Extra! Extra! Read All About It!


It’s Thursday.  That must mean there are new projects to talk about.

First up are the projects we RELEASED TO SEARCH over the last little while.

Sydney and New South Wales, Sands Street Index, 1861-1930, Part 2 was a popular project (mostly, I think because it yielded high record count).  We broke it into two parts to key but put it all into one database on the site.  For those with Australian ancestry these are very valuable as there are no extant census records.

With over 23% of the total vote (out of 10 possible selections), London, England, Crisp’s Marriage Licence Index, 1713-1892 was the project you voted to key as part of the World Record Challenge last summer.  We published it to the community in September of last year.  You keyed it very quickly.  And, we are thrilled that it is now available on the Ancestry sites, free for anyone to search.

 Next up are the projects we PUBLISHED FOR KEYING yesterday.

If you blinked, you missed it.  We published the Plainfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Vital Records, 1771-1930 late yesterday afternoon.  As of this morning, all image sets are checked out.  Granted, it was a fairly small project.  Still, I’m sure you all broke some kind of record.

The second project published yesterday still has plenty of image sets remaining.  For people trying to trace their ancestry back into the early 1800s and before, tax lists and land records are some of the most valuable sources around.  As a community, we get to help make the Pennsylvania, U.S. Direct Tax Lists, 1798 available for the world.  Be sure to click on the link and read through the instructions on the Project Page and the Discussion Tab before you jump in and start keying.  And, come back to that discussion tab to ask any questions that come up as you key.

Until next time – Happy Keying!

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April 14th, 2011
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Reader Comments

Comment Number:
1
Written by:
vicki
Posted on:
April 14, 2011 at 12:59 pm

Any more UK projects in the pipeline?

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Dianne
Posted on:
April 14, 2011 at 1:06 pm

I spent most of the last year+ keying and arbitrating the London District School Admissions & Discharges and now I feel a little lost trying to find a new project. Is there anything like that coming up soon?

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Janet
Posted on:
April 14, 2011 at 4:33 pm

Please can we have a few non-USA records to key. The UK & Aus keyers are a little neglected – as are most of the other countries. I have keyed & arbitrated nearly 192,000 but disappointed when new records are released to key.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Kaye Graham
Posted on:
April 14, 2011 at 5:20 pm

Please any more UK or Aust records to key. Like Dianne I also spent most of last year and this year keying and arbitrating the London Schools Admissions & Discharges. Perhaps there may be other school records from the UK to do!

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Crista Cowan
Posted on:
April 14, 2011 at 5:33 pm

@Vicki – There are two UK projects currently available for keying.

@Dianne – I really enjoyed that project, too. I’m not aware of any more school records on the immediate horizon. You might want to take a look at Canada Nominal Rolls or California Railroad Employment Records if you are looking for cleanly fielded lists of names like the school records. I’ve enjoyed keying those.

@Janet – I’m a little confused by your comment. There are 2 UK projects and 2 AUS projects currently available. There are 10 additional projects from other non-USA countries.

I’d really like to understand where the perception is coming from that we are neglecting a portion of our community. Here’s what I see:

Community Demographics:
68% – USA
32% – non-USA

Project Demographics:
42% – USA
58% – non-USA

Were you looking for something specific that we aren’t providing?

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
paulmd199
Posted on:
April 14, 2011 at 11:07 pm

@Crista

Latin America has kinda been neglected. Hispanics are 16% of US population. Also quite a few people in the US have taken at least a term or two of Spanish in school to meet the Foreign Language requirements.

Also Asia and Africa have been left out. Understandably the non-latin alphabets are an issue and would require substantial updates to the tool and ancestry.com.

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
GailsTwigs
Posted on:
April 15, 2011 at 12:43 am

One very large project for Australia is the New South Wales Police Gazettes, would love to have more keyers on this project. It is the most interesting project I have worked on so far, mainly because of the reading involved which is just full of information.

Come and joins us, they only way you will be disappointed is when the project is finished. You may even find information on your ancestry I know I did.

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
Viv
Posted on:
April 15, 2011 at 2:29 am

I believe that arbitration finished on the first batch of London Schools admission registers about 6 months ago but they still have not been released for searching. Any ideas when they will be available.

