This week's news includes:

1. Ancestry.com has released enhanced digital images of the U.S. federal censuses.
2. The Library of Michigan crisis continues with a smaller budget, effectively coming out of the collection development budget, and an anticipated 20% budget cut in 2010-2011.
3. The national Archives (TNA) of the UK has unveiled a new look and new address for its online educational services at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education. There are more materials there, plus podcasts and booking access to videoconferences and virtual classes.
4. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has uploaded the Ulster Street Directories (1819-1900) at http://www.proni.gov.uk.
5. The Irish Family History Foundation has released parish and statutory records transcriptions for County Londonderry at http://derry.brsgenealogy.com. 
6. Ancestral Atlas has released a collection of Irish Townland Maps at http://www.ancestralatlas.com. 

Be sure to back up your genealogy data and insure that a copy is located outside your home!

This week's listener email includes:

1. Eiya asks about good books covering African-American genealogical research. The Guys suggest Black Roots: A Beginner's Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree by Tony Burroughs and A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your African-American Ancestors by Franklin Carter Smith and Emily Ann Croom.
2. Lois suggests a podcast about the Orphan Train and the Catholic version of this at the "Catholic Under the Hood" site at http://sqpn.com/category/educational/catholic-under-the-hood/. Look for episode #209.
3. Lee reminds listeners that they can order copies of original Social Security Applications, Form SS-5, from the Social Security Administration at https://secure.ssa.gov/apps9/eFOIA-FEWeb/internet/main.jsp. You can also use the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) at RootsWeb (http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com) and generate a letter. (Listen to the podcast for details.)
4. Michael asks about the employer number on his great-great-grandfather's SS-5 -- W.P.A. O.P. 65-44-1163 -- and where he might learn what WPA projects on which his ancestor worked. He also asks about the U.S. Employment Service (USES) and what information might be on the registration card.
5. Blaise has switched to GRAMPS, an open source genealogy program at http://www.gramps-project.org. Blaise is using a portable version of it. (See http://tinyurl.com/GRAMPS-Portable.)
6. Richard asks for suggestions for tracing two brothers who may have been adopted in California between 1920 and 1930.
7. Gus shares information about "UCLA's Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and research associate Dean Goodman who have won the Governor's Historic Preservation Award for high-tech mapping efforts at the Marquez Family Cemetery in Santa Monica Canyon" in California.
8. Barb shares information for Angie (episode #188) about locating and obtaining copies of Civil War pension files. She recounts a very convoluted research scenario involving three husbands, bigamy, and more.

Drew discusses Google Wave, a new facility in beta test mode.

The Guys published a new podcast dated December 7, 2009. However, one of our listeners reported a problem with the repetition of material following the first commercial break. This is the second time this has occurred. We rechecked the file and verified the problem. We believe it is a software problem with GarageBand, the software we use to record and process the podcasts. We believe that the "mix down" process that occurs after the editing of the podcast, and what actually produces the MP3 file, has a bug in it.

We are searching for details about this problem. However, in the meantime, we remixed the file, created a new one, and uploaded/published the podcast again.

The new, corrected file was republished this evening (12/10/09). If you want to obtain the corrected file, please visit The Genealogy Guys Podcast website at http://genealogyguys.com and open or download the new file.

Sorry for the problem, but we're on it!

This week's news includes:

1. Footnote.com has made available the first-ever interactive collection of World War II documents, including the memorial of the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The collection is free to access through the month of December.
2. The National Genealogical Society (NGS) has announced details of the Librarians' Day at its annual conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, in April. This pre-conference program is sponsored by ProQuest. Details are available at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/preconference_events.
3. ProQuest and NGS will honor an outstanding librarian at the same conference by awarding the Filby Award for Genealogical Librarianship. Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/ykvrw3g.

This week's listener email includes:

1. Sharon reminds us that the search for immigrant ancestors must include looking at both ends of the journey. While an arrival record of someone from the U.K. in 1925 shows only a destination, the departure record in the U.K. may show the traveler's home address. U.K. migration records can be found at http://www.findmypast.com.
   
2. Tina corrects our statements in episode #189. FreeBMD.org.uk does not yet include all the civil registration index entries. In addition, civil registration in England and Wales began on 1 July 1837 and not 1838.
3. Steve is seeking clues about a grandfather who divorced his first wife and remarried, apparently taking the second wife's surname.
4. Victoria shared information about the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, one of only two remaining, fully functional Liberty Ships built and launched during World War II. The ship has been restored and is anchored at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, open to the public. Learn more at http://www.ssjeremiahobrien.org. 
5. Gus asks for advice about citing sources on genealogical posters he has created of his family lineage.
6. Nancy asks about George's book, The Official Guide to Ancestry.com, and how current the book remains.
7. Larry asks about using a DNA test as it applies to establishing lineages for immigrants.
8. Rich shares a newspaper story about the Texas state government taking blood samples of newborn infants for testing purposes, and then retaining the samples for other experiments. This has resulted in lawsuits by parents/families and concerns about privacy. See more at http://tinyurl.com/DNA4TX-Infants.
9. R.J. advises us of another product that allows Mac users to run Windows on their Macintosh, Linux, and OpenSolaris machines. It is called VirtualBox, manufactured by Sun Microsystems, and can be found at http://www.virtualbox.org. 
10. Terri has purchased RootsMagic 4 and Family Tree Maker 2010. When she migrated her data from Brother's Keeper software, she lost information on all her living relatives. Drew offers a suggestion to check.
11. Lisa asks about genealogy software available for her iPhone 3GS.
12. Gus has been watching The Genealogy Guys Videocasts at http://genealogyguys.blip.tv and finds that the most recent way that George has labeled/titled the files makes the content easier to find and differentiate.
13. Marie asked where at RootsWeb she could find Gary's transcribed index of "Memoirs of the Miami Valley". Drew located the index and emailed Marie with the URL at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohbutler/memoirs.
    

News from Ancestry.com includes more records, such as U.S. Navy records, improved 1850 U.S. census images, Atlanta federal penitentiary records, more historical postcards, Bavaria muster rolls, and other new records from Ireland, Australia, and Paris.  Footnote.com has added more Native American records.  RootsMagic has updated its website and has released RootsMagic Essentials, a free version of the RootsMagic software.  The DAR has made an online database of many of its genealogy records available to the general public.

Listener e-mail involves a question about the link to New York government divisions (turns out it's on Wikipedia); the correct pronunciation of Islip, NY (which Drew did correct in the show notes from the episode in which he mispronounced it) and another NY town; the Federation of Genealogical Societies 2010 conference in Knoxville, Tennessee; volunteering to provide free online access to records, especially local historical records; volunteering to provide genealogy classes at the local public library; online Navy records and other military records; issues related to using Facebook, Genealogy Wise, and the Genealogy Guys videos on Blip.tv; citing census records; running Windows programs on a Macintosh; and researching Smiths in England.  

Drew shares his first experiences with Google's latest online service, Google Wave.

This podcast episode was recorded "live" at the Western Michigan Genealogical Society's conference in Grand Rapids on Saturday, November 7, 2009. We had a fabulous time with the society and its members!

The Guys have THREE new videocast interviews for your viewing pleasure. Drew interviews: Craig Manson, author of GeneaBlogie; Dick Eastman of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter; and Leo Myers and Paula Hinkel, co-organizers of the Southern California Genealogical Society's annual conference called JAMBOREE. Check them all out at http://genealogyguys.blip.tv!

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com expects to raise $100 million in its IPO; the Kansas African American Museum in Wichita has received a $25,000 grant to establish a statewide program called "Knowing Me, Knowing You"; Footnote.com has announced its plan to create the complete Interactive U.S. Census; and the "Who Do You Think You Are LIVE" show will be held in Olympia, London, on 26-28 February 2010, sponsored by Ancestry.co.uk.

