• Six steps to get your family history book into library stacks, from Family Tree Magazine(FTM) contributing editor Sunny Jane Morton
  
  
• D. Joshua Taylor of brightsolid talks about the FindMyPast.com website, which specializes in British genealogical records
  
  
• Tips for assembling and printing a family keepsake, from FTM online editor Tyler Moss, as noted in the class Creating a Family History Book: Start-to-Finish Guidance for Assembling and Printing a Family Keepsake 
  
  
• Recommendations for research sources from FTM publisher and editorial director Allison Dolan

• Advice on scanning old family photos—from Family Curator Denise May Levenick, author of How to Archive Family Keepsakes: Learn How to Preserve Family Photos, Memorabilia & Genealogy Records
  
  
• How to use Facebook as a digital home for family history and photos, from Tyler Moss, online editor for Family Tree Magazine
  
  
• Tips for using digital photography to capture current family memories, as well as for preserving old documents and heirlooms, from Family Tree University's Digital Photography Essentials course
  
  
• Recommendations for organizing and scanning your documents and photos from Family Tree Magazine publisher and editorial director Allison Dolan

• Advice for cracking the "tombstone code"—the symbolism in carvings and inscriptions—from contributing editor Sharon DeBartolo Carmack
  
  
• How to preserve the genealogy and history information cemeteries hold, and share those details with others, from Family Tree University instructor and Find A Grave volunteer Diana Crisman Smith
  
  
• Tips for visiting a cemetery (what you can do from home, what to bring and what to look for once you're there) from Family Tree University Cemetery Research 101 course instructor Midge Frazel
  
  
• Tombstone rubbing dos and don'ts with Family Tree Magazine publisher and editorial director Allison Dolan

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• preventing "sick" sources in your family tree
• documenting genealogy sources
• using DNA testing in your genealogy research

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• mobile genealogy apps and tools with yours truly
• tips and tricks for family history travel from Family Curator blogger Denise Levenick
• the best mobile genealogy websites from our list of 101 Best Genealogy websites with Family Tree Magazine contributing editor David A. Fryxell

• Get tips on tracing Czech and Slovak roots from Eastern European research expert Lisa A. Alzo.
• Publisher Allison Stacy tells you about our sweepstakes for a free registration to the Family Tree University Virtual Genealogy Conference!

You can listen to the Free FamilyTreeMagazine Podcast in iTunes or on FamilyTreeMagazine.com.

Click here to see the show notes.

• Websites (including the Daughters of the American Revolution genealogy databases) for tracing Revolutionary War ancestors
  
  
• How to research ancestors in the War of 1812
  
  
• Finding records of immigrants to America
  
  
• News on the 1940 census state indexes
  
  
• The USA genealogy resources in Family Tree Magazine's State Research Guides Double Pack

• the Records Preservation and Action Committee campaign to stop identity theft and save the SSDI
  
• how hashtags can enhance your genealogy conference experience—even if you're stuck at home (part of the new Social Media Minute installment with online editor Kerry Scott)
• how to get a genealogy education
• our top tips from the Spring 2012 Discover Your Roots special issue
• an interview with Michael J. Leclerc, Chief Genealogist at Mocavo
• and more!

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• tips on organizing your family archive
• using Evernote to keep your genealogical research organized
• sneak peek at the upcoming season of "Who Do You Think You Are?"
• Plus: the one trick that will help you make new friends in the online genealogical community

Listen in iTunes or on FamilyTreeMagazine.com.

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In this episode, you’ll hear

• tips on solving family mysteries using autosomal DNA with genetic genealogy blogger Blaine T. Bettinger (See his article on autosomal DNA in the December 2011 Family Tree Magazine)
  
  
• an overview of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation DNA database with Dr. Ugo A. Perego, the site’s director of operations
  
  
• advice on looking for land records from Diana Crisman Smith, instructor of Family Tree University’s Land Records 101 course
  
  
• a meet-and-greet with Kerry Scott, Family Tree Magazine’s new online editor

... and more genealogy news and tips.

