Saturday Serendipity (July 6, 2013)

Saturdays often allow a more leisurely approach to life than work days. I can more easily post links to some blog posts or other materials I have discovered during the week, or even to those discovered during a Saturday morning coffee and extended surfing of the blogosphere/internet.

Here are a few serendipitous discoveries from this week that I commend for inclusion on your reading list.

1.  A piece about Cat Tail Run Bookbindery in Winchester, Virginia was first posted here on The Prism.  This past Sunday an article ran in The Washington Post Travel section about Cat Tail Run and I recommend it to you if you ever had any interest in learning about the art of book repair and restoration.  You can access the article here.  Cat Tail now runs the "Cat Tail Run School for Bookbinding Arts" where you can take a two-day, hands-on workshop to learn how to spot risks to and damage done to books.  You will also learn some basic book repair techniques.  And don't forget that attending this workshop will be an excuse to visit the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in Virginia! 

2.  The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, had two posts this week that I found particularly interesting and useful.  The first was about DNA testing and the right to have a last chance at a sample from a deceased family member at the funeral home.  The second involves exploration of the pros and cons in the ongoing litigation between Google and the Authors Guild over Google's digitization of books for on-line viewing.  Read Judy's thoughtful piece here and consider why we might not want to cheer too loudly for a total Google victory. 

3.  Another handy chart is provided this week at Upfront With NGS.  This one is a colorful flow chart that summarizes tips for going about finding living relatives as you work on your genealogies.

4.   The second selection in Heather Rojo's new series "20th Century Americana" is up at this link to  Nutfield Genealogy.   This time out, Heather highlights the Wright Museum of WWII History in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.  Wolfeboro is located beside Lake Winnipesaukee and its motto is "The Oldest Summer Resort in America!"  The unusual and cool thing about the Wright Museum in Wolfeboro is that many of its major items are kept in actual working condition to include a tank and other vehicles.  Have you ever wanted to ride in an actual WWII jeep??  Wolfeboro and the Wright Museum is the place.    

5.  The DAR library in Washington, DC is one of the premier genealogy libraries in the country and I have visited it and used it (with my SAR membership card) on several occasions.  Like many genealogy-related organizations, the DAR's history is a mottled one with regrettable actions (i.e. barring Marian Anderson, the great opera singer, from performing in DAR's Constitution Hall solely because of her race) along side their contributions to furthering the study of history and genealogy; but change and progress (however actually motivated) should be welcomed.  This having been said, anyone with even a passing interest in genealogy, DNA, heritage organizations in general, the DAR, history and/or stories of social progress should definitely read The Washington Post story that ran on June 29th in the Health & Science section.  You can access the story here!  Be sure to read some of the comments to the article and in particular one from "Tell the truth, please" posted at 10:47 PM EDT on June 29th.    

6.   It's almost here according to Library and Archives Canada!  The most recent Census of the Canadian Population to qualify for release to the pubic -- 1921 -- passed into the custody of Library and Archives Canada (LAC) on or about June 1, 2013.  According to the June 4, 2013 posting on the LAC website here, the data was to be "available to researchers in the next few weeks."  It has not occurred yet so far as I can determine.  The census in Canada is closed by law for 92 years after the data is collected.  The 1921 Census will present data about 8.8 million individuals on 197,500 images.  The last word appears to be this:  "Library and Archives Canada is committed to making the 1921 Census’ rich and complex information accessible and available to all Canadians, no matter where they live, in the next few weeks. Further details on the 1921 Census’ availability will be shared once they are available."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _