instead of almost instantaneous text results like with ChatGPT, I felt the Bing AI to be slower as it took a minute to search results and formulate answers. I was also limited to a series of ten questions at a time, after which it forced me to push a “New Topic” button and start over.

More importantly, ChatGPT can handle follow-up questions and “remember” what you were talking about in the conversation, using previous information to inform its response. It becomes a much more conversational flow, and I prefer the ChatGPT style better as it seems more “human-like” and friendlier.

Let’s get into some examples. I started by asking some of the same questions I had posed to ChatGPT, as discussed in my previous blog post. The first question to compare: “What can you find out about the Libby family, early settlers of Maine?”

Hey wait, that’s my website!

I was surprised to see Bing used my other blog post as a reference, effectively copying part of ChatGPT’s answer to the same question - at least in the first two sentences! Bing is more straightforward with documenting the sources it used to form its response, and offers direct links to these sources. It also has text prompts after each response. With ChatGPT there is no revelation of sources, and it is not readily apparent where it learned the information.

However, I found the ChatGPT information to be more reliable and trustworthy. The way Bing presents the information seems very “matter of fact” and even though it has sources, it does not take into account the accuracy of the source or how relevant it is to your ancestor. I’m worried people may take this information as fact as some blindly take the tiny green leaf hints on a certain website as fact, without proper research.

Take into account this next example:

Those seem like a lot of “facts” to me, though none of this information is relevant to my ancestor, who was born in January to other parents, married Ann Hodges, had seven children (all different names), and died in 1864 in Gorham.

While Bing offers results from sites like FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, and Geni.com, it cannot perform database queries to pull records - though it gives that illusion. In the above example, the “ancestry.com” source cited is the same person search result for Ancestry that comes up in Bing, when you’re not signed in to Ancestry.com nor a paying user.

I much prefer the generic answers that ChatGPT offers, as it stays away from the pretense of offering facts about individuals. Perhaps if Bing worded its response differently it might help. I also noticed Bing seems more likely to change it’s response when asked the same question later.

All that said, I’m still very excited about the future of AI with regards to genealogy research. I think I’ll continue to use ChatGPT to help formulate some research strategies and research historical context, among other things. I love that Bing is connected to the web, but the quality of results is just not there yet.

I’ll leave you with a quick poem, courtesy of Bing:

What are your thoughts?