Wordless Wednesday

Rinaldi Brothers Market in Randsburg, CA 

L. to r. — Otto Rinaldi in buggy, Isaac Rinaldi & Julian Rinaldi  

Submitted by Nancy Fiorini

Posted by Ron Setzer

Military Monday – Donovan K. WEBSTER

Donovan K. Webster

b. 6 Jan 1931 in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas

d. 14 Jan 2008 in Paul, Minidoka, Idaho

Donovan was my father-in-law. He grew up on a farm in Elk County Kansas until he was drafted into the Army in 1951 for the Korean War. After basic training at Camp Crowder, he was sent to Camp Chaffee in Arkansas to become part of a Field Artillery unit operating the 155mm Howitzer in the Fifth Armored Division. One of the major battles Donovan was involved with was the intense battle of White Horse Mountain—which was a monumental historical battle that prevented the North Koreans from streaming into the South Korean peninsula. He recalled his artillery unit firing non-stop day and night for seven days straight. When the barrel of the artillery piece got too hot from firing continuously, it would quickly be changed out with another barrel for continued firing.  He recalled being able to somehow sleep just 20 yards behind the big guns as they were firing! Donovan received the Korean Service Medal with two service stars and the United Nations Service Medal for Korea. After the war, he was active in the American Legion Post 77 in Paul, Idaho, for many years. Despite the many hardships Donovan experienced during the Korean War, he never talked much about them except when asked directly—always humble.  He was proud to have served his country and was always a true patriot. I am equally as proud of my father-in-law, Donovan K. Webster. 

Submitted by Curtis Jones

Posted by Ron Setzer

For Your Calendar

Webinar Title: Digital Preservation: Fundamentals

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Start Time: Pacific - 12 PM, Mountain - 1 PM, Central - 2 PM, Eastern - 3 PM

Presenter: Jacob Nadal

Webinar Link: http://infopeople.org/training/digital-preservation-fundamentals

The uncertainties that go hand in hand with new technologies in digital preservation can make “once and for all” preservation approaches impractical. This first in a series of four webinars will present basic concepts and approaches to dealing with crucial digital preservation issues today and make decisions that will position you for success in the future.

Topics include storing digital objects, choosing and understanding risks in file formats, planning for migration and emulation, and the roles of metadata in digital preservation.

At the end of the first one-hour webinar, participants will:

• Have a framework for making sense of preservation
• Know about the principal methods for storing digital objects
• Understand the benefits and risk associated with standard file formats
• Understand the roles of metadata in digital preservation

Presented by the California State Library and the California Preservation Program, future webinars in the series will provide a deeper introduction to file formats used in digital libraries and the core issues in reliably storing digital content for the long-term:

• Webinar #2: Tuesday, January 10: Text and Image Formats
• Webinar #3: Tuesday, February 7: Storing and Managing Digital Collections
• Webinar #4: Tuesday, March 20: Audio and Video Formats

This webinar will be of interest to library staff and archivists who are involved in developing digital projects. No special technical background required.

Webinars are free of charge and registration is only done on the day of the event on the WebEx server. No passwords are required.

This webinar will be presented with Closed Captioning.

Submitted by Lois Shumaker

Posted by Ron Setzer

Root Cellar on FGS Blog Talk Radio

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society was honored to be the featured member society on FGS* Blog Talk Radio on Saturday, 12 Nov 2011.  The main topic of this episode was "Genealogy and the Vital Records Access Crisis".  Show host Thomas MacEntee's guest was Frederick E. Moss, FGS Legal Advisor and member.  It was an informative discussion about a subject that effects all family history researchers. During the last 10 minutes of the show, Denise Richmond was interviewed by Thomas and highlighted the many exciting benefits and activities of our society.  Thanks again Thomas and FGS Radio!

You can still listen to the show by clicking on the right arrow in the blog talk radio box. Remember to turn up your computer speaker!

Listen to internet radio with mysociety on Blog Talk Radio

*Federation of Genealogical Societies

posted by Denise Hibsch Richmond

Have your Family Tree with you on your iPhone

This year, I have a new phone with the latest features  - FINALLY!! Yes it is an iPhone 3. I love it.   

