Beyond the Encyclopedia

Have you ever wondered where on earth your local librarian found the answer to that extremely specific question you asked? You may assume that they are just better at Googling than you, but that is not the case! Well, sometimes it’s the case. But they also use a variety of sources that may not fit your idea of traditional reference materials and that you might not have access to at home. 

A Letter from Your Friendly MLC Archivist

Miranda Vaughn

Reference/Archives Librarian

 

Dear Reader,

This is the first in a series of letters I will be writing to you from time to time as I gleefully work my way through the hidden treasures of the MLC archives. I will be sharing interesting items, stories about the history of MLC, and any other interesting tidbits I may find on this “curiosity voyage.” First, I want to share with you a personal story about my first experience working in an archive, an experience which solidified my love for historic preservation and archival management. It’s a story of human connection found unexpectedly beneath a pile of yellowed papers.

Enjoy.

I’ll never forget the first time I cried in a library. No, I wasn’t reading a Nicolas Sparks book or doing my taxes. I was reading a letter from William J. Love, a WWI veteran and businessman from Columbus, MS. This letter was addressed to his friend and business partner and was written the year before he passed away. I discovered this letter after spending several months going through boxes of Love’s belongings – mostly letters, scrapbooks, some photographs, and business documents. Although he had been dead for over 40 years, I felt like I had come to know him while organizing the belongings he left behind. I had read multiple letters like this one, but somehow, this one seemed very final. His health was declining. I knew he would die the following year. Maybe he knew it too.

So I cried.

It was an unexpected side effect that sometimes comes with archival work. If you’ve ever worked in an archive, or if your library has its own local history department, you are probably familiar with the situation I described. A patron goes through their recently deceased relative’s attic. They bring in half-chewed boxes of documents and photos to donate to your collection. You quickly leaf through the items to get an idea of what is in them (and check for any varmints that may be hiding between the pages). Then, you add the boxes to the stack of other boxes from other deceased relatives that you hope to finish processing before the year is out. Or the decade. Or maybe just before you retire.

Photo of slides from the William J. Love Papers in the
Billups-Garth Archive, Columbus Lowndes Public Library

The process can become very monotonous very quickly.

Archivists bear a lot of responsibility when it comes to processing collections, especially those collections that come from private donations. Not only is it the job of the archivist to analyze every item that comes into their possession, organize boxes of materials, and create extremely detailed, searchable records of the items, but they are also responsible for taking proper care of belongings that have sentimental value to loved ones. For many private donors, an archive is the final resting place of a life that they cherished. For this reason, archivists have the responsibility of maintaining a sense of reverence when processing and preserving historical records.

It is easy to get caught up in the pressures of time constraints, cataloging and copyright issues, etc. and miss the opportunity to get to know the person(s) behind the collection. Archivists have a unique opportunity that goes beyond removing rusty paperclips and translating sloppy cursive. I like to tell people that I’ll never know what it’s like to cure cancer or invent some new technology that changes the world, but I do know what it’s like to see the look of pure joy on the face of the only daughter of a WWI veteran in Columbus, MS after I finished processing her father’s papers, allowing generations of researchers the opportunity to get to know her father the way I did.

Some would call it closure. Maybe a sense of peace. I like to think of it as another special service offered free of charge at your local library.

All the best,

Your friendly MLC archivist

P.S. If you are antsy with anticipation for my next letter, feel free to check out the MLC photograph collection made available through the Mississippi Digital Library.

Wisdom Teeth, Genealogy, and the World Cup

The summer of 1990 I had my wisdom teeth removed. Of the procedure I remember this: one minute I am sitting in the doctor’s office counting backwards from 100 and the next, I am at home on the couch. My mother had safely tucked me in with ice nestled against my cheeks, in the feet of a pair of pantyhose wrapped around my head. I wasn’t allowed to do much, including eating anything solid or leaving the general vicinity of the couch.

As luck would have it, the main show on TV was coverage of the FIFA World Cup and the miracle of this quadrennial world championship was that the Irish National Team made it to the finals. I was enthralled by the world’s enthusiasm for the sport and was consumed by “Irish Pride”. Team Ireland played their hearts out and Sheedy, a mid-fielder for Ireland, was my favorite. I became a soccer fan that summer.

	The official song of the Republic of Ireland’s National Football Team for the 1990 World Cup.

Speed forward to 2018. The United States National Men's Team (USNMT) failed to make it to the finals of the World Cup. For a lot of American fans, that was it. Who should we root for now? It was USA or go home.

Except that 23 and Me and FIFA came out with a brilliant idea for keeping Americans involved with the World Cup: the campaign “Root for your Roots”. What better way to celebrate the melting pot that is the United States than by encouraging its citizens to find out more about their heritage?

