What has more than 600 metal drawers each containing around 1000 cards? Stacks and stacks of yearbooks and church directories? Boxes full of records from all over the tri-state area of southern Indiana/Kentucky/Illinois? And a whole lot more that I'm not even aware of??
The Browning Genealogy library!
I work part time for this enterprise started by the owner of a local funeral home. It is linked with the local library system as an on-line resource for genealogy. http://browning.evcpl.lib.in.us/
I help with the "indexing" of these cards on the Local History Database part of the site. I type in names and information from high school yearbooks, church directories, and newspaper clipings together with the photos, and make them available on-line. The cards are first made by others, scanned into the computer, and then connected to the main site.
It has only been available on-line for a few years and there is a lot of information to be added coming in all the time! The Browning family is very dedicated to this work that their father started.
World War II records for the Evansville area. .....copies of every newspaper clipping from the war years about local men and women.
Old city directories.Willard Library is another link in the genealogy connections for this area. I posted them in my first My World post.
Fortunately for me, I get to work at home :-) All I need is a computer and the connecting links. That's "my world" when I'm not blogging!.....or quilting....or taking photos.
For more of "My World" from all over the world....click on the link on my sidebar.
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26 comments:
Oh, wow, Mary--this is interesting. I am going to have to check out the link you gave.
For the alphabet meme, I think I will assign you the letter B--since you take so many bird pictures.
Rose: You're fast...I just left that comment a couple minutes ago!
Looks like a really interesting place!
Mary: Such a wonderful look at a view of history in the making or gathering. This is a good thing you do for your town.
what an amazing piece of work! Thanks for the info.
Wow Mary.. That is NEAT. I have been doing Family History over the past few years--so I am very interested in knowing where to go to find information. Are there libraries like that in every state????
Hugs,
Betsy
Thanks everyone!
Betsy: I would guess you have a library of some sort with genealogy stuff. Try goggling it! Willard Library here is a very good source and the Brownings are making all this other information available. I like that this stuff is all going on the computer and you don't have to go in and study micro film to see it. His early record keeping is crude in spots, but there is still a lot there to find for those interested.
Hi Mary, this is a very interesting post since I'm into genealogy. Is this information online? I had family in that area and I wonder about queries?
Marnie
So interesting Mary, that you work there part time. I'd love to visit there and look up stuff.
Thanks Mary... I'll check it out.
Hugs,
Betsy
This sounds like it could be interesting, especially when links between people happen. What a lot of cards are filed there!
Thanks for the glimpse of your online genealogy work. It's fascinating that so much information is becoming available online. Thanks for doing your part.
This looks like a fun and interesting place to work. If I had any ancestors that had lived in your area, I'd know where to go.
That must be interesting work! Looks like you have a lot of data stored there!
What an interesting job to have, with a lot more information than reading tombstones. I bet you could gather enough information for many a novel.
Doing the work isn't that interesting....all I do is type names and places over and over. Willard Library is a big link in this area for genealogy and they have some records on-line and lots of them in books and micro film. This Browning library is being funded by the local library and the Brownings, and anything we manage to get on-line helps. Mr. Browning kept very good records of deaths in the area since he owned a funeral home and was a WWII vet so that was a special interest also. The computerization of all this stuff started before I came on board, but it is on-going....and always behind! People keep giving them records of all sorts and we keep struggling to get it all in the computer somehow. They are looking for ways to improve the process all the time, but it is expensive to make changes. If you had relatives in the Evansville area, you can try the site and see what you find, but there is so much that is not on the computer! Check out the site link and see what you find, is all I can tell you.
That's amazing. What a great service to the community from this family. And you, too, for your part in it.
I never realized just how much dedicated work goes into gathering and publishing genealogy work. Gary and I worked on my familys genealogy a few years ago, and thanks to all the folks that spent hours and hours of their time putting together all the facts, I found out so much about my great grandparents that I never knew exhisted till I began this task.
I admire you for doing what you do.
B.
There are a lot of thankful people out there for people like you. You have a very important job. Thanks for putting the time in to make it easy for all of us to access information. Love your animals photos too!
What an impressive job - I love that history is preserved!!
It sound like a really complicated lot of work goes into this Mary.
That is very fun to see Mary! You are so lucky to be able to work from home!
Thanks everyone, but I do get paid to do this work, so I'm not as altruistic as you all make me sound :-)
Eve: I love working at home, although the whole time I type, my mind is saying "I wonder if there are interesting birds outside right now that I'm missing???" Instead of "coffee breaks", I take bird watching breaks :-)
goodness..that's fascinating! imagine, tracing back ancestors from years and years ago. I would definitely would like to know more them. It's admirable that some people can actually do that and be dedicated with the work.
Marites: Many people really enjoy searching for their ancestors and information. My family goes back to Germany and I have never really tried to trace them.
I lost a bunch of geneaological records in a computer crash. Most I have somewhere on paper, but have to redo. This is a fine resource for those with connections in your area.
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