Archive for November, 2010

Weekend at the Museum: First Ladies at the Smithsonian


With all the political excitement that the month of November brings, I thought this would be a good time to share this exhibit with you.  The live exhibition at the Smithsonian is one of the museum’s most visited.  It features 24 dresses worn by First Ladies including the one worn by Michelle Obama.

You can also view the collection online at the Smithsonian’s website.  According to the site, the main gallery displays 14 dresses worn by Grace Coolidge, Jackie Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Helen Taft while the new “A First Lady’s Debut” gallery includes 11 gowns worn by first ladies from Mamie Eisenhower to Michelle Obama.

Visit the online exhibit HERE


Thanksgiving Greetings


On the back of this postcard is an address: Mr. Lou White, Sea Bright, New Jersey.  If you’ve never been there, I can tell you that Sea Bright is a lovely seaside town littered with beach clubs. Many of the houses in the area were around when Mr. White lived there.  A simple note: From Henrietta appears in the “For Correspondence” side of the card.  The postmark states that the postal service canceled the stamp on November 29, 1911 in New York, New York.

I haven’t researched Henrietta’s identity, but it’s possible this card was on it’s way to Louis White who according to the 1900 Federal Census lived in Shrewsbury Township, New Jersey.  He was 88 years of age.

President William Howard Taft declared November 30, 1911 as Thanksgiving Day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

National Listening Day


Sure the day after Thanksgiving is known in shopping circles as Black Friday, but it’s also a big day for listening.  November 26, 2010 is National Listening Day. Storycorps, the group that suggests you share a story promotes the idea. This year after getting those holiday deals, sit down with a family member or friend and record their life story.  All you need is a list of questions and a digital tape recorder.  A video camera would be great too.  The only thing I want for the holidays this year is for my mother to tell me about the key moments of her life.  Now that’s a gift worth saving!

If you don’t know what you ask, check out the StoryCorps website.  They have lots of suggestions.  Oh…don’t forget to bring some photos with you. They are great memory triggers.

Weekend at the Museum: Milestones of Flight


I spend a fair amount of time on airplanes, so I find The National Air and Space Museum exhibit featuring some of the original aircraft in aviation and space history fascinating.  From the first successful airplane (The Wright Flyer) in 1903 to the first privately developed, piloted vehicle to reach space (SpaceShipOne), the museum shows us the milestones of flight. Where were you when some of these vehicles were launched?

Also, the online exhibit celebrates Sputnik and The Explorer and the first 50 years of the space age. It’s amazing to see some of the inventions of the last century.  I really hope you enjoy this exhibit as much as I did.


Survey Results: What’s the Oldest Photo in Your Collection?


The votes are now tallied.  Here are the numbers:

100% of survey takers have photos of their parents.

100% have photos of their grandparents

95% have photos of their great-grandparents

77.6 % have images of their great-great-grandparents.

I still looking at the answers to the question, “What’s the oldest photo in your collection?” The majority of answers mentioned images from the 1880s with another group claiming no photos before 1900.  Only a few people mentioned images from the 1850s.

Thank you very much for taking the time to participate in the survey!!

Weekend at the Museum: Portrait of Black Chicago


“From June through October 1973 and briefly during the spring of 1974, John H. White, a 28-year-old photographer with the Chicago Daily News, worked for the federal government photographing Chicago, especially the city`s African American community.”

The online exhibit, found HERE, shows pictures that White took for the EPA’s DOCUMERICA project 1971-77. The project paid photographers $150 plus expenses to go out and capture “subjects of environmental concern.” It presents a rich documentary of scenery and suburban sprawl, life on Indian reservations, small Midwestern towns and inner cities. The photographers of these images received full credit for their work in this government program.

I encourage you to visit the online exhibit and experience the awesome work of John H. White who was tasked with photographing Chicago in 1977. He won numerous awards for his work. The most prestigious award being the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1982.

Why I Love my Flip-Pal


I generally don’t brag about products and services, but I just can’t stop talking about the Flip-pal scanner.  Here’s why.

When I opened the box I was surprised to the brightly colored packaging. I don’t know what I expected to see, but the whole appearance was so friendly looking.

I removed the package from the shipping container and thought “ Oh No, it’s one of those impossible to open plastic boxes.”  Not so.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how easily I could remove the scanner from the container.

I love the weight and size of the scanner. It’s small enough and light enough to carry in a large handbag. Since there are no external cords, it’s perfect for travel. I took it with me to an event last night and scanned a photo on the spot in about a minute. 600 dpi jpg in a moment.

Lifted up the lid and saw the sample photo. Great reminder of just how large the scanning surface is.

Once you’ve scanned an image you can preview it on the tiny screen near the buttons and menu that let you select resolution, set the date, and other things.

When I want to upload images, I use the memory card (like the ones found in digital camera’s) and insert it in the USB drive.  Upload is easy-peasy.

You can scan larger images using the stitch feature. Remove the cover and flip the scanner upside down on the oversize print. The see-through base lets you see what part of the picture you’re actually scanning. No guess-work.

Now that cases are available, I bought one. This little gem is going with me everywhere!

Don’t expect it to work like a dedicated bigger scanners such as the Epson in my office.  It reads the glass in cased images rather the daguerreotype or ambrotype, but for most types of images this is perfect for the genealogist on the go.

Did  I mention the price? $149.99.

Alan’s Letters…A Sweet Little Book


Author Nancy E. Rial gave me a copy of her book, Alan’s Letters. I finally got a chance to look it over. It’s beautifully done. Nancy transcribed letters from her uncle Sgt. Alan Lowell and created a illustrated story of his World War II years. If you ever wondered what you could do with one of your family stories, take a look at Nancy’s book and the website for it. You’ll be inspired!

What’s the Oldest Photo in Your Collection?


A few weeks ago, the New England Historic Genealogical Society published the results to a family photo survey in their e-news. I immediately thought…so why didn’t I think of doing that type of survey? Well, thanks to Survey Monkey I can. Now I want to know a little bit more about your photo collection. Does it stop with your grandparents or go back into the age of the daguerreotype? You can take my five question survey by following this link.. Results will be tallied on November 17th.

Members of NEHGS had more photos of their great-grandparents than they did of their parents or grandparents. It was a slight advantage of four percentage points, but I was a bit surprised. After all, think about the number of amateur photographers in our families. Very interesting!