As I have sifted through the "App Store"on my iPhone I discovered Ancestry.com has an app for the iPhone. I just learned that I can build my family tree, and carry it with me all the time - add items as they come along. It can be so handy while traveling and researching. My memory is not like it use to be and having the family information at my finger tips is such a bonus. I can browse through the names in my tree, search for a specific person, add information, record events or new family decendants or ancestors- all while on the go. As you know the iPhone and other phones take great pictures and now you can take photos of anything and upload them into your ancestry.com app family tree. As you travel, I will have my family tree with me.

But as you can tell I am still learning. I just wish the screen was a little bigger for these aging eyes but I will adjust (or buy an iPad)

I am sure there must be APP's for the other phones. Check it out.

If you have an iPhone or an iPad - Try it!

Sharing Resources

Thank you to California Genealogical Society located in Oakland California for a new publication that will help all of us with our California research.

It is called "Insider's Guide to California Genealogy" It is laminated, 4 pages (back and front of a 11 x 17 sheet) It is a great resource and the best part is that alot of the resources can be used for all the other 49 states.

Resources included: California Historical Timeline, General Sites, Research Strategies for California, Census Records, Vital Records, Marriages & Divorces, Births, Adoptions, Deaths, Wills & Probate Records, Cemetery Records, Obituaries, Military, Court and Institution Records, Land and Maps, Immigration and Naturalization, Taxes, Genealogical & Historical Societies, Archives & Libraries, City Directories & Voter Registration Lists, Books & Periodicals, Newspapers, Family Search Centers, Message Boards, Mailing Lists & Queries, Family Trees. ............  all of this informaiton and laminated for $5.

California Genealogical Society

Like Root Cellar, they also have a great brick n mortor library.

Ancestry Day comes to San Francisco

Ancestry Day held this past Saturday (November 5, 2011) at the Hyatt Regency on Market Street in San Franciso, California. It was sponsored by the California Genealogical Society (CGS) /Oakland.

Were you one of the 900+?

I was lucky enough to be able to attend. I believe there were well over 900 attendees - it was SOLD OUT. Three out of the four sessions I attended were totally full- and I mean every chair in the room and these were all very large rooms. Lots of CGS members staffing and visable. The event was held on two floors of the Hyatt Regency.  KUDDOS to California Genealogical Society!! Great Job!!

Good information in our registration bags - and  a syllabus for the days sessions included, since you would only be able to attend 4 out of 16 sessions offered and with no repeat sessions........

MY SESSIONS:
          1)Emigration & Immigration Records Online/ Crista Cowan from Ancestry (excellent presentation and good resources);
          2) Finding Living People on the Internet/ Ron Arons of CGS (you remember him from an earlier presentation at Root Cellar in Sacramento) - this one is a new presentation of Ron's - not bad, good resources for tracking down those living people. I am really looking forward to putting some of these ideas into play;
          3) Breaking Down Brick Walls/ Susan Goss Johnston member of CGS......change your outlook, go sideways, and go back to basics;
         4) Your Family History with the Genealogically Challenged/ Crista Cowan from Ancestry.....  different ways of getting your family members involved with your research including the very youngest.

NOW I just need to find the time to try out these new ideas and resources!

"Dear Santa, would you add another hour to the day or a new day to each month? I need more time or learn how to be more organized and focussed. Thank you. As usual, there will be lots of giant home made chocolate chip cookies and milk for you. Love Sandi"

Another activity offered on this day were 15 minute consultations with a professional for $5. (you can't beat that price!! but you needed to sign up for this at registration) And from the time the day started (8:30am) till it closed at 4p there were 30 indivdual consultations happening every 15 minutes. Can you imagine that? You do the math - just say it was something that people really responded too. I was one of them at 12:20p table 30. My question was on Immigration. This was a disappointment but it was also a long shot.

A long day but well worth it....... I was up at 4am, on the road by 4:30am, parking at Pittsburg BART station, catching the BART at 6:30am to the Embacardero Station arriving 7:32am...... registration line just opened (and a 1/2 hour early) and the day begins with the first session of four starting at 9am. YES it was a very long day but a good one. I ran into several Root Cellar members along with many other genealogy friends from all over the area. On the 2+ rainy ride home with a friend, Vicki and I talked and talked about our day, our sessions, and how it applied to each of us.