Is It Copyrighted?

Wikipedia.com

In the world of genealogy, we gather, add, delete, and produce compilations of records about our families. For me, it is the thrill of the hunt. I love to read about my ancestors and the lives that they led. I appreciate someone writing about my ancestor. As we put together our stories, do we ever pay attention to where they came from? We make note of the sources but do we actually credit the sources or acknowledge that we are getting this information from another source. Furthermore, do we seek permission to use copyrighted sources, or do we kind of skip over that thought? Since so much information is at our fingertips, I think that we have come to the conclusion that everything "out there" can be used at will.

James Tanner (one of my favorite contributors at TechTips) wrote a couple of articles recently relating to copyrights and fair use. They are definitely worth reading as they will lend some clarity to this problem. The first article is Understanding Copyright vs. the Creative Commons. The second article is Using Creative Commons Licenses for Sharing Your Genealogy.

Up Next: Rob Lowe on WDYTYA on NBC

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rob_Lowe_%282003%29.jpg

Rob Lowe is up on the April 27, 2012 episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Check it out on NBC.

It's All About the 1940 Census!

Clip art credit: http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/usa-flags.shtml

I am having so much fun indexing the 1940 US Census! I have spent the past three weeks browsing images and using the SteveMorse site to find my relatives. Quite a few people of asked me why I am so excited about the 1940 Census. What's the big deal? Well, for a family history geek like me, it's a way to link my live relatives to a paper proof (genealogists always hunt for the proof!) of their lives.  It's a way to see my dad's name actually listed on a census form as a six year old! It's a way to explore the generation that has been called "The Greatest Generation!" It is awesome! If you want to know how much of the 1940 Census has been indexed in the three weeks since it's release, click here!
If you haven't tried indexing but would like to try it, FamilySearch.org  is a great place to start! Also, click here, here, and here for great tutorials!

Press Release for UVTAGG Group Meeting

Stephen Ehat
Photo Credit: UVTAGG

UTAH VALLEY TECHNOLOGY AND GENEALOGY GROUP MEETING (UVTAGG)
The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 14 Apr 2012, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo.  Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvtagg.org .

The main presentation for this meeting will be by Stephen Ehat on FIND ALL YOUR RELATIVES IN THE 1940 U.S. FEDERAL CENSUS.  The 1940 US Federal Census was released this week (2 Apr 2012) and digital images are now posted on several sites including the National Archives at http://1940census.archives.gov/ .  Several organizations are coordinating efforts to index the entire census.  These include FamilySearch Indexing and everyone is encouraged to sign up at  https://www.familysearch.org/1940census/   to help.  It will take several months to complete the entire index.  The presentation at the UVTAGG meeting this month will help people get into the census before it is indexed.  Small towns, of course, will be pretty easy; large cities will take more effort, but can still be done, as Steve Ehat will show.  Stephen Kent Ehat was born in San Francisco in 1951. Baptized a Latter-day Saint as a convert at age 10, he first attempted to do genealogical research at age 11. He knew too little, but at age 17, when he began studies at BYU, he successfully began a lifetime of family history research and discovery. He has served as a Records Examiner (Remember those?), as a Stake Extraction Director (back in the day when that opportunity first existed), and recently as the Director of a six-stake Family History Center serving Orem and Lindon. He has made a number of presentations at recent BYU Family History Conferences and at the BYU Family History Center Sunday classes and is constantly helping people with their research. He has been to Italy twice for family history research on his own Italian line that arrived in San Francisco 45 years before the earthquake and fire in 1906. He is a California attorney who lives with his wife, Jeanine, in Lindon, Utah, and they have five sons and thirteen -- now almost 14 -- grandchildren.

Following the main presentation there will be several classes about family history and technology with something for everyone at any level of expertise. The teachers and classes presently scheduled for this meeting are:  (1)   Are Your Ancestors Frozen in Time?, by Claire Brisson-Banks;  (2)  "Where Did That File Go?" - Understanding and Organizing Computer Files, by Susan Maxwell;  (3)  Analyzing Census Records, by Stephen Ehat;  (4)  Personal Help with Family History, by Don Engstrom and Finn Hansen;  (5)  Video of last month's main presentation: Increasing Productivity on FamilySearch with Sharing Time, by Andrea Schnakenburg;  (6)  Everything Mac for Genealogy, by Ron Snowden;  (7)  RootsMagic, by Rene Zamora;  (8)  Ancestral Quest, by Paul Johnson;  and  (9)  Legacy, by Joel Graham. 
                         
All meetings of the Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Liz Kennington, Newsletter Editor; Renee Zamora, Secretary; Kay Baker, Gerry Eliason, Don Engstrom, and Rayanne Melick working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen working with the DVD Library. Several of these will be there to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter TAGGology, and check out DVDs of past presentations and classes to members of the group.  Ancestral QuestInformation about the Group, presentations, classes, and class notes can be found at the websites mentioned above. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvtagg.org (801-225-6106) or 1st VP Laurie Castillo at laurie@everythingisrelative.net, or 2nd VP Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu.

Family History Resources at Brigham Young University

Harold B. Lee Library
Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah has an awesome collection of genealogical resources! As the world links itself by internet, patrons all over the world have access to these resources no matter where you are. Click on the link to see what the BYU Family History Library has to offer, even if you are on the other side of the world! The newest link on the page is a Departmental Tour and Subject Guide for Family History. You have got to see this! Just click on the link above!

New and Fixed Links on this Blog

There are new links to information on this blog and the broken links have all been fixed. If you run across any other problems or broken links on this site, please leave a comment and I will fix the problems.

Don't Forget WDYTYA Tonight on NBC!

Photo Credit: NBC

Up tonight... Edie Falco! Check your local listings for time!

Infographic from Archives.com

Why all the hype about the 1940 Census? Take a look at the infographic below from Archives.com. It shows why we should be excited about the 1940 Census and also the way to find your family BEFORE the index is ready to use! Have fun! Your family is out there just waiting to be found!

Let's Get Indexing!

As of 9:00 am MDT, today, images for the 1940 US Census for Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Oregon, and Virginia were posted on FamilySearch to index. Let's get indexing!

Help Index the 1940 Census!

They're here! The images from the 1940 Census have been released! I was going to post some helps for the 1940 Census, but GraniteGenealogy beat me to it! So, head over there to get a whole bunch of help on what to do and where to go to make the most of the 1940 Census! Before you do that, though, watch this video on what you can do to help the indexing project along! Thanks to Dear Myrtle for the YouTube Video!