Much Anticipated Personal Historian 2 Software Released

I'm proud that RootsMagic sponsors the Genealogy Gems Podcast because they consistently deliver such high quality products.  And this week, they have announced the latest version of Personal and Family History Writing Software.  Here's the scoop:

SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — September 28, 2011 — RootsMagic, Inc. today announced the official release of Personal Historian 2, the latest version of the ground-breaking computer software which helps you write the story of your life and of other individuals. Personal Historian breaks this seemingly monumental task into small, manageable pieces and then reconstructs it into a complete, publishable document. With the release comes a free “Essentials” version of the software as well as a discount offer for new users and previous owners of the software.

Bring Life to Your Life Stories

“Many people want to write a personal history about themselves or family members but get lost or overwhelmed,” said Michael Booth, vice-president and lead developer of the software. “It’s very gratifying to hear people tell us that they are finally able to write their life stories thanks to Personal Historian.”


Personal Historian creates an interactive timeline of a person’s life to keep the stories organized, give context to life events, and to allow users to write stories in any order they wish. When ready, Personal Historian will compile the stories into a finished book complete with table of contents, chapters, pictures, indexes, and more. The book may then be printed at home, edited in a word processor, published professionally, or shared with friends and family.

New Features

“The new features in Personal Historian 2 have been worth the wait,” said Bruce Buzbee, president. “While we’ve added many new and powerful features, we’ve worked hard to make the software even easier to use than before.”

Personal Historian 2 boasts an impressive list of over 40 features including streamlined step-by-step wizards; expanded timelines and memory trigger questions; easy filtering and searching of stories; management of categories, people, and places; improved outlining and writing analysis; wrapping of text around pictures; fonts and text styles; and more-powerful publishing and output options.


Free “Personal Historian Essentials”

RootsMagic is also releasing a new, free edition of Personal Historian named, “Personal Historian Essentials”. Personal Historian Essentials contains many core features from the Personal Historian software and the two products are fully-compatible with one another. “We wanted to give everyone a risk-free option,” said Booth. “Personal Historian Essentials is perfect for someone who wants to start writing a personal history but doesn’t know where to begin.” Personal Historian Essentials is available for download at http://www.personalhistorian.com/.
 
Discount Offer


To celebrate it’s release, RootsMagic, Inc. is pleased to offer a special introductory offer for Personal Historian 2. Through October 31, 2011, Personal Historian 2 is available for a special introductory price of only $19.95, saving $10 off of the regular price. The discount is available only on the Personal Historian website at http://www.personalhistorian.com or by calling 1-800-766-8762.

Archives.com Makes Their Big Move

To be honest, when I first heard about Archives.com I wasn't sure what to make of them.  The site almost had a "phishing feel" to it, and the vague responses to my inquiries just added to my lack of confidence.  And I wasn't alone.  Many genealogists were scratching their heads and wondering who they really were.

So it comes as somewhat of a relief to see Archives.com making their big move today with their announcement that they are adding the U.S. Census to their website in partnership with FamilySearch.  In actuality they made their big move when they brought FamilySearch veteran Anne Roach AG®, CGSM on board as Director of Content Development. It was clear that they were getting poised to pounce on the industry.

According to their press release, the "U.S. Census collections were made available by FamilySearch International, the world’s largest genealogy organization, as part of a joint effort to introduce more records to family historians worldwide. In conjunction with the Census effort, Archives will also embark on a joint project with FamilySearch to digitize tens-of-millions of additional historical records, the majority of which are not currently online." Archives has pledged a minimum of five million dollars to the project.

This answers the big question many have wondered since Archives.com launched in July 2009: Would they digitize original documents and host them on their site? Up until now it has appeared that the majority of the content was coming from other sources, some of which are free from other sites. This created a perception that their mission was to be more of a portal than a content provider, which didn't sit well with some genealogists. And it was hard to imagine anyone taking on Ancestry because they are already so far out in front.

But as the saying goes "Content is King" and Archives.com is making a move I'm sure they hope will put them in the line of ascension.

"We’re dedicated to bringing users new and compelling content, and that’s why we’re happy to contribute at least five million dollars to similar ongoing community projects," says Archives CEO Matthew Monahan. That's good to hear - and it's about time.

Archives.com's competitive edge is it's current low price compared to Ancestry's subscription rate. Monahan continued, "adding the U.S. Census and other unique collections as part of this initiative with FamilySearch will be a game changer.” 

Archives.com has integrated the full set of U.S. Federal Population Census indexes from 1790­ to 1930 consisting of over 500 million names along with 3 million images from census years 1850, 1870, and 1900. In the near future, they say the full set of census images will be accessible. 

While Archives.com has a long way to go to match the volume of Ancestry's content, a bit of competition may be very healthy for all concerned, and hopefully will mean more records for family historians.  We'll have to wait and see who will reign supreme.

R.I.P. Google News Timeline

I'm sorry to report that on August 17, 2011 Google quietly closed down one of my favorite Google Labs tools - the Google News Timeline with two simple sentences:

"As part of the phasing out of Google Labs, we have shut down Google News Timeline. It was a pleasure to serve you!"

Google News Timeline is not to be confused with Google News Archive.  Google did also recently announce that they were discontinuing newspaper digitization efforts, but that the Google News Archive would remain in tact as is.  Those digitized newspapers were also fed through the Google News Timeline which I considered a superior way to view the newspapers.

Since the Timeline had not been officially launched, it was kept where beta-baby tools were kept: in Google Labs. I say "were kept" because Google Labs is also now defunct.

So here's a recap:

Google News Archive - Still available, no new newspapers being added
Google New Timeline - No longer available.
Google Labs - Finis.  Poof!


