Minnesota Historical Society Tuesday a.m. research hours restored

A big change arrives at the Minnesota History Center in a couple days. Starting on Tuesday, October 1, 2014, Tuesday morning research library hours are restored.

The new hours:

• Tuesday: 9 am - 8 pm
• Wed-Sat: 9 am - 4 pm
• Sunday & Monday: Closed

Click here to learn more about this great research facility.

SLIG intermediate genealogy course desctipion

I spent some time today working on syllabus material for the 2014 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. Lots of new information to add. The very last thing for this course syllabus will be verifying all the URLs just before I send it to the syllabus coordinator at the end of November. The 2014 SLIG runs from January 13-17, 2014. Plan to be there a bit early to meet me and the other instructors for this course, Josh Taylor, and Debbie Mieszala, at the welcoming reception on Sunday evening, January 12. The syllabus will be distributed that evening and you also get the opportunity to meet others in this and other courses.

2014 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Course I, Intermediate Level, 
American Research and Records: Focus on Families

This intermediate level course provides in-depth learning on 19th-21st century U.S. resources and the methodology for using them. The 2014 course focuses on topics more related to researching families and individuals. Informative and interactive classroom hours delve into significant records and strategies that take you beyond basic research tools both online and off. On-site FHL library support and a computer lab from course instructors provide one-on-one assistance and guidance with your own research. This course alternates years with a course focused on localities. Prerequisites: experience researching in a variety of repositories, familiarity with FamilySearch.org and other websites, and previous class room learning related to family history.

To learn more and to register http://www.infouga.org/aem.php?lv=p&epg=51

Family Roots Publishing offer through September 26!

''Purchase $50 in product and get FREE USA shipping!. This offer ends at midnight MDT, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013. All items on the website are included, including Flip-Pal mobile scanners, software, books, maps, and supplies."

Click here to take advantage of this offer from Leland Meitzler! 

Genealogy Roadshow on Twin Cities Public Television

If your PBS station is Twin Cities Public Television you get the first chance to watch the premiere of Genealogy Roadshow on Monday, September 23, at 8:00 p.m. CDT. We will have three opportunities to watch the show each week.

I was in the audience at the August Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Fort Wayne when we were privileged to view a 5 minute preview of the show. I think it will be a pretty dramatic and fun show. Two friends of mine, Josh Taylor and Kenyatta Berry, are the on-air experts. 

Click here for the full lineup and days to view the four programs on TPT.  Not familiar with this new show? Click here to learn more.

5 bits of recent genealogy news for 2013 and beyond

The world is full of genealogy news in the last several days.

1. Who Do You Think You Are?" has been renewed for a second season on TLC! See the news release on Variety!
   
2. FamilySearch and Ancestry.com recently announced a joint agreement to begin a 5-year effort to digitize and index more than 1 billion records from around the world. Read more here.
   
3. There is still time to register for the The Minnesota Genealogical Society’s October 4-5, 2013 “6th Annual North Star 2013 Family History Conference.” It features Steve Luxenberg
   Steve, a Washington Post associate editor, who wrote Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret plus many breakout sessions with other great speakers. Click here for details.
    
4.  Spots are still available in several courses at the week-long Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, January 12-17, 2013. The early bird savings ends October 31st.  Click here for more details. The American Records intermediate course which I coordinate has some very special components including one-on-one consultations, hands-on computer session, and some surprises that you won't find out about until the classes begin!
   
5. CNN.com reposted a story from Real Simple magazine that talks about the growing interest in family history searching. You may recognize the name of the experts the author consulted, including my friend, Cyndi Ingle Howells of Cyndislist.com.
   

Ancestry.com and FamilySearch partnership

Just in case you didn't see this news yesterday, here is a press release from Lou Szucs at Ancestry.com:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANCESTRY.COM AND FAMILYSEARCH TO MAKE A BILLION GLOBAL RECORDS AVAILABLE ONLINE

Groundbreaking Agreement to Deliver Valuable Historical Content Over the Next Five Years

PROVO, Utah, September 5, 2013 – Ancestry.com and FamilySearch International (online at FamilySearch.org), the two largest providers of family history resources, announced today an agreement that is expected to make approximately 1 billion global historical records available online and more easily accessible to the public for the first time. With this long-term strategic agreement, the two services will work together with the archive community over the next five years to digitize, index and publish these records from the FamilySearch vault.

The access to the global collection of records marks a major investment in international content as Ancestry.com continues to invest in expanding family history interest in its current markets and worldwide. Ancestry.com expects to invest more than $60 million over the next five years in the project alongside thousands of hours of volunteer efforts facilitated by FamilySearch.

“This agreement sets a path for the future for Ancestry.com and FamilySearch to increasingly share international sets of records more collaboratively,” said Tim Sullivan, CEO of Ancestry.com. “A significant part of our vision for family history is helping provide a rich, engaging experience on a global scale. We are excited about the opportunities it will bring to help benefit the family history community and look forward to collaborating with FamilySearch to identify other opportunities to help people discover and share their family history.”

The organizations will also be looking at other ways to share content across the two organizations. Both organizations expect to add to the already digitized records shared across the two websites in addition to new record projects to be completed over the next five years.

"We are excited to work with Ancestry.com on a vision we both share," said Dennis Brimhall, President of FamilySearch. "Expanding online access to historical records through this type of collaboration can help millions more people discover and share their family's history."

This marks a groundbreaking agreement between the two services. But the two organizations aren’t strangers to working with each other; hundreds of millions of records have already been shared and are available on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. The companies also announced in early 2013 an additional project where they plan to publish 140 million U.S. Wills & Probate images and indexes over the next three years—creating a national database of wills and other probate documents spanning 1800-1930 online for the very first time.