One thing that many genealogists have in common is a connection to Pennsylvania. Perhaps one of your family tree branches extends back to the early founding of the Pennsylvania colony. Or it may be that one of your ancestors was one of the hundreds of thousands who arrived through the port of Philadelphia. Even if you don’ t have Pennsylvania ancestors the State Library of Pennsylvania has a lot to offer.
Genealogy at the State library of Pennsylvania
In this episode I’ll be sharing with you a video of my interview with two librarians from the State Library of Pennsylvania. We’ll discuss their collections and specifically what’s available through their website. After the interview I’ll show you some specific search techniques that you can use at the State Library of Pennsylvania website, including a trick that you can use with any state library website.
Elevenses with Lisa Episode 46 Show Notes
My special Guests from the State Library of Pennsylvania: Kathy Hale, Government Documents Librarian
Amy Woytovich, Genealogy Librarian
This interview was recorded in December 2020. Here’s the latest update (as of this writing) on the library closure and access:
The State Library is currently closed to all visitors. However, staff is teleworking. People may send inquiries to ra-reflib@pa.govand staff will answer questions as best they can.
Renovations have begun on our library in the Forum Building. There may be times we cannot get to the materials requested because of the construction.
Interlibrary loan services are available, but patrons must check if their home library has the equipment and are open for patrons to use that equipment. The Library still ships all over the U.S.
Watch their website for instructions on how to access the State Library of Pennsylvania when it does reopen to the public.
The State Library of Pennsylvania Background
The library has been a federal repository library since 1858, and is one of the oldest in the country. The government printing office deposits materials here.
The State Library of Pennsylvania Collection
The State Library of Pennsylvania physical collection includes:
30,000 volumes
100,000 reels of microfilm
A million pieces of microfiche
The State Library of Pennsylvania digitized items include:
County and family histories
Local histories
Small church histories from rural areas
City directories
Passenger lists
Regimental histories (Revolution to Spanish-American War)
Pension Lists
Pennsylvania Published Archives (collection of military, government, marriage, immigration records from colonial times)
The 1940 U.S. Federal Census
Pennsylvania Documents Example: a report for Pennsylvania of the 25th and 50th anniversaries of the Battle of Gettysburg. Includes information gathered at reunions including names, pictures, and more.
U.S. Government Documents – Serial Set This collection includes reports to the legislature from agencies and institutions. Example: The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) were compelled to provide to Congress a yearly report of the names of people approved by DAR. These can be accessed through many libraries, the federal government or by contacting the State Library of Pennsylvania via email:Ra-reflib@pa.gov
State Library of Pennsylvania Research Guides
Amy discusses research guides available on the website. However, here is the linkto the topics she specifically mentions such as Cemeteries and Zeamer collection – recorded information about Cumberland County PA cemeteries. General Research Guides page. These research guide pages include links to additional helpful websites.
State Library of Pennsylvania website’s Genealogy Page
The library’s collection of newspapers includes papers from all 67 Pennsylvania counties on microfilm. They do have a lot of digitized newspapers at the Pennsylvania Photos and Documents Collection at the Power Library.
Newspapers at the Power Library
The Power Library
You can find the Power Library by going to the libraries home page, and under the For General Public tab go to Our Collections > PowerLibrary. Or visit the Power Library website at Powerlibrary.org.
Electronic Databases: you have to be a resident with a library card.
Digital Documents: you don’t have to be a Pennsylvanian to access this collection.
At the top of the Power Library home page on the right you’ll find Digital Docs and Photos:
Pennsylvania Photos and Documents Collection at the Power Library.
There you will find many materials from Pennsylvania colleges including yearbooks. You can browse by subject area, with Genealogy being one of those areas.
Interlibrary Loan and Lookups
At the time of the interview the library was not open for interlibrary loan and lookups. Check the website for the latest updates.
The library does loan its newspaper microfilm. Up to 5 reels of microfilm per request. Kathy says that if you find a newspaper article at Newspapers.com and you see the title, date and the page that an article is on, you can provide the information to the interlibrary load reference librarian at your local library and place a request for a scan of the article from the State Library of PA microfilm. The article can then be returned to you digitally through interlibrary loan. The digitized scan is yours to keep.
The Librarians Favorite Collections
Amy’s Pick: Historic maps found at the library’s website Home > For General Public > Genealogy and Local History > Maps and Geographic Information. This includes Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. Note: log in with a library card may be required. Contact the library with questions.
