The Week That Was, August 2, 2013 - Follow Friday

(Image from AnySnapshot.com. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0; Text Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette) I don't usually do Follow Friday posts with a lot of links though I admire the folks who do.  While I'd love to post a faves list every week, too, the fact is I know I'd be setting myself up for failure.  It's kind of like that purple afghan I started crocheting about five years.  It's still sitting in a drawer. Unfinished.  That said, I have read some great blog posts and articles this week and had a little extra time to write a Follow Friday post, so I'd like to share. 

Copyright and foreign letters by Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist

I posted a comment on one of Judy's blog posts this week, and she kindly asked if minded if she wrote a blog post based on my question.  Judy is awesome, and her response to my question solved a copyright question that I've had on my mind for a long time.  Thank you, Judy!  

My grandparents' haplogroups: N1c1 & R1a1 Y-DNA; T2b & H27 mtDNA and 75% Eastern European DNA? Sounds about right to me, by Barbara Proko, Basia's Polish Family: From Wilno to Worcester

Barbara has published a couple of amazing blog posts this past week that discuss her DNA research.  Her research and analysis are impeccable and make for a fascinating read.

Kid's don't hate history, they hate the way we teach it, by Glenn Wiebe, History Tech

The title pretty much says it all.  History is more than names and dates.  Why does teaching and standardized testing have to take the joy out of learning?  And while I'm on my soapbox...

The Problem With Summer Reading, by Carolyn Ross at The Millions

Not exactly genealogy, but on an education-related note Carolyn Ross' article pretty much sums up my thinking as well.  I'd really kind of like to say, "What she said."

Romantic Deceit Via Telegraph: How 'Catfishing' Worked in the 1880s, by Jessica Gentile in The Atlantic

A fun and interesting story about technology and romance in the 1880s.  Did I mention I met my husband on the Internet?  No, I'm not kidding.

Not Even Silicon Valley Escapes History, by Alexis C. Madrigal at The Atlantic

I'm married to a techno-geek who has done a couple of contract stints in Silicon Valley.  Sometimes history is more recent than you think.

Things You Find at Grandma's House, a slide show from Boston's ABC affiliate, WCVB

Thankfully, there aren't any plastic covered couches in my family, but you should see the Hummel collection I inherited!

How the FBI Turned Me On to Rare Books, by Natalie Zemon Davis at the New York Review of Books

A confiscated passport leads a National Humanities Medal awardee to discover a love for rare books.

In The Digital Age, The Family Photo Album Fades Away, by Heidi Glenn at NPR's All Tech Considered

I was doing great until I gave up my 35 mm camera.  Vacation photos were developed and organized in a timely manner.  You don't want to see the state of the photo folder on my hard drive these days.  What a mess...

Unsealed birth records give adoptees peek at past, AP political writer John O'Connor

Obtaining one's birth certificate is something most of us take for granted. I've done a couple of adoption/foster research projects for friends and family, and sometimes discovering the origin of a person's birth is easier said than done.

Thousands Buried Beneath Philly Playground, by Peter Crimmins

The original Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church cemetery was used for interments from 1810 to 1864 and after that a dump and a playground.  How many other places are lost (and almost) forgotten like this one?

My Fictional Grandparents, by Laila Lalami in the New York Times Magazine

Laila's mom was placed in an orphanage in Fez in 1941.  Her parents died.  Or they didn't.  A DNA test leads to more questions.  What happens when stories conflict?

Pentagon agency under fire for refusing to ID unknown soldiers from World War II, by Bill Dedman and Mike Taibbi of NBC News

Shameful.  And it's about time.  What else can I say?

100 Years Later, the Roll of the Dead in a Factory Fire is Complete, by Joseph Berger of the New York Times

I missed this one the first time around.  Not new, but an interesting read that I just discovered this week about a genealogist who identified the previously unidentified victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

That is the week that was--ending August 2, 2013.  Now, where's my crochet hook?  Cold weather is coming!

Have a nice weekend everybody!



Other Posts You Might Like:

Visiting the Tenement Museum in NYC - Follow Friday
Faces of Worcester Polonia - Follow Friday
Irish Genealogy LibGuide - Follow Friday
Meditation: The Strength of Ordinary Women

Visiting The Tenement Museum in NYC - Follow Friday

Tenement Museum Visitor Center, 103 Orchard St.