The Guys will be at the Western Michigan Genealogical Society's Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on 6 November 2009. Details are available at http://gotancestors.com. The Guys will also be at the Florida State Genealogical Society's Conference in Melbourne, Florida, on 13-14 November 2009. Details are available at http://flsgs.org.

George thanks Teresa Remsberg for providing a link to the Canadian Border Crossings database at Ancestry.com where a record of his great-uncle, Brisco Washington Holder, showed he arrived in 1919.

Mary responded to Pat's concerns in podcast episode #186 about birth certificate copies being issued with a different place of birth (Drew realizes after the podcast that he mispronounced "Islip" several times); Victoria asks about Post-Em notes on Ancestry.com family trees; Mark shares information about articles of genealogical interest:

1. Kentucky's last Civil War daughter at http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/805969.html
2. Death of the last Civil War widow at http://tinyurl.com/CW-widow
3. Smithsonian Magazine published an article about the last U.S. WWI solder at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/last-doughboy.html
4. European legal challenges to Google Books at http://tinyurl.com/GoogleBookEU
5. An article about the original Star Spangled Banner back on display at http://tinyurl.com/ybbo47q

Mark also shares information about employment records; Eric talks about George's and Drew's books, and chuckles over The Guys' botching the pronunciation of place names; Daniel asks about the Ball family; Michelle talks about presenting classes in her genealogy society and the joys of belonging to her society; Tim reminds The Guys of the "Tip of the Iceberg" poster published and for sale by the California Genealogical Society and Library (See http://preview.tinyurl.com/IceburgPoster1 and http://preview.tinyurl.com/IceburgPoster2); John asks about George's relative, John Allen Morgan; Angie poses her quandary of a polygamous great-great-grandfather who changed names and her difficulties locating his Civil War pension (See http://preview.tinyurl.com/AngiesGGGF from the Journal of Social History in which Angie's ancestor is discussed); and Roger tells us how he organizes and files his genealogical materials.

The Genealogy Guys have published three new videocasts at http://genealogyguys.blip.tv this week. They include interviews with:

1. Suzanne Russo Adams of Ancestry.com, Italian genealogy researcher, and author
2. Steve Danko, Polish genealogy researcher and blogger
3. Bruce Buzbee, president of RootsMagic
   

SURPRISE! A second new videocast, an interview with Maureen Taylor (The Photo Detective), is also now available at http://genealogyguys.blip.tv.

Join Drew as he interviews Lisa Louise Cooke, host of The Genealogy Gems Podcast, in a new episode of The Genealogy Guys Videocast at http://genealogyguys.blip.tv.

This week's news includes: The National Army Museum (UK) has launched an exhibition called First Shots: Early War Photography 1848-1860. It includes some of the earliest war photographs in existence, and the online version of the exhibition can be viewed at http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/pages/firstShots/. The Vision of Britain website has a new set of digitized maps for England, Scotland, and Wales going back to the early 1800s at http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/.

George has been elected to the position of Vice President of Membership Services of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, effective 1 January 2010.

George describes a beautiful poster that Gus Marsh has sent to illustrate work with Adobe In-Design. Gus also asks about two individuals buried in Pinellas County in Florida.

The Guys report on the status of the Library of Michigan funding crisis and the threat of breaking up its excellent historical and genealogical collection.

George will be in Louisville, KY, this Saturday for an all-day seminar (details at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kylgs/seminar2.html).

George and Drew will be at the Western Michigan Genealogical Society (http://www.wmgs.org) in Grand Rapids, MI, on Friday and Saturday, November 6th and 7th. The society is celebrating its 55th anniversary with a banquet on Friday evening, and an all-day seminar on Saturday, titled Got Ancestors?! Guydes to Genealogical Research. Details are available at http://gotancestors.com. The day's festivities will conclude with The Genealogy Guys LIVE!, a live recording session of the podcast with questions and answers.

The Guys present two final interviews from the SCGS Jamboree in Burbank. Drew first interviews Suzanne Russo Adams of Ancestry.com and the author of Finding Your Italian Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide. He then interviews Paula Hinkel and Leo Myers, the planning and organizing force behind Jamboree.

This week's listener email includes: Teri has downloaded all the podcasts and listens while swimming; Peter asks Drew about researching his slave ancestors in Newberry, SC, Drew's hometown; Amy discusses the use of newspapers and newsletters for company employees.

The Podcast has been nominated by Family Tree Magazine's Top 40 Genealogy Blogs in the HOW-TO Category. Please cast your vote for us at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/40BestVoting.

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This week's news includes: Ancestry.com will present a free online presentation on Wednesday, October 14, 2009, at 8:00 PM Eastern Time titled "Learn the Best Strategies for Searching Ancestry.com" - and you can register at http://learn.ancestry.com/LearnMore/Webinars.aspx; Ancestry.com also announced that they have expanded their agreement with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to scan and index documents there, and have therefore opened a new scanning facility in the Washington, DC, area - new content collections from this new facility are discussed in this episode; UK Minister Ed Miliband, visiting Moscow on official business and appearing on a call-in radio program, received a call from a relative. You can read the BBC news story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8295394.stm. The City of Kennesaw, Georgia, received a grant that enabled them to begin underground imaging of their cemetery, and you can read all about it at http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/etd/2/.

Note: Another update on the Library of Michigan crisis will be provided next week.

Maureen A. Taylor, well known as The Photo Detective, has just published a new book, Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900. It can help you date those mystery photos you have. The book is available at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/fashionable-folks-hair/7559085.

The Guys have a busy speaking schedule coming up! Drew will speak about DNA on Sunday, October 11th, for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fljgstb).

George will be presenting at an all-day conference for the Louisville Genealogical Society (details at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kylgs/seminar2.html) in Louisville, KY, on Saturday, October 17th.

And George AND Drew will be speaking for the Western Michigan Genealogical Society (http://www.wmgs.org) in Grand Rapids, MI, on Friday and Saturday, November 6th and 7th. The society is celebrating its 55th anniversary with a banquet on Friday evening, and an all-day seminar on Saturday, titled Got Ancestors?! Guydes to Genealogical Research. Details are available at http://gotancestors.com. The day's festivities will conclude with The Genealogy Guys LIVE!, a live recording session of the podcast with questions and answers.

Drew interviews Dick Eastman, author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (http://blog.eogn.com). Dick will be appearing for the Pinellas Genealogy Society in Largo, Florida, Saturday, February 13, 2010.

The listener email includes: Carolyn raves about how much she likes RootsMagic software; Lee continues discussing wives' maiden names on gravestones; Roger tells us that the Scottish practice of using maiden names of married women in birth entries in parish registers and on gravestones. Roger shares two examples:

http://roger.lisaandroger.com/showmedia.php?mediaID=81 shows a parish register; examples of headstones appear at http://roger.lisaandroger.com/browsemedia.php?mediatypeID=headstones.

Pat shares concerns about official, raised seal birth certificates from New York that are using different birth locations now rather than the actual (and original) locations. TC shares information about Dropbox software, a free tool to help keep data on multiple computers in synch. It is available at http://www.getdropbox.com and is free.

George talks about Internet Genealogy magazine from Moorshead Publications, the last magazine covering Internet research topics. (Visit http://www.internet-genealogy.com for more information and to subscribe.) Katie asks for guidance for using pre-1850 U.S. federal censuses and getting past some roadblocks created because only the head of household was listed, followed with tick marks representing gender, age, and race.

This week's news includes: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and Footnote.com announce a new Digital Holocaust Collection at Footnote.com at http://www.footnote.com/holocaust, and will be accessible for free through October; Gale and the British Library have made a vast collection of "British Newspapers, 1800-1900" available online at http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs - searches are free and downloads of full-text articles are available by purchasing either a 24-hour or 7-day pass; WorldVitalRecords.com announced that it has lowered its price for an annual World Collection Subscription to $99.95; and FamilySearch announces new and updated records and indexes at its site at http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch.

