ProQuest has announced that remote access to Ancestry Library Edition will continue through the end of July 2020. You must use your library card login to your public library to access the database.
Monday, June 29, 2020
Monday, June 22, 2020
MyHeritage Photo Enhancer Goes Viral: One Million Photos Already Enhanced!
This was just received from Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage.com.
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I’m pleased to share that in just a week and a half since launch, the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer has gone viral, with over ONE MILLION ENHANCED PHOTOS!
We’ve received amazing feedback from users who are excited, impressed, and even moved to tears as they see their family members in crystal-clear focus. One user commented that this feature “has enabled me to ‘know’ my grandparents in a way that I could not have otherwise.”
Read our blog to see more reactions to the new Photo Enhancer, and to see the striking examples of enhanced photos that users have been sharing on social media.
Friday, June 19, 2020
MyHeritage Continues Free Access to a Different Collection Each Day of June
MyHeritage announced earlier this month that they are making an historical record collection free each day in June 2020.
The following is a link to their blog post naming all the collections available each day this week and the remainder of the end of the month.
https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/06/dont-miss-this-weeks-free-record-collections/
You do not want to miss this opportunity to freely access these great collections!MyHeritage has announced that they are making an historical record collection free each day in June 2020. The following is a link to their blog post naming all the collections available each day from this week through the end of the month. You do not want to miss this opportunity to freely access these great collections to expand your research!
The following is a link to their blog post naming all the collections available each day this week and the remainder of the end of the month.
https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/06/dont-miss-this-weeks-free-record-collections/
Friday, June 12, 2020
MyHeritage Announces Photo Enhancer
We have received this announcement from MyHeritage and we wanted to share it with you.
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I’m excited to announce the release of the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer — an incredible new feature that brings blurry faces in any photo into sharp focus. Photos are enhanced using specialized technology that produces outstanding, high-definition results. Please share this news with your followers!
Perhaps you have old photos that look grainy or blurred, or photos of large family gatherings with many faces that are too small to recognize clearly. The MyHeritage Photo Enhancer aims to solve these age-old problems and produces phenomenal results that let you see your ancestors more clearly than ever before.
This feature uses deep learning technology that was licensed by MyHeritage and seamlessly integrated into the platform to enhance photos by upscaling them (increasing their resolution).
Watch the video to see this feature in action, and feel free to share the video or embed it with the following code:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/
You can enhance your photos and colorize them with MyHeritage In Color™, as these two features complement each other. Like colorized photos, enhanced photos are differentiated from the originals using a special embossed symbol, and enhancement does not modify your original photos. The addition of the Photo Enhancer makes MyHeritage the best platform for uploading, enhancing, and sharing historical photos, bar none.
To enhance your photos, visit the My Photos section of your family site, click on any photo in your albums, and then click Enhance. You can also use the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer page to upload photos to MyHeritage and enhance them, or scan your photos using the free MyHeritage mobile app.
Please find more information about the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer below:
Press release: https://www.businesswire.com/
Blog post (including great examples): https://blog.myheritage.com/
We hope that you enjoy enhancing your photos. Please spread the word about this amazing new feature and encourage your audience to try it too and share their enhanced photos with family and friends.
Best regards,
Daniel Horowitz
Genealogy Expert
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
MyHeritage Makes Free Access to a Different Collection Each Day of June
https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/06/free-collections-on-myheritage-this-week/
Friday, June 5, 2020
Genealogy Guys Podcast Named Among 101 Best Websites for 2020
The Genealogy Guys have been named as one of the 101 Best Genealogy Websites by Family Tree Magazine. We are very honored once again and thank the editors of the magazine.
For the full list of all the websites, visit https://www.familytreemagazine.com/best-genealogy-websites/.
RELIVE PAST REUNIONS & CREATE THIS YEAR’S - VIRTUALLY - WITH VIVID-PIX
This press release was received from Vivid-Pix
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VIVID-PIX BRINGS BACK FAMILY MEMORIES --
RELIVE PAST REUNIONS & CREATE THIS YEAR’S -- VIRTUALLY
Vivid-Pix AI Photo Restoration Software Instantly Restores Old Photos
Before
After
June 4, 2020, Savannah, GA -- Vivid-Pix brings back family reunion memories while making new ones. Family reunions may be different this year, but Vivid-Pix RESTORE patented AI image restoration software will help you relive past reunions and virtually create this year’s reunion. Vivid-Pix instantly brings your treasured, old photos back to life and with these tips to plan a virtual reunion, you can connect with family members and friends when you aren’t able to meet in person. With Vivid-Pix technology, make this a year to remember and share with future generations.
Relive Yesterday’s Memories and Plan a Virtual Reunion
Vivid-Pix and Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective®, have collaborated to put together everything you need to hold a virtual reunion. Learn more at https://vivid-pix.com/solutions.
“Many of us are stuck at home, missing events that we love and look forward to. A beloved photo from years past, faded with time, and revived with Vivid-Pix RESTORE makes us feel more connected. With photos and meeting apps, we can communicate with our families to relive history and make new memories,” states Rick Voight, CEO, Vivid-Pix.
