You know something is worth checking out when several people or bloggers are raving about it in the same week. Such is the case with Genealogy Gophers at gengophers.com.
The site features 40,000 genealogy publications, including lots of family histories from the collection digitized by FamilySearch from Brigham Young University in Utah. They plan to add about 60,000 more this spring.
So, why the excitement over access to books already available? This makes it easier to use pre-1923 publications, many of which contain very important information.
You can search by text and title. Always learn how to use a new site to your best advantage: Start with some unusual name that might produce a hit you are looking for just to be sure you are learning the ropes.
Most other reviews of the site indicate people got so caught up in their searching that they had a sort of “Lost Weekend” experience. I have to agree, as my first foray in searching for “Richard Russell of Virginia” turned up many books and periodicals as well as queries from Everton’s Genealogical Helper, back issues of the Russell Register (a surname-based quarterly) and lots of other recent material in addition to pre-1923.
Genealogy Gophers covers more than you would expect, so check it out. It’s easy to access, view and print copies via PDF download. The only caveat is you will get a Google survey about your experience.
Lunch and Learn
Author-editor Erika DeSimone will speak at the Georgia Archives Lunch and Learn session at noon April 10.
Her topic will be the book “Voices Beyond Bondage: An Anthology of Verse by African Americans of the 19th Century.” These poems were gathered from black newspapers published before and after the Civil War.
The event is free; bring your own lunch. For additional information, call 678-364-3710 or check georgiaarchives.org.
Rootstech in Roswell
The Roswell Family History Center will hold its second annual Rootstech 9 a.m.-1 p.m. April 11 at 500 Norcross St., Roswell.
This free event includes presentations from the 2015 Rootstech conference held in Salt Lake City. There will be four classes per hour, including getting the most out of ancestry.com, familysearch.org and myheritage.com, as well as how to use newspapers.com and working with genetic genealogy.
For further information, call Virginia Tedjamulia at 678-697-8549.
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