The Guys provide an update about the Library of Michigan crisis, provided by Tom Koselka of the Michigan Genealogical Council.

Drew interviews Steve Danko, expert genealogist in Polish research and personal blogger extraordinaire (http://www.stephendanko.com).

George discusses the fact that he has a new membership to the Godfrey Memorial Library (http://www.godfrey.org) and the types of subscriptions available.

The listener email includes: Eiya asks when you should shell out the big money for certified certificates; Ian asks for advice about the treatment of sensitive family information, such as illegitimate children; Jenna asks about the filing of marriage certificates - under the groom, the bride, or both; Clive shares some Irish websites he has found very helpful:

http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/index.shtml
http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/1901census/
http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/GRIFFITH/
http://www.irish-roots.ie/
http://roscommon.brsgenealogy.com
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=collectionDetails;c=1408347
http://www.groireland.ie/apply_for_a_cert.htm

Tom shares his new understanding about the term "removed" cousin; and Noi asks for advice in locating and accessing corporate records for genealogical purposes.

Join us for a terrific interview with Dr. Tukufu Zuberi, one of the co-hosts of the great PBS series, The History Detectives. The videocast can be accessed directly at http://genealogyguys.blip.tv.

Drew here: When I was inserting the commercials into the most recent podcast episode (#184) this morning, I made an error with the second one.  Fortunately, one of our listeners caught it and let us know.  I've now re-created the episode with the correct commercial.  So if you downloaded our #184 episode prior to 7:30pm ET (thereabouts) today, you'll have the uncorrected version, but you should be ok if you downloaded it since that time.  Sorry about that!

We apologize for the delay between podcasts, but we're back on schedule again!

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com and the Drouin Institute (http://institutdrouin.com), holder of one of the most important Canadian genealogical collections, announce the successful resolution to arbitration concerning content and indexing, and Ancestry.com has announced that the collection will be returning to its site very soon; dynastree announces that it now has 10 million family trees on its site, and that they have added new features including the ability to include family pictures in a GEDCOM file export; MyHeritage.com announces that its free Family Tree Builder software (free for download) now supports mapping, photo albums, and other new features; the Free Library of Philadelphia has averted disastrous budget cuts that would have closed all of its branches in early October; and the FamilySearch Indexing Project (http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start) has announced the release of additional new and updated collections.

The Library of Michigan continues to hang under the threat of its collection being dispersed by executive order of the state's governor. The Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC), a joint group of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society, has initiated an online petition drive at http://www.petitiononline.com/RPAC2009/petition.html and The Guys strongly encourage you to sign electronically by 30 September 2009, the deadline date for the petition. For more information about the situation, visit the Michigan Genealogical Council's website at http://www.mimgc.org/LOM.html. (The Guys will continue to report on this critical situation over the coming weeks and months.)

This week's listener email includes: Pheobe has created a Cousin Camp for her nieces, nephews, and cousins aged 9 to 14 and offers to share information with others; George asks about how to cite death notices; Rob asks how many listeners there are for the podcast; Victoria discusses the software she uses on her Mac in order to run Windows-based programs such as RootsMagic; Margaret reports on genealogists and libraries, and methods for creating knowledge with web 2.0 technologies; Rebecca asks about file formats for digitizing family photos and documents and saving them into her genealogy database; Lee asks if other listeners have seen tombstones on which the wife's maiden name is listed; and Mary Ann asks for assistance in helping to locate more information about her grandmother in Texas.

George and Drew record this episode in front of a live audience at the 2009 annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Drew interviews members of the audience and the Guys take a number of audience questions.

This week's news includes: Hamburg, Germany-based dynastree (http://www.dynastree.com) announces an automatic search for potential relatives on its site; responses have been great about The Guys' new videocasting at http://genealogyguys.blip.tv; Ancestry.com announces the release of its new Family Tree Maker 2010 software; and Genealogy Wise announces that there are many great videos on its website.

Drew shares two interviews this week:

Michelle Pfister and Mark LeMonnier on the product team of Family Tree Maker of Ancestry.com discuss the software, improvements that have been made over the last year, and some of the things coming in the future.

Schelly Talalay Dardashti, author of the Tracing the Tribe blog (http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com), discusses Jewish genealogy and how to progress with your research.

This week's listener email includes: Eiya asks about the absence of marriage records for Fannin County, Texas, at Ancestry.com, and George has information about those records' availability on microfilm through the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah; one listener joined a genealogy society in January and has felt less than welcome, and asks when it might be appropriate to make suggestions for improvements; and Rebecca asks The Guys which genealogy software program that they use.

NOTE: The two interviews will be posted as videocasts within the coming week at http://genealogyguys.blip.tv.

We are very excited to announce that we've just published our first video episode at http://genealogyguys.blip.tv. This includes the interview with Janet Hovorka, otherwise known as "The Chart Chick," of Generation Maps (http://generationsmaps.com). You'll enjoy seeing the many examples of great genealogy charts that they can produce for you.

More video episodes are coming! You'll also be able to subscribe to an RSS feed as soon as iTunes reviews the first episode.

Let us know what YOU think!

This week's news includes: GenealogyWise (http://www.genealogywise.com), the recently launched genealogy social network, has added indexing to the Surname Groups; dynastree (http://www.dynastree.com) has announced that it now features maps showing the distribution of a surname for eight countries; and MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com) has added many new features and activities to its site.  The Guys then discuss news about the upcoming Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas.

This week's podcast features two interviews by Drew from the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree in Burbank, California:

• The first is with Janet Hovorka, the "Chart Chick," of Generation Maps (http://www.printmyfamily.com). She discusses the range of custom charts that the company can provide.
• The second is with Craig Manson, legal expert and author of the GeneaBlogie blog at http://blog.geneablogie.net.

This week's listener email includes: Jean reports problems obtaining vital records from New Jersey; Lisa reports the same problem with New York; Paul asks a question about photos that have been uploaded to Ancestry.com; Tim in San Francisco shares a link to an article about Google Maps' street view cameras in Paris - on tricycles; and Tim in Tampa shares two important tips with listeners:

1. Google Books (http://books.google.com) has unearthed a vast amount of genealogical information through searching the site. Even books that are in copyright can often be obtained through Interlibrary Loan or otherwise. He especially recommends accessing Simon Greenleaf's three-volume work, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence.
2. The New York Historical Newspapers collection has been developed by the Northern New York Library Network. It contains 1,640,000 pages from 43 newspapers in seven northern New York counties: Oswego, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Clinton, and Essex Counties. The collection can be found at http://news.nnyln.net.
   

This week's news includes: the Library of Michigan and its historical and genealogical collections are in jeopardy; Ancestry.com has filed with the SEC for a $75 million IPO; brightsolid announced the acquisition of the Friends Reunited Group for £25 million; Ancestry.com has substantially expanded its Jewish Family History Records collection; Ancestry.com also has announced the release of its fourth Ancestry World Archives project, the England and Wales Criminal Registers, 1791-1892; dynastree.com now offers a free 14-day trial of its premium subscription; and RootsMagic's Valentine's Day Family History Cruise of the Western Caribbean, sailing from Miami on 14 February 2010, is accepting reservations, and there will be great genealogy classes and shore excursions -- details are available at http://www.rootsmagiccruise.com.

The Guys will be part of a special event at the Federation of Genealogical Societies 2009 Conference in Little Rock. They will lead an Open Forum for Bloggers, Social Networkers, and Podcasters -- and for anyone interested in discussing or having questions. Meet The Guys, other bloggers, people on social networks you may never have met in person, and podcasters.

The Guys interview Maureen A. Taylor, the Photo Detective. Visit her website at http://www.photodetective.com, and sign up for her free newsletter at the bottom of the Web page. Catch her great blog as well!

