Ancestry Library
Ancestry Library is the doorway to a wealth of records that allow you to navigate family history. It is almost overwhelming! You can search using the basic search or plug in more information in the field under advanced search. It's easy to miss the arrows under the search windows that allow you to keep the default settings or search by exact terms, using soundex and similar derivations of names. This can generate a little confusion, but the more you play with it, the more you will get the hang of how the searching actually works. Because the number of resulting hits can be enormous, it's handy to be able to limit by the list of source categories on the left, such as birth or immigration records, pictures, maps, directories, etc.
I did find a listing for my marriage certificate, but no image of it available...not surprising. However, I have always found it fascinating to view actual hand written census records. I looked up my mother, father and grandparents and viewed a number of the census records where they were listed. It can be tricky to navigate in order to view the writing and the approporiate entry or entries enough to read them, but still a thrill and a ticket back in time!
When searching on pictures of South Dakota, so many fascinating photos were available. I narrowed the search to historic postcards and after viewing a number from around the state, I narrowed the search to Vermillion. The current post office still stands, looking somewhat different from the original historic photos, although the houses in the back are long gone. I didn't see a date on this photo, just a broad range. Another photo of Main Street in Vermillion dated from perhaps the 40s, judging by the automobiles. The major hotel on the left is long gone, with a non-descript bank now taking it's space. Basically though, Vermillion's Main Street is still recognizable. It's too bad Ancestry Library is only available in the Library, as one could spend many hours on research....actually, maybe that's for the best!
Heritage Quest
I did a search for Henri Dion, my great grandfather who was active in Dakota Territory and then followed the railroad out to Glendive Montana, becoming one of the leading citizens of the area.
I searched for Dion and Glendive and found a number of hits. Once I understood how the site works, it was easy to just look at the pages in books where the search terms were found. I like this site and am glad to know about it....a good resource for looking at history!
Sanborn Maps
I found a number of maps from Vermillion from various time periods, but focused on the maps from 1931. I saw on the index that the Thompson Lumber Company occupied the corner of Court St. and Kidder. When my husband and I first moved to Vermillion in the summer of 2005, this two story historic building housed the Heart & Soul Fitness Center. The building sat empty for several years and was recently just renovated and has reopened as a bar and grill. I notice a couple of weeks ago the permanent signage had gone up....The Old Lumber Company!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Week 8: ARCHIVE GRID & CAMIO
ARCHIVE GRID
1. The first search "Sitting Bull autograph card" brought up one hit, located at Cornell University Library. The entry contains two pieces, one of which is the autograph card and the other the envelope. Sitting Bull (1834? - 1890) was described as a shaman and leader of the Hunpapa Sioux. He was a warrior, wounded several times in battle. He opposed the infiltration of the white man and led warriors from the Cheyenne and Sioux tribes against the U.S. 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn. He led his people into Canada, but they ultimately surrendered to U.S. forces. He later toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and was killed in another confrontation with the U.S. government. The Ghost Dance had by then been outlawed, but Sitting Bull continued the rituals and traditions and was killed while resisting arrest.
2. In recent years I've made a number of wonderful discoveries about my own family history, so thought I would see what I could find about one of my more well known ancestors, Louis Robert, an early pioneer and prominent citizen of St. Paul, Minnesota. Not surprisingly, the hits that came up for my search of <Louis Robert St. Paul> brought up 3,547 hits, as it was searching on all the words independently and not as phrases. A more refined search of "Louis Robert" "St. Paul" brought up 11 entries, all of which were part of the Minnesota Historical Society. Lots of fascinating information is available including business records for his trading post in early St. Paul, including trade with Native Americans, information about his steamboat travels on the Mississippi River, memoirs of his daughter and other early pioneers....and much more! Looks like I need to pay another visit to the Minnesota Historical Society!