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Here’s what’s on tap for this edition:

• tips for searching online newspaper collections
  
• what PERSI is and why you should use it
  
• finding historical books on the web
  
• News From the Blogosphere

New to podcasts? Cooke explains here what podcasts are and how to use them. 

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We’ll also discuss rapper 50 Cent’s journey to South Carolina to learn about his roots, the Early American Roads and Trails website, and our state research webinars.

You can listen through iTunes and on FamilyTreeMagazine.com.

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The other day I was flipping through TV channels when I stumbled upon the reality TV show “Gold Rush Alaska.” As I got lured into watching a couple of episodes (they were running a marathon that day), it all looked very familiar:

Huge excavators were pulling up great bucketfuls of material from the ground. The huge volume of earth would then tumble its way down sifting machines, eventually run across a wave table. The ultimate goal was to sift out the gold nuggets.

Then it hit me: That’s what we do with Google!

Yes, more than once after doing a simple search I have felt like a huge bucket full of earth had been dropped on me. I would stare at the hundreds of thousands of results and wonder, “How am I ever going to sift through all this to find my genealogy gems?” (This concept goes right back to the early days when I began the Genealogy Gems Podcast in 2007. My first gem was on Google, and I have frequently featured the search powerhouse on the show ever since.)

On the show, newbie miners were struggling to figure out which specialized tools they needed to sift immense quantities of dirt and rocks down to the type of material that carries the gold -- the fine black dirt. Then they had to use another set of unique tools to sift the fine black dirt in hopes of finding gold nuggets.

So what are the right tools for the job of sifting through the seemingly endless material on the Internet? And how do we get that unwanted material out of the way so we can get down to the good stuff where our genealogy gems may be hidden?

In the first installment of this Tech Tips Blog Series I shared with you one of my favorite “sifters” –- the dot dot dot (…) technique. But that is just one of a cache of search sifting tools -- known in the search world as operators -- available to family history researchers. Let me share a few more favorites from my new book The Genealogist's Google Toolbox (Genealogy Gems Publications)

Understand the underlying concept: Search is art, not a science!
While search operators behave scientifically and logically, we must construct our search queries artfully. Sometimes it’s what you add in, and sometimes it’s what you leave out, that determines the quality of your results.

Exact phrase sifter
When you want to find an exact phrase in a website, enclose the phrase in quotation marks. For example, “U.S. federal census” will bring up websites with that exact phrase and eliminate all other variations.

Words apart search
While quotation marks can help you zero in, in some cases they may actually prevent the ideal results. (There’s that “art” thing again.)

We have to keep in mind that sometimes the words that we are looking for won’t appear next to each other even though they normally do. For example, you may be looking for a city directory, and normally you would expect to see the two words together as a phrase: city directory. But by using an asterisk to set them apart, you may find the perfect result that searching for them together may have missed.

city * directory

Results could include:

city phone directory

city telephone directory

city and county directory

Related Search
For this little gem, watch my video from the Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel.

I hope these gems bring you a family history strike! Good luck!

Once again, the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show in London attracted thousands of eager visitors anxious to learn more about their family tree. It was my great pleasure to not only participate as a speaker this year, but also to report on the event for the Genealogy Insider.

The exhibition hall was packed for WDYTYA? Live.

According to Else Churchill, genealogist for the Society of Genealogists in the UK and organizer of the society’s workshops at the event, BBC Magazines Bristol has purchased a major share of the show from Brand Events, who has organized it for the last five years. The new owners will be managing the event from this point forward, and they are already busy making big plans.

I was very excited to bring a technology topic to the event with my Make Google Work Harder for Your Family History workshop. On the heels of RootsTech, WDYTYA? Live will be looking toward technology and social media and their role in genealogy, expanding those topic areas next year.

Lisa teaching her Google workshop at WDYTYA? Live.