The Guys discuss the crisis in Michigan with the governor's proposal to stop funding, close the library, and disperse the collection. The Michigan Genealogical Council organized an important rally this week at the State Capitol and then proceeded to march to the Library of Michigan. There the participants, nearly 500 strong, formed a "Hands Around the Library" demonstration, carried signs, and spoke with passers-by. There was local television and newspaper coverage of the event. The Guys are very concerned about this situation, and George is an outspoken library and archives advocate.

George reviews an outstanding book, Crash Course in Family History (3rd edition) by Paul Larson. The outstanding step-by-step book is available from EasyFamilyHistory.com (http://www.easyfamilyhistory.com), and previews of the book are available at http://www.crashcoursebook.com.

This week's listener email includes: Eric asks about the Frappr map that The Guys had on their website; Victoria shares the address of the University of Chicago's Archival Photographic Files at http://photofiles.lib.uchicago.edu; John weighs in on the subject of genealogical data placed behind societies' members-only walls; and Stephanie asks for suggestions on how to move data from Reunion to another PC-based software package.

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com launches a new feature called Member Connect to make connecting with others easier; and the Federation of Genealogy Societies (FGS) reminds our listeners that the 2009 FGS Conference is only a month away, September 2-5, in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Guys reminds listeners that they will be there doing a LIVE podcast recording session with an audience.

The Guys welcome Julie Miller, CG, and Drew interviews her at the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree about research into the ancestors and relatives of a certain Denver celebrity.

This week's listener email includes: Clive asked George to also share the fact that The National Archives (TNA) in the UK also produces podcasts at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/default.htm on many topics; he also asks if we can find out when the "Criminal Registers, 1791-1892," from Ancestry's World Archive Project will be available online (and George will check); Clive also tells us another story of the use of the word "craic." (Drew also discusses the Geo Challenge game on Facebook.com.) Bill reminds us that PAF (Personal Ancestral File genealogy software from the LDS Church) is still an excellent free option for creating and maintaining your database; Noi asked about Footnote.com's calculation of the percent completed in the Civil War Widows' Pension Files collection, and received an answer from Footnote Support that she shared with everyone; Damien thanked The Guys for information about photo tagging software; Michael asked which death date to use in his database when his great uncle died at home about 11:00 PM and the doctor did not arrive to create the death certificate until about 12:30 AM on the next day; Michael also shares his difficulties working with the New Jersey state government to obtain an old death certificate -- the search was $25.00, regardless of outcome, required an extensive set of proofs of his relationship to the person for whose record he was requesting, and the office was exceptionally rude when he followed up by telephone. Ann Gulbransen, Historian for the Ohio Society of Mayflower Descendants, responded to a listener's inquiry in Episode 177. She tells us that the official books that trace Mayflower ancestry are called "The Mayflower Families Genealogies through Five Generations." Also known as the Silver Books, the completed books and indexes can be purchased through the online store at the Society's website at http://www.themayflowersociety.com. Kay is concerned about Ancestry's Hints and their application to potentially incorrect data. Rabbi Gary M. Gans has a new iPod and has been listening to the show since the first day he got it, and he inquired about the "Brisco" name he has heard George mention.

This week's news includes:

1. Ancestry.com has added the Canadian Censuses, 1851-1916, and one of the most comprehensive collections of Caribbean slave records, detailing nearly 200 years of St. Croix-Virgin Islands history.
   
2. The Michigan Genealogical Council has issued a press release regarding the crisis in funding for the Library of Michigan and the possible dissolution of its collection. A Hands Around the Library event will be held on Wednesday, 5 August 2009, in Lansing, beginning with assembly at 9:45 AM at the State Capitol. Questions can be sent to Sue Irvine at sjirv@yahoo.com.
3. Synium Software announces the release of MacFamilyTree version 5.6.
4. Northern Hills Software announces the release of Pocket Genealogist, version 3.40, for Windows Mobile devices.

Drew interviews Dr. Tukufu Zuberi, Ph.D., a star researcher of the hit PBS television program, History Detectives, at the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree.

This week's listener email includes:

1. Denise loves the way Fletcher meows on cue.
2. Patrice suggested a discussion of Second Life, and Lisa suggested a discussion about researching the history of old houses. (The Guys will work on some stories about these topics and others you might suggest.)
   
3. A response to Margaret in Dublin about Aster Software's iPhone app, FamViewer. The company informs us that there are planned enhancements to the project, but there are no plans in place to provide an editing function and upload to source genealogy programs.
4. Rich H. shared a story about two people named Kelly Hildebrandt who connected on Facebook and who will be married in October. The two are not related.
5. Connie asks about the use of the terms "brother-in-law" and "stepdaughter" in the mid-1800s and what the terms might mean.
6. Rich C. discusses the use of the phrase "turn of the century" and suggests that we designate which century. He also shares an article from Fortune magazine concerning whether or not information should be free. (Visit http://tinyurl.com/fortuneinfo to see the article.)
7. Michael asks us to tell Tom about a national youth organization for kids interested in genealogy. It is the Youth Genealogists Association at http://www.youthgen.net.
8. Drew announces that 50 libraries across the U.S. are offering free text reference service to people using text messaging. You can text a question to (309) 222-7740 and a real, live librarian will respond within minutes. Named My Info Quest, this service is the first collaborative text reference service. (Standard text messaging charges apply.)
9. Sherry reminds people to check with local funeral homes for obituaries, and sometimes for photos and videos of the individual. The funeral homes' files may contain more information that was published in newspapers.
10. Victoria asks about our logo and whether we can drive that down to listeners' files.
11. Denise has been searching for a birth record for her grandmother, and The Guys respond with some suggestions. George read some material from Ancestry Publishing's Red Book concerning Missouri vital records. He provided an updated link at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/birthdeath/ as another possible source for these records.
    

This week's news includes: The Generations Network has changed its name to Ancestry.com; The National Archives (TNA) (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) in the U.K. has launched truly great new learning guides online at its site, under the tabs Research and Learning, Research Guidance, and Understand the Archives in Minutes; Digital Genealogist magazine will cease publication with the July/August 2009 issue; MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com) announces new photo features, including a photo tagging system; dynastree (http://www.dynastree.com) announces an extended search facility; Gus reminds us that the newly updated Reunion app from LeisterPro (http://www.leisterpro.com) will operate on both the iPhone and the iPod Touch; and The Genealogy Guys Podcast will be LIVE at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas -- producing a live podcast recording session on Thursday, September 3rd, at 3:30 PM.

Drew interviews Lisa Louise Cooke of the Genealogy Gems Podcast (http://www.genealogygemspodcast.com) at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree.

This week's listener email includes: Rich asks about what is involved with playing and producing podcasts; Christopher tells us that annotating and tagging photos is a feature of LifeStory Productions' Heritage Collector Suite (http://heritagecollector.com); a listener asked if our podcasts are transcribed into written form, and Drew responds that they are not; Michael asks for suggestions about his brick wall with Murry M. Jones in Indiana; Roger, Tom, and Rich responded to the discussion about information placed in member-only areas of genealogical websites; Brent Ropelato of TopTenREVIEWS recommends the genealogy software reviews (http://genealogy-software-review.toptenreviews.com) which George indicates does not at present include Mac software, and may not be 100% up to date; and Larry asks for suggestions about tracing his ancestor who supposedly is a Mayflower descendant.

This week's news includes: Aster Software has released a new version 2.0 of its FamViewer software application (app) for the iPhone, and LeisterPro has released its version 1.0.2 of Reunion for the iPhone. Famview is used to download GEDCOM files to an iPhone, while Reunion is specifically used to download genealogy data from the Reunion desktop program. dynastree (http://www.dynastree.com) is celebrating its second anniversary, and has launched Turkish support on its site. Ancestry.com has launched a new "My Story" advertising campaign.

