By Dylan Staley

“Isn’t Genealogy Fun? The answer to one problem leads to two more.” – Anonymous

Genealogy, the study of one’s lines of descent or development, is often a tedious task: one must search through hundreds of documents; find certificates of birth, death, marriage, and divorce; and then compile all this information in something easy to read and understand.

That thing is usually a family tree.

Everyone knows what a family tree is. Think back to kindergarten, when your teacher had you draw a tree with your grandparents as the roots, your parents as the trunk, and you and your siblings as the branches of the tree.. It was fun, because you knew these people, and you knew how they were related (and because in kindergarten, family trees actually resembled their real-life counterparts). That’s because it didn’t seem like these people were in the witness protection program.

Tracing back you lineage farther than your great grandparents can prove difficult. By this point, those who actually know who you’re looking for will, ahem, have been put to pasture. It is then up to you to trace your lineage through the paper trail of certificates of birth and death, marriage and divorce, and even immigration records. It’s often too time consuming for the average hobbyist to research find and record all this information.

This is where using Web 2.0, the idea that the internet should be open and collaborative, comes into play. By using this ideology, building your family tree is as easy as asking someone who their mother was. Using a Web 2.0 service simulates having your family around you, and working together to fill out your family tree. As others are added, they become a part of the conversation, adding their input and helping to fill out their branch of the tree. The more people you add to the tree, the more information you have access to. At some point, you realize that you are not alone, and that your family is there to help you.

Geni is a web based family tree maker that is using the idea of Web 2.0 and collaboration to make finding your long lost relatives easier. Geni, built by some of the people that brought you PayPal, eGroups, eBay, and Tribe, allows you to work with your family members on building your family tree. So, you may not know your second great grandmother’s husband’s name, but your grandmother’s sister may know, and Geni provides the platform to allow this knowledge to travel the great distances that often separate families.

When you add someone to your tree on Geni, you can also choose to add their email address. Then, they will be able to collaborate on their side of the family tree. Just think, if all of your relatives were to map out their family trees up to their grandparents, your tree would grow exponentially.

Geni also allows you to create complete profiles on any of your family members, including dates of birth, death, marriage and divorce, and other important events; locations of birth and current residence; schools attended and more. Geni provides a simple to use interface that makes genealogy fun and simple (not to mention addictive).

Geni isn’t only about building your family tree with your family. It also provides ample methods to share other things with your relatives, such as important dates in your children’s lives, photos of the family reunion (that only half of them even bothered to R.S.V.P. for), and that video of your daughter taking her first steps. Geni provides the tools to share what’s important to you with your family, and discover just who exactly that is.

Here are a few other services that use Web 2.0 ideas to build family trees:
Genoom
Famiva
Family Mingle
MyHeritage

As you can see, there are numerous services designed to help you bring your family together to build a family tree. Sound off in the comments if you use one of these services and why, and any interesting discoveries you’ve made along the way.

See what others have said about Geni:
Lifehacker: Build your family tree with Geni
TechCrunch: Geni’s Quest Toward One World Family Tree
VentureBeat: Geni aims to build family tree for whole world
AppAppeal: Geni Review
CNET: Geni: Finally, Genealogy made easy

Geni Blog
twitter / geni
delicious / geni

According to the Block Island Times, on Saturday, March 7 a historic home on Block Island was destroyed by fire. The one-story cottage from 1840, now owned by Eugene Rankin, had been built by Jeremiah Allen. The building would have been eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, but the suspected electrical fire resulted in the loss of an important piece of Block Island’s architectural heritage.

According to the Times-Picayune, discovery continues on a ship that was sunk nearly 200 years ago in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship was rediscovered in 2002, about 35 miles from Louisiana’s coast. Although neither skeletal remains nor the name of the ship have been discovered, several artifacts from the shipwreck (including a telescope, swords, hourglasses, and a stove) are currently being studied by archeologists. Texas A&M’s Department of Oceanography and Nautical Archaeology Program worked with Materials Management Services in 2007 to recover the artifacts. The wreckage may be the remains of a ship which capsized during the War of 1812, after being chased by a British ship in the Gulf. The information seems to fit although it has not yet been verified. Because the mystery ship was found near the Mardi Gras Transmission System, it has come to be called the “Mardi Gras shipwreck.” For pictures and more information, see the Mardi Gras Shipwreck page.

