Genealogy Reviews Online

World Digital Library

Early this morning I found an article in the Washington Post about a new effort by the United Nations to create the World Digital Library.  I Tweeted about it, but it seems the Washington Post changed the link and my original Tweet link doesn't work.  I was a little skeptical at first because of the United Nations connection, then I discovered it was really run by various world libraries headed up by the Library of Congress.  I have nothing against the UN in principle - I just think it's a generally ineffective organization.

The Washington Post article discusses the history of the effort, who's involved, etc., I just want to show you some cool things I found:

A history of Genghis Khan written in 1722. 

Apocalypse of Saint John printed in Germany in 1470 (in Latin)

Emigrant's Map and Guide for Routes to North America created in 1853 (in German)

Video of a New York Police Parade created in 1899.

This library is full of maps, photos, manuscripts and has potential as a very good historical resource.  The best part is it's free.

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Resources, Resources, Resources

Access Griffith's Valuation, Irish Wills and Irish Census records on Irish Origins

I received emails this week from a couple of very helpful readers who pointed me to websites that are jam packed with links that could be helpful to genealogists or anyone interested in history.  The first email came from Joy Rich who told me about the U.S. State Historical Societies and State Archives Directory.   This is a great resource that lists historical societies, archives and some genealogy societies for each state.  I randomly went through the site clicking about 15-20 links and they all worked.  After getting this link from Joy, I almost decided not to do the third part of my State Historical Society series since they were all listed in this directory, but I had so much fun exploring the history of each state that I'm going to do it anyway - only now I have an easy way of finding the historical societies I write about.

The second email came from the folks at the Online Education Database who pointed me to a link called 250+ Killer Digital Libraries and Archives.  This is a wonderful resource that lists some state archive sites, but the best part is it includes digital collections from colleges and universities.  I have found that colleges and universities have some of the best online resources for history and genealogy I've seen.  The list isn't all inclusive - some university sites I visit aren't on this list, but there are many others I wasn't aware of so this link is definitely worth a look.

I absolutely love getting email and comments from the few readers I have...especially readers who share tasty resource links like the two above.

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