(Digital Images. Photographs Privately Held By Cynthia Shenette; Photographs and Text, Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette) As if last year's trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty wasn't enough, this week I got to live another dream by visiting the Tenement Museum in New York City.  I always feel that experiencing things first-hand really makes history come alive.  The Tenement Museum offers a fascinating glimpse through a window back in time.  I'd like to share my visit with you and offer a few practical tips if you decide to go.

Tip 1: Plan Ahead If Visiting With Children

My husband was working in NYC for a few days earlier in the week so my son and I decided to go along for some vacation fun in the city.  Monday we visited the American Museum of Natural History and Tuesday we visited the Central Park Zoo.  Why do I mention this?  While my kid IS interested in immigrant history after a unit on immigration at school, going with Mom to the Tenement Museum on a hot July day was not high his list of "Fun Things To Do" in the Big Apple.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, and occasionally I am forced to pull out what I've come to think of as my I-Did-Fun-Stuff-With-You-Now-Just-Make-Mommy-Happy Card. That said, you can make an enjoyable and (relatively) painless trip to the Tenement Museum with your kid or grandkid, but you need to plan right.

Tip 2: Buy Tickets Online, And Follow Tour Age Recommendations

You can buy tickets ahead of time online if you know exactly when and what tour you would like to take. Information can be found on the museum website.  There are several tour options for the building, including Hard Times, Shop Life, Irish Outsiders, and Sweatshop Workers tours.  Pay attention to the age recommendations on the tours if visiting with children. There are also walking tours of the neighborhood, and an opportunity for younger children to meet Victoria Confino, a costumed interpreter playing the part of 14-year-old Greek Sephardic girl who lived in the tenement in 1916.  Given that it was 90 degrees and humid the day we visited we made the obvious choice, the Sweatshop Workers tour.

We did not buy tickets ahead, but I did check online and tickets seemed relatively plentiful on the day we decided to go.  We visited on Wednesday which might be a slightly quieter day given it was in the middle of the week. The museum only allows 15 people on a tour at a time, because of building occupancy regulations, so if you do decide to buy tickets on site be aware that tickets may be sold out by the time you get there.

Tip 3:  Prepare for a Long Cab Ride

The museum is on the Lower East Side, on the corner of Delancey and Orchard.  It is a LONG cab ride in traffic from midtown Manhattan.  Make sure you have a snack and visit the restroom before you leave your hotel. There is a restroom on site and food options close by if you need either before or after your tour.

Tenement Museum, 97 Orchard St.

Tip 4: Enjoy the Tour!

The young woman who was our tour guide was clearly interested and enthusiastic about her job.  She began by asking us where we were all from and at the end gave people the opportunity of sharing their personal immigration stories.  During the hour-long tour she mentioned that 7,000 people lived in 97 Orchard St. over the life of the building!

Not surprisingly, the tenement was dark, close quarters and HOT. The walls were thin and you could see through cracks in the floor boards to the apartments downstairs.  Each tenement consisted of three VERY small rooms.  It's hard to imagine a family with six children living in one small apartment.  How pleasant was it for the mother of a family to walk up and down the stairs multiple times a day to fetch water from the communal pump?  I also suspect privacy in the tenements was nonexistent.

Our tour guide asked my son how old he was.  She talked about how boys my son's age and younger worked as runners in the post-Civil War garment industry to deliver piece goods to workers in tenement sweatshops around the neighborhood. She also talked about how people lived and worked in the same small tenement.  In the early days stitchers and basters worked in the front room and the a presser worked in the kitchen near the coal stove.  Hot coals were placed inside a heavy cast iron and the presser ironed garments all day, sharing kitchen space with the homemaker of the house.  The kitchen was oppressively hot as the stove ran all day, summer and winter, because the presser needed hot coals to do his job.

Tip 5: Shop 'Til You Drop!

Unfortunately, we did not have much time to look around the bookshop because we had to meet my husband back at our hotel.  If you do have the time I suspect the shop is someplace you could lose yourself for an hour (or two).  They seem to have an excellent stock of books and items about New York, immigrants, tenements and the various ethnic groups.  The Tenement Museum does have a shop online if you run out of time on the day of your visit or have a whiny, hot kid who needs a cold drink and a snack.

Tip 6: Follow the Museum on Social Media

I follow the Tenement Museum on Twitter and discovered  that they have a blog.  Interesting posts talk about the discovery of objects under the building's floorboards and elevated trains in NYC.

Tip 7: Plan a Return Visit

My husband will probably have to return to the city sometime in the next couple of months, so I'm already planning another visit.  I would love to do one of the neighborhood walking tours, perhaps on a cooler day without the somewhat bored child in tow.  My guess is that spring and fall are probably nice times to visit, and you'll miss out on the actual sweaty part of the sweatshop experience (That's a good thing unless authenticity is seriously important to you.).