Kathy’s favorite collections include:
Map Collection consisting of over 35,000 maps.
The 5 generations from the Mayflower collection.
Usage of Materials
Usage rights and copyright are important considerations when utilizing library materials. Usage depends on the individual item’s copyright. It should be researched as much as possible. Check the meta data of digital images for copyright information.
How to Get Research Help from the State Library of Pennsylvania
“Think of Amy and I as your personal librarians.” Kathy Hale, Librarian
Contact State Library staff by phone at 717-787-2324 or by email at:
Lisa’s Tips for Using the State Library of Pennsylvania Website
Maps for Genealogy
At the website go to Home page > General Public Tab > Our Collections > Search our Resources.
Type in a location and the word map
Use the filters on the right side of the page > Library > State Library
Click to select a map
Try filtering to Full Text Online
Look for the Online Access link, just above Text Item Call Number.
On the map viewer page, click the thumbnail button (looks like a checkerboard) to see multiple pages at a time. You’ll find the Download button in the bottom right-hand corner. The Print button is in the upper right corner.
Cite your source: Go back to the result page, and scroll down. Click the red button called Cite This. This allows you to copy the source citation which you can then paste into other documents and programs.
Newspapers for Genealogy
The Library of Congress Chronicling America website has many Pennsylvania old newspapers, but it doesn’t include all of the newspaper that the library has in its collection. Here’s how to find old Pennsylvania newspapers at the State Library website:
On the State Library website go to General Public > Research Guides > Newspapers
Click the link to the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive
Browse by title or date, or use the drop-down menus
On the viewer page, zoom into the desired article. Then click Clip/Print Image
Right-click on the clipped image to save it to your hard drive.
The Persistent link is the URL address to your clipping.
Many websites have their own search engine. However, each search engine is only as good as it was programmed. If you can’t find what you want on a website like the State Library PA website, try using a Google site search. Site search tells Google to search for your search terms only on the website you specify.
In my example in the video, you can see that Google found the one page mentioning the surname in a listing of microfilms much faster than I would have found it digging around and navigating the website itself. This page was not a card catalog entry so it would not have come up in a search of the catalog on the website.
Learn More About the State Library of PA Collections
In episode 43 of Elevenses with Lisa we discussed genealogy records available for free at the Internet Archive. The State Library of Pennsylvania has been partnering with he Internet Archive to digitize many additional items from their collection. You can access these items for free at the State Library Internet Archive Collection. This collection includes a large number of World War I materials as well as a growing number of 19th and 20th century pamphlet volumes.
Resources
Get My Free Genealogy Gems Newsletter – click here.
Today is the last day that the Native American records collections is available for free on Fold3.com. Many American families have a tradition of Native American ancestry. Here are some helpful tips when researching the Guion Miller Roll at Fold3.com.
Pub. by Standard Souvenirs & Novelties, Inc., Knoxville, TN. Courtesy of Boston Public Library via Flickr.com.
Purpose of the Guion Miller Roll
In our most recent post, “Eastern Cherokee Applications for Native American Research,” we shared how to find and use the Eastern Cherokee Applications at Fold3.com. Today’s post is on the Guion Miller Roll. It is a list of those who were eligible after having filled out the Eastern Cherokee Application. These eligible persons were made into a list and that list, or roll, is called the Guion Miller Roll.
Looking to see if your ancestor is found on the Guion Miller Roll is important because information on this roll is later than the information in the Dawes Rolls. New information (like names of additional family members) in the Guion Miller Roll may not have been on the Dawes Rolls. Additionally, not finding a targeted ancestor listed with their family on the later Guion Miller Roll could also narrow down a date of death.
Fold3.com has the Guion Miller Roll online and has titled it Guion Miller Roll. Ancestry.com also has this list, but at Ancestry it is called U.S., Records Related to Enrollment of Eastern Cherokee by Guion Miller, 1908-1910.
Insights into the Guion Miller Roll Publication
Take a look at the titles under the publication of Guion Miller Roll at Fold3.com.
If you are not a member of Fold3.com, you will first need to go to www.fold3.com. Click in the center of the homepage where it says Free Access to Native American Records. Next, on the left you will see Records from Archives. Go ahead and click that.
From the list now showing on your screen, choose Guion Miller Roll.
Scroll to the bottom and click Learn more at the bottom right. You will be directed to a new screen. At this new screen, click Browse by title, over to the right.
You are directed to the publication titled Guion Miller Roll, and there is a list of five categories.
