Below are two links to research papers discussing the link of open vital records to identity theft. We recommend all genealogists review these as they formulate their own position on the heavily discussed proposed LD 1781.
Massachusetts Genealogical Council's White Paper - Framing a Discussion on Vital Records Access
The Case for Open Public Records - A Position Paper Prepared for the Association of Professional Genealogists
To learn more about LD 1781 and to follow it's progress, visit the State of Maine Legislature Bill Status Search Page and enter in the bill number.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
LD 1781 - Genealogists Take Note:
Received from Helen Shaw:
A bill recently passed out of the Health and Human Services Committee of the Maine legislature which would close vital records and divorce records in Maine for 100 years after the event. The bill is LD 1781 An Act To Allow Electronic Filing of Vital Records and Closing of Records To Guard against Fraud and Make Other Changes to the Vital Records Laws.
A public hearing was held on the bill on March 3rd, but the genealogy community in Maine was not aware of the bill or of the public hearing so no one was at the hearing to protest. Since then, Pam Eagleson and I have been working to amend the bill so that genealogists are included in the bill as persons with "a direct and legitimate interest in the matter recorded."
While input on problems with the bill was sought by the legal analyst preparing an amendment to the bill, that input was not included in the amendment which was made available to us March 18 (after it had been voted on by the HHS Committee). That amendment made the bill even worse.
At this time, the only option is to have the bill amended on the house floor or killed there. The proposed amendments can be viewed at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~megs/LD1781_proposed_%20amendments.pdf
I do not know when this might come to the house floor for a vote. I have a call in to my state senator for his advice. It may be that we will need/want to address the party caucuses early next week.
You may post any of the above except what is in brackets. Please also let folks know we still need them to contact their legislators about LD 1781 and the proposed amendments.
Thank you for your help and support.
Helen Shaw, CGsm
A bill recently passed out of the Health and Human Services Committee of the Maine legislature which would close vital records and divorce records in Maine for 100 years after the event. The bill is LD 1781 An Act To Allow Electronic Filing of Vital Records and Closing of Records To Guard against Fraud and Make Other Changes to the Vital Records Laws.
A public hearing was held on the bill on March 3rd, but the genealogy community in Maine was not aware of the bill or of the public hearing so no one was at the hearing to protest. Since then, Pam Eagleson and I have been working to amend the bill so that genealogists are included in the bill as persons with "a direct and legitimate interest in the matter recorded."
While input on problems with the bill was sought by the legal analyst preparing an amendment to the bill, that input was not included in the amendment which was made available to us March 18 (after it had been voted on by the HHS Committee). That amendment made the bill even worse.
At this time, the only option is to have the bill amended on the house floor or killed there. The proposed amendments can be viewed at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~megs/LD1781_proposed_%20amendments.pdf
I do not know when this might come to the house floor for a vote. I have a call in to my state senator for his advice. It may be that we will need/want to address the party caucuses early next week.
You may post any of the above except what is in brackets. Please also let folks know we still need them to contact their legislators about LD 1781 and the proposed amendments.
Thank you for your help and support.
Helen Shaw, CGsm
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Maine Tartan Day Celebration
Hello! On behalf of The Scots In America and the Maine Military Museum, I would like to invite you to attend and participate in our Maine Tartan Day celebration.
Place: The Maine Military Museum and Learning Center, South Portland, Maine
Date and Time: Saturday, April 10, 2010, 1PM to 3PM
In addition to the reading of the Governor's Proclamation of Maine Tartan Day, we will be hearing from South Portland Mayor Tom Coward and Lee Humiston, Director of the Maine Military Museum. There will be re-enactor displays provided by the Soldiers of Scotland, a Color Guard from the Scottish-American Society, pipers and, of course, a Clan Parade. After the ceremonies, Director Lee Humiston will be leading a tour of the new facilities of the Learning Center.
This event is free and open to the public.
I do hope to see you there, and if you should have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me by email at dianne@thescotsinamerica.com or by cell: 207-239-1118.
Slainte Mhath,
Dianne
Dianne Bergstedt FSA Scot
The Scots In America
President, Landrum Family Association
Place: The Maine Military Museum and Learning Center, South Portland, Maine
Date and Time: Saturday, April 10, 2010, 1PM to 3PM
In addition to the reading of the Governor's Proclamation of Maine Tartan Day, we will be hearing from South Portland Mayor Tom Coward and Lee Humiston, Director of the Maine Military Museum. There will be re-enactor displays provided by the Soldiers of Scotland, a Color Guard from the Scottish-American Society, pipers and, of course, a Clan Parade. After the ceremonies, Director Lee Humiston will be leading a tour of the new facilities of the Learning Center.
This event is free and open to the public.
I do hope to see you there, and if you should have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me by email at dianne@thescotsinamerica.com or by cell: 207-239-1118.
Slainte Mhath,
Dianne
Dianne Bergstedt FSA Scot
The Scots In America
President, Landrum Family Association
Monday, March 8, 2010
Miniature Pictures and Portraits
On Thursday, March 11th, Allen Horne will be discussing Miniature Pictures and Portraits with the Wassebec Genealogical Society. A great opportunity to explore this piece of history - we all enjoy being able to put faces with names on our family tree.
Wassebec Genealogical Society meets on the 2nd Thursday of every other month at Mayo Regional Hospital Resource Center at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
Visit their website at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mewgs to stay current with their happenings.
Wassebec Genealogical Society meets on the 2nd Thursday of every other month at Mayo Regional Hospital Resource Center at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
Visit their website at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mewgs to stay current with their happenings.
