Blog Post
Attention Genealogists! Your Ancestry Library Edition Has New Resources!
by darla
While new content is added, and updated regularly, in your Ancestry Library Edition database, the following new resources are especially noteworthy for 2013:
1. Public Member Trees
Public Member Trees have become the bridge between individual researchers and original records/sources to tell the family story. Many clues about family history can be found in these trees, which include photos, personal stories, etc. Nearly 40 million trees have been contributed by more than two million Ancestry.com members. Until now these trees were visible only to paying members of Ancestry.com (These members have indicated that their tree(s) can be viewed by all Ancestry members). The trees can change over time as users edit, remove, or otherwise modify the data.
The Fine Print: The trees in the Library Edition are read-only. Library patrons cannot edit the existing trees or add new trees. Information about living people is not shown. Each Public Member Tree is owned by the individual who put it on Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com does not verify that any tree or fact is correct, nor will they correct or edit a tree. Library patrons will not have the ability to contact the owner of the tree. Library patrons can submit anonymous comments about any tree.
2. U.S. City Directories
This new feature is a collection of directories for U.S. cities and counties in various years. The database currently contains directories for all states except Alaska. Coverage is 1821-1989. Original sources vary according to directory. The title of the specific directory being viewed is listed at the top of the image viewer page. Check the directory title page image for full title and publication information.The Gale City Directories Collection is included. Searching locally? The Ancestry Library Edition has Ann Arbor Directories from 1886 to 1960!
TIP: Use the Ancestry Card Catalog feature to go directly to U.S. City Directories.
Interested in more information? Join us for our upcoming Genealogy Online Research Class: Thursday March 14, 2013: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm -- Malletts Creek Branch or check out our collection of Genealogy materials.
Blog Post
On This Day in History--January 31st: Congress passed the 13th Amendment in 1865, for the abolition of slavery
by nicole
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, was finally passed through Congress on January 31, 1865. Throughout the 1860’s the number of proposals for legislation that abolished slavery began to grow, until finally the Senate Judiciary Committee combined three proposals made by Senator John B. Henderson of Missouri, Representative James Mitchell Ashley of Ohio, and Representative James F. Wilson of Iowa, and introduced the resulting amendment proposal to the Senate.
The Senate passed the amendment on April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6, but the House of Representatives took much longer to make a decision. Its passage was due in large part to President Lincoln, who made it part of his campaign platform for the 1864 presidential election. It was finally passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and then sent to the state legislatures to be ratified. On December 6th, when Georgia became the 27th of the then 36 states to ratify it, it was finally adopted into the constitution.
The 13th Amendment was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments to be adopted after the end of the American Civil War. The 14th Amendment gave African-Americans citizenship, equal rights, and equal protection, and the 15th Amendment gave them the right to vote. Follow the links to AADL’s collection for more about the Civil War and the 13th Amendment!
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Civil War - Comrades in Arms
Blog Post
Hoot, Hiss, Grunt and Growl
by gargusa
What's all that noise?? It's the new online database featuring amazing wildlife sounds from the Macaulay Library. Explore the world’s largest natural sound archive in one amazing digital database! Listen and view audio and video recordings compiled by naturalists that are dedicated to documenting nature in its true habitat.
Oh and HEY, in case you didn't know.....YOU can have a great time exploring the Birds of North America! How? With the Birds of North America Online Database! This online database opens the world of birds to all patrons with a click of the mouse. View amazing full color photos complete with comprehensive life histories, for over 700 species of birds found in the USA and Canada. This website is perfect for a research paper, self instruction, and entertainment. Just go to the AADL homepage, click on the RESEARCH tab at the top of the page, Browse Databases by Subject A-C, and click on the orange link Birds of North America Online. Get to know our feathered friends in flight, the beasts of the forest, and our aquatic chums under the sea!
Blog Post
Wonderful World Languages # 2
by krayla
Did you make a new year’s resolution to learn a new language? According to TIME, learning something new is the 3rd most broken resolution. With the help of AADL you never have to feel like it’s a lost cause! The Library has plenty of resources for you to learn languages, including Chinese, Spanish, French, German, and more (click on "language learning").
To look up some of those mysterious words in another language, the Library even has bilingual dictionaries to check out.
Want to get your kids involved? They can check out our online Muzzy Program (you need to log in to your library user account or use a library computer). They can use this free service to learn language lessons, watch videos, and play with vocabulary.
Blog Post
On This Day In History--January 15th: Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in 1929
by nicole
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Memphis, Tennessee on January 15th, 1929. Born to Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King, his name was originally Michael King.
He became an activist within the African American Civil Rights Movement very early in his life, leading the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott when he was only 26 years old, in 1955. He served as the very first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization which he helped to create. At the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history, he gave his historic "I Have a Dream" Speech which is still famous today and has helped to establish him as one of the greatest orators in American History.