So, armed with a little knowledge of my ancestry, I hit MLC's online genealogy services. (Learn more below!) I began with Heritage Quest, a genealogy database that contains U.S. Census information, as well as articles from historical journals and information from the Freedman’s Bank. My mother’s family is German and immigrated, to my surprise, ten years earlier than I thought. It was also listed that my family came from Bohemia in Germany. My family – true Bohemians.

23 and Me Ancestry Composition

My husband’s side is a little trickier and not as well known to me. But his family is Irish in an almost unbroken line to the old country. He tells me that our family can only research to the crossing. To look further would be to invoke the Geas. You see, his family comes with a magical curse. I AM NOT KIDDING. Just like the Irish Heroes in Táin Bó Cúailnge, my husband also carries a Geas. So, no one has ever researched their family ancestry beyond when they crossed the Atlantic and neither will I. With the above knowledge, my Roots led me to one team in the World cup: Germany. I am trying to be happy with that, but Germany won in 2014 and is favored heavily to win again. I may keep searching for a USNMT type underdog.

Further, if you feel like a lone soccer fan, I would encourage you to look for your local American Outlaws chapter. Their mission is to “To support the United States National Soccer Teams through a unified and dedicated group of supporters. Creating a community locally and nationally to Unite and Strengthen U.S. Soccer fans from all parts of this country.”There are currently three chapters in Mississippi.

For a full list of countries competing in this year's World Cup, visit the FIFA website.

Finally, for help with genealogy research, visit the Mississippi Library Commission! You'll have complete access to Ancestry Library Edition here in the building. Better yet, while you're here you can sign up for an MLC library card. Those with MLC library cards can access Heritage Quest from the comfort of their own homes. Either way, our reference librarians would be glad to help you get started tracing your family tree!

Kristina Kelly
Administrative Services Administrative Assistant

Genealogy Tips! - Part 2

Most people generally have a specific person(s) of interest that they would like to research. They may have this person’s full name, place of birth, and other potentially useful information ready at hand. The information is plugged in to the particular database and…nothing. You go back and simplify or elaborate on your query. Still, nothing. You try over and over…yet nothing. There must be some record of this person! Why aren’t they appearing?

I recently came across this problem myself while trying to help a patron find out more information on an elusive family member. We knew the general area in which this person lived, and the family member’s maiden name. I finally found this person, but also found discrepancies that revealed why this person was so hard to find. The full name of Florence, which appeared on the census during her adult years, was written as “Flora” in 1870 when she was a child. The online transcript of the 1870 census indicated her father was born in India. I took a look at the actual census record and found “Ind.” listed. A later census record, correctly, indicated her father was born in Indiana.

Tip# 1 – Errors are common. Here are a few reasons why:

·         -The census enumerator may have misheard or misunderstood the name, and thus wrote it incorrectly.

·         -The indexer may have had a hard time deciphering the enumerator’s handwriting.

·         -The family member, neighbor, or whoever the enumerator spoke to in order to gather information on the family, may have given incorrect information. For example, you may see a family member’s parent listed as being born in Alabama in one census record, and then see their parent listed as being born in Georgia in another.

·         -The family member, neighbor, or whoever the enumerator spoke to may have given a nickname instead of a full name.

Tip #2 – Family information should be taken with a grain of salt. The names, stories, and other information you may have obtained through interviews with family members could have a grain of truth to them. Part of genealogy research is to fill in the gaps, or adjust what you may have already known with some sort of concrete information. You may also find out something completely different than what you were told! This is all part of the fun of genealogy research.

Tip #3 - Indexes are an invaluable tool, especially when researching records earlier than 1920, if you are having a hard time unearthing early family records in an online database. Indexes are usually compiled by genealogical societies and indexers.

U.S. Marshals collected census data between 1790 and 1870, and were replaced by specially trained and hired census-takers in 1880. The U.S. Census Bureau replaced the door-to-door method with a mailed questionnaire in 1960. Check out their site for more information on census-taking instructions for each decade. Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records by Loretto Szucs and Matthew Wright provides great charts on phonetic substitutes and frequently misread letters. And don't forget, we are more than happy to help if you have any questions!

Szucs, Loretto Dennis and Matthew Wright. Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records. Ancestry Publishing: Orem, UT, 2002. Print

http://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/census_instructions/

Genealogy Tips - Part 1

Genealogy research is a lot like a treasure hunt. It can be very fun and rewarding to unearth family information, but it can also be potentially frustrating if you don't have as many facts as possible on hand to get you started on the right track. Because of this, we here at MLC thought it would be a great idea to share a few helpful links, book titles, and tips we've learned along the way while assisting our patrons with genealogy research. So here goes!