Join Us on Facebook
We've started a Maine Genealogical Society Facebook Group!
It's a new way to communicate and interactively share information and conversation. Post queries and join discussions.
Come on over and join in the fun!
It's a new way to communicate and interactively share information and conversation. Post queries and join discussions.
Come on over and join in the fun!
An Important Note on Recent Legislative Activity Regarding Vital Records
I have received a few emails questioning what MGS is doing in response to recent bills. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, MGS is prohibited from lobbying or otherwise influencing legislative action.
We do however feel that educating our membership about legislative activity that affects the genealogical community as (and if) we become aware of it is important. This opens the doors to conversation, which in turn allows our members and fellow researchers to determine their own position. To the extent an individual feels strongly about any particular issue (regardless of whether they are for or against), we certainly encourage them to contact their legislative representatives, communication is the key to educating them about the importance of certain records for genealogical research.
Dale W. Mower
President
Maine Genealogical Society
We do however feel that educating our membership about legislative activity that affects the genealogical community as (and if) we become aware of it is important. This opens the doors to conversation, which in turn allows our members and fellow researchers to determine their own position. To the extent an individual feels strongly about any particular issue (regardless of whether they are for or against), we certainly encourage them to contact their legislative representatives, communication is the key to educating them about the importance of certain records for genealogical research.
Dale W. Mower
President
Maine Genealogical Society
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Irish History is the St. Patrick's topic in Bangor
Penobscot County Genealogical Society is pleased to announce their annual Irish-themed March meeting. Dr. Janet TeBrake, Lecturer in History at the University of Maine, will be discussing Irish history and St. Patrick.
The meeting takes place on Wednesday, March 17th, at 6:00 p.m. in the Lecture Hall at the Bangor Public Library.
Many may recall that Dr. TeBrake was a speaker at the recent Maine Genealogical Society conference that was held in Bangor.
Come celebrate St. Patrick's Day learning about Irish history....
The meeting takes place on Wednesday, March 17th, at 6:00 p.m. in the Lecture Hall at the Bangor Public Library.
Many may recall that Dr. TeBrake was a speaker at the recent Maine Genealogical Society conference that was held in Bangor.
Come celebrate St. Patrick's Day learning about Irish history....
1930 US Census Available Free of Charge on the Internet Archive
The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.
Here is a pleasant surprise: the Internet Archive is placing the 1930 U.S. Census online and is making it available at no charge. This is a "work in progress;" but, the census records from many states are available now, and the remaining states will be added in the near future.
The records are offered in exactly the same format as the microfilms created by the U.S. Government. In fact, the online images appear to be copies of the microfilms. The images are being offered "as is." That is, there is no index available, only the images. If you already know where your ancestor lived and (hopefully) the enumeration district, you can view the images one at a time until you find the information you seek.
You can find enumeration districts on FamilySearch at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=subjectdetails&subject=870702&subject_disp=Census+districts+-+United+States&columns=*,0,0. Once you know the enumeration district, return to the Internet Archive at http://www.archive.org/details/1930_census to conduct your search.
If your ancestors lived in a small town, you can probably find them without determining an enumeration district in advance. However, for those who resided in cities, the enumeration district is a valuable piece of information that allows you to zoom in on the correct neighborhood quickly although you will still need to look at a lot of images to find what you seek.
While it is nice to see a free version of the census available, I doubt if this will have much impact on the commercial companies that also offer census images online for a fee. The commercial companies have indexed most of their records, and finding someone in an index first is much, much easier than manually looking at hundreds of images in search of the right family.
While I appreciate the free, unindexed images, I'll still gladly pay a few dollars a month to have an index available. I suspect most others will do the same, especially after trying to find someone in the free records.
Of course, now is an excellent time for your genealogy society or historical society to index the records for your area and place your own index online, with each entry pointing to an original record on the Internet Archive.
To find the 1930 U.S. Census records on the Internet Archive, start at: http://www.archive.org/details/1930_census to conduct your search.
Here is a pleasant surprise: the Internet Archive is placing the 1930 U.S. Census online and is making it available at no charge. This is a "work in progress;" but, the census records from many states are available now, and the remaining states will be added in the near future.
The records are offered in exactly the same format as the microfilms created by the U.S. Government. In fact, the online images appear to be copies of the microfilms. The images are being offered "as is." That is, there is no index available, only the images. If you already know where your ancestor lived and (hopefully) the enumeration district, you can view the images one at a time until you find the information you seek.
You can find enumeration districts on FamilySearch at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=subjectdetails&subject=870702&subject_disp=Census+districts+-+United+States&columns=*,0,0. Once you know the enumeration district, return to the Internet Archive at http://www.archive.org/details/1930_census to conduct your search.
If your ancestors lived in a small town, you can probably find them without determining an enumeration district in advance. However, for those who resided in cities, the enumeration district is a valuable piece of information that allows you to zoom in on the correct neighborhood quickly although you will still need to look at a lot of images to find what you seek.
While it is nice to see a free version of the census available, I doubt if this will have much impact on the commercial companies that also offer census images online for a fee. The commercial companies have indexed most of their records, and finding someone in an index first is much, much easier than manually looking at hundreds of images in search of the right family.
While I appreciate the free, unindexed images, I'll still gladly pay a few dollars a month to have an index available. I suspect most others will do the same, especially after trying to find someone in the free records.
Of course, now is an excellent time for your genealogy society or historical society to index the records for your area and place your own index online, with each entry pointing to an original record on the Internet Archive.
To find the 1930 U.S. Census records on the Internet Archive, start at: http://www.archive.org/details/1930_census to conduct your search.
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