CAMIO
1. A search on Paul Revere in this image database brought up 35 hits, much of which included silver decorative and utilitarian household objects by Revere. Curiously, there doesn't seem to be a standardized use of the name, as he was listed sometimes as Paul Revere, others as Paul Revere, Jr. and at least once as Paul Revere II. His dates were also slightly out of sync listing to listing. In addition to the silver ware, there were a couple of engravings, one of which was hand colored. There were several other items found by other artists, including portraits of his wife. I wish there had been more text with each image to make it a more complete resource.
2.The search on Sioux revealed 63 hits, including a combination of pieces by and about the Sioux. There was a nice variety of objects, drawings, ledger books, paintings, photographs, jewelry, sculpture and prints both contemporary and back to the 19th century. A very nice range of exploration provided.
3. My search for one of favorite artists, Kiki Smith, resulted in only hit, which was a sculpture dated from 1990 held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Another search on Karl Bodmer, an artist who accompanied the explorations of naturalist and ethnologist Maximilian, Prince Wied-Neuwied during his 19th century travels up the Ohio and Missouri Rivers, resulted in two hits. One of these was a watercolor landscape near New Harmony, Indiana where they had stopped for the winter. The other was sketchbook page of studies of turkeys.
4. During further explorations, I realized that you could browse by type of art (architecture, digital arts, paintings, prints, installations, etc.) or by institution. If one chose prints, for instance, further refinement of the search would enable you to look at specific types of prints, say woodcuts, from the 19th century. Or, perhaps you were planning a trip to Boston...it might be interesting to get a feel for some of the works in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, so you could identify pieces you might want to see in person. There is also an advanced search option that allows you to search terms and then limit by the institution. While there is no subsitute for seeing works of art in person, this online resource is a viable option for research and exploration of works from museums collections across the globe.
5. Working with favorites is a very nice feature of CAMIO. I did a search on "encaustic", a type of painting process that utilizes hot wax. This process is undergoing a resurgence by artists today, but was first used as a process for creating funerary portaits by the Egyptians. The portrait of an individual was painted and place over the face of the mummy, held in place by the outer layers of wrapping holding it in place (see example below). These are beautiful pieces and there were numerous examples that came up in my search, along with works by contemporary artists that use encaustic. I added a number of the Egyptian portraits to my favorites list.
1. The first search "Sitting Bull autograph card" brought up one hit, located at Cornell University Library. The entry contains two pieces, one of which is the autograph card and the other the envelope. Sitting Bull (1834? - 1890) was described as a shaman and leader of the Hunpapa Sioux. He was a warrior, wounded several times in battle. He opposed the infiltration of the white man and led warriors from the Cheyenne and Sioux tribes against the U.S. 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn. He led his people into Canada, but they ultimately surrendered to U.S. forces. He later toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and was killed in another confrontation with the U.S. government. The Ghost Dance had by then been outlawed, but Sitting Bull continued the rituals and traditions and was killed while resisting arrest.
2. In recent years I've made a number of wonderful discoveries about my own family history, so thought I would see what I could find about one of my more well known ancestors, Louis Robert, an early pioneer and prominent citizen of St. Paul, Minnesota. Not surprisingly, the hits that came up for my search of <Louis Robert St. Paul> brought up 3,547 hits, as it was searching on all the words independently and not as phrases. A more refined search of "Louis Robert" "St. Paul" brought up 11 entries, all of which were part of the Minnesota Historical Society. Lots of fascinating information is available including business records for his trading post in early St. Paul, including trade with Native Americans, information about his steamboat travels on the Mississippi River, memoirs of his daughter and other early pioneers....and much more! Looks like I need to pay another visit to the Minnesota Historical Society!
CAMIO
1. A search on Paul Revere in this image database brought up 35 hits, much of which included silver decorative and utilitarian household objects by Revere. Curiously, there doesn't seem to be a standardized use of the name, as he was listed sometimes as Paul Revere, others as Paul Revere, Jr. and at least once as Paul Revere II. His dates were also slightly out of sync listing to listing. In addition to the silver ware, there were a couple of engravings, one of which was hand colored. There were several other items found by other artists, including portraits of his wife. I wish there had been more text with each image to make it a more complete resource.