Churchill and her team worked tirelessly to organize the Society of Genealogists workshops, and their Ask the Expert booth, spearheaded by Lori Weinstein, was a big hit once again. I participated in a 2 hour shift on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed working one on one with eager attendees.

Visitors also really appreciated the expanded gallery area upstairs and from what I could see, they made very good use of it. They found more room to roam in the military and photographic exhibit areas, plenty of tables and seating (where my husband and I held an impromptu family reunion with three other distant British Cooke cousins!), and even a pasty pie stand (which, of course, I felt obligated to taste test – yummy!).

One of the unique aspects of WDYTYA? Live is the inclusion of celebrities profiled on the BBC TV series "Who Do You Think You Are?" Monty Don ("Gardener’s World"), Hugh Quarshie ("Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace"), and celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott kept audiences riveted as they recounted their personal family history journey.

Additional News:

• The British Library announced its digitization of the India Collections
• Deceased Online has added Scottish MIs
• FindMyPast.co.uk will be adding transcriptions of Scottish census records only
• The Genealogists is adding war memorials
  
  

Ancestry.com scanning booth

Lisa with Photo Detective Maureen A. Taylor.

Association of Scottish Genealogists and Researchers in Archives booth

Lisa interviews a representative of the Western Front Association.

In this edition of my guest post for the Genealogy Insider I’m reporting from the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event in London, which runs Friday, Feb. 25, through Sunday, Feb 27.

While I could spend time telling you about the huge booths and displays of the genealogy giants like Ancestry.uk, FamilySearch or Find My Past, I think it would miss the mark on conveying what is truly unique about this particular event. It’s the “little guy” – the local society, volunteer organization and fledgling online start-up – that fills the vast majority of the exhibit hall. Here are just a few that stood out as I made way up and down the aisles:

Discover Ireland
“Genealogy butler” and professional genealogist Helen Kelly sat down with me at the Discover Ireland booth to talk about the countless number of people they have helped trace their Irish ancestors and then make the journey to the homeland. Their free booklet “Tracing Your Ancestors” in Ireland walks family historians through doing research on their own in the U.S, heading online to tap into digital records, hiring professional help as needed, and tips for making the trip and walking the green grass of Ireland in person.

“We have to be quiet sometimes,” says Kelly, “…we have to sit in the landscape and then the stones can speak to us.” Kelly made a compelling case for making the journey “back to the community that nurtured your ancestors.” While many things have changed, you can still experience the accents, landscape and culture that enveloped your ancestors.

Kelly summed it up this way, “We are not just part of our people, we are also part of our landscape.” Stay tuned to my Genealogy Gems podcast, where you will hear my entire conversation with this inspirational expert on discovering Ireland.

Lisa talks with Helen Kelly about tracing Irish roots.

Western Front Association
If you have an ancestor who served during the Great War, the Western Front Association may have just the resources and expertise you are looking for. Founded by historian John Giles in 1980, the association has grown to include thousands of members around the world. Their historical information officer is available to help with research questions, and their publications and unique record holdings make them an ideal resource.

War Memorials Trust
As I approached their booth, a woman named Nancy welcomed me and explained the simple yet vital purpose of the War Memorials Trust: to monitor the condition of war memorials and to encourage protection and conservation when appropriate. They also strive to provide expert advice to war memorial projects across the UK, to act as the specialist organization for war memorial conversation issues and to facilitate repair and conservation through grants. I was pleased to see organizations in attendance that play a vital role in empowering all of us to help preserve our precious history.

Friends of the MPHC
Do you have a bobby in your background? If so, the Metropolitan Police have a resource for you! The Met Collection encompasses artifacts previously hidden from view. The permanent public display at the Met Collection heritage center rotates from the 17,000 items that make up the collection including uniforms, photos, police equipment and a vast database of records. You can visit the collection in person at The Annex, Empress State Building, Empress Approach, Lillie Rd., London SW6 1TR (a 2 minute walk from the Brompton tube station) or visit them online at the Friends of the MPHC website.