A Final Word...

Everyone I encountered at the museum was pleasant, helpful, and enthusiastic, and when we got out of the museum I asked my son what he thought.  He said, "It wasn't too bad.  It was actually kind of interesting. Except it was hot." which I consider high praise from a ten-year-old boy on a 90 degree day after a museum tour. It might not have been on his Top Ten List, but I'm happy we got to experience the Tenement Museum together.

What was the worst part of our day?  Trying to flag a cab to get back to our hotel!

TAXI!



Other Posts You Might Like:

My Trip to Ellis Island - Those Places Thursday
Sightseeing Around Civil War Richmond, Virginia
At Liberty! - Wordless Wednesday
Meditation: The Strength of Ordinary Women

Irish Genealogy LibGuide - Follow Friday

(Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette) I don't do generally do Irish genealogy, or as I like to say to my two best friends (both of whom happen to be Irish), "There's no Irish in my family unless the boat from Poland stopped in Ireland somewhere along the way."  Anyway, even though I don't have Irish blood flowing through my veins, I'd like to share a resource I stumbled across a while back for those who do.  

Check out the Boston College University Libraries LibGuide for Irish Genealogy (Irish Studies).  LibGuides are pathfinders/guides compiled by librarians to assist library patrons with their research.  Boston College has an Irish studies program and the Irish Genealogy LibGuide supports one of the courses for that program.  The LibGuide includes books and electronic resources.  While many of the resources are specific to the  BC library I am sure they can be located elsewhere.  The LibGuide also has a link to a searchable database that lists the names that appeared in the "Missing Friends" column of the Boston Pilot.


Other Posts You Might Like:

Got Dissertations? - Tuesday's Tip
Fascinating Ladies
Presenter Interview: Colleen Fitzpatrick, Forensic Genealogist
Cobh (Queensland), Ireland - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Faces of Worcester Polonia - Follow Friday

(Copyright (c) 2012 Cynthia Shenette) My new blog, Faces of Worcester Polonia, is up and running.  I only have three photos posted so far, but at least it's a start.  "Faces" is primarily for posting my "mystery photos" and the photographs in my collection that relate specifically to the Worcester Polish immigrant community.  I plan to continue to post info and stories on my personal family history here at Heritage Zen.  If you have a few minutes please check my new blog out. Also, if you know of someone with Polish ancestry who has connections to the Worcester, MA area please mention it to them.  Thank you! 


Other Posts You Might Like:

My Family Tree: A Literal Interpretation
(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Polka Time!
Going Home: Our Lady of Czestochowa, Worcester, MA
The Stories My Grandmother Told Me

Retail, Restaurants, Food, and More - Follow Friday, December 9, 2011

(Copyright (c) 2011 Cynthia Shenette) I love reading all of the Follow Friday posts by my fellow geneabloggers, but I will admit haven't written a Follow Friday post of my own in well over a year.  I've come across a number of blogs lately that are interesting, fun, or specific to Massachusetts that I'd like to share.  Please check them out!

Shopping Days in Retro Boston is a fun blog.  I spent 11 years working at the Jordan Marsh in Worcester where I started out as Christmas help in 1977. I've also done my share of shopping in good old Boston so it's been a fun walk down memory lane.  Be sure to check out the photos and advertisements in the post, Christmas in Boston 1956.

Speaking of good old Boston, the blog And This Is Good Old Boston always has something interesting to share. Recent posts include topics such as the old Boston baseball team the Boston Braves, the infamous Coconut Grove fire, and the Perkins Institution for the Blind. Great visuals--photos, Sanborn map images, and more--accompany almost every post.

Fruitcake is the Cake of the Gods?  Huh?  Check out the Kitchen Retro blog, and decide for yourself.  I bet you can guess how I'm coming down on the fruitcake issue.  Also, if you are a parent or grandparent of young children you might want to learn why Seven Up soda is good for babies. Read Seven Months? Seven Up!  (Whoever came up with this idea should be made to sit in a hermetically sealed room with 20 six-year-olds on a sugary birthday cake and fruit punch high.)  I shudder at the thought... 