“Photographs from family reunions provide successive generations with a sense of identity, connection, and belonging,” says Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective®. “Every reunion, my husband’s family poses for a family portrait. That’s 60 years of tradition captured in a photographic time capsule. These images inspire younger generations to ask questions about those relatives.”
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| Family Reunion Photo (~1910) - Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective® |
Family Photography is Key to Maintaining Family History
Family photos from the past are a critical component in maintaining history for generations to come. Gordon Clarke, Strategic Solution Manager for the non-profit organization FamilySearch International, the world’s largest genealogy organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently talked about the importance of organizing and restoring photos to trace family roots. Gordon said, “There’s all the photos out there that are lost. And you look at writings on the back of photos, albums that get destroyed by floods, and weather, and heat. There’s just so much valuable information; that the information that is in people’s homes is just as important, or even more important, than the information that is in archives and libraries and government record storing facilities. So it’s a natural outgrowth to start looking at: ‘How do we help people preserve digitally, not only the photo, but the story surrounding the photo, the people, the events?’”
“Photos are a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone”
Kim S. Harrison, a Vice President of the Phoenix, Arizona-based West Valley Genealogical Society and formerly with Ancestry.com, believes that the rush of feelings that come forward from a photo is priceless. “I came across this wonderful quote, ‘Photos are a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone,’” Shares Kim. “I do feel the quote sums up my feelings as I go through boxes and boxes of old photos. It is a passport to past memories. Extra special since so many family members are no longer with us. Photos are priceless!”
About Vivid-Pix®
Vivid-Pix RESTORE is the one-stop solution for family historians, genealogists, archivists, hobbyists, and more. Utilizing patented image science and artificial intelligence, RESTORE instantly restores old faded photos and documents, including scanned prints, slides, glass plates, tintypes, letters, journals, records, newspaper clippings, family memoirs, and holiday cards while providing image organization, editing, and searchable IPTC and EXIF-compliant metadata tagging.
Vivid-Pix RESTORE is available for Mac and Windows for $49.99 at: https://vivid-pix.com/restore/buy.html, with a no-credit-card-required free trial at: https://vivid-pix.com/restore/free-trial.html. The U.S. Patent Office has awarded a patent to Vivid-Pix for its image processing techniques used to automatically correct faded images. For more information, see: https://vivid-pix.com/
About Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective®
Maureen Taylor is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the United States, London, and Canada. She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and has appeared on The View and The Today Show, where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira. Maureen’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website. She also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles, and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. For more information, see: https://maureentaylor.com/
Press Contact:Karen Thomas/Eva Yutani, Thomas PR
(631) 549-7575
Photos:
Old Family Reunion Group Photo - Before & After with Vivid-Pix: http://www.thomas-pr.com/136/photos/vividpixoldfamilyreunion.html
Family Reunion Group Photo - Before Vivid-Pix: http://www.thomas-pr.com/136/photos/vividpixfamilyreunionbefore.html
Family Reunion Group Photo - After Vivid-Pix: http://www.thomas-pr.com/136/photos/vividpixfamilyreunionafter.html
Children next to Fireplace – Photo Restored with Vivid-Pix: http://www.thomas-pr.com/136/photos/vividpixchildrennexttofireplace.html
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
MyHeritage Introduces Cross-Language Record Matches
Just received from MyHeritage.com
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Greetings!
I’m delighted to share the news of an exciting, innovative, and exclusive technology now available on MyHeritage.
As many genealogists already know, MyHeritage is the website of choice for international genealogy, particularly in Europe. It is also extremely useful for U.S. genealogists whose ancestors arrived in the U.S. from other countries. This strength comes from the fact that MyHeritage is translated into 42 languages and is the most popular genealogy website in most non-English speaking countries, as well as having millions of international users who built family trees found only on MyHeritage, exclusive global record collections, and unique technology for overcoming language barriers.
We are working constantly to improve the technologies on MyHeritage even further and today, we’re delighted to announce a significant innovation: our Global Name Translation Technology™ has been extended to apply to Record Matches as well!
Individuals researching their heritage often face a language barrier when researching their ancestors who lived in another country. MyHeritage pioneered Global Name Translation Technology™ to help users overcome this barrier, by automatically translating names between languages. This unique capability, originally conceived by MyHeritage’s Founder and CEO, allows users to locate records that mention their ancestors in different and often unexpected languages (as well as in synonyms in each language). Initially, this was available in our search engine, SuperSearch™, and has now been extended to automatic Record Matches as well.
For example, if you search for an ancestor you know as Alexander, the algorithm may uncover a Spanish record where his name is listed as Alejandro (a Spanish version of Alexander), or a Russian record with the name written Александр in Cyrillic characters (the Russian way to write Alexander), or its common Russian nickname Саша (Sasha).
With this new addition, translated Record Matches are now calculated on an ongoing basis, and you’ll receive matches with historical records and family tree profiles in other languages. When you view them, the names will be conveniently spelled out using your own alphabet. You may already have noticed some records from other languages appearing in your matches.
This feature will help you easily locate records that would otherwise have been very difficult for you to find.
This unique technology is only available on MyHeritage and works hand in hand with our huge database of international records.
