I hope you've all had a productive week. If you have time for genealogy fun this weekend, here are some options to try out...
The Innovators Portal is always one of my favorites at RootsTech. It's not always immediately useful, but it's exciting to see how creative people view the future of the family history arena.
Adobe, MyHeritage, and Goldie May have free offerings if you want to try some practical new products/features...but read on and choose according to your interests.
Adobe - How to Restore and Preserve Photos and Family Stories
- Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to restore/colorize photos - you can download products for free for 7 days to process your photos
- Adobe Spark can be used to create a webpage (the link is to an example webpage-you'd have to own a domain name and then have your page point to the Adobe Spark page).
- Adobe Premiere Rush for making Family History Videos
- Adobe has pricing plans and free trial options
BYU - Reverse Indexing
- This is a nice way to contribute to the indexing effort by helping train an A.I. to learn to read handwriting. Hopefully someday we'll have computers doing all our indexing. Here's a link to use to help train the A.I. Read the instructions but you mark any handwriting that does not match the written text (capitalization doesn't matter)
Augean - 3D Charts
- a new way to view your family tree-3D and interactive
Goldie May - Your Genealogy Research Assistant
- an online research log, different fee/free plans, runs alongside your existing online tree--might be very helpful to organized researchers or those who want to become more organized
Treasured - 3D Exhibits
- visit the Museum of American War letters or submit your own family war letters to be added to the project - along with seeing the letters in the exhibit, you'll have the option to hear them read to you
- Treasured has opportunities for personal and organizational projects
MyHeritage - Color Restoration - restore colors to faded photos to improve their appearance
- try their product out for free at MyHeritage.com/incolor
TOTA - Traditions of the Ancestors
- use family groups on TOTA to archive photos, share recipes, & connect
- compare traditions and cultures side by side
Family Connections Experiment - Connections Idea Generator
- Try the Idea Generator, this link is down today but when I first tested it I was given prompts for ways to connect with family. This might be a fun way to remind yourself to reach out and stay connected with others.
Kawai - How does your name sound
- on the premise that music has been used as a cipher by composers, you can type your name in and see how it sounds
RJM Design - Meet My Ancestors
- a sneak peek at an interactive game to bring interest in family history to a broader audience
FamilySearch - Computer Assisted Indexing
- Try out a demo of where they're at with having computers recognize and transcribe written documents. It's got a long way to go but is impressive so far. The link might have only been available during RootsTech, so visit their site and see if you can try it out.
AncestoriesXR - Immersive media story telling platform
- a new way to bring family history to people with immersive media, the story had some potentially offensive material so just be aware if you have sensitivities that it's documenting a historic person's experiences
Progeny - The DNA Matrix
- a new tool for analyzing your DNA results and understanding provable relationships and verifying your genealogical conclusions
- if DNA is upsetting your genealogical family tree, this might help you make sense of who your biological ancestor is or is not
- requires DNA test results for at least two people
Clanview - Instant 3D Family Tree Sharing
- a new way to view/walk through your family tree using VR technology
Here are some updates to the OnGenealogy Directory. We have a lot of updating to do because sites keep adding to their digital offerings...
New and Updated Listings
Doug's Place - Portuguese, Hungarian, & Slovakian genealogy
Iroquois County Genealogical Society
Kankakee Valley Genealogical Society
Missouri Public Records Online
Alabama Department of History and Archives
Arizona History and Archives Division
University of Delaware Library, Museums, & Press
District of Columbia Office of Public Records (Archives)
Kansas Historical Society (Archives)
Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives
Michigan History Center - Archives of Michigan
Minnesota Historical Society (Archives)
West Virginia Archives and History
If you have a locale you'd like added to the directory, please email [email protected]. I'm always happy to curate collections upon request. I have Minnesota ancestors and got trapped viewing plat maps now online at the Minnesota Digital Library. That site has grown rapidly from 50 contributing institutions in 2015 to almost 200 in 2021. Keep checking back to see if your favorite sites have added collections!
Best with your research,
Alyson Mansfield
OnGenealogy
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