Computer Corner

By Duane Stabler, dstabler@bigfoot.com

Number 14, August 2001, republication of this article requires prior approval of the author

 

Well, the summer is coming to an end and people will start to spend more time indoors and close to the computer.  As I’ve done in the past, I’ll attempt to provide you, with a little help from Allyn Brosz, with some interesting websites to do some research and perhaps you’ll find one or two that really help you out.  So, enjoy!

 

       I have been given the following website URL by an acquaintance who has some G/R heritage. It contains some good data on US records sources, historical time lines, internet genealogy, plagiarism, copyright, and other useful info. Besides all this, it seems to be an example of a nicely designed site. The Learningcenter:

 

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~haas/learningcenter.html

 

        Allyn Brosz writes and I quote “The Library of Congress has a wonderful collection of still photographs, as well as books, sound & motion picture recordings, etc., etc. I have visited the Still Photographs Reading Room many times and enjoyed the resources available there. For some time now, many of these photographs have been digitized and placed on-line at the Library of Congress website. If you haven't already done so, you MUST see this!  It's a terrific resource and will only get better as more photos are added.

 

To read the details of this collection, go to this link

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html

 

To search the collection, go to this link

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/mdbquery.html   For starters, type in "McIntosh

County North Dakota" (sans quotes) and you should see information on 34

images of McIntosh County circa 1940. Fascinating images. Some of the images

of Mrs. Bettenhausen baking bread and showing off her preserved foods would

be terrific additions to the publicity for the "Schmeckfest" video. There's

a similar picture for Mrs. Schoenfeldt when you search on "Sheridan County,

Kansas. The photos of the men lined up to vote in McIntosh County are

first-rate.  For those of you from that area, do you recognize anyone?  If so, we’d like to know who you recognize.

 

Once you've looked at the McIntosh County images, type in some other terms

and see what comes up.  Check the term "beets" and you'll see hundreds of

images in your results, including many from Adams County, Colorado, and at

least two taken by Lewis Hine circa 1915. One Lewis Hine caption reads:

'Seven-year-old Alex Reiber topping. He said--"I hooked me knee with the

beet-knife, but I jest went on a-workin'"'.

 

Some other terms you may wish to try:

 

German Russian (154 images)

Volga Famine

Sheridan County Kansas

Ellis county Kansas

drought refugees

North Dakota

South Dakota

immigrants

Ellis Island (49 images)

Castle Garden

Nordhausen (if you have a strong stomach)

Fargo, North Dakota

Bismarck, North Dakota

 

You get the idea -- choose your own terms and search.

 

This collection includes work by some the best American photographers --

Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, etc.

While you're at the Library's website, don't miss the on-line exhibit, "The

Empire that was Russia." These early images are simply stunning -- and in

color yet!

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

I haven't found any images in this collection that are specifically Germans

in Russia, but the photos nevertheless gave you an interesting glimpse at

the world from which your ancestors came.