In 1964 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence, a method of protest that he was most famous for. Branching out from his role as an African-American civil rights activist, King also spoke out against the Vietnam War, and became focused on helping the nation's impoverished population. He was in the process of planning a movement called the Poor People's Campaign, but before he could carry it out he was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The movement was carried out after his death, with thousands of people turning out to protest. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004
Martin Luther King Day (established in 1986) will be celebrated on Monday, January 21 in 2013. Follow the links for biographies and related books on Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Blog Post
On This Day In History--January 12th: Jack London was born in 1876
by nicole
Jack London was born John Griffith Chaney on January 12th, 1876 in San Francisco, CA. An author, journalist, and activist, he was one of the first fiction authors to make a large fortune off of his works and to gain worldwide fame for his writing. His most popular works include Call of the Wild and White Fang, which are available in AADL's collection, along with many of his other works. Call of the Wild and White Fang were also adapted into films.
He died on November 22nd, 1916 in Glen Ellen, CA from what may have been kidney stones.
Blog Post
On This Day in History--January 8th: Elvis Presley was born in 1935
by nicole
Elvis Presley was born today on January 8th, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. Known to many as the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis got his start in the music industry singing for Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records, in 1954. Phillips, who had hoped to find someone who could do justice to the songs and sound of African-American musicians and provide those songs with a broader audience, took Presley under his wing and had him record a few cover songs that made their way onto the radio. They were an instant and overwhelming hit.
Elvis went on to become one of the most important artists in 20th century pop culture and the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music, releasing dozens of albums and singles, including From Elvis in Memphis and Elvis's Christmas Album. His unique voice, style, and his interpretations of songs from African-American sources made him a wildly popular and highly controversial figure. He made his film debut in Love Me Tender in 1956 and continued to appear in many other films in the years following. Nominated for 14 Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.
Follow the links and you'll find many of Elvis's albums (and a few biographies!) in AADL's collection.
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Blog Post
On This Day In History--January 4th: Jacob Grimm was born in 1785
by nicole
Jacob Grimm, eldest of the famous storytelling duo The Brothers Grimm, was born on January 4th, 1785 in Hanau, Germany. He and his younger brother Wilhelm were mythologists, linguists, and authors of hundreds of folktales. They also collected and revised many traditional German folktales, believing the stories to be great expressions of German culture and literature.
Some of their most famous works include stories that are still highly popular and well-known today, like Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. Though many versions of their stories exist today, the original Grimm fairy tales contained common themes of violence and brutality. For instance, at the close of the original Snow White, the evil queen is forced into iron shoes and made to dance until she drops dead. Seen as inappropriate for children, their stories weren't very popular when they were first published, but the brothers worked to make them more child-friendly as they produced newer editions, and their popularity grew.
Many of their stories can be found in AADL’s Fairytales and Folklore collection, including ones that have been re-written, re-told, or re-interpreted by other cultures. Some, like Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel have been made into popular movies, as well as operas and ballets. The Grimm Brothers and their lives were the subjects of a fantasy film in 2005.
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Blog Post
On This Day in History--January 3rd: J.R.R. Tolkien was born in 1892
by nicole
Author of the incredibly popular Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien was born on January 3rd, 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He died in Bournemouth, England on September 2nd, 1973.
While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. Tolkien's works painted detailed, colorful images for his readers and his dedication to detailed imagery and his extensive imagination led him to create an entirely new world, now famously known as Middle-Earth. He also constructed fictional histories, detailed legends and intricate languages for his world.Tolkien, who has won countless awards throughout and after his lifetime, was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1972. In 2008, The Times newspaper ranked him sixth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and Forbes magazine ranked him the 5th top-earning dead celebrity in 2009.
Tolkien Week, an annual event that celebrates the works and legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien, will take place from September 22nd to September 28th in 2013. The Lord of the Rings series was later adapted into three popular films: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of The King. More recently, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, was released as the first of a new three-part film trilogy. Follow the links, and you'll find many of Tolkien's books and films in AADL's collection!
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Blog Post
On This Day in History--January 2nd: Isaac Asimov was born in 1920
by nicole
One of the world’s best-known science-fiction writers and a professor of biochemistry at Boston University, Isaac Asimov was born on January 2nd, 1920 near Smolensk, Russia. Through his dedication to writing and to science he helped to elevate science fiction from pulp magazines to a more intellectual and respected genre.
One of the most prolific writers of all time, he wrote or edited more than 500 books, on subjects as varied as chemistry, biology, the Bible, Shakespeare, modern history, as well as books for preschoolers and college students. He received dozens of awards in his lifetime including six Hugo awards, 3 Nebula awards, and a posthumous induction into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. He even had an asteroid and a crater on Mars named in his honor. Asimov was also a member and Vice President of Mensa, though he found little enjoyment in it, feeling his fellow members were too arrogant about their high IQs. Asimov died in New York, New York on April 6th, 1992.
His more popular works include the Foundation trilogy, Pebble in the Sky, The Stars, Like Dust, and I, Robot, which was adapted into a film of the same name in 2004. Follow the links and you'll find them in AADL's collection!
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