2.The search on Sioux revealed 63 hits, including a combination of pieces by and about the Sioux. There was a nice variety of objects, drawings, ledger books, paintings, photographs, jewelry, sculpture and prints both contemporary and back to the 19th century. A very nice range of exploration provided.
3. My search for one of favorite artists, Kiki Smith, resulted in only hit, which was a sculpture dated from 1990 held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Another search on Karl Bodmer, an artist who accompanied the explorations of naturalist and ethnologist Maximilian, Prince Wied-Neuwied during his 19th century travels up the Ohio and Missouri Rivers, resulted in two hits. One of these was a watercolor landscape near New Harmony, Indiana where they had stopped for the winter. The other was sketchbook page of studies of turkeys.
4. During further explorations, I realized that you could browse by type of art (architecture, digital arts, paintings, prints, installations, etc.) or by institution. If one chose prints, for instance, further refinement of the search would enable you to look at specific types of prints, say woodcuts, from the 19th century. Or, perhaps you were planning a trip to Boston...it might be interesting to get a feel for some of the works in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, so you could identify pieces you might want to see in person. There is also an advanced search option that allows you to search terms and then limit by the institution. While there is no subsitute for seeing works of art in person, this online resource is a viable option for research and exploration of works from museums collections across the globe.
5. Working with favorites is a very nice feature of CAMIO. I did a search on "encaustic", a type of painting process that utilizes hot wax. This process is undergoing a resurgence by artists today, but was first used as a process for creating funerary portaits by the Egyptians. The portrait of an individual was painted and place over the face of the mummy, held in place by the outer layers of wrapping holding it in place (see example below). These are beautiful pieces and there were numerous examples that came up in my search, along with works by contemporary artists that use encaustic. I added a number of the Egyptian portraits to my favorites list.
+
I liked the fact that you could choose two items from the favorites and see them side by side for comparison. If I were doing a presentation, such as a history of encaustic, working with the favorites would provide a lot of great tools to assist with such a project. I also played around with creating the webpage, but wasn't sure how to apply this feature and how it would best be used. Thursday, March 7, 2013
Week 7 / WorldCat
1. As a former cataloger, I am very comfortable navigating WorldCat and think it is a wonderful resource. I am currently reading Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson, so I used that title in my phrase search. There were 17 hits on this title, including 8 under "sound", 7 under "books" and 2 under "internet". When clicking on the first entry, which was a book, I found there were 870 libraries that owned the item, the first of which was Brookings Public Library.
The LC call number for this book is TX656 and the Dewey classification is 643.3. I love the possibilities that unfold when clicking on call number, author and subject headings. So many books to explore!! For instance, when clicking on TX656, there were 601 hits for items that relate closely to this title, from material types that include books, visual, internet, serials, sound, computer and articles.
Clicking on Bee Wilson as author revealed three other previous titles by this author, all of which seem quite interesting to me. Swindled: the Dark History of Food Fraud, from Poisoned Candy to Counterfeit Coffee, The Hive: The Story of the Honeybee and Us and Sandwich: A Global History.
As I have been away from cataloging for seven years, there was something new in the subject area that caught my eye. Additonal subject entries appeared in a different format from the traditional ones, which yielded a vastly different number of hits. For instance, one of the subject heading for this book was Cooking -- History, but later in the record COOKING / History also appeared. There were a number of traditional subject headings and a few of these "new" headings. Clicking on Cooking -- History brought up 3,946 hits, while COOKING/History brought up only 25. I am curious about these new headings and their purpose.
2. The list of other databases seems rather extensive and the explanatory information is quite helpful.
My first use of the OAIster database resulted in a broken link. My search on South Dakota brought up a number of interesting hits, but when I followed the instructions for The Gorge of the Missouri : An Archaeological Survey of Lewis and Clark Lake, Nebraska and South Dakota, v.1 and entered the provided link into the web browser, it was broken. My next choice from the list: Sweet Clover in Great Plains Farming was successful though and I was able to click on the link and get to the full text resource. Once I changed the view to 100% it was easily legible. OAIster is a great resource!
