Nu? What's New? Vol. 22 No. 28

Underlined words are links to sites with additional information.

Essay: “10 Ways to Improve Your Family Tree in 10 Minutes or Less”

Even if you are a veteran of decades of research, there are certain subjects worth visiting to confirm you are pointed in the right direction. Such are the topics presented in the “Family History Daily” essay on “10 Ways How to Improve Your Family Tree.”

Examples are:
• Run an error scan
• Search a different database
• Re-read an old document

The essay can be found at https://tinyurl.com/36jj75ps.

Lecture: “Understanding Your Galitzianer Family through Vital Records”

Veteran genealogist Mark Halpern will be giving an online (Zoom) lecture on “Understanding Your Galitzianer Family Through Vital Records.” on July 21 at 7pm Eastern Time. The session offers an in-depth examination of vital records along with a strategic framework to help researchers in acquiring Galician records to further their research. Provided will be a historical perspective covering the regulations that governed Jewish record keeping. The lecture will make sense of the regulations covering civil marriages that impacted the legitimacy and surnames of children.

The lecture is sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Pittsburgh and it is at no charge to its members. Others have a $5 fee. Register at https://tinyurl.com/3w9pakxb.

Conference: Restoring Jewish Cemeteries of Poland 2021: The Task Ahead

On July 1, JewishGen and five other organizations hosted a conference on restoring Jewish cemeteries in Poland. This virtual conference can now be accessed at http://jewishheritagepoland.org/conference.html.

Speakers included:
• Jaroslaw Sellin, Secretary of State at the Poland Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sports
• Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon, Chargé d’affaires, Israel Embassy, Warsaw
• Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress
• Włodzimierz Kac, Vice-president of the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland
• Michał Laszczkowski, President of the Coalition of Guardians of Jewish Cemeteries in Poland
• Paul Packer, Chairman of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad
• Witold Wrzoziński, Director of the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery, Warsaw

U.S. National Archives Announces Limited Reopening of Research Rooms

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is starting to resume research room operations. Starting August 2, most National Archives research rooms will reopen for research on a limited basis. NARA services will look very different from the services provided prior to COVID-19. Research visits will be by appointment only and will require a virtual consultation prior to the onsite visit.

Boxes of records will be pulled in advance and will be waiting at an assigned table. Research appointments will initially be for 4–5 hours total, depending on the location. In addition, NARA has implemented a number of measures to ensure the safety of our researchers and staff such as requiring that unvaccinated visitors wear face coverings during their visit.

Additional information is at https://tinyurl.com/zbcud3n6.

4,303 Free Online Ontario Collections Available Now in Six Genealogy Record Categories

Are you doing Ontario genealogy research and looking for Free Online Ontario Genealogy Records? The Ancestor Hunt has links to 4,303 free online Ontario collections available now in six genealogy record categories. The categories are:
• BMD Records
• Directories • Newspapers • Obituaries
• Photos • Yearbooks

Links to the collections can be found at https://tinyurl.com/mdz7zct5.

FamilySearch Adds More Than 1.6M Records This Week

A list of recent additions to FamilySearch, more than 1.6M index, can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yu6tnbh4. This site provides direct links to the individual collections. Those identified with a dagger (†) are church records. They include records from Brazil, Chile(†), Costa Rica(†), Dominican Republic(†), El Salvador(†), England(†), France, Guatemala(†), Haiti(†), Hungary, Kiribati Mexico(†), Nicaragua(†), Panama(†), Paraguay(†), Peru, Puerto Rico(†), Samoa, South Africa, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela(†) and Zambia(†).

Included is a small number of additions to Hungary, Jewish Vital Records Index, 1800-1945, 1,177 records.

Note that at the website, announced collections may not be complete for the dates specified and will be added at some later date. Also note that counts shown in the announcement are the number added, not the total number available in the collection, which can be greater.

New Collections at Ancestry.com Includes Paris BMD (1792–1902)

Ancestry has added the following record groups at their site. The list with links to individual collections can be found at https://www.ancestry.com/cs/recent-collections. Announced collections may not be complete for the dates specified and will be added at some later date. There is also no indication of how many records were added to the updated collections.

New Collections
Paris, France, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1792–1902. It includes images of the documents.
Germany, Military Killed in Action, 1939-1948

Thank you to Michael Moritz for initially making me aware of the Paris collection.

Every Family Has a Story

72 articles that have appeared in our journal, AVOTAYNU, each story focusing on the human side of genealogy—how genealogists have been personally affected by their research and how the research of genealogists has affected others.

Some stories will make you laugh, others will make you cry. Some will shock you, others will make you feel warm inside.

Additional information, including an annotated Table of Contents plus a sample story, can be found at https://www.avotaynu.com/books/EveryFamily.htm.