Along Those Lines . . .
NARA: A Facelift for an Old Friend
by George G. Morgan

United States researchers of many, many types find themselves inevitably drawn to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to gain access to a nearly incomprehensible wealth of national historical documentation. NARA and its branch locations are the repositories for all kinds of documents--both originals and microfilmed copies. The Presidential Libraries also fall under the jurisdiction of NARA and provide unparalleled insights into the personalities and administrations of many Presidents of the United States.

Genealogical researchers are among the largest users of the NARA facilities, and NARA's website is one that I suspect every American genealogist has accessed countless times. I find myself referring to information at the site any number of times a week, both for my personal research and to help answer questions of students in my genealogy classes at MyFamily.com.

If you haven't visited the NARA website lately, you should make a beeline to the site as soon as possible. It is an old and trusted friend on the Web for genealogists and it has recently received a fabulous facelift.

While there is no way I can possibly describe all the changes made to the NARA website and the many improvements there, in "Along Those Lines . . ." this week I want to highlight some of the resources that you may never have known existed there--or things your suspected were there somewhere but just didn't know how to access.

The Main Page: The Portal to History
When you first visit the NARA website, you will immediately be struck by the fact that it has been completely redesigned. The entire look and feel of the site is different. Rather than the old staid look that challenged you to "find it yourself," the site has now become very intuitive and user-accessible.

The moving photo display at the top gives you a quick visual tour of some of the possibilities for your research. Be sure to look above that display for links to the main page, a general subject index, methods of contacting NARA, and a link to "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) which have been categorized quite nicely with links to other places on the site. In fact, one of the beauties of the "New NARA" is the obvious care that was taken to provide cross-referencing links throughout the site to information that you might not previously have found it intuitive to locate.

The grey, left-hand panel provides links for you to learn more about NARA, its collections, news, and events. (The events calendar includes scheduled genealogical workshops conducted at NARA locations nationwide.) The News and Calendar of Events are also included in the center of the main page as visual/textual links.

The National Archives Location area at the bottom of the center section is brilliantly designed. It is no longer just a list of locations, addresses, and Web links. Full descriptions of all the branch locations, research sites, and Presidential libraries are all accessible, but photographs, the individual location's Web address, operating hours, addresses, driving directions, and detailed contact information are all included. You really can plan your research trip to any location more effectively with this new information.

Still on the main page, the right-hand column contains some of the most important resources links of all. Here you will find links for all types of NARA researchers. Each link takes you to a Web page with many, many other informational resources, ranging from "how-to" instructions and FAQs, to links into the online catalog (ARC) and electronic databases (AAD). I strongly urge you to explore each of the links, beginning with ARCHIVES.GOV FOR . . . General Public through to Press/Journalists. Each has important information and other links that you will find enlightening and potentially helpful to your research. Let's explore just two of these areas and then we'll talk about using ARC and AAD.

Genealogists/Family Historians
A click on the Genealogists/Family Historians link presents you with a comprehensive web page that contains many resources. The "Start Your Genealogy Research" link is a nice primer to get a new researcher started, while the "Research Topics for Genealogists," "Genealogy Links," and "Forms, Tools & Aids" links provide even more "how-to" and reference help. The section in the center of the page titled "New to Genealogy?" is another great collection. However, all over this web page are intuitive links to take you to great resources.

My favorite part of the NARA website facelift, though, is the area titled "Most Requested." Of course, for genealogists, the most requested records are census records, followed by military records, immigration and naturalization records, and others. However, click on the link at the bottom of this list labeled "More Research Topics" and the whole world of NARA records of genealogical records opens for you. A new web page titled "Research Topics of Genealogical Interest" contains "online essays and data and other links will assist you in using NARA's records for your research." Each area varies in the amount of content based on what NARA holds. However, let's look at just two topical areas' linked web pages.