For those of you with Worcester, MA connections, check out the Denholms Blog for another walk down memory lane.  Denholms was THE place to shop for decades in Worcester.  It was also THE place to go to see Santa and the Easter Bunny.  For my "bunny shot" at Denholms see here.  I use to make my mother nuts by running around in the revolving door at Denholms. I even got stuck in it once.  If you are so inclined, you can see a picture of the revolving door here (second photo down).  Let me add that while I might look cute in the bunny photo I was absolutely evil once I hit that door.

Now I know why washing dishes was such a threat back in the old days for folks who couldn't pay their restaurant check after a meal out.  Read Washing Up at Restaurant-ing Through History.  It's interesting and informative, as is the rest of the blog.

That's about it for this addition of Follow Friday, though I do have one more thing to add on a serious note.   If you know a firefighter or are related to a firefighter, say thank you to him or her for doing what they do. Yesterday Worcester lost yet another firefighter who was killed in the line of duty.  You can read about it here.  Forget about what they say about sports figures and movie stars being heroes.  Firefighters are REAL heroes.


Other Posts You Might Like:

Advent Calendar: Christmas Cards from Poland and Germany 
Remembering Pearl Harbor
Reflecting on My American Experience this Thanksgiving
Heritage Zen Dives In: NaBloPoMo!

Follow Friday: How Do You Manage?

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) This week John Newmark of Transylvanian Dutch talks about rethinking and reprioritizing his time and blogging activities in his post Changes/Adjustments. This post really hit home with me. As the mom of a young child it's something that I struggle with on a daily basis. I've only posted once this week due to family commitments, activities, must-do yard work, and a slew of appointments of one sort or another. Research, correspondence, social media, library time, blogging time, blog reading time, oh yeah, and that life thing. Sometimes I feel like I'm sinking faster than I'm swimming. In my post Follow Friday: Happy New Year! I outlined the priorities that are most important to me. While I have a routine of daily activities, sometimes I just don't feel like I'm getting everything done that I want to get done. Is it time to let go or just organize better? How do you prioritize and schedule your time? Do you only do e-mail and facebook at certain times of the day/week? When do you do research? When do you blog and how often? How do you limit yourself? I don't do Twitter, though I am interested. I don't want to start one more thing I can't keep up with.

My question to you is, how do you manage your activities? Give me some advice. Throw me a lifeline, please...


Other Posts You Might Like:

Follow Friday: California Dreamin'
Follow Friday: Who's Following You?
Amanuensis Monday: Frank L. Naramore Obituary
Tombstone Tuesday: Jacob Riis, Riverside Cemetery, Barre, MA

Follow Friday: Routine Maintenance

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) Usually this doesn't happen. Certainly not often. This week as I was trying to catch up on my reading, I ran into a number of dead links on several geneablogs. It surprised me, because I think by nature genealogy folk are a rather persnickety lot, myself included. I will say from personal experience it is hard to keep maintenance up, particularly as you have more posts under your belt.

That being said, not only do I use my blog for sharing stories, tips, ideas, and what have you, I also use it as my personal website. You may have noticed I have a number of links at the bottom of my blog. These are links that I use on a regular basis. I have either mentioned them in a post or plan to mention them at some point in time, or I just think they are great resources other people may want to check out. This week I realized it's been a while since I checked my links to make sure they are all still active.

Going back to that persnickety thing again, I've decided to take some time this weekend do some routine maintenance. I'm planning to check and reorganize my links, add new ones, and try out a few new features. I also think I need to consider a regular maintenance schedule to keep everything in good working order. I don't want to be caught one link short of a connection if you know what I'm saying.

Do you do regular maintenance? How often? Also, if you notice another blogger with a dead link (or several), what do you do? Personally, I would like to know, but I don't know how others feel. Would it be presumptuous for me to bring it to that blogger's attention? What do you think?


Other Posts You Might Like:

Follow Friday: Who's Following You?
Follow Friday: AHA (American Historical Association) Today
Madness Monday: Splog Busters, Or My Experiment to Fight Splog
Follow Friday: Walking Pictures, Ancestry, and Free Stuff

Follow Friday: Happy New Year!

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) I've noticed a number of bloggers setting genealogy/blogging goals and making their New Year's resolutions over the last few weeks. Now that my son is back in school, this is something I desperately need to do.

I enjoyed our summer and our month in California, however I've been playing catch up ever since. August came, and I spent the entire month entertaining the young son and toting him to lessons and activities and preparing for back to school. My house needs work, my garden is a disaster, and my genealogy research and blogging have gone somewhat off course. While blogging allows for stream-of-consciousness writing, I feel it's time throw out a lifeline before my blogging descends into the dark, murky waters of the Stream of Unconsciousness.*

Fall is a great time to set goals. It's a new school year, a new schedule, and a time of new beginnings. Even though I've been (mostly) a stay-at-home mom for the last few years, for the almost 18 years of my professional life I worked either in higher education or secondary education, and fall always means the start of a new year. After all these years I still can't give up my academic year planner!

