Sunday, June 26, 2011

June 2011 Scanfest



Friday, June 24, 2011

Today Only! Web Specials from Genealogical.com

From the Genealogical Publishing Company:

This week, for one day only, we are once again offering a 40% or more discount on three best-selling genealogical publications. Between now and 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, June 24, 2011, you can purchase Wayland F. Dunaway's The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania; George Elmore Reaman's The Trail of the Huguenots in Europe, the United States, South Africa and Canada; and our Family Archive CD Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly on our website at huge savings. Hurry--the sale only lasts one day, and is only available online at www.genealogical.com.
The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania
The best history of the Scotch-Irish of colonial Pennsylvania ever written, Dunaway's classic is indispensable to the genealogist because it outlines the circumstances behind the settlement of Lowland Scots in Ulster, their life in that Province for two or three generations, and the reasons for their immigration to America, further tracing the important migratory movements of the Scotch-Irish from Northern Ireland to Pennsylvania, and from Pennsylvania down the foothills of the Appalachians through the Great Valley of Virginia to the Carolinas and Georgia.
Was $25.00
Today Only $14.95
Learn More
The Trail of the Huguenots
This is the story of the great exodus of the Huguenots from France at the end of the seventeenth century, and of their dispersal to places in Europe, the United States, Canada, and South Africa. It traces their migrations through Europe and across the Atlantic to Canada and the United States, providing startling insights into the origins of many of our earliest colonial settlers. Over half of the book is devoted to the Huguenots and their direct descendants in Canada and the United States, dealing with those who settled in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England.
Was $32.50
Today Only $18.95
Learn More
Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly
This Family Archive CD contains images of the pages of all four volumes of Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly and the multi-volume Virginia Colonial Abstracts by Beverley Fleet. The four-volume collection from Tyler's Quarterly contains all 350 family history articles published in the magazine from its inception in 1919 until its demise in 1952. It further includes Bible records and wills, as well as a very important group of articles published under the title "Copies of Extant Wills from Counties Whose Records Have Been Destroyed."
Was $39.99
Today Only $22.99
Learn More
Remember, these three outstanding works are on sale for One Day Only, and only at www.genealogical.com. The sale ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT Friday, June 24, 2011.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Scanfest is Coming!



The June 2011 Scanfest will take place here at AnceStories this coming Sunday, June 26th, from 11 AM to 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time. 
 
What is Scanfest? It's a time when geneabloggers, family historians, and family archivists meet online here at this blog to chat while they scan their precious family document and photos. Why? Because, quite honestly, scanning is time-consuming and boring!

Scanfest is a great time to "meet" other genealogists, ask questions about scanning and preservation, and get the kick in the pants we all need on starting those massive scanning projects that just seem too overwhelming to begin.

To get started, you need to know the basics about scanning:

1. Don't use commercial glass cleaners (i.e. Windex) or paper towels to clean your scanner's glass plate. Use a soft, clean cloth, preferably microfiber. If you must use a liquid, use water sprayed directly onto the cloth  and make sure to let the plate dry thoroughly before placing photos or documents on it.

2. Wear cotton gloves (available at many art and/or photography supply shops) when handling photos and old documents.

3. Don't slide the photos around on the glass plate. Place them exactly where you want them. Photos should NEVER be scanned by a scanner that feeds the document through the machine, but ALWAYS on a flat-bed scanner.

4. Set your scanner to scan at no smaller than 300 dpi (dots per inch). Many experts recommend 600 dpi for photographs.

5. Photographs should ALWAYS be scanned and saved as .tif files. Use "Save As" to reformat the .tif file to a .jpg file for restoration and touchups, emailing, or uploading to an online photo album. ALWAYS retain the original scan as a .tif file.

6. Documents can be scanned as .pdf files or .tif files.

7. When you are done scanning your photos, don't put them back in those nasty "magnetic" photo albums. Place them in archival safe albums or boxes found at websites such as Archival Products or Archival Suppliers. Do NOT store any newsprint (articles, obituaries, etc.) with the photos. The acid from the newspaper will eventually destroy the photograph.

Now about the chatting part of Scanfest:

We will be using Cover It Live, a live blogging format that you access right here at AnceStories.

On Sunday at 11 AM, PDT, come right here to AnceStories and you'll see the CoverItLive live blog/forum in the top post. It's not really a "chat room," per se, it's more like a live forum and anyone visiting this site can read and see what is happening in the forum.

You will not need to download any software.

Up to 25 individuals can be invited to be Producers. Producers are participants who have the extra capability of sharing photos, links, and other media within the forum (great for sharing the photos you're scanning!). You must have Internet Explorer 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Producer.

We can also have up to 25 other Participants who can comment freely in our conversation, but will not be able to share media. You can have any kind of browser to be a Participant, except AOL. Those who normally access the Internet with AOL may wish to download Firefox or Explorer ahead of time to be able to participate on CoverItLive.

In addition, any other readers of this blog can drop on by and view/read what is happening at Scanfest. If the 25 Participant spaces are full, those readers will not be able to comment, unless someone else drops out.

Confused? Have questions? Go to CoverItLive and check out 6. Try It Now to see live blogs in action or 7. Demos to see videos demonstrating how to use CIT (especially the ones titled "How do my readers watch my Live Blog?" and "Adding Panelists and Producers").

If you would like to be a Producer, please e-mail me no later than Saturday, June 25th at 4 PM, PDT and I'll send you an invitation. Preference will given to previous Scanfesters. You must set up an account (free!) ahead of time to be a Producer. This account will be good for all future Scanfests. You can do some practices ahead of time by going to My Account and clicking on the link under Practice your live blogging. Again, you must have IE 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Panelist.

As a Producer, Participant or simply a reader, if you would like an e-mail reminder for Scanfest, fill out the form below and choose the time frame for which you would like to be reminded (if you're reading this through Google Reader, Bloglines, or some other RSS feed reader, you will need to go to my blog and view this post there to see and utilize the form).

It really is easier than it sounds, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all there and getting some scanning done!