Comment Number:
9
Written by:
Janessa
Posted on:
April 15, 2011 at 7:27 am

Agree with Gails Twigs – the New South Wales Police Gazettes are very interesting. I’ve been arbitrating them for a few weeks now and find myself getting totally absorbed in them. Recommend them to any other Brits who are missing Apprentice records etc.

Comment Number:
10
Written by:
Stanton Bloom
Posted on:
April 15, 2011 at 12:39 pm

As a new keyer (Feb, 2011) I tried a dozen different projects. Now, I settled down on the Appointments of US Postmasters (Don’t ask me why.) I feel as though I can contribute more, the more familiar I am with the images. I think I’ll stick to the Postmasters until they’re done.

As a newby, several questions occur to me …

Are you encouraging keyers to jump to new projects?

Which is more important, input speed or accuracy?

How do we know what our accuracy is no feedback is given?

Comment Number:
11
Written by:
Kate
Posted on:
April 15, 2011 at 3:27 pm

The 2 UK projects are both Scotland. Some English/Welsh projects please.

Comment Number:
12
Written by:
Dana
Posted on:
April 15, 2011 at 3:35 pm

When will the PA naturalization records be released to search?

Also, I would LOVE to see more Italian Civil Registrations. Those are my favorite collections! It’s really amazing that you’re getting these online!

Comment Number:
13
Written by:
Roz
Posted on:
April 15, 2011 at 3:57 pm

Hear, hear, more UK records please!

Comment Number:
14
Written by:
Roz
Posted on:
April 15, 2011 at 4:00 pm

Re 5 – as Kate says, both UK are Scotland – more English records, please.

Comment Number:
15
Written by:
Joni Vella
Posted on:
April 15, 2011 at 9:55 pm

Perhaps an explanation from WAP about how projects are acquired for keying would silence some of the complaining about being left out. I am sure it is a complicated process. After all, they can’t just go grab any old records from anywhere and have us key them. First the records have to exist in the first place. Then there are the matters of privacy, who owns the records or has custody of them, etc. Then there is probably the issue of cost. Nothing is free. Besides WAP is a business, not a non profit organization. I am amazed at what records we are keying—many I would have never known existed! And if you think your country is being neglected, try finding records for Malta!

Comment Number:
16
Written by:
vicki
Posted on:
April 16, 2011 at 11:21 am

I bet loads of us would like to help with the 1911 UK census, but i think they are indexing it themselves.

Comment Number:
17
Written by:
Margaret
Posted on:
April 17, 2011 at 8:35 am

Where do you need more help? Keying or arbitrating?

And…. Personally – I’d love to see Croatian records.

Comment Number:
18
Written by:
Liz
Posted on:
April 17, 2011 at 9:35 am

As a new keyer I have started out with the easy or moderate difficulty projects. So far this has given me a gratitude for those before me that provided their time so that I could further my search of family members. I thank you.

One area that I find is most helpful are the WWI and WWII draft registrations. I notice there are whole counties in Missouri that either don’t have any records or have only one letter of the alphabet available. Are these records that are simply not available or will be coming up as available to keying?

Comment Number:
19
Written by:
Anne
Posted on:
April 18, 2011 at 6:44 pm

What about New Jersey, is there a naturalization project for NJ?

Comment Number:
20
Written by:
Janet Dodsworth
Posted on:
April 20, 2011 at 12:02 pm

Hear hear Kate and Roz!
Please can we have some records from England to key?
At the moment there isn’t one!!

Comment Number:
21
Written by:
paulmd199
Posted on:
April 20, 2011 at 11:05 pm

Maybe we can finish the neglected Scotland projects first. Did you notice that it is only the lack of other uk projects that keyers have taken an interest in them.

These are smallish projects that by rights should have finished months ago.

Comment Number:
22
Written by:
jameswildhaber
Posted on:
April 25, 2011 at 4:55 am

I have just tried searching the Sands directories and was surprised to find that, although records are listed, I am not able to view the records themselves. I understood that we were giving our services so that the result of our labours would be free to all.

Comment Number:
23
Written by:
Leitha Hayward, McIntyre
Posted on:
March 1, 2012 at 10:11 pm

Type your comment here.