SEARCH THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC OF 1918 ONLINE
Brenda Kellow
December 9, 2012
A major epidemic hit across the globe during the fall of 1918 and winter of 1919 killing an estimated 650,000 Americans and 50 million people worldwide. Thanks to the University of Michigan established the largest digital collection relating to our influenza epidemic in the United States. In partnership with the University’s Mpublishing, the Center for the History of Medicine created, The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918: A Digital Encyclopedia. This site documents 50 of the hardest hit communities. Its creation allows scholars to explore the communities and sub-communities including how individuals and society reacted to something that extraordinary.
A digital resource of this importance, freely available to everyone, should appeal to historians, public health officials and people in other fields. It is a result of collaboration taking more than five years to complete.
For more information about the project, visit www.influenzaarchive.org or contact [email protected].
IGHR’S WEEK OF COURSES: The Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) provide an educational forum for the discovery, critical evaluation, and use of genealogical sources and methodology through a week of intensive study led by nationally prominent genealogical educators. Students choose one of the offered courses that last throughout the week and that range from a course for beginners to courses on specialized topics. The institute begins at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, June 9, and concludes at 12:00 p.m. Friday, June 14. Registration opens on January 22, 2013 at 10 a.m. For more information on the courses and the Jean Thompson Scholarship, their website is http://www4.samford.edu/schools/ighr/index.html.
BACKUP YOUR DATABASE: We are now on Central Standard Time and have changed the batteries in our smoke detectors. There is one more thing to do the first of each month and that is to back up your hard drive.
LOUISIANA DIGITIZES SLAVE AND FREE BLACK RECORDS: Louisiana is digitizing worn and yellowed 18th century French and Spanish legal papers that give the first historical accounts of slaves and free blacks in North American. See ABC report, http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/colonial-la-records-shed-light-us-history-17589932.
DETERMINING RELATIONSHIPS: What is a first cousin once removed? Do you know the difference between a great-aunt and a grandaunt? I understand these, but I had not heard of a cousin-german or cater cousin until I read the book I bought from Genealogical Publishing Company, Kinship: It’s All Relative by Jackie Smith Arnold. Furthermore, I learned about an agnate and cognate kinship connection. An interesting chapter described an expanded treatment of same-sex marriages and its impact on genealogy and the modern family. Many people have asked me in person and by email to explain this. In this book, you can learn so much about relationships and how to determine such a relationship. This little $14.95 book, greatly expanded from the first edition, certainly warrants a place on my bookshelf.
NEW HAMPSHIRE AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE MUSEUM CLOSES: It is customary for it to close from November to April, but recent financial difficulties do not guarantee reopening in the spring. Donations come from sponsors and donors and it has been running at a deficit for the last couple of years. The museum is housed in the National Landmark property of the Ladd-Gilman House built in 1721 and the Folsom Tavern built in 1775.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].