At an excavation in Shoreditch, east London, near the site where Shakespeare once acted and staged his first plays at The Theatre, a piece of 16^th century pottery was discovered with what appears to be the face of Shakespeare upon it. Although there is no proof that the face depicted is actually Shakespeare’s, archeologists are excited by the find. Read more about the pottery found at Guardian or discovery of the theater at TimesOnline or Telegraph.

Photo courtesy of LAARCmanager on Flickr.

According to The Southern.com, WSIU Public Broadcasting will use their grant from PBS and WGBH Boston to host community events designed to emphasize the Native history and culture in Southern Illinois. Events will include a traveling “Mapping the Trail of Tears in Southern Illinois” exhibit, archeologist Mark Wagner’s presentation on Native American art, and craft workshops in which residents can help make a commemorative quilt depicting the Native American experience in Southern Illinois.

Yakima, Washington’s A Street buildings are facing inevitable destruction. Despite preservationists’ attempts to save the structures (which they have argued are valuable to the community), no private investors are willing to pay the $1.6 million it would cost to renovate the area. Without buyers for the buildings, the Yakima County Commissioners approved the demolition contract for $125,000. Read more about the issue at KNDO and the Yakima Herald.

Artdaily.org writes about MYSurveyLA – Preserving Los Angeles, a day-long event that which be held April 4. Los Angeles residents are invited to tell about important places in their neighborhood or city. Survey teams will use this information to identify historic sites and develop a comprehensive preservation program for the city. There will also be screenings of SurveyLA: Preserving Los Angeles throughout the day and a panel discussion about city issues with city officials and preservationists. Learn more about the event at SurveyLA.

Thumbnail photo by Reznicek111 on Flickr

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today joined
leaders of the Ford’s Theater Society, the National Park Service and the
District of Columbia at a press conference and ribbon-cutting to re-open
Ford’s Theatre after its 18-month renovation. The event initiated the
celebration of the bicentennial of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln.

“I’d like to think that the spirit of President Abraham Lincoln is here
with us today to celebrate not only his 200th birthday but the re-opening
of Ford’s Theater,” Secretary Salazar said at the ribbon-cutting. “I think
he would have liked to experience how a wonderful partnership has brought
this theater and its educational programs into the 21st century.”

Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site, the place where President Lincoln
was assassinated, is managed through a partnership between Interior’s NPS
and the society to provide theater productions and educational programs
about Lincoln and his legacy.

Secretary Salazar discussed the importance of the site to former
presidents, President Obama and the entire nation, recalling how Obama
retraced Lincoln’s train trip to Washington before his Inauguration and
then took his oath of office on the same Bible used by President Lincoln.

“Our new President, whose friendship I have cherished since we joined the
Senate together, has long studied Abe Lincoln’s life and leadership. His
admiration of Lincoln stems not only from shared Illinois roots but also
from great respect for his wisdom in a time of great turmoil.”

“Like Lincoln, President Obama faces the challenges of war and economic
turmoil,” Secretary Salazar noted. “He is also calling for unity. He is
also calling for change. The understanding of our common humanity and how
unity and needed change go hand-in-hand is part of understanding Lincoln.
Thus, it is part of the educational mission of Ford’s Theater.”

On display in the renovated lobby today was the Great Coat made by the
Brooks Brothers for President Lincoln. “The coat helps us imagine just a
bit of the larger-than-life stature of President Lincoln,” the Secretary
said. “Although he wore the Great Coat on the night he was assassinated
here at Ford’s Theater, the garment symbolizes much more than his martyrdom
for a united nation.

“President Lincoln also wore the coat on the occasion of his second
Inauguration where he gave his famous ‘With malice toward none, with
charity for all’ speech. In a call for unity that could apply to current
politics as much as it did to those in the 19th century, President Lincoln
called for binding up the nation’s wounds.”