Let’s take a look at the list:
The categories under the Guion Miller Roll publication are:
General Index to Eastern Cherokee
Indexes, Rolls of Eastern Cherokee
Miscellaneous Testimony Taken Before
Report Submitted by Guion Miller
Roll of Eastern Cherokee and Report On
Some of these publication titles are duplicates of other publication titles on Fold3. See this helpful image below:
Duplicates can actually be beneficial. As an example, in the last title called the Roll of Eastern Cherokee And Report on Exceptions, With Supplemental Roll (the title has been shortened on your screen, but that is the full name) there is something you may not have realized. This title is the same thing as the title Roll of Eastern Cherokees in the Eastern Cherokee Applications publication. Why would Fold3 have two of the same thing? There is one exception between these two nearly buy prescription medication online uk identical groups of records. The exception is: Eastern Cherokee Applications>Roll of Eastern Cherokees indicated in the top part of the image, has the roll numbers cut off in some of their digital images. In other words, if you had only looked at that one and not the Roll of Eastern Cherokee and Report on Exceptions, With Supplemental Roll under the Guion Miller publication, you would have missed that.
From time to time, a digital copy will be made of a record set that ends up being too dark, too blurry, or too crooked. When this happens, some of the information on the record will be cut off or simply not readable. It’s great when there is a second set of digital images because hopefully the second copy will not have these problems. As in all things, if there is ever more than one copy of something, check them both! You never know how they may differ in quality of copy.
Miscellaneous Testimony Taken Before
This title, Miscellaneous Testimony Taken Before, under the publication of Guion Miller Roll is filled with hints and clues for your genealogy story. I think it has been my most important find in the Guion Miller Roll publication.
Testimony relating to the Guion Miller Roll.
The testimonies are broken up into ten volumes. Within these volumes are short (or long) testimonies from the applicant, friends, family, or acquaintances regarding their belief that someone was or was not of Indian descent. Many of the testimonies include names and dates of vital events, as well as residences. Even though we must take these records with a grain of salt because individuals may have had something to gain financially, the information would be considered valuable clues. Each testimony indicates which application it attached to.
How to Find a Testimony Record Related to an Eastern Cherokee Application
There is no index by name for testimony volumes 1-9 at Fold3, so you would have to go volume-by-volume, then page-by-page to find your ancestor. That would take a very long time! But if you go to Ancestry.com to U.S., Records Related to Enrollment of Eastern Cherokee by Guion Miller, 1908-1910, you can search by name and you will find the image of the testimony there.
[Note: Volume 10 is broken down into three subcategories. These are Creek Testimony which includes an index on the fourth page of the roll, Poindexter Testimony with no index, and Sizemore Testimony, also with no index. The Poindexter testimonies and the Sizemore testimonies are those testimonies claiming their Native American heritage through those surnames.]
More on Native American Research
Using Native American collections for genealogy research can be challenging. We hope this has helped you to better understand the ins and outs for using the record collections at Fold3. For even more helpful tips, read:
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!
The Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 195 with Lisa Louise Cooke
In this episode, I’m celebrating the 100th episode of another podcast I host: the Family Tree Magazine podcast. So I’ll flashback to one of my favorite interviews from that show, an inspiring get-in-shape conversation for your research skills: how you can strengthen your research muscles and tone those technology skills to find and share your family history.
Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 195
Listen now – click the player below
More episode highlights:
News on Chronicling America and Scotland’s People;
Comments from guest expert Lisa Alzo on millions of Czech records that have recently come online;
A YouTube-for-genealogy success story from a woman I met at a conference;
An excerpt from the Genealogy Gems Book Club interview with Chris Cleave, author of Everyone Brave is Forgiven;
Diahan Southard shares a DNA gem: the free website GEDmatch, which you might be ready for if you’ve done some DNA testing.
Though not fully indexed, the new Czech browse-only records number over 4 million. Click here learn how to use browse-only collections on FamilySearch.org.
“These records are a real boon for Czech researchers because at one time the only to get records such as these was to write to an archive and taking a chance on getting a response or spending a lot of money to hire someone to find the records or to travel there yourself to do research in the archives.
The church records contain Images and some indexes of baptisms/births, marriages, and deaths that occurred in the Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, and Reformed Church parishes, as well as entries in those registers for Jews.
Land transactions containing significant genealogical detail for a time period that predates parish registers. The collection includes records from regional archives in Opava and Tebo and from the district archive in Trutnov.
School registers contain the full name for a child, birth date, place of birth, country, religion and father’s full name, and place of residence.