• Naturalization Records is an area of great interest to genealogists and other researchers. At the time of this writing, the page contains an image of the original Declaration of Intent document filed by physicist Enrico Fermi on 2 December 1939. This Naturalization Records web page tells you what you can expect to find online at the NARA site, along with a link to details about naturalization and the process and a link to NARA's Microfilms Publications Catalog. In addition, you can learn where to search for naturalization records from both before and after the formation of an official Bureau of Naturalization in 1906. Further, there are links to specific naturalization records links and examples, and cross-references to other topical NARA web pages concerning both Immigration Records and Aliens.
• Native American Records are made much simpler to research at NARA by this new online informational reorganization. NARA holds information about American Indians who maintained their ties to Federally-recognized Tribes (1830-1970). Most records are arranged by tribe. There certainly are the official federal records of the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Did you know that, from 1885 to 1940, there was an annual enumeration conducted by agents or superintendents in charge of Indian reservations of the Indians residing there? Microfilm records are available! Indexes to both the Dawes Rolls of the federally-recognized "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole tribes) and the Guion-Miller Rolls are now available for online search and the images of the rolls are accessible online, complete with the reference number so that you can obtain the detailed information from NARA. Guides for how to research, locate, and order the detailed records associated with these rolls and other records are included here too. Don't overlook the links to other websites relating Native Americans/Indians: there are scores of them.

These two examples should whet your appetite to check out these and many other topical web pages in this area.

The Archival Research Catalog (ARC)
Arc is the online catalog of NARA's nationwide holdings in the Washington, D.C. area, its Regional Branches, and in the Presidential Libraries. It currently contains descriptions of 40% of the National Archives holdings and continues to grow all the time. ARC allows you to search the catalog using a keyword or digitized image, an archival date range, the physical archival location of the holding (or all locations), and the type of material. An additional Advanced Search facility includes all of the above search options, plus the addition of other descriptors. Some of these, such as "Person Name(s)," involve conducting a lookup in an index and then submitting your search. "Start broad and narrow your search" is still good advice here for using this very powerful archival catalog tool.

Access to Archival Databases (ADD)
AAD was introduced in 2003 and search some of NARA's holdings of electronic records. There are now nearly 50 million historic electronic records created by more than 20 federal agencies on a wide range of topics for which you can search and that you can access. There also are notations to help you understand the content and context of these electronic materials. Because this is a different type of archival catalog for these electronic materials, be sure to read the introduction about how to use AAD before you begin.

Order Military Records Online
In case you didn't know before, NARA has provided the capability for some time to request copies of veterans' military personnel records through an online facility known as eVetRecs. In addition, through NARA's "Order Online!" facility, you can order copies of Passenger Arrival Records, Eastern Cherokee Applications, and Compiled Military Service Records. (Please note that this order facility operates using Internet Explorer but may not work with Firefox and other web browsers).

What a Beauty!
Some web facelifts are ho-hum affairs with little more than a cosmetic tweak or two. NARA has done much, much more. The "New NARA" site is less stodgy and a whole lot more user-friendly. You can more easily find what you are looking for because you can browse so much more and click on links to get where you want to go. The old search facility was fine if you invested the time to learn details about the organization of information into Record Groups and "thought like an archivist" when formulating your search.

The "New NARA" website is a real beauty and I recommend that, if you've never visited and used it, or if you found it frustrating before, it's time to return to marvel over the facelift of our old friend, NARA.

Happy Searching!
George

George is president and a proud member of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors, a director of the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and a director of the Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa).

George will be presenting at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Salt Lake City on 7-9 September 2005. Visit the FGS website at www.fgs.org for details about and registration for their upcoming conference.

George will be speaking at the Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) conference on 17 September 2005. Visit their website at www.rootsweb.com/~flfgs for details about and registration for their upcoming conference.

George will be speaking at the Suncoast Genealogical Society meeting at the Palm Harbor, Florida, Public Library on 26 September 2005.

Visit George's Website at http://ahaseminars.com/atl for information about speaking engagements.

Copyright 2005, MyFamily.com. All rights reserved.

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Ancestry Quick Tip
Load Photos Before You Leave
by Walt & Marie Seelye

We also take lots of headstone photos, but we found the tiny screen on a digital camera wasn't enough. Now we take our laptop with us and immediately upload our photos on the spot. Before we leave the cemetery we have reviewed the images on a large screen. You could do this in the shade of one of those elegant old trees next to your ancestor's resting place.