Hosted by Paul Tetreault, Managing Director of Ford’s Theatre Society, the
ribbon-cutting also featured Wayne Reynolds, chairman of the society’s
board of trustees; Rex Tillerman, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Campaign
Chairman, Mayor Adrian Fenty and several members of the D.C. City Council.

The new lobby opens to the public tomorrow; open houses on February 12 and
16 feature a variety of public programs. A new museum will open later in
the year. The site is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information,
please see
http://www.fordstheatre.org/open-house-schedule-february-12-and-16-2009.

A copy of the Secretary’s remarks can be found at
http://www.doi.gov/secretary/salazar_speeches.html.

This publication features the usual training and research articles. A few were written by a promising student journalist named Kevin Clarkston. I was lucky enough to teach Kevin in a Feature Writing class at Northwestern and then have him as a practicum student at NCPTT. One of his articles features the new Preservation Today social media experiment I’ve been working on.

Alissandra Cummins, President of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), praised the achievement of Korean museums and their protection of intangible cultural heritage. She visited Seoul last week for the editorial and advisory meeting of the International Journal of Intangible Heritage of the ICOM-ICME ― International Committee for Museums of Ethnography ― which took place at the National Folk Museum of Korea.

“Over the last ten years, I have become more aware of the Korean system for protecting intangible cultural heritage and what has been impressive is their knowledge about what they have and what is important in terms of representing different aspects of cultural life in the country and then reflecting that in a number of different ways,” Cummins said in an interview with The Korea Times.

The ICOM president emphasized the whole system of living human treasures, which is often difficult to find.

“Only a few countries do it. It is a process that we think really it should deserve a lot of attention. Korea has been very good about informing other countries and helping them to become aware of these kinds of systems, indeed, developing knowledge about the importance of apprenticing younger people to learn from the master traditional bearers is the important aspect of that,” she said.

Read the story at Korean Times …

WASHINGTON – A rare ecosystem in Pennsylvania, the sixth longest cave in
Texas, and major fossil sites in Kentucky, New York, and Vermont were
recently named National Natural Landmarks.

The National Natural Landmarks Program, administered by the National Park
Service, recognizes significant examples of natural history and supports
property owners and managers in conservation efforts. There are now 586
listed sites.

“Nottingham Park Serpentine Barrens, Cave Without a Name, Big Bone Lick,
and Chazy Fossil Reef are the newest additions to the National Natural
Landmarks Program,” announced acting National Park Service Director Dan
Wenk. “Each of these sites has been identified, evaluated, and designated
through a scientific process that formally acknowledges their outstanding
biological or geological features.”

The Nottingham Park Serpentine Barrens in Chester County, Pennsylvania
support unique vegetation communities that contain many rare and endemic
species, including one of the northernmost occurrences of fame flower. The
site also has one of the state’s largest stands of pitch pine forest.

Cave Without a Name in Kendall County, Texas contains exceptional cave
formations, a rare and threatened salamander, and significant
paleontological deposits.

Big Bone Lick in Boone County, Kentucky is unique for its combination of
salt springs and associated Late Pleistocene bone beds.  The site has been
referred to as the birthplace of vertebrate paleontology in North America.
The Big Bone fossils played a very important role in the development of
scientific thought regarding the idea of extinction and the relationship of
geology and paleontology.

The Chazy Fossil Reef in Grand Isle County, Vermont and Clinton County, New
York contains surface exposures of an Ordovician fossil reef. The reef
recounts the tropical, marine environment that existed approximately 450
million years ago on the continental shelf of North America. This
paleontological treasure represents the oldest known occurrence of a
biologically diverse fossil reef in the world, the earliest appearance of
fossil coral in a reef environment, and the first documented example of the
ecological principle of faunal succession.

Since 1962, the National Natural Landmarks Program has supported the
cooperative conservation of important natural areas on private, state,
municipal, and Federal land. The decision to participate in the program is
completely voluntary and inclusion in the program does not dictate activity
or change the ownership of an area.

A complete list of National Natural Landmarks and additional information
about the program can be found at www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/

.