This week's listener email includes: a response to Rollin concerning a photo of a child holding a ball; Joel Weintraub responds to a listener's query for a photo tagging program, and he gives us Photo Express (http://www.passageexpress.com); Judy asks for advice about locating Social Security information for her great-grandfather who may have stretched the truth about his year of birth; Rich suggests two websites for locating obituaries in the New York City area - Legacy.com at http://www.legacy.com/NS/ and The Journal News at http://www.nyjnews.com/obituary/search.php3; Tom shares a great story about kids getting interested in genealogy; Art is compiling an Excel spreadsheet with information about people he plans to research in the 1940 census when it is released to the public in 2012; Michelle did her podcasting presentation for the Glendale Chapter of the Family History Society of Arizona; Michael discusses his DNA testing and encourages people to especially have their older relatives tested; Jim asks about NewpaperARCHIVE.com, and shares with us the Washington State Digital Archives at http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, where recent additions include the King County, WA, marriage Records and World War I Veterans' Records. Roger (Marathon Man) is once again caught up on the podcasts, and reminds people that The Guys will be at the Western Michigan Genealogical Society Conference on November 7th -- details are at http://gotancestors.com. He also talks about:

1. how to enter multiple names, such as Stanislav and Stanley
2. His use of TNG (The Next Generation of Genealogy Site Building) and offers several examples, including http://roger.lisaandroger.com/getperson.php?personID=I16&tree=Roger, Clan Moffat, and http://trees.wmgs.org. 
3. Photo tagging software, including Apple's iPhoto that includes face recognition.

Drew interviews Bruce Buzbee, president of RootsMagic, at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree.

And The Guys thank everyone at the Southern California Genealogical Society for a wonderful time at Jamboree!

The Guys remember John Fuller who passed away recently. John maintained a masterful site of all of the genealogy mailing lists in the world.

This week's news includes: Family Tree Magazine has published its 101 Best Websites for 2009, and The Genealogy Guys Podcast has been named to that prestigious list; Ancestry.com will soon be launching Member Connect at its website to facilitate communication and collaboration between members and subscribers; and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will be turning over alien registration files to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) facilities near San Francisco and Kansas City (the searchable index announced in the podcast is no longer there).

One of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission's "Lincoln Legacy Town Hall" meetings will be held on Monday, June 29th, from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at the Harold Washington Library Center, in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium. Author and scholar Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr., will join Chicago writer and interviewer Rick Kogan to have an interactive discussion of how the stories we tell shape history and how history shapes our stories. U.S. Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., will also be in attendance.

The Guys discuss the upcoming Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree in Burbank, June 26-28, 2009. Join them at this great event. More details are available at http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/2009jam-home.htm. Note: Dr. Zuberi's dinner speech will be on Friday.

This week's listener email includes: Roger responded to Kristen's email (Episode 174) concerning genealogical society dues vs. fees for members-only areas of a website; Gus reconfirms that deceased persons do appear in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) while the surviving spouse collects benefits; Sean responded to the point made about recording multiple spellings of surnames by telling us that The Master Genealogist program supports the entry of multiple names in its database; Georgia Keilman asked us to tell people about her Greek genealogy website at http://www.HellenicGenealogyGeek.com; Tim tells us about another software package that can be used to generate your genealogy website, called The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding" at http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php. The software also incorporates Google Maps into the site and Tim provides a link to his own site at http://www.ryeland.com and a link to his great-grandfather's page at http://ryeland.com/getperson.php?personID=I4340&tree=Ryeland. Damien enjoys the "craic" between The Guys, and asks about the availability of software that tags photos in the way that Facebook does. (Listeners are invited to share information with us.) Mac has had difficulty locating an obituary in New York City for a classmate and asks for suggestions.

Drew shares information about the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). Bobbi King assists persons seeking a roommate for the upcoming FGS Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 2-5, 2009. Email her at rking24600@aol.com to request assistance with roommate matching. The opening session on Wednesday morning at the FGS Conference is "Delegate 101," a panel discussion and Q&A session concerning how societies and their FGS Delegates can be more effective in their liaison work.

Drew discussed two social networking issues:

1. Facebook.com now allows you to select your own unique userid. You can then give friends and family members a direct link to your facebook page in the form of a Web address.
2. Google has developed an exciting new concept for communications that allows people to follow a complete chronological thread of email, messages, instant messages (IMs), and other discussions. It's called Google Wave and a preview video can be seen at http://wave.google.com.
   

This week's news includes: the newly released Welsh 1911 census reveals that singer Tom Jones is actually three-quarters English; MyHeritage.com (www.myheritage.com) has announced a new version of its photo service that makes it easier to upload, share, and organize their photos online; EBSCO Publishing, one of the largest distributor of electronic materials to libraries and archives, and Footnote.com have announced a distribution deal that makes EBSCO the worldwide distributor of Footnote.com to libraries and institutions; Ancestry.ca, the Canadian geographical version of Ancestry, announces a partnership with the Library and Archives Canada in which the entire historical Canadian censuses, 1851-1916, have been released online at its site; and George spoke with Stephen Carr of our sponsor, NewspaperARCHIVE.com, and indicates that the newly announced free membership includes access to up to 5 pages per day at their site -- great for the casual user -- but serious researchers will want to subscribe to the full service.

The Guys are pleased to announce details of the RootsMagic Valentine's Day Cruise on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas, sailing from February 14th to 21st from Miami for a week's tour of the western Caribbean. Details can be found at Rootsmagic's website at www.rootsmagic.com.

The Guys are excited about going to Burbank for the Southern California Genealogical Society's JAMBOREE on June 26th to 28th. George will be moderator of "Son of Blogger," a panel discussion of blogs, podcasts, and videocasts. More details are available at the SCGS website at www.scgsgenealogy.com.

This week's email includes: Cheryl wants to know how to source a copy of a military record received from a relative; Kay corrects George on what happens on the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) when a spouse receives the Social Security benefits of a deceased spouse; Kay also shares a wealth of information about the land records related to Old Pendleton, South Carolina; Noi located the Pleasantville Cook-Book at the Internet Archive at www.archive.org (the cookbook is at http://www.archive.org/details/pleasantvilleco00clargoog); Jim shares information about UK copyright law and public domain; Lynda shares her experiences with CDs created by an Arkansas genealogy society, and requested a format for the Mac; Mac praises Drew's book, and thanks The Guys for encouraging him to begin lecturing; Gus is now researching his Polish ancestors, and questions how to enter the original name and the Americanized name into his genealogy database program; Blaise shares his experiences working with the "My Library" feature of Google Books (books.google.com); Sam clarifies information about a great-grandmother who immigrated from Austria/Poland to New York in 1902, and asks about immigrants held as LPCs (likely to become public charge); Victoria shares a poignant article in the Los Angeles Times about Josh Lipsky, a White House employee who made the trip with President Obama to Buchenwald concentration camp, and how he connected with his grandparents' story there (see article at http://tinyurl.com/BuchenwaldStory-LATimes); Katie discusses an article about Google Books, and a possible monopoly in digitizing out-of-copyright books (see article at http://tinyurl.com/qkgea2); and Kristin is concerned about genealogical societies choosing to restrict their Web content to "members only." (The Guys would like your input about this topic.)

This week's news includes: NewspaperARCHIVE.com announces that it is now offering free membership; Calico Pie, Ltd., announces the release of Family Historian Version 4 genealogy software at http://www.family-historian.co.uk; Ancestry.com announces new content, including German Phone Directories (1915-1981), the Alabama State Census, and more; and the Federation of Genealogical Societies has extended its Early Bird registration for its conference in Little Rock, AR, on September 2-5, 2009, and details are available at http://www.fgs.org/2009conference.

George and Drew send "shout out" greetings to: Birdie Holsclaw in CO; Veronica June Vinson in Hove, England (Happy Birthday!); and Michelle and the Glendale Chapter of the Family History Society of Arizona.

Ryan Oliver of Bozboz, Ltd., tells us about the site at http://www.howto.co.uk at which you can find many free books online, including genealogy materials.