Google Giveth...and Google Taketh Away

Family Tree Magazine Welcomes Kerry Scott as Online Editor

Here's the latest news from Family Tree Magazine.  Welcome Kerry Scott! 
Press Release: Family Tree Magazine, America’s No. 1 genealogy how-to magazine, is pleased to announce the addition of Kerry Scott to its team.

She’ll be the magazine’s new online editor, focusing on Family Tree University online classes, webinars and digital products. (And remember you can get 20% off any class at Family Tree University with the coupon code: GemsFTU)
Scott brings to the team her experience as a genealogy researcher, active member of the genealogy blogging community (she blogs at Clue Wagon), and human resources executive.

“This position gives me the opportunity to connect with and share great content with other researchers,” Scott says. “I'm especially excited about growing Family Tree University, which is such a great resource for the genealogical community."

The Milwaukee, Wis., resident and mom of two has loved family history since childhood. “My favorite ancestor is my Uncle Fred, who was my second-great-grandfather's brother. He was an attorney, politician and judge who left behind a mountain of paperwork. How can you not love a guy like that?”

Not all of her ancestors left so many records—a situation familiar to most genealogists. “The genealogical skill I'm most proud of is my ability to stick to a search until I hit pay dirt,” Kerry says. “I've been known to walk through every grave in every cemetery in an entire county, or search an entire big city in a particular census year until I found the family I needed. I don't give up easily.”

About Family Tree Magazine

Family Tree Magazine, America's No. 1 family history magazine, is part of the Genealogy Community at F+W Media, Inc., which also encompasses Family Tree University online courses and webinars; the Family Tree Books imprint; and ShopFamilyTree.com Free Shipping on US Orders Over $25. These publications and products are devoted to providing engaging, easy-to-understand instruction that makes genealogy a hobby anyone can do.

Free Genealogy Records Now thru Labor Day

Today Ancestry.com announced an entire week of free access to its U.S. and International Immigration and Naturalization records. The free access week begins August 29^th and runs through the Labor Day holiday ending September 5^th. 

To get the most from this opportunity start by listening to my free Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast episodes all about immigration and naturalization records with my special guest Stephan Danko:

Episode 29

Episode 30

Episode 31

Subscribe for free now to the Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast to get all the episodes.

During this week, all visitors to Ancestry.com will be able to search for free the indices and images of new and updated U.S. immigration records as well as selected international immigration records from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Mexico. 

Ancestry has also recently added the following to their U.S. collections:

• Florida Petitions for Naturalization1913-199
• Delaware Naturalization Records1796-1959 
• Utah Naturalization and Citizenship Records1850-1960

Noteworthy updated U.S. and international collections include:

• U.S. Naturalization and Passport applications, 1795-1972
• UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960
• Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S. 1895-1956
• New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922
• Border Crossings: From Mexico to U.S., 1895-1957
• New York State, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1917-1973
• Atlantic Ports Passenger Lists, 1820-1873 and 1893-1959

Happy Hunting!

File Search Trick, and Prepping for an Archive Visit

Podcast Listener Joan wrote me recently:  "I get to spend a day at the National Archives. What should I do to prepare to take full advantage of the visit? I checked their website, but it was not as helpful as I hoped. Any suggestions?"

While this first resource is from the National Archives in the UK, it's applicable to archives in other countries as well.  Check out their video series called Quick Animated Guide.

Another good approach is to search for presentations on archive visits using Google.  By conducting a 'file type search' in Google you can uncover presentations posted on the Web that are geared to doing research at the National Archives.

I conducted the following search in Google: .ppt national archives research and came up with a Powerpoint presentation called Beginning Your Genealogical Research at the National Archives which comes from the US National Archives website. When you click the link above you’ll be prompted to RUN the presentation, and I found that it detected Powerpoint on my computer and opened the presentation in my Powerpoint program.

This little genealogy search gem can come in quite handy. Sometimes you know exactly what kind of file or document you are looking for online. By searching for the keywords of the subject and then adding .ppt (the file extension for Powerpoint presentations) Google will pull up only Powerpoint presentations that include those keywords.

You may not be able to get out to genealogy conferences very often, but some creative searching may bring up presentations that cover topics that interest you right from your home computer. That’s a little gem you need to add to your search toolbox for sure!  For more search gems check out my book The Genealogist's Google Toolbox.  Now through August 12, 2011 you can get 20% off* the book as well as anything at my Genealogy Gems store at Lulu.com with the coupon code:  SINK305

And finally, when it comes to preparing for and making a trip to an archive or library Margery Bell of the Family History Centers offered some great ideas for preparing for a research trip, regardless of whether it is to the National Archives or the Family History Library. The interviews are episode 17, 18 & 19 in the Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast.

Great question Joan and have a wonderful time! Happy hunting everyone!

* Enter coupon code SINK305 at checkout and receive 20% off your order. The maximum savings for this offer is $100. Sorry, but this offer is only valid in US Dollars and cannot be applied to previous orders. You can only use these codes once per account, and unfortunately you can't use these coupons in combination with other coupon codes. These great offers expire on Friday August 12, 2011 at 11:59 PM, so don't miss out! While very unlikely, Lulu does reserve the right to change or revoke this offer at anytime, and of course we cannot offer this coupon where it is against the law to do so.

How to Make the Trip to Your Ancestor's Homeland in Genealogy Gems Episode 115

When my husband Bill and I travelled to England earlier this year, I was as excited about visiting the old stomping grounds of his ancestors as I was about speaking at the Who Do You You think You Are? LIVE event.

If you listened to Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 106 then you heard about the amazing experiences we had, both planned and unplanned!

In the newest Episode #115 I've got the scoop on what it takes to put together a Family History Trip of your own from an expert in the field.

You can listen right from here, or download the podcast for free in iTunes. (Need more info on how to use the free iTunes media player.  I've got answers for you here)