My genealogy goals for the next few months are:

~ Go to the library or a records repository at least every other week
~ Focus research on a few individuals for the immediate future and work diligently at organizing what I already have
~ Make a habit of typing up research and inputting data into my system IMMEDIATELY (No excuses on this one.)
~ Scan and organize photos and slides
~ Continue with my letter translation project with my cousin Marek (He'll be happy to read this one!)
~ Organize digital photos over the winter
~ Join a ProGen Study Group after January 1, 2011
~Participate in an education program (in person or online) once a month
~ Read/familiarize myself with the genealogy books I've ordered

My blogging goals for the next few months are:

~ Return to posting regularly on my Aunt Helen Bulak's Trip to Poland, 1937
~ Participate in the Carnival of Genealogy as much as humanly possible
~ Write one or two solid comments to other geneabloggers every week, minimum
~ Participate in GeneaBloggers daily blogging themes at least a couple of times a week
~ Continue to post the results of my Naramore research
~ Post on a New England theme or Worcester theme once a month

One disclaimer--all bets are off for November. I've decided to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. I'm planning to use the month of November to write the bones of a novella I plan to enter into a contest in the spring.

I'm already feeling a little overwhelmed when I look at my list, but I'm going to do my best. My husband makes fun of my inability (Well, that's what he says anyway...) to plan my time. Basically he always tell me to think about the time I need, then double it. Looking at my list, I should be pretty busy until September 2012.

Happy New Year!


For other great lists check out:

Martin Hollick's New Year Resolutions at The Slovak Yankee
Marian Pierre-Louis' A New Year's Wish List and then some at Roots & Rambles (Marian even has a Weekly Goals plan. I am in awe of this.)
Astrid's Genealogy Goals for the Fall at Of Trolls and Lemons
Tina Lyons' Fall Genealogy Goals at Gen Wish List
Greg Lambersons' Genealogy Goals for the Fall at Greg Lamberson's Genealogy Blog


* The Stream of Unconciousness is located after the Cliffs of Insanity and just before you get to the Fire Swamp and the Rodents of Unusual Size. (Just kidding. If you don't "get it" rent the DVD of the Princess Bride. You'll be glad you did. TGIF everyone!)

Follow Friday: Who's Following You?

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) I'm always interested in reading other people's blogs, and I hope other people are interested in and enjoy reading mine. I like learning what's new, hearing family stories, and learning how other people approach their genealogy and family history research. I like reading posts that I don't agree with, because those posts often make me think a little harder and a little more analytically about what I believe. I also like reading geneabloggers who report from other parts of the country, as well as other parts of the world. You are an interesting group.

Unfortunately, when I find reference to my blog on a non genealogy site it's usually a splog site (See my post Madness Monday: Splog Busters, or My Experiment to Fight Splog.). I was more than little surprised, in a good way, to discover where reference to my blog appeared this week. On Wednesday for my (Almost) Wordless Wednesday entry I posted a photo of circa WWI Red Cross volunteers in front of St. Mary's Church in Worcester, MA from my grandmother's photo collection. Yesterday I discovered my blog was referenced on the Red Cross Chat blog under What We're Reading! Now that's cool.

Geneabloggers, have you found reference to your blog in a good place? Someplace not genealogy related, but interesting? I'd love to know. What's your experience?

Follow Friday: AHA (American Historical Association) Today

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) A while back I started reading AHA Today, the blog of American Historical Association. According to the blog's "About" page, AHA Today is "...focused on the latest happenings in the broad discipline of history and the professional practise of the craft that draws on the staff, research, and activities of the AHA." The staff hopes the blog will "...serve as a clearinghouse for interesting, and perhaps useful information about the profession." While not specifically designed for genealogists and family historians I've found a number of articles which have peaked my interest.

I particularly like their weekly What We're Reading posts, kind of a historian's reading round-up, a la Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs weekly post at Genea-Musings. This week's What We're Reading: August 19, 2010 Edition includes a link to Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943, originally published at Plog, Photo Blogs from the Denver Post. The color images, mostly of rural America, bring a warmth, currency, and sense of vitality I sometimes find lacking in black and white photos. I found another interesting link at the bottom of the Captured: America entry, Captured: Color Photography from Russia in the Early 1900's. It's a fascinating look at photos by a Russian chemist and photographer who used his own unique process for creating color images to capture photographs of ordinary people across Russia.