Drew revisits the "Pleasantville Cook-Book," and discusses the issue of Google Books blocking access to it in Canada because of Canada's different copyright laws. Drew proceeded to research the three compilers of the 1894 cookbook in order to confirm that they are all deceased, and he will try to communicate with Google to lift the block on this cookbook. Listen to Drew's fascinating research experience.

This week's listener email includes: Paul, who works for the U.S. Postal Service, tells us that DNA test kits are not considered "hazardous" in the mails; Barb discusses locating the maiden name of Sam's Jewish-Polish grandmother that The Guys discussed in Episode #171; Patti asks what people's experiences have been in moving to RootsMagic 4; Tom reminds everyone that Soundex microfilm can be invaluable in locating people who may have been mis-indexed in census databases; Mac has the wikiHow gadget on his iGoogle page, and he found an interesting entry: "How to Cite a Wikipedia Article in MLA Format" at http://www.wikihow.com/Cite-a-Wikipedia-Article-in-MLA-Format; Bill tells us he has found a free iPhone app called Stitcher in the iTunes Store that "stitches together" news, talk, sports, and entertainment in an on-demand mobile application, and that he asked them to add our podcast to their lineup; MLR asks why someone who collected Social Security benefits may not be included in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).

George announces that RootsMagic is hosting another RootsMagic Cruise, sailing from Miami on 14 February 2010, cruising the western Caribbean, and returning to Miami on 21 February 2010. Details are available at http://rootsmagic.com/cruise. JOIN US!

 

This week's news includes: The Generations Network, Inc., parent of Ancestry.com, and FindMyPast.com are said to have approached ITV about purchasing Friends United; Everton's is said have come to a verbal agreement with a purchaser, and details will be announced shortly; the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors (ISFHWE) announced the winners in their annual Excellence in Writing Contest last week at the NGS Conference in Raleigh, NC; MyHeritage has announced a fun gadget called the Look-alike Meter; Sirius Innovations, LLC, announced the Sirius Genealogist Web Directory; the Southern California Genealogical Society has issued a Call for Papers for lecture proposals for its 2010 Jamboree (details at http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/2010jam-CallForPapers.htm); Irish indexes to statutory births, marriages, and deaths from 1845 to 1858 are now online at the FamilySearch Pilot site at http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html; and Ancestry and FreeBMD have partnered to post English and Welsh birth indexes from 1837 to 2005 online at http://www.ancestry.co.uk.

This week's email includes: Eric reports that the LDS Library catalog entry for microfilm containing the civil registration records for Faenza Italy, has been reinstated; and Steve provides updated details about the uses of handheld computing devices in the 2010 U.S. census.

Ancestors, the magazine published by The National Archives (TNA) in the U.K., has published an excellent article in its March 2009 issue titled "How to Read a Document." It presents methods for deciphering old documents. A sample document, a page of a letter written byPrincess Elizabeth on 17 March 1554, beseeching Queen Mary to free her from impisonment in the Tower of London, is included to let you decipher the document.

George shares the news that the National Archives of Scotland, the National Museums of Scotland, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland, and the National Trust for Scotland have formed a joint venture and have launched a stunning new website, http://www.scotlandsimages.com.

Drew discusses the use of hashtags at websites, including the hashtag for the Southern California Genealogical Society's 2009 Jamboree: #scgs09.

George then discusses Jamboree and "Son of Blogger," a blogger summit panel discussion to be presented on Saturday, 27 June 2009, from 9:30 to noon. George will be in Denver this Saturday, 23 May 2009, and The Guys will present a seminar about RootsMagic Version 4 software for the Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) on 6 June 2009.

The Guys have invested in a new camcorder and plan to begin videoing some interviews and other materials. These will NOT replace the Podcast. Rather, the audio from any video recording will be published as an audio podcast, and the video will be published separately for anyone interested  n viewing the video. The Guys will begin videos at the Southern California Genealogical Society's 2009 Jamboree in Burbank at the end of June. The Guys think that this will provide another level of information for their listeners and fans.

The Guys welcome a new sponsor: NewspaperARCHIVE.com.

This week's news includes: Ancestors Magazine, the monthly publication of The National Archives in the U.K., is now offering selected past articles in PDF format for download at a modest fee at their Documents Online site (click here); Calico Pie Ltd. has released Version 4 of its popular Windows-based genealogy database software, Family Historian, at http://www.family-historian.co.uk; Directgov in the U.K. provides access to ordering civil registration records; Footnote.com has updated its content with over a million new images online; WorldVitalRecords.com has made an enhancement to its image viewer, making it possible to magnify to 200%; NewspaperARCHIVE.com will be sponsoring the popular National Public Radio (NPR) news and comedy show Whad'ya Know? on May 16th from Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines, Iowa; and the Ohio Genealogical Society has scheduled the groundbreaking ceremony for its new 18,000-square foot library on May 29th at 10:30 AM.

This week's listener e-mail includes: Marty verifies that The Master Genealogist software accepts GPS coordinates; Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage Ltd. congratulates Drew on his new book, Social Networking for Genealogists, available from Genealogical Publishing Company; Lisa asks whether Everton's Genealogical Helper magazine is out of business, but The Guys have no information about this; Julie shared information about Steve Luxenberg's new book Annie's Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret, and Drew recounts the story he heard about the book on NPR (click here to listen to the story too); Gus recounts the lessons he learned on his recent research trip to Salt Lake City; Pat reports about migrating to Windows Vista and shares information about software compatibility; Pat also tells about having a brother take a DNA cheek swab, and that the postal clerk considered the package "hazardous"; Rich shares information about the U.S. Census Bureau's plans to use GPS technology in the upcoming 2010 census; Connie discusses a problem with automatic downloads of the podcast from iTunes, and Drew responds; Sam asks for suggestions for finding U.S. records for his Jewish great-grandmother who arrived in 1902; Noi asks for recommendations of episodes of the podcast that might be particularly helpful for beginners; and Noi also would like the Web address for the Pleasantville Cook-Book that Drew found online through Google Books.  Drew also discusses the advantages of being a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

This week's news includes: NBC has temporarily shelved the U.S. edition of the popular show, "Who Do You Think You Are?"; and Ancestry.ca, the Canadian version of Ancestry.com, has released a new database, Border Crossings from the U.S. to Canada, 1908-1935, which contains more than 1.6 million names. Drew eulogizes genealogist Donna Dinberg, the noted librarian from the Library and Archives Canada and an expert in Jewish genealogy, who died of cancer on 11 April 2009.

George's new book, the second edition of How to Do Everything: Genealogy, has just been published by McGraw-Hill, and the book is available from Amazon.com at http://tinyurl.com/HTDE2-GGM.

George and Drew discuss upcoming seminar appearances. George will be hosting a Webinar for Ancestry.com titled, Planning a Perfect Family Reunion, 14 May 2009 at 9:00 PM (Eastern). You can register at http://tinyurl.com/ReunionWebinar.

Listener email this week includes: Sharon reports that My Yahoo! is not updating the podcasts listings, and The Guys ask for any suggestions from other listeners; Melanie discusses contacting other researchers who have errors in their online family trees; Jill suggests having DNA testing done for your oldest relatives before it is too late; Timothy, a Mac user, asks for advice about how to use Windows-based CDs from his genealogy society that are DRM protected; Stella reports that she followed George's suggestions in his "The Genealogist as CSI" seminar, went back to reread everything on one ancestor, and was able to verify his participation in the War of 1812; Rollin reports on a free Windows-based program, Winsplit Revolution, available at http://www.winsplit-revolution.com, that "allows you to easily organize your open windows by tiling, resizing and positioning them to make the best use of your desktop real estate"; Matt Combs has developed a new piece of Windows-based software called Surname Findit, available for download at http://mattcombs.webs.com/sfmain.html, that helps decipher possible surnames from fragments you may have discovered in hard to read documents; Beth in Ontario, Canada, found an old cookbook from New York and wonders whether people would be interested in her digitized images of the pages (and Drew responds with his expert research method used to locate the book and digitized images); Rich forwarded the text of a 1984 death notice of a man whose wife's maiden name is Weinglass (one of Drew's ancestral lines); George asks for suggestions about how to cite alternate spellings of a surname in his database and source citations; The Guys thank Gus for his extensive research into articles in the Wall Street Journal concerning services that digitize photos, and these include:

Drew discusses anonymity in posting to professional mailing lists.

Drew is maintaining a blog to accompany his new book, Social Networking for Genealogists, at http://snfg.blogspot.com.

Topics this week include:

1. Loretto "Lou" Dennis Szucs receives the Silver Tray Award from the Utah Genealogical Association.
2. Ancestry.com includes new London-related content, including Births, Baptisms, Deaths, Burials, and Poor Law Records.
3. Leland Meitzler includes a calendar on his blog at genealogyblog.com.
4. The National Archives (UK) adds new information about Henry VIII.
5. The National Archives (US) at Kansas City, Missouri relocates to the Union Station Complex.
6. Readex, a division of NewsBank, adds a new product line : American Newspaper Archives.
7. WorldVitalRecords.com reveals an improved search and browse function.
8. The Ontario Genealogical Society will be holding its OGS Conference 2009 on May 29-31 at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario.
9. The Purcell Family of America has a new website at www.pfaroots.org and a Purcell surname DNA project (contact Doug Purcell at dpurcell@eufaula.rr.com)
10. A podcast listener asks for a medal after listening to all Genealogy Guys Podcast episodes between January 13, 2009 and now (but he's not happy with the newer music).
11. George meets someone at the front door with information about Census 2010.
12. A listener describes using Google's Picasa Web Albums to store and share photo albums.
13. A listener asks about the availability of New FamilySearch (because RootsMagic 4 provides a way to access it when it becomes available).
14. The CEO of Sampa Corporation contacts the Genealogy Guys to describe a free service to share life events with family and friends.
15. A listener asks whether or not everyone with the same surname (or a spelling variant) should be included in a genealogy database even if the relationship hasn't been established yet.
16. Melissa Shimkus of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana announces that new military content has been added to their site www.genealogycenter.info.
17. Joel Weintraub, associate of Steve Morse, responds to the idea of a one-step search for "everything", but one of his provided links is not quite the error message you may think it is.
18. Ian Pereira lets us know about his company's free book publishing site at HowTo.co.uk.
19. A listener asks for advice for a first-time visit to a national genealogy conference.
20. A listener asks about how to proceed with a DNA test that may confirm a family story.
21. A listener asks about pension files and NARA.
22. Drew talks about Dropbox, an online service that synchronizes working files across computers.
    

This week's news includes: The Generations Network announced the launching at its Ancestry UK site (http://www.ancestry.co.uk) of more than 400 years of London history, derived from records at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) and the Guildhall Library; and Footnote.com (http://www.footnote.com) has launched its new Great Depression Collection, including the Interactive 1930 U.S. Census, and additional records are coming soon.

George interviews Drew about his brand new book, Social Networking for Genealogists, published by Genealogical Publishing Company (http://www.genealogical.com).

This week's listener email includes: Steve discusses the new RootsMagic version 4 and the RootsMagic To-Go; Rich suggests another way of telling someone that there's a mistake in their research; he wonders if Stephen Morse would consider a single-search step at his One Step website; and he asks if George has more information about Brisco Holder (and George shares some surprising information); Drew responds to a question about copyright for Nancy; Jimmy shares information about great YouTube videos of "Depression Cooking with Clara" at http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking, and suggests that video interviews with family members doing something they're comfortable doing is a great way to capture information; Clive in the U.K. shares details of his research concerning U.K. criminal records and the online catalogue of The National Archives in Kew (outside London) and some surprising results about James Derrick; Sue shares information about WeRelate.org (http://www.werelate.org), a free public-service wiki for genealogy sponsored by the Foundation for On-Line Genealogy in partnership with the Allen County Public Library, that allows the uploading of genealogy data and photos; Jack asks for suggestions about where to upload scanned Bible records; and Roxanne asks for help from listeners in order to locate companies that can scan large quantities of family photographs.

This week's news includes: RootsMagic releases Version 4 of its great genealogical database software; NBC will begin broadcasting the American version of the popular British television show Who Do You Think You Are? on Monday, April 20th, at 7 PM; Ancestry.com has updated its 1940 census substitute and will soon be adding to the U.S. Public Records Index (USPRI); and the 1911 England and Wales census has been released online at http://www.1911census.co.uk.

Drew discusses Twitter, the social networking service being used for messaging.

This week's listener email includes: Joshua asks about adding multiple sources for multiple marriages at Ancestry.com; Craig asks a question about ways to access obituaries; he also asks about family tree-oriented websites at which family trees and family photographs; Claire informs us that Reunion (genealogical database for Macintosh from Leister Productions, Inc.) has just released their iPhone app to take your genealogy with you; James is looking for his great-grandparents in Smith Township, Robeson County, North Carolina; Michael shares information for locating naturalization records for immigrant ancestors - they may have received land under the various U.S. Homestead Acts, and the Bureau of Land Management General Land Office (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov) may have information in the case files about naturalization; Kirsten asks how to receive the podcast on her TiVo; Jerry asks about additional sources for locating his Irish ancestors who received a land grant in 1790 in Pendleton District, South Carolina; Joel Weintraub shares more information about the 1940 U.S. census, which will not be released on microfilm, and he is already transcribing information from the 1940 census enumeration district maps; he also talks more about the 72-year rule for release of U.S. census information.

We published episode #166 from 17 March 2009, but our podcast hosting service experienced an outage of its primary server. As a result, this episode was published through all of its various feeds without the MP3 sound file.

Please reacquire this podcast episode from The Genealogy Guys Podcast website at http://genealogyguys.com through the iTunes Store. We're also attaching the MP3 file with this posting.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. We're compiling information for episode #167 and will have that published later this week too.

George & Drew

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com has added new content; MyHeritage.com has added more than 150 new databases in the last week of February; NewspaperARCHIVE continues to add new digitized and indexed newspaper content, and has added blogs, social networking interfaces, and Twitter; the Library of Michigan has just added Michigan death certificates spanning 1897 to 1920 at Seeking Michigan at http://www.seekingmichigan.org; Dick Eastman welcomes new English writer and genetic genealogy expert Chris Pomery to Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (http://blog.eogn.com); Steve Danko has just returned from the Family Tree DNA 5th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy for Project Administrators, and he has a great report at his blog at http://stephendanko.com; and Maureen A. Taylor, the leading expert on evaluating and dating photographs, author, and lecturer, has an excellent blog on the subject at http://photodetective.blogspot.com.

This week's email includes: Henry asked about digital camera reviews, and George responded that he had written an article for the 22 February issue of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter on that subject; Steve shouts out some positive kudos for the new RootsMagic Version 4 beta edition of its great genealogical database software package; and Lisa asks for tactful ways to tell someone that they probably have wrong information.

George reviews two new books: Genealogical Publishing Company has just published a new 5th edition of Thomas Jay Kemp's book, The International Vital Records Handbook; and Ancestry Publishing has just published a new book, Finding Granddad's War, by Jeffrey Badger, which details his search for information about his father's experiences and colleagues in the 978th Engineer Maintenance Company during World War II.

This week's news includes: RootsMagic releases the public beta of Version 4 of the RootsMagic software; Ancestry.com released five new databases in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday; Ancestry has replaced the Ancestry Weekly Journal with a new newsletter, The Weekly Discovery; Sonja Nishimoto, Family History Library Consultant, has invited genealogical and historical societies and their members to contribute content to the FamilySearch Research Wiki at wiki.familysearch.org; the Southern California Genealogical Society's 40th annual Jamboree will be held in Burbank, CA, on 26-28 June 2009, and its blog is online at www.genealogyjamboree.blogspot.com -- and a special guest speaker, Tukufu Zuberi of the PBS show, "History Detectives," will address the Friday evening banquet; the MyHeritage Genealogy Search Engine (www.MyHeritage.com) announces some newly released improvements; and Lisa Louise Cook of "The Genealogy Gens Podcast" (www.genealogygems.tv/Pages/Podcast/PodcastList.htm) announces the guest of the most recent episode of the podcast, Darby Hinton, who starred as Israel on the 1960s TV hit, "Daniel Boone." The episode also celebrates the podcast's second anniversary.

This week's listener email includes: Nancy in Ontario reported that she had a problem with the podcast loading in her Firefox Live Bookmark feed; Doug reminds us that the St. Albans Border Crossings immigration records reflect immigrations from Canada (and that St. Albans is in VT and not NH); Elliot asks for advice about what name to record when the surname changed over the centuries; Jane asked George for the name of his publish-on-demand resources, which is Lulu.com; Drew provided a resource for comparison of print-on-demand resources at http://mashable.com/2009/03/01/publish-book/; Joel Weintraub provides information about the origins of the 72-year privacy policy for U.S. federal censuses and his article on the subject at http://members.cox.net/census1940/; Bill discusses the fact that census images in the Ancestry.com and HeritageQuest Online databases are not the same; TC discusses the backups of genealogy files on Mozy.com; Gus recounts his experience of getting locked in a cemetery; Judy shares a follow-up story about storing photos on an external hard drive; Scott asks about the protocol for thanking helpful cemetery workers; Cheryl tells us that the 1935 and 1945 Florida census records are also available at the LDS pilot site at http://search.labs.familysearch.org, and that many records still need volunteers to help index them; Mary tells us that The Master Genealogist database software allows for the entry of GPS latitude and longitude coordinates on every event; Mac shares a service at http://www.mailstore.com/en that allows you to backup email from multiple email accounts and tools in one place; and Rollin asks for help with the definition of "freeman" as applied to Caucasians in 1600s New England colonial records.

George reviews two new products:


Suzanne Russo Adams, AG, has written a brilliant new book, Finding Your Italian Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide, published by Ancestry Publishing and available through the Ancestry.com Store. The book is filled with well-written explanations and discussions, and includes a wide variety of document and Internet site illustrations.

Listen to the podcast and find out more about these two excellent new products!

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com adds Abraham Lincoln Papers, New Orleans Slave manifests (1807-1860), Confederate Pension Applications from  Georgia, Confederate Applications for Presidential Pardons, and U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles; Ancestry.com also has reduced the prices of its DNA tests; FamilySearch is partnering with the Houston Public Library to digitize a vast collection of Gulf Coast records; NewspaperARCHIVE.com has announced a new column by Phyllis Matthews Ziller; a new, free online genealogy magazine has just been announced -- Genealogy In Time at http://www.genealogyintime.com; The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) has just announced the program for the 2009 Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas (2-5 September 2009) and has made the program and registration available at http://www.fgs.org/2009conference/; registration is also now open for the Association of Professional Genealogists' Professional Management Conference, to be held on 2 September 2009 in conjunction with the FGS Conference, and registration is also available at http://www.fgs.org/2009conference/; Wholly Genes, maker of The Master Genealogist software program, has announced its 5th annual conference, a "land cruise," to be held 26-30 August 2009 in Orkney Springs, Virginia, and information and registration is available at http://www.whollygenes.com/confregister.htm; George will appear at the Oregon Genealogical Society Conference in Eugene, Oregon, on 7 March 2009, and more information is available by calling the OGS Library at (541) 345-0399; NBC has announced that it will begin televising the U.S. version of the popular British program, "Who Do You Think You Are?"; the annual "Who Do You Think You Are?" genealogy conference will be held at Olympia, London, England, on 27 February to 1 March 2009; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has created a site at http://www.familyhistory.hhs.gov at which you can enter your medical genealogy for your family; the U.S. War Department papers (1784-1800) have been reconstituted and digitized, and can be found at http://www.wardepartmentpapers.org; and David Rumsey, active collector of historical maps and owner of the site, http://www.davidrumsey.com, has announced that he will be donating his collection of maps to Stanford University. In the meantime, there are more than 18,500 map images online at present, and plans are to add 3,000 to 5,000 images per year.

This week's listener email includes: Linda discusses Mozy indicators on files; Gus shares another back up resource -- Click Free at http://goclickfree.com/; Roger discusses New York state censuses (and using his iPod at the gym!); Paul discusses the problems he has working with Ancestry.com search results, and wishes that his own data and data without any source citations wouldn't show in searches; Pete discusses backups with Windows Home Server; HP's equivalent, and Acer's new product; Victoria provides an excellent idea for adding identifying information to your flash drive, in case it gets lost or forgotten in a library or archive; Valerie asked about what to expect at a local LDS Family History Center; Tom discovered a subsidiary collection of information at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library website titled "Boys in Blue," at http://www.alplm.org/library/boys_intro.html, and the site as a searchable database that references the library's  photographs of soldiers; and Rich shares a source for "the world's most secure flash drive" at https://www.ironkey.com/.

The Genealogy Guys broadcast "LIVE" from the Volusia-Flagler County Genealogical Society Conference in Daytona Beach, Florida. They take and respond to questions from the audience.

The podcast begins with The Guys talking about upcoming speaking engagements.

Drew discusses his recent trip to Salt Lake City, and describes Blogger's Day at Ancestry.com. Eight bloggers paid a visit to The Generations Network's data center, which houses the computer equipment for Ancestry.com, RootsWeb.com, and Genealogy.com. They then went to Provo to the company's offices and met with a number of the employees, and learned more about Ancestry.com's operations and plans.

Drew began the next segment by reading an email from John with his tips for visiting Salt Lake City and the Family History Library. Drew then describes the nearby Plaza Hotel accommodations and the FHL itself. He offers tips for people traveling to SLC for a library research visit. He stresses advance preparation, and offers information about the area.

This week's listener email includes: Chanda discusses cousin marriages; Sherry comments on her recent experience with Mozy, and Drew adds more -- about the need to specify uncommon file types to insure that they are backed up; Barbara reminds George that RootsMagic 3 does support the input of latitude and longitude coordinates in the database; Bill got our RSS feed for his WiFi radio working, and can now tune to our station on his radio to listen to the podcast; Marilyn was lookoing for the RSS feed URL on our website, and Drew told our listeners to look for the little RSS 2.0 box under Syndication on the right side of our webpage; Karen wrote to discuss the question, "What do I do with the 'stuff'?"; and Kay says, "I can't believe I listened to the whole thing!"

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com launches a new Florida State Census Collection (1867, 1875, 1935, and 1945); the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) announced that president J. Mark Lowe has resigned for personal reasons, and Vice President of Administration, Pat Oxley, has assumed the presidency; a Union County, Illinois group, Promoting Appreciation of Structural Treasures (PAST), is seeking to purchase the "House Where Lincoln Stayed" in Anna, Illinois, in 1858 when he was there to debate Stephen Douglas in one of the most historic political debates in U.S. History. Tax-deductible contributions can be made to PAST Lincoln House Project, Mona Diefenbach, 190 White Pine Lane, Anna, IL 62906.

Listener email this week included: Peter is concerned that searches in Ancestry.com for his family always include his own data at the top of the search results list, and believes that Ancestry.com should be able to mask or omit his own results; Virginia asked for clarification about ordering SS-5 applications for a Social Security Number, especially for deceased persons not in the SSDI; Roxanna shared a strong tip for researching in Salt Lake City; Scott wrote again to clarify his method for storing data at Ancestry.com and using his RootsMagic software; he also shared his excitement at having found old family photo albums and having found great information on the back of important photos; Sean recommends a product called SpinRite from Gibson Research Corporation (http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm) to help recover data from damaged magnetic storage media.

Drew discusses the crash of his desktop PC, and the steps he is taking to repair the hard disk and restore his data.