While researchers should keep in mind that not everything is yet online, and FamilySearch will likely add to its collection, having these records from FS is an amazing resource for anyone whose ancestors may have come from these areas. And hopefully, there are more records to come!”
Story of My Life by Sunny Morton, life story-writing journal available as a print workbook and as a writeable pdf e-book
Genealogy Gems app users: For those of you who listen to this show through the Genealogy Gems app, your bonus handout is a PDF document with step-by-step instructions and helpful screenshots for Google image search on mobile devices. The Genealogy Gems app is FREE in Google Play and is only $2.99 for Windows, iPhone and iPad users
Lisa Louise Cooke uses and recommends RootsMagic family history software. From within RootsMagic, you can search historical records on FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com. In the works: RootsMagic will be fully integrated with Ancestry.com, too: you’ll be able to sync your RootsMagic trees with your Ancestry.com trees and search records on the site.
Keep your family history research, photos, tree software files, videos and all other computer files safely backed up with Backblaze, the official cloud-based computer backup system for Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems. Learn more at http://www.backblaze.com/Lisa.
Review your search results especially those that pop up in the Images category.
Sunny Morton has get-in-shape advice for us from strengthening research skills to toning tech muscles–from the article “Shaping Up” featured in the March 2010 issue of Family Tree Magazine.
GENEALOGY GEMS BOOK CLUB:Everyone Brave is Forgiven, the best-selling novel by British author Chris Cleave. A love story set in World War II London and Malta. This story is intense, eye-opening and full of insights into the human experience of living and loving in a war zone?and afterward. Everyone Brave is Forgiven is inspired by love letters exchanged between the author’s grandparents during World War II.
The genetic genealogy community has a crush. A big one. Everyone is talking about it. “It has such great features.” says one. “It has a chromosome browser!” exclaims another. “It’s FREE!” they all shout. What are they talking about? GEDmatch. GEDmatch is a mostly free online tool where anyone with autosomal DNA test results from 23andMe, FTDNA, and AncestryDNA can meet and share information. All you need to do is download your data from your testing company and upload it into your newly created GEDmatch account.GEDmatch is set up just like your testing company in that it provides two kinds of reports: ethnicity results, and a match list. Remember that ethnicity results, meaning those pie charts that report you are 15% Italian and 32% Irish, are based on two factors: a reference population and fancy math. GEDmatch has gathered data from multiple academic sources to provide you with several different iterations of ethnicity reports. This is like getting a second (and third and fourth, etc) opinion on a science that is still emerging. It is a fun exercise, but will likely not impact your genealogy research very much. The more important match list does allow you to see genetic cousins who have tested at other companies. Of course, only those who have downloaded their results and entered them into GEDmatch will show up on your list. This means GEDmatch has the potential to expand your pool of genetic cousins, increasing your chances of finding someone to help you track down that missing ancestor. Many also flock to GEDmatch because they were tested at AncestryDNA and thus do not have access to a chromosome browser. A chromosome browser allows you to visualize the physical locations that you share with someone else. Some find this to be a helpful tool when analyzing their DNA matches (though in my opinion, it is not essential).GEDmatch also has some great genealogy features that let you analyze your pedigree against someone else’s, as well as the ability to search all the pedigree charts in their system so you can look specifically for a descendant of a particular relative.However, even with all of these great features, GEDmatch is still yet another website you have to navigate, and with that will be a learning curve, and certainly some frustration. So, is it worth it? If you are fairly comfortable with the website where you were tested, and you are feeling both curious and patient, I say go for it.It’s too much to try to tell you right this minute how to download your data from your testing site and upload it to GEDmatch. BUT you’re in luck, I’ve put step-by-step instructions for getting started in a FREE tutorial on my website at www.yourDNAguide.com/transferring.
Genealogy Gems Podcast turns 200: Tell me what you think? As we count down to the 200th episode of the free Genealogy Gems Podcast, what have been YOUR favorite things about the podcast? Any particular topics, interviews or segments of the show? What keeps you coming back? What would you like to hear more of? Email me at genealogygemspodcast@gmail.com, or leave a voicemail at (925) 272-4021, or send mail to: P.O. Box 531, Rhome, TX 76078.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!
YouTube video with Robyn’s father: 
MyHeritage.com
The genetic genealogy community has a crush. A big one. Everyone is talking about it. “It has such great features.” says one. “It has a chromosome browser!” exclaims another. “It’s FREE!” they all shout. What are they talking about? 