With such a variety of fascinating topics and experts to learn from, it’s no wonder that over 17,000 people have bought tickets to attend the three-day event. Next week I’ll have a complete wrap up for you on the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event.

The new app is compatible with OS 1.6 or later. It’s available for $2.99 in the Android Marketplace or through the AppBrain website. 

Got an iPhone? Earlier this year, Cooke released the Genealogy Gems Podcast App for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

You can learn more about genealogy apps for mobile devices on the Mobile Genealogy website.

• Congratulations to Lisa Louise Cooke on the 100th episode of her Genealogy Gems podcast! This special episode celebrates the first 100 with a look at some of Lisa's favorite gems, interviews and milestones, plus some messages from listeners.

• Season 2 of Brigham Young University's genealogy show, "The Generations Project," airs Monday, Jan. 3 at 7 pm Mountain time on BYUtv. You can stream the channel online, or look for it on cable for your area. Learn more about the show on its website.

• FamilySearch Beta has added or updated 34 collections of genealogical records—that’s 15 million indexed records and 2.5 million images. The information covers 13 countries: Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Brazil, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Jamaica, Canada and the United States. Click here to see a list of the new/updated collections. 

• New York’s Larchmont Historical Society has created an online Photo Index of Fallen World War I Soldiers from New York State. The images, digitized from the book Soldiers of the Great War, don’t show all the state’s fallen soldiers, including those whose photos weren't available and those who grew up in New York but enlisted elsewhere. You can read more about the site and get search tips from the ResearchBuzz blog. 

• The New England Historic Genealogical Society is holding a technology-focused Weekend Research Getaway Jan. 27 to 29, 2011. The weekend will combine guided research at the NEHGS Research Library in Boston with educational lectures about using technology in your family search. Registration costs $300, or you can buy a day pass. See the program and register at AmericanAncestors.org.
  

• Ancestry.com and National Geographic Digital Media have developed an online family history “experience” on the National Geographic Genographic Project website where visitors can learn more about researching genealogy and search their roots. They’ll be able to start an online family tree, get tips on doing family history, and links to Ancestry.com’s subscription record collections. The Genographic Project is a DNA study of the genetic makeup of populations around the world in order to chart the migration history of the human species.

• Allison Stacy, Family Tree Magazine’s publisher and editorial director, fills you in on Family History Month events

• Genealogy expert James M. Beidler provides history and research tips from his article "Trace Your Scots-Irish Roots" in the December 2010 Family Tree Magazine. 

• Get started paring down your collection of papers with tips from online editor Grace Dobush on what to keep and what to toss.

• Lisa and I talk about Ancestry.com's acquisition of iArchives, Footnote.com’s parent company, and some questions genealogists are asking.

• Researcher and author Lisa A. Alzo gives you tips for exploring your ancestor’s international origins from her Family Tree University class Tracing Immigrants: How to Research Your Family’s American Arrivals.
  

You can listen to the Family Tree Magazine Podcast in iTunes and on FamilyTreeMagazine.com. You can get the show notes on our website, too.

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• Space-saving ideas for your genealogy stuff, from Family Tree Magazine contributing editor Rick Crume

• My update on the new FamilySearch Beta website

• Lisa’s overview of the Digital Library of Georgia website

• Digital photography tips from contributing editor Nancy Hendrickson’s Family Tree University class Digital Photography Essentials 

• Grace Dobush talks about new scanners that are small enough to take along on your next research trip

• Tips and websites for determining whether you’ve found your Harry Smith (or whomever) from author and professional genealogist Sharon DeBartolo Carmack

• A look at the Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness website (where you can request a free library or cemetery lookup in a distant locale) with podcast host (and Genealogy Gems podcast producer) Lisa Louise Cooke. (See our full list of 101 Best Websites for 2010)
  

• Tips for breaking down genealogy brick walls from the Brick Wall Busters: Solutions to Real-Life Stumpers webinar.
  

