Photo: Old House

I have been busy scanning old photos into my computer from my grandfather’s collection, a collection which spans many years and locations. As mentioned yesterday, it is difficult to pinpoint dates and locations for many of these photos. Today I’m asking the proverbial needle in a haystack type question – any idea where this old house is located? Has anyone seen it before? The only real clue I can give is that it’s located in Australia – yeah, it’s a very large haystack. There must be some history associated with that building I would say.

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Article: How to Save Old Photographs

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Latest Site News

Tracing our History is now very close to completing its move to the new domain http://tracingourhistory.com . In fact I will soon be removing most of the content from the old site and simply leaving a redirection URL on the main page. There are just a few more things to do before I can make the move complete.

I have now got the ‘history’ section of the site up and running – currently there are a few links not working quite right, but it is very close to being finished – with the exception of the local history part of the page (but that won’t be too long).

http://tracingourhistory.com/history.html

I have issued 8 usernames and passwords to the private/secure section of the site, allowing these family members access to the family history book and eventually the tree and various other files that will be stored there. So things are moving along nicely I think.

Once the site is fully operational my attention will turn to work on headstones/cemeteries and trying to get a better system up on the site for those. I am also continuing to work away at the family history database and getting all of that information sorted out properly.

New Site Coming Together

Work on the new site is proceeding well. I have now got the front page right (I think) and have also uploaded a new page called ‘Family Anthology.’ Basically it takes the articles relating to the family (and penned by the family) from the former library page and puts them in a section of the site by themselves, thus separating them from the history section of the site. I also think the new and improved pages for each of the articles are far better than the old. This section is up and running
at:

http://tracingourhistory.com/library/libraryarchive.html

Have a peek at the new site at:
http://tracingourhistory.com

Tracing our History: New Domain Name

I have just registered the domain name tracingourhistory.com for my family history site. I will no longer be updating the old site at http://particularbaptist.com/matthewshistory/index.html .

So what does this mean? You will need to continue to use the old site for the next couple of months while I build the new site/transfer files. When the work is completed I will add a link to the new site (at the old site) directing users to it. This work will need to be completed by June 2011, for this is when I will no longer have an account at the current host. The new domain, tracingourhistory.com, will be on a new host site. This will save me a fair amount of money over time.

The new site will bring all the sites associated with my family history under the same name of ‘Tracing our History.’ This name takes the focus of any one particular surname such as Blanch, Lilley or Matthews, and allows the user of my site to look at all the surnames being researched without bias to any one in particular. I want to be able to include all of the family in my collaborative and interactive research site/s.

By doing this I am hoping to establish the next step in my family history research and provide a much better tool for my family and those family members yet to come.

You will be able to follow my progress on the new site by visiting the tracingourhistory.com site. This Blog will also follow progress on the site and the feed is also on the old site.

Site Updates

Just some minor news regarding the site and associated sites – yes, I have been doing a little work over there.

I have removed the old guestbook and several links to what are now obsolete portions of the site/other sites. These include the old guestbook which had been bombarded with spam and the Yahoo mail groups which are long gone. I have now incorporated a page on the ‘Tracing Our History’ Blog for use as a Guestbook.

There have also been some minor changes to various content on the main page, as well as the addition of various sharing ‘buttons’ at the top of the page, such as sharing on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter, posting to Digg, etc.

More Photos

I have finally managed to get hold of a digital image copier, which I don’t think accurately captures what the device does. It doesn’t copy digital images, but copies slides and film (or scans them) to make digital images/photos.

I have quite a number of old slides that belonged to my grandfather, that I am now hoping to scan before they are forever ruined. Many have been damaged my moisture over the years – so I am not completely sure just how many I can save. I’m hoping to save at least some of them.

I now have a lot more storage room for my digital files (including photos, videos, etc) – in fact I have a whole terabyte of space. This means I can store something like 200 000 photos, or 250 000 MP3s, or 120 hours of HD video.

Break is Over … Now Back to Work

I have always found with genealogy that it is hard to stay on mission as it were. Every so often I just seem to have this need to take a break from it all and then find it difficult to get started again. This is where I have been over the last few months.

Once I get started again, all moves along well for a time – usually 12-18 months, before I need to take another break – which will end up going for about 6 months and then the cycle begins again.

I now have a desire to get back into the work and to make some changes to the way I do genealogy. These are changes that have gradually been worked out in my mind (during my break and before it) and I now feel it time to implement. These are changes that I hope will prove far better in the long run for all concerned.

So what are these changes going to involve:

• I hope to put the family tree itself (and the book on our family history) behind the secure walls of a password protected web-based genealogical application. This will allow the information contained therein to be more private and secure.

• I also hope, by placing the family tree into a web-based genealogical application, to open up the possibility of increased interaction between relatives that barely (if ever) see each other and to allow a process of collaboration on our family history – after all, it is not just my family history that I am seeking to preserve.

• I am also hoping that by doing the above, our family history will ‘be owned’ by many more individual members of our family than it currently is. There are just so many ways that we can work together to preserve our family history for our own families and for generations to come. I don’t think family history preservation should be left at a family tree, a book and some photos – it can also include documents, individual stories, local history, etc. All these things can come together and complete our family history, making it more meaningful for those who are yet to come.

• I am hoping to further develop the Grou.ps community that I have already established, and also to eliminate the old Yahoo mail groups that I once used in conjunction with the website.

• I would also like to get a family history newsletter for our family going again.

These are just some of the things I’m keen to get working on.