This week I found AHA Today's post, The 90th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment and the links within particularly interesting. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe that I am only the second generation of women in my family born with the right to vote. Another "find" in What We're Reading: August 12, 2010 Edition was Winners: Most Innovative Archives, which led me to The HerStory Scrapbook. The HerStory Scrapbook includes over 900 articles from the New York Times, written between 1917 and 1920, "...about the women who were fighting for, and against, the right to vote."

I also found reference to London Lives 1690 to 1800 via AHA Today. The project description on the website says, "London Lives makes available, in fully digitised and searchable form, a wide range of primary sources about eighteenth-century London, with a particular focus on plebeian Londoners." London Lives provides access to historical records with 3.35 million name instances. All I can say is, wow!

Other items of interest found through the AHA Today site include the post History, There's an App for That and a link to Historical Fiction: The Ultimate Summer Getaway at NPR.

With all that and much, much more, don't wait until tomorrow. Check out AHA Today, well, today!

Follow Friday: Walking Pictures, Ancestry, and Free Stuff

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) I love it when I learn something new. I also love it when I learn something new and it directly applies to solving a mystery within my own family history research. This week I learned about "walking pictures." I'd never heard of "walking pictures" before. I started following Brett Payne's blog Photo-Sleuth fairly recently, and his most recent post Spotlight Photos Ltd. - "Walking Pictures" in Derby is fascinating.

"Walking pictures" were a style of photography practiced by street photographers in which the photographer captured ordinary folks as they walked down a city street. Apparently the trend was especially popular from the 1920s through the 1950s. I have a couple of photos in my collection which I suspect are "walking photos." The photo of my mom's cousin, Celina Gzell, I used to illustrate my June article for the Carnival of Genealogy, Meditation: The Strength of Ordinary Women, may be a walking photo. Given that the photo was taken during World War II in occupied Warsaw I am a little skeptical, but it is a possibility. With the photo above I am less skeptical. The photo is a picture of Celina Gzell walking along a Warsaw street with her mother, Leokadia (Szymanska) Szerejko (Abt. 1895-Abt. 1944) in 1935. I love the photo--both ladies are walking along, arm in arm dressed in fashions typical of the time.

I also read Brett Payne's other posts regarding street photographers and walking photos, Sidewalk Photographers - the Other Side of the Coin and Sidewalk Photographers, Bournemouth & Great Yarmouth. Brett also referenced Sheri Fenley's (The Educated Genealogist) article Friday From the Collectors - Sidewalk Photographers in footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed. Sheri's article was also very interesting.

This week I started following Ancestor's of Mine from Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky & Beyond by Kim. I found her thinking in her post When Ancestry Owns the World very much in line with my own regarding Ancestry and Ancestry's acquisition of ProGenealogists.

I was also happy to get a heads-up on good things to come from Family Tree Magazine in DearMyrtle's post, FTM's 101 Best Free Websites 2010. I read Family Tree Magazine and many of the websites that are listed I already use, but I saw quite a few that were new to me.

TGIF. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Follow Friday: California Dreamin'

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) I know your asking yourself, "What's up with Cynthia at Heritage Zen? We haven't had decent a blog post from her in ages." Or maybe you've had better things to do (which I really hope is the case) like genealogy. Anyway, if you are wondering, my family and I just returned from a month-long sojourn in sunny northern California, specifically the San Francisco Bay area. My husband was in California on an extended business trip, so my son and I went along to keep him company, see the sights, and enjoy what the Bay Area has to offer.

Let me first say my perfect vacation in California would involve enjoying the beauty of the unique scenery of the area, taking in some historical sights, and spending hours at the San Francisco Public Library researching a couple of Gold Rush ancestors. Let me also say I have a seven-year-old, so that didn't happen. The best I could hope for was a three-way compromise in order to keep us all happy and entertained on our trip.

While I didn't do much writing, I did do a fair amount of blog reading. Mostly on my iPhone while watching my son play at the Lawrence Hall of Science or the play circle at Yerba Buena Gardens, from what I like to refer to as the "bored parent bench." I know I mentioned Rainy Day Genealogy Readings in a previous Follow Friday post (Follow Friday: Oh Those Poles! and More...), but I really love it. Jennifer writes about the Oakland/San Francisco Bay area. I particularly like her Tribune Tuesday posts, which have given me the idