by Carolyn L. Barkley
I’m observing a labor-free Friday! This article was first posted for Labor Day 2008 and appears here as a revision.
Labor Day symbolizes the end of the “carefree days” of summer. Paradoxically, it is often considered as a day of rest, a brief respite from the cares and concerns of our more [...]
By: Carolyn L. Barkley
Anyone who has ever packed for a research trip – particularly when traveling by airplane – has ardently wished for resources that are thin and light-weight, but that are also capable of providing substantive research assistance. Similarly, if you have tried to cram one more book onto your home library shelves – [...]
by Karen E. Livsey
Our sincere apologies for the late posting.
Sometimes referred to as “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was an early program created during President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Beginning in 1933, the CCC accepted young men between eighteen and twenty-five years of age–although some variations and time limits were instituted during [...]
By: Carolyn L. Barkley
Warning – this posting is most accurately described as a “do-as-I-say” not a “do-as-I do” article. While I may follow the methodologies described here for client research, I am woefully remiss in applying these techniques to my personal research. Perhaps between my writing and your reading, we will improve this imbalance.
It has [...]
by Carolyn L. Barkley
We all can name favorite websites to which we return repeatedly in the course of our research. Virginia Memory is one of my favorites – and not just because I live in Virginia! If you are one of the numerous researchers whose ancestral trail extends back through the decades and centuries to [...]
By: Carolyn L. Barkley
I have always felt closely connected to the Civil War era. My great-grandmother, whom I remember well, was born in 1869. My living room exhibits my great-great-grandfather’s Union officer’s dress sword and a “crazy quilt” incorporating Union regimental reunion ribbons and other Civil War commemorative ribbons. Just to balance the display and [...]
By: Carolyn L. Barkley
Since its summertime, you might like to take a break from the concentration of your regular research to have some fun (after all, genealogy should be fun) and take the following genealogy quiz that first appeared in Genealogical Pointers in February of 2009. If you are a librarian, you will want to [...]
By Carolyn L. Barkley
Part Two: Records Relating to Impressed American Seamen
Last week’s article discussed seamen’s protection certificates, first authorized by a Congressional act (1 Stat.477) in 1796. These documents were intended to protect an individual from being “pressed” into service, principally into the British Navy, but occasionally by French or Spanish vessels, by documenting his [...]
By Carolyn L. Barkley
Part 1: Seamen’s Protection Certificates
Between the end of May and the beginning of July, Americans observe two holidays, Memorial Day and Independence Day, that celebrate generations of statesmen, soldiers, sailors, militia men, merchant seamen, and others who helped form and preserve this nation. When we celebrate Independence Day, we are not only [...]
By Carolyn L. Barkley
I began writing articles for this blog in January 2008 and it’s hard to imagine that almost 130 articles have been posted between then and now. In that inaugural article I discussed the small world of the 1600s and mentioned how Stephen Hopkins, a passenger on the ill-fated Sea Venture, en route [...]