Boston Public Library has a Microtext Department

The Boston Public Library at Copley Square has a new large Microtext Department. And, I've recently rediscovered it. If you plan on using it to look up Massachusetts Newspapers on microfilm, you should go to their website first before leaving home, at http://www.bpl.org/research/microtext/news.htm from this page scroll to Massachusetts Newspapers. A pdf of the towns, name of paper, years available and call number appears (72 pages long).

An example for Salem, Massachusetts:

S18 American Gazette, or Constitutional Journal  1776
      Salem Chronicle, and Essex Advertiser  1786
S23 Le Courrier de Salem 1908-1921
C1183 Essex Gazette (with New England Chronicle) 1768-1775
S238 Friend  1807
S2733 Salem Daily Gazette 1892-1908
  aka Salem Gazette 1875-1889
1861-1873
1790-1858
Salem Mercury 1788-1789

I had already prepared a chart with the names, dates of death, and locations of the people I wanted to look up obituaries for. See * for my example.

Once at the library, and with the necessary library card, I filled out the form, and patiently waited. You know the usual questions, name, call number, your library card number, name and date of newspaper, etc.

Request form
Fill out in duplicate

About two years ago, the Library moved their microfilm department from the lovely office on the first floor to the humongous one on the second floor. And, I don't like it. The photos below will help illustrate why.

• There is way too much light, light from the windows and light from the ceiling. When I put the reel on, I couldn't even read it, not a single page was readable.
• The area isn't just for genealogists, but for the entire public, so there were a couple of kids at the table I was at, entertaining me with their noise.
• Naturally, some of the machines didn't work, I know that happens everywhere. The two men in the last photo were using the printer machines to look at their reels, but even with those, there is too much light (see man's machine on the right). I chatted with both, and they complained right along with me.
• I discussed the change in location with the librarian, and she was very sad about it, didn't like their new location at all.

This is now the cafe on the first floor, used to be called the Map Room where the microfilm readers were. Everybody loves this room.

The microfilm readers are on the 2nd floor. The above shot was taken when blogger, Diane MacLean Boumenot and I met to chat. At that time, I asked the reference librarian just a few questions as I knew I would be back.

My second visit, and the two men who were also upset.

* Form I prepared for my research.

Town and Name of Person

Date of Newspaper

Remarks

Brookline
Zephania Swift	23 Oct. 1901
Frances G. Poole	19 Jan. 1904
Canton
William F. Poole	19 Sept. 1926
Danvers
Mary Poole	21 May 1932
Ward Poole	22 May 1864
Duxbury
Elizabeth Christopher	14 April 2007
Salem
Stephen Daniels	17 Mar. 1805
	17 Jan. 1832
	6 Aug. 1872
Ward Poole	Nov. 14, 1828

One Little Delete

With 41,121 people in my family tree, I have a lot of source citations from the 99 repositories I've used. Thanks to RootsMagic4, they provided these statistics, but right now my source citations have been deleted by 703, all because of one little delete. Am I obsessed with having as many sources as possible, or do I just have too much free time? 


How could this happen with a source I should have known. Ever hear of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)? Well, they have a library, a quarterly publication, bound yearly, called The Register (NEHGR) and a quarterly magazine called, "American Ancestors." As a member, you receive both publications. I use these frequently because of all my New England ancestors.


From day one, I used "NEHG Register" as my source, and I'm not sure why, but now realizing it needed to be corrected to "NEHGR," this was the day I decided to change the wrong to a right. My RootsWeb tree also had the wrong source name, and that's not all, each of the 703 NEHGR sources had the same incorrect footnote text (see below).


Below is my first printed page, and under NEHG Register, you'll see the text in the footnote, which appeared on all those 703 individual files. What am I going to do about it, nothing since there is no way possible I can redo each file. How did it happen? I wasn't paying 100% attention and thought the delete would apply to one file only, not all of them, all individual notations were lost. So, I learned a lesson, and I hope people who use other's trees with sources will learn that not all online trees are correct!

This was entered for all 703 individuals.

Now, I'm going to think about this instead.

Follow Friday -- Don't Follow Me For Sources

On September 22, 2010, I received the following message below. It is a very nice one, and the topic has been on my mind for about as long as I've been blogging, and I would like to address it now.


My reply is directed to the readers who are rather new to genealogy, not the more advanced, who do things right.


When I began doing genealogy over 20 years ago, I knew little about sources, other than putting the title of the book, page number, author's name, publisher and date. There were many times I forgot, and every once and a while, I come across a surname without a source. Many of my sourcing shouldn't be used as a guide. However, most of my book sources should be okay, but my censuses are totally wrong. So wrong, that I've had a lot of compliments about my method! In my early days, I entered information for family members, and didn't follow the "proper" or "correct" guidelines.


I sourced my way so distant cousins could see and understand what is on the census. Simple things like name and age. An example of how I did it and still do is shown for my grandfather in the 1930 census:


"1930 U.S. Census for Evanston, Cook Co., Illinois. Dist. 2113, sheet 33, Pg. 221. Clarence Poole, age 39 b. Ill., attorney (parents b. DC and Mass.); Marjorie age 39 b. Mich. (parents b. Michigan). Note: Clarence and Marjorie married at age 27. Children: John age 10 and Judy age 7 (both born Illinois). Roma Schneider age 25 (maid), b. Wisconsin. This was indexed as Coole by Ancestry.com." My aunt and her brother, and my cousins can understand this, it is cut and dry, and I believe they could locate this census page, perhaps with a little help. Note: Sometimes I type in the occupation, immigration date and anything else I think might be important.


The correct way is something like this: Illinois. Cook County. 1930 U.S. census, population schedule. Digital images. Ancestry.com http://www.ancestry.com : 2005. From National Archives microfilm T9, roll 535. If you do a full reference, it would be much longer, still with little family information other than the head of household's name.


Books have been published on how to do sourcing, and I would be glad to point you in the right direction, if you write me.


If you are hoping to become a professional and want others to admire your work, you should do it the "right" way. But, if you are doing genealogy as a hobby, and want others to understand it, you will need to decide which way to go.


So Freda, I do have time to write, and my reply to you is a huge thank you because your letter became the perfect platform for which I was able to write this blog.


"Hi Barbara,
I realize you don't have time to respond, but I just wanted to tell you how much I respect your references! I have never seem them done so well!
I am researching people in the Eastern Townships.
(There was more to the letter.)  Take Care!
Freda"