Tip #1- Organization is key! You may find a little bit, or a lot, but having a well-organized accordion file folder, or a three ring binder (or whatever works best for you) will save you in lost time and headaches. Everything you need will be right on hand.

Tip #2- Gather as much information as possible! Interview relatives, obtain copies of vital records (birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, etc.) and plot out a general family tree (or ancestral chart) using what you already know (or gathered through interviews with relatives). There will be exceptions to this rule. Sometimes the impetus for starting genealogy research is because there's not much family information available to begin with. That's okay! Gather as much information as you can and try to fill in the gaps as you go along. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance.

Tip #3- Take your time and enjoy the process! It's perfectly fine to take a step back if you hit a bump in the road, or if life happens and you can't devote as much time as you'd like to the whole process.

Helpful Links:
Getting Started - National Genealogical Society
Organization for Genealogists - About.com

Titles at MLC:
AARP Genealogy Online: Tech to Connect by Matthew L. Helm and April L. Helm. 2013
Genealogy Online for Dummies by Matthew L. Helm and April L. Helm. 2009
The Official Guide to Ancestry.com by George G. Morgan. 2008
Plugging Into Your Past: How to Find Family History Records Online by Rick Crume. 2004
...and many more!

Did you know that we have Ancestry Library Edition and Heritage Quest available for use on our premises? If you have a library card with us, you can access Heritage Quest at home. Contact us for more information!

You're Named Where?

People name their children all sorts of things. Some choose a more traditional route with age-old standbys like Mary and George or John and Sue. Other people opt for a more unique name by changing an older name's spelling or adding punctuation marks or creating a new name entirely. The brilliant few, in my humble opinion, have chosen to name their offspring after actual things: plants, bodies of water, and, of all things, the United States. It appears this trend has been going on for some time. Check out this chart enumerating state names appearing in the US Federal Census over the years:

Name	Most Popular Census Year for State Name	Number with State Name That Year
Alabama	1880	1,682
Alaska	1930	177
Arizona	1930	2,158
Arkansas	1880	363
California	1880	518
Carolina (North and South)	1910	26,030
Colorado	1900	61
Connecticut	1930	8
Dakota (North and South)	1930	205
Delaware	1900	324
Florida	1930	5,576
Georgia	1930	108,629
Hawaii	1900	10
Idaho	1920	87
Illinois	1920	334
Indiana	1870	2,772
Iowa	1920	1,541
Kansas	1920	873
Kentucky	1900	69
Louisiana	1900	1,833
Maine	1920	3,152
Maryland	1940	3,314
Massachusetts	1900	2
Michigan	1910	33
Minnesota	1880	138
Mississippi	1870	105
Missouri	1900	9,035
Montana	1930	615
Nebraska	1930	358
Nevada	1930	2938
Hampshire (New)	1880	18
Jersey (New)	1900	343
Mexico (New)	1910	89
York (New)	1880	1,415
Ohio	1940	286
Oklahoma	1910	145
Oregon	1900	282
Pennsylvania	1900	53
Rhode Island	1920	4
Tennessee	1880	4,476
Texas	1900	1,445
Utah	1940	419
Vermont	1920	609
Virginia (Virginia and West)	1940	473,973
Washington	1870	21,977
Wisconsin	1920	14
Wyoming	1930	70

Have you ever met anyone actually named, for instance, Pennsylvanian Bullard? Real lady--she appears in the 1920 US Federal Census with her husband Jeff. Here are a few other real people we've come up with who are named after US States:

• Dakota Fanning is a child acting star from Georgia.
• William Faulkner named his first daughter Alabama after his aunt Alabama (Minter 127).
• Nevada Barr is an author whose father named her after a character in a book he liked (MWP).
• Montana McGlynn was a member of the reality TV show The Real World season six.

And because fiction can be more satisfying than real life, here are some fictional characters with US State names:

• Alaska Young in John Green's Looking for Alaska
• Nevada Smith in Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers
• Montana Wildhack in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
• Wyoming Knott in Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
• Arizona Ames in Zane Grey's Arizona Ames.
• The daughter named KIM in Edna Ferber's Showboat:
  

  And as Kim Ravenal you doubtless are familiar with her. It is no secret that the absurd monosyllable which comprises her given name is made up of the first letters of three states - Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri - in all of which she was, incredibly enough, born - if she can be said to have been born in any state at all (Ferber 1).

My favorite "stumble upon" in this search is by far this family:

Were they just patriotic? Or were the parents so pleased to find a like-named soul that they chose to continue the tradition? I suppose we'll never know.

Ferber, Edna. Showboat. G. K. Hall & Co., 1981.
Minter, David. William Faulkner: His Life and Work. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1980.
http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/barr_nevada/index.html