• A discussion on news from the blogosphere with yours truly

• A sneak peek at the upcoming November 2010 Family Tree Magazine with publisher and editorial director Allison Stacy

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• Hear about our 2010 list of 101 best websites (we focused on free sites this year) for doing genealogy. You can see the list in the September 2010 Family Tree Magazine and on FamilyTreeMagazine.com

• Discover some of the best preservation resources online

• Learn how to submit photos of your Civil War-era ancestors for our 2010 commemorative Civil War calendar

• Meet Lindsay, Family Tree Magazine’s summer intern and resident genealogy newbie

• Find out about the Family Tree Sourcebook, a genealogy records reference appearing in bookstores this fall

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• How did the DeadFred photo-reunion website get its name? 
  
  
• Can you get copies of materials from the Library of Congress (LOC) without being there in person? 
  
  
• If I get my DNA tested, does that mean the FBI can look at my profile and compare it to criminal cases?
  
  
• How many DNA markers should I have tested?
  

• The LOC is the largest library in the world.
  
  
• It has more than 60,000 genealogies from around the world.
  
  
• It has 20 million cataloged books.
  
  
• Its unmatched US city directory collection covers 1,200 cities, towns and counties across the country.
  
  
• The library building  has 20 reading rooms.

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• Professional genealogists such as Sharon DeBartolo Carmack and Lisa Alzo
• Top website gurus such as Joe Bott of the Dead Fred web site and Dusty Rhoades of GeneTree.
• Leading librarians and archivists such as Curt Witcher of the Allen County Public Library and James Sweany of the Library of Congress

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• Going behind The Editor’s Desk, podcast host Lisa Louise Cooke chats with Allison Stacy about our upcoming book Grave Humor, which finds the lighter side of cemeteries with contributors’ photos of hilarious headstones.

• The Top Tips segment has Sunny Morton, author of the July 2010 Family Tree Magazine article “Tombstone Tales,” discusses the questions you should be sure you ask when searching for cemetery records.

• In 101 Best Web Sites, Cooke talks to David Day about his Names in Stone cemetery mapping website.
  

• For Safe Keeping, Family Tree Magazine online editor Grace Dobush offers advice for taking tombstone rubbings.

• My News From the Blogosphere installment takes a departure from the cemetery theme to review some of the news that came out of the National Genealogical Society annual conference earlier this month.

• The Genealogy Guys will record their podcast before a live audience at the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference. The audience will get to submit questions for possible inclusion in the podcast. The conference is Sept. 2 to 5 in Little Rock, Ark.; the podcast recording is 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3. Look for location information at the conference.
  
  
• Geni is offering a free two-week trial of its Geni Pro premium service, which includes more stats, matches and member collaboration than the free basic service. (Geni Pro subscriptions are normally $4.95 per month.)
  
  
• Ancestry.com’s subscription-based Canadian site, Ancestry.ca, has added French Deaths by Guillotine 1792-1796, with 13,000 names of French citizens executed during the Reign of Terror. The names come from a book written in 1796 by a French journalist.
  

• ProQuest, the creator of the HeritageQuest genealogy service, ProQuest Historical Newspapers and other databases for libraries, is working on a new search platform that’ll make I easier to find information related to your genealogy search. Expected launch is 2010.

The company is also adding Boston’s Jewish Advocate (1905 to 1990), Philadelphia’s Jewish Exponent (1887 to 1990) and the Detroit Free Press to Proquest Historical Newspapers.

• The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF), which is building a huge database of DNA results linked to individuals’ family trees, is moving a set of its 100,000 archived DNA samples to room temperature storage with a technology based on organisms’ ability to survive in a dehydrated state. Other copies of each sample will remain in cold storage.

• upcoming genealogy events—just in time for summer conference season
• options for hiring genealogists to help with research tasks big and small
• ways to genealogically capitalize on family reunions
• what’s new at Swedish data site Genline
• the truth behind heraldic myths

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