Please help spread the word to your audience so they can be on the lookout for these new and improved matches.
You can read more about and see examples of Cross-Language Record Matches on our blog, and see what some of our users have already begun saying about it. Please use the visual above.
Enjoy and stay safe,
Genealogy Expert
Monday, June 1, 2020
35,000 Members in The Genealogy Squad!
The Genealogy Squad Facebook group has just passed another milestone. We now have over 35,000 members and continue growing.
The mission of the Genealogy Squad Facebook group is to provide a positive space for the sharing of appropriate and reliable methods and resources to assist genealogists at all levels. We focus on answering questions and solving problems, while demonstrating best practices in all aspects of genealogical research. We do not discuss DNA in this group. Rather, Questions relating to the use of DNA testing are better suited for the Facebook group, Genetic Genealogy Tips & Techniques.
To join The Genealogy Squad, visit the site and request to be added. You'll be asked to answer a few questions to confirm that you are not a robot. The Administrators will then approve you. Please do not invite others to the group. Each person must personally request to join. Invited persons will be deleted.
Our Administrators are The Genealogy Guys (George G. Morgan and Drew Smith), Cyndi Ingle (of Cyndi's List), and Cari Taplin, CG. Our combined experience and expertise can answer questions, help with difficult challenges, and provide resources to extend your research.
We hope you will join us!
Genealogy Guys Learn - Current Content and New Addition for June 2020
The Genealogy Guys Learn subscription website is created and presented by The Genealogy Guys, George G. Morgan and Drew Smith, hosts of The Genealogy Guys Podcast, the world's longest-running genealogical podcast. We also publish The Genealogy Guys Blog to keep our listeners informed between podcast episodes.
We have just added a new item to Genealogy Guys Learn for the month of June 2020. The new content is a written course, "Seven Essential Research Strategies", that we are sure you will enjoy.
If you are considering subscribing, here is a list of the courses currently online at the site and planned for the near future.
The Genealogy Guys Learn site contains two types of content: written lessons and videos, plus other resources. We add new learning content each month so there is always something new to help you expand your research.
Our written courses currently include:
- Basic Genealogical Research (6 lessons)
- Intermediate Genealogical Research (4 lessons)
- Using the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) (5 lessons)
- Using Libraries’ and Archives’ Catalogs Effectively (6 lessons)
- Wills and Probate Packet (4 lessons)
- U.S. Military Records (7 lessons covering records for different conflicts)
- International Classification of Diseases (4 lessons)
- Swedish Household Examination Books
- Introduction to Anglican Parish Records in England (3 lessons)
- Clues from the Graveyard (3 lessons)
- Dower Law: A Case Study (5 lessons)
- Five Reasons the Records Aren't in the Courthouse (7 lessons)
- Develop Your Ancestor's Story
- Seven Essential Research Strategies (7 lessons) (NEW for June 2020)
- Digitized Historic Maps
- Circular Genealogy
- Developing Ancestor Stories with Diverse Evidence
- Our Ancestors' Migration Patterns: The Push and Pull Effect
Our current videos (and length) include:
- Introduction to Genealogy (1:35:05)
- Principles of Effective Evidence Analysis (1:17:04)
- Organizing Your Research Process (27:35)
- All About the U.S. Federal Census (1:27:41)
- U.S. Agricultural Census Schedules (45:28)
- Additional Records: Beyond the Basics (1:04:00)
- Genealogy Orienteering (42:07) - Using Maps
- Finding Archived Newspapers (39:29)
- Dissect Obituaries for New Clues (1:30:04)
- Clues in the News: Your Ancestors in Community Context (1:04:35)
- Colonial & Early American Land Records (56:36)
- Understanding Copyright and Plagiarism (24:25)
- Laying Out Clues in Funeral Home Records (41:24)
- Using MyHeritage.com (53:59)
- Maximizing Your Use of FamilySearch.org (1:18:28)
- Getting Past Brick Walls (59:31)
- Locating & Ordering English & Welsh BMDs (1:00:10)
- Bring 'Em Back to Life: Creating an Ancestor Profile (1:05:09)
- Transitioning to a Professional Full-Time Career (33:13)
- Tutorials for Vivid-Pix RESTORE for the PC (Vendor's Tutiorial Videos)
- Planning a Successful Cemetery Research Trip (1:13:23)
- Using Multiple Websites in Tandem to Solve Problems (1:00:57)
- Before You Test: DNA Basics You Need to Know (43:13)
- Using Multiple Websites in Tandem to Solve Problems (1:00:57)
- Stereographs and Vintage Postcards (22:31)
- U.S. Naturalization Process 1790-1954 (59:21)
- 25 Places Where Your Family's Facts May Hide (44:03)
- Your Ancestor's FAN Club: Using Cluster Research to Get Past Brick Walls (Length TBD)
- Organizing Your Research Files (Length TBD)
- Organizing Your Research Trip (Length TBD)
- Crowdsourcing Brick Walls (Length TBD)
- Interview Absolutely Everyone! (TBD)
Go to the Genealogy Guys Learn website to subscribe. You'll learn and expand your research each month!
HAPPY HUNTING!
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