JUNE
12, 2008 MEETING NOTES
BEAU
SHARBROUGH ON FOOTNOTE.COM
Footnote
is the place to view historical documents online. It is fee
based ($60
a year)
but one can explore the site before deciding to join. Its
strength is
in
providing the actual images of documents. You can search indices
of
millions of
documents for free but if you want to see or download the images
there
is a
small fee. NOTE: If you are at NARA or
Family
Search, it
is free!)
It
is interactive and you can upload scans of your own documents.
There
are
200,000 registered users who also make regular contributions. This
content is
not prejudged but may be edited by other members. If you see a
document
of
interest you can attach annotations to it. You can also have a
personal
gallery
of your information and images.
The
scope of Footnote is huge! It now includes images of British
censuses,
military
records, veteran pension records, immigration records, petitions
for
citizenship, declarations, naturalizations and some slave
emancipation
documents, images of vital records, (some of which include
relationships that
you cannot find elsewhere,) City Directories: Military and
immigration
records,
especially Revolutionary War and Civil War records. Some mortality
schedules
(which are not easy to find.) The 1860 Federal Census is now
online
(and more
are coming.)
Beau
showed a searchable image of the Viet Nam Wall Memorial and when
searched it
provides an enlargement of the name. Very impressive!
The
site has partnered with NARA,
Family
Search,
Allen County Public Library and the Pennsylvania
Archives and
many others.
(There
is a 7-day free trial but the seven days start as soon as you sign
up.)
To
get a free tour of Footnote go to http://www.footnote.com/tour.php