Thanks to our Walt and Marie for today's Quick Tip! If you have a tip you would like to share with researchers, you can send it to: ADNeditor@ancestry.com

Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry publications, so if you do not want your tip included in a publication other than the Ancestry Daily News and Ancestry Weekly Digest, please state so clearly in your message.

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Clipping of the Day
The Census
New York Herald (New York, New York), 02 September 1870, page 5:

What Marshal Sharp Expects the Public to Do--What the Herald is Doing--Letters from the "Unenumerated."

Stimulated into extraordinary activity by the suggestions offered by the Herald, Marshal Sharp has decided to issue to-morrow a card to the public asking assistance in completing the census. People whose heads have not been counted will be requested to send their names, &c., to the office of the Marshal, and all those who are aware of any neglect of duty on the part of the census takers will be asked to report the fact. It is quite time that the card was issued, as the following letters will show:

Inhabitants Not Enumerated in the Census.

To the Editor of the Herald:--
In reply to your query in this morning's Herald, I would like to ask the United States Marshal for this district whether he has received an enumeration of the residents of 137 Eldridge street in the Tenth ward, and if he would allow me to see a copy of it. I have inquired of two or three persons in the house and they do not remember having any census enumerator there. I think if this enumeration of the population of this city was properly investigated some huge frauds would be discovered.
A Resident

Another Case.
243 Canal Street, New York, Sept. 1, 1870
To the Editor of the Herald:--
Noticing in this morning's edition that your paper wished the names of the residents of this city that the census takers had avoided calling upon in their grand undertaking, I would state, for your information, that they failed in calling at my house in West Fifty-second street. C.F. Tompkins
Commodore Columbia Yacht Club

And Still Another One.

Brooklyn, Sept. 1, 1870
To the Editor of the Herald:--
Please ask the census taker if he has a record of the residents in house 197 Carleton avenue.
Not Counted

ADN Editor's Note: Due to public outcry over missed enumerations, a second enumeration was taken in 1870 for New York City, as well as in Philadelphia and Indianapolis. Ancestry.com has images for these enumerations available as part of the U.S. Census Collection. You may find the same ancestor listed twice in the indexes if they were enumerated both times. Click here to search the 1870 U.S. Federal Census.

Subscribers with access to the Historical Newspapers Collection can view this clipping.

Subscribe to the Historical Newspapers Collection at Ancestry.com.

Fast Fact
Upcoming Online Genealogy Classes at MyFamily.com

For $29.95 (unless otherwise marked), each class includes:

• Four weeks of lessons and interaction with a genealogy expert.
• 30-day free access to applicable Ancestry.com collections. (For details on which collections will be available, see the individual class descriptions.)
• Tips and advice on how to find ancestors online.
• Lessons through site interaction and worksheets.
• Ability to create your family tree using Online Family Tree software and downloadable genealogy forms.
• Collaboration with other site members to grow your family tree over the course of a year.

To learn more about these classes, see George G. Morgan's article from the 11 July 2003 Ancestry Daily News.

Upcoming Classes

• Intermediate Genealogy Research Class
  08 Sept. 2005 with George G. Morgan
• World Census Records Class
  08 Sept. 2005 with Cindy Rowzee
• Family Tree Maker 2005
  08 Sept. 2005 with Cindy Rowzee
• German Basic Genealogy Research Class
  15 Sept. 2005 with Janelle Bair
• Immigration and Naturalization Class
  15 Sept. 2005 with George G. Morgan
• Native American Research Class
  22 Sept. 2005 with Barbara Benge
• Lost Loves, Family, Friends, Military ($199.95)
  22 Sept. 2005 with Linda Rakita
  
  

More Classes

• German Intermediate Research Class, 13 October 2005
• Slovak Intermediate Research Class, 13 October 2005
• English Research Class, 27 October 2005
• Eastern Europe Intermediate Research Class, 03 November 2005
• Jewish Internet Research Class, 03 November 2005

Click here for the complete list with links. Click here for investigative courses.

Product Spotlight

		How To Do Everything With Your Genealogy, by George G. Morgan Normally this book retails for $24.99, but today you can buy it in the Shops@Ancestry.com for $23.99.

Thought for Today
Louisa May Alcott

I'm not afraid of storms for I'm learning how to sail my ship.