The LC call number for this book is TX656 and the Dewey classification is 643.3. I love the possibilities that unfold when clicking on call number, author and subject headings. So many books to explore!! For instance, when clicking on TX656, there were 601 hits for items that relate closely to this title, from material types that include books, visual, internet, serials, sound, computer and articles.
Clicking on Bee Wilson as author revealed three other previous titles by this author, all of which seem quite interesting to me. Swindled: the Dark History of Food Fraud, from Poisoned Candy to Counterfeit Coffee, The Hive: The Story of the Honeybee and Us and Sandwich: A Global History.
As I have been away from cataloging for seven years, there was something new in the subject area that caught my eye. Additonal subject entries appeared in a different format from the traditional ones, which yielded a vastly different number of hits. For instance, one of the subject heading for this book was Cooking -- History, but later in the record COOKING / History also appeared. There were a number of traditional subject headings and a few of these "new" headings. Clicking on Cooking -- History brought up 3,946 hits, while COOKING/History brought up only 25. I am curious about these new headings and their purpose.
2. The list of other databases seems rather extensive and the explanatory information is quite helpful.
My first use of the OAIster database resulted in a broken link. My search on South Dakota brought up a number of interesting hits, but when I followed the instructions for The Gorge of the Missouri : An Archaeological Survey of Lewis and Clark Lake, Nebraska and South Dakota, v.1 and entered the provided link into the web browser, it was broken. My next choice from the list: Sweet Clover in Great Plains Farming was successful though and I was able to click on the link and get to the full text resource. Once I changed the view to 100% it was easily legible. OAIster is a great resource!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Week 6 : Ebooks on EbscoHost
1. I have perused Ebooks on EbscoHost with a number of different searches, all with somewhat disappointing results. Perhaps the titles are not all that numerous and are not broad ranging enough to meet my needs. I began by searching for "pattern" just as a keyword, which I then changed to include the word "art". The results included a huge array of books, including one about fitness, but almost none were at all relevant. When I moved over and did the same search in the advanced area, there were not titles that were at all appropriate. I believe I did the same search with "drawing" and had the same kind of disappointing results, even if slightly different.
2. I did find a number of appropriate titles to help the students with the Consitution Day research. I would think that Representing Popular Sovereignty : The Constituion in American Political Culture
and Our Elusived Consitution : Silences, Paradoxes, Priorities would be useful titles.
3. I searched with "Nebraska" in the publisher field on Advanced Search and found many interesting titles, most of which seemed to center around Native American history and culture. Of course, any history of the west, would include these topics prominently.
I was somewhat disappointed in Ebooks on EbscoHost. I think the searches yield too many unsuitable results and the pool of titles large enough, it doesn't seem. I was also struck by the age of the titles and went back to the introduction on this week's challenge to verify that the newest (not the oldest?!) titles were from 2006. That seems quite outdated for electronic resources! That's 7 years ago, so I'm not sure I'll be recommending Ebooks on EbscoHost to our patrons....unless I'm missing something!
2. I did find a number of appropriate titles to help the students with the Consitution Day research. I would think that Representing Popular Sovereignty : The Constituion in American Political Culture
and Our Elusived Consitution : Silences, Paradoxes, Priorities would be useful titles.
3. I searched with "Nebraska" in the publisher field on Advanced Search and found many interesting titles, most of which seemed to center around Native American history and culture. Of course, any history of the west, would include these topics prominently.
I was somewhat disappointed in Ebooks on EbscoHost. I think the searches yield too many unsuitable results and the pool of titles large enough, it doesn't seem. I was also struck by the age of the titles and went back to the introduction on this week's challenge to verify that the newest (not the oldest?!) titles were from 2006. That seems quite outdated for electronic resources! That's 7 years ago, so I'm not sure I'll be recommending Ebooks on EbscoHost to our patrons....unless I'm missing something!
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