Updates

After taking a website break for a few months, I’ve decided to abandon the book blog. If I had more time at home, I would definitely keep it up and post family scans more regularly, but I just don’t have the time! So, something had to go, and that was my least visited and least important blog.

For now, I’m going to have to abandon my scheduled posts (every Monday) and instead just post when I’ve scanned something. That may mean that I don’t post for a really long time, but I do scan things from time to time. (I have a second post for today that includes over 20 pictures I scanned on Father’s Day).

Apologies to anyone who checks regularly for updates, but since I haven’t posted in a few months, you probably stopped checking anyway. 😉

As always, I will take requests for scanned items based on what you see in the finding aids.

I think my problem is that I want to do too many things, and I just don’t have enough time in the day to do them all. Obviously, I cut way back on the number of posts and scans I make here. I began doing this daily, and went pretty well on full steam for a while there. Then I cut back to three times a week. Then I didn’t post for a month (granted, it was a crazy month) so I cut back to twice a week. Now I have a new plan, which is to post once a week. I don’t want to burn out, but I also don’t want to be lazy. So I am working on incorporating my work into my web space! I’m starting a book blog, where I will also post once a week. I’m going to have to tinker to figure out the best way to share both of these loves (history and books!), but it will likely be some sort of splash page to enter one site or the other from the main page.

Anyway. All of this is to say that the family history blog will continue with one post a week, every Monday!

…I deserve a little more time off from documents. I’m still recovering from my tooth extractions. Infection turned to dry socket and my simple procedure went from a 24-48 hour recovery to a 2-week ordeal. I’ll get back to it when I’m not so drained and pained. Check back next week!

Now that I’ve been tinkering for a week or so, I’ve gotten a few of the logistics out of the way. I have enabled Dublin Core on individual pages, letting me embed metadata that can be searched/extracted for researcher use. It is hopefully correct, and I will make every effort to be as complete as possible.

I am working on a plan for updating regularly. At this point, I am thinking of digitizing and processing one item per day, which includes scanning, adjusting, transcribing as applicable, creating metadata and generating tags. It is well worth noting that because I anticipate having (eventually) an astounding number of items digitized and uploaded, the images on this site are of lower resolution than the original scans. If you would like a full resolution scan of any particular item, post a comment or send me an email and I would be happy to oblige.

Which leads me to my next point: I have now enabled comments, but they must be approved before they are posted. Patience, grasshopper. As long as you are not spam, you will be approved.

Hopefully by the end of the week, I will have finished the finding aid and things will really get rolling. I will start advertising the site in genealogy forums and to individuals once this section is done. I want to thank a few individuals (you know who you are) for your incredible patience on this project, which has been in my mind for years but on the backburner while I was finishing school. I know you have been anxious and curious about a few items in my collection, and I am happy to finally be able to share them. I am excited for this project!

Cheers!