Monday, March 26, 2012

Final reactions

Last week there was a student teacher in the library with the supervising language arts teacher.  They were preparing to have eighth grade students write persuasive essays and wanted to know if I would have adequate resources for the project.  I showed them Sirs Researcher and how it shows pros and cons for hot topics.  They were THRILLED and said it was just what they needed to meet their objective.
Because of this online challenge, I had the proper resource ready and at hand.
What a good feeling.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Heritage Quest

I used PERSI to look up Prairie County in Montana, which is where I grew up.  I found a list of military records in the Journal of the Little Big Horn Associates.  When I selected one article, I was prompted to fill out a request form.  I did not go any further.  I can see that this would be useful for someone who will take the time to complete serious research.

I did another search using US Serial Set.  I found 165 articles in a search for Pomeroy.  However, when I opened an article I couldn't find the name Pomeroy anywhere in the text of it.  I'm not sure why the article was selected with my search criteria.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Ancestry Library

When searching for my exact name, I didn't find any results.  When I took out my middle name and took changed exact match to the default settings, I found over 31,000 results.  I sorted the results by category and looked at the category for U.S. Civil War Soldiers.  It was quite interesting to see the records of the soldiers.

I did a search for my father's name.  I found information about his birth and death in the Social Security Death Index.  It was a little scary that this information is listed and so easily accessible.

When I looked at the census information for my father it sort of sends tingles up my spine.  I've never really been interested in genealogy, but it is very cool to see information just pop up that relates to my family and even who their neighbors were.  I can see how a person could lose track of time and spend hours exploring.

When I searched photos and maps, I found over 3,000,000 results.  I opened one photo of a person who was from South Dakota, but the photo was taken during World War I.  I am anxious to do more searches and see what I find.  This could be addictive.

CAMIO

I found pictures of several items made by Paul Revere and even a few by his son.  OK on closer look, the birth dates for Paul Revere Jr. and Paul Revere are the same, so I guess they are one in the same person. There is quite a variety of items.  I looked at the drawing and at a spoon.  Wouldn't it be cool to own a spoon created by Paul Revere?  Is this where Revereware originated?  Now I'm rambling, or should I call it blogging?  I really enjoy this site.  The tea set is exquisite.

When I looked up Sioux, I narrowed the search to Lakota.  The items are very colorful and interesting.  Some are quite old and some (the baby bonnet) are fairly modern.

I looked up Picasso since I really don't have a favorite artist.  The results were very interesting.  This is a great way to experience his unique style.

I am anxious to share this resource with the art teachers.  I looked up masks since one art teacher does a unit on them in collaboration with social studies classes and she often sends students to the library to find images in books and on the internet.  This could be a great resource for her.  It would be very easy to create a slide show to share with students using the favorites feature.

Monday, March 5, 2012

ArchiveGrid

There was good background information in the notes and summaries for the autograph card of Sitting Bull. The information is quite brief and easy to read.  It would be interesting to see the actual autograph card.  I clicked on the link to Cornell University Library and I could see the record for it, but not the actual autograph cad.  I had hoped since it was digitized, it might be visible, but all I see is the record for it.

I also looked up George Armstrong Custer.  The materials listed look fascinating!  What a great way to find primary resources.  Just knowing that such records exist is pretty cool.