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Date Published: May 27, 2010

Click here to download the Show Notes pdf

NEWS:

Diane Haddad, Managing Editor at Family Tree Magazine talks about oral history on the Vicky and Jen podcast

Family Tree Magazine’s Genealogy Insider blog diane has posted Tips to Research Military Ancestors on Memorial Day

Free Book Bazaar App
With Book Bazaar,you type in a title, author, keyword or ISBN to compare prices for books at online or local bookstores, and now with their new update you can search libraries.
The iGoogle WorldCat Gadget is back!

MAILBOX
Kathy sent in an email she received from Ancestry that she found rather “big-brotherish” What do you think?

Gus wrote in to say how much he enjoyed genealogy gems podcast episode 89which was about applying the scientific principles of forensic linguistics to your genealogy research.  He writes,  “you definitely raised the bar in pod casting.”

I really enjoyed doing that episode and am so glad you liked it too.  But even more, I want to thank Gus because he says he put my Genealogy Gems Podcast logo up on his blog with a hot link to my website.

If you have a blog like Gus and would be willing add the logo with a link to the show that would be fantastic and let me know about it so I can mention your blog here on the show.  And also if you are a toolbar user and would like to share that with your readers, drop me a line at genealogygemspodcast@gmail.comand I will send you a neat little banner that you can include which makes it easy for folks to click and download the free toolbar.

Profile America: Grilling History – May 27
According to Wikipedia, “the charcoal briquette was first invented and patented by Ellsworth B. A. Zwoyer of Pennsylvania in 1897 and was produced by the Zwoyer Fuel Company. The process was further popularized by Henry Ford, who used wood and sawdust byproducts from automobile fabrication as a feedstock. Ford Charcoal went on to become the Kingsford Company.”

GEM: Sanborn Maps
History of fire insurance mapsDuring the past century the Sanborn Map Company has published maps and atlases of more than twelve thousand United States towns and cities, issued in some seven hundred thousand separate sheets.   The Library of Congress collection
Read Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress by Walter W. Ristow

“Although Sanborn maps today have minimal interest for the fire insurance industry, the Sanborn Company is supplying updated copies of many of its maps and atlases to various clients. Today municipal governments are Sanborn’s best customers, accounting for 60 percent of map sales and services. Engineering and architectural concerns are also significant purchasers of corrected Sanborn maps.”  And genealogists love them too!

The largest collection of Sanborn maps and atlases is preserved in the Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, where there are an estimated 700,000 Sanborn maps in bound and unbound editions.
Read more about the history of the Sanborn maps.

Some Online Sanborn Maps by State:

• Alabama
• California (San Francisco)
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Kentucky
• Kentucky, ME and NY
• Louisiana (New Orleans)
• Maine, NY and KY
• Massachusetts
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Jersey (Princeton)
• New York, Kentucky and Maine
• New York City
• North Carolina
• Ohio (Cincinnati)
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia
• Assorted maps from the Library of Congress
• Fire Insurance Maps Links at the University of Texas (not limited to Texas)

There are also many more maps available in hard copy and as part of microfilm collections; check with your local library or  historical society.

Let’s take a look at an example 
1. Address:  288 Connecticut St., in San Francisco around 1900 to 1910
2. Click the California – San Francisco link which takes you to the San Francisco Genealogy website
3. Click on the first Map Index link.
4. Click through the Map Indexes / Key Indexes
5. Locate the Map Index page for the location.
6. Further down the page on the SF Genealogy
7. Click on link 538
Result:  Sanborn map for that location at the turn of the century.

Connecticut Street in the Sanborn Map Index

Connecticut in the Index of Streets

Sanborn map abbreviations printable pdf

Types of Digital Images:

Front Images: First page of volume – sort of the title page.   It should include publishing information such as the date.

Map Index: which is a map that includes the sheet numbers to the  individual map sheets, including the Key.

Streets Index: is an alphabetical  index by street name to the individual map sheets.  

Specials Index:an index of “special” places, such as businesses, buildings, etc. to the individual map sheets.

Even if the maps for the area where you are researching isn’t currently available online, browse one of these Sanborn map collections to start to get familiar with them.  And take the time to read the instructions on the websites for maps in the state where you are researching.  You may find links to other sites listing where complete collections can be accessed on microfilm or in other formats.

Watch Premium Video #6 in the Google Earth for Genealogy video series and you will be able to turn that map into a custom map overlay that can become part of your personal historic map collection in Google Earth.

Fire Insurance Maps at the National Archive, United Kingdom

Fire Insurance Maps at the National Archive Canada

American Treasures of the Library of Congress Fire Insurance Maps

Sanborn Maps in the Geography and Map Reading Room

Genealogy Gems Toolbar Update:

NEW: the Google Earth button. Great for quick location searches. 

IMPROVED: YouTube Video button. Click the YouTube button a little widget window will pop up and right there you’ll have videos from the Genealogy Gems YouTube channel.  Scroll through the available videos but using the scroll bar on the right side of the widget.  Click the “Get Widget” button on the bottom of the gadget and you can add it to Facebook, Twitter your blog where ever you want. (P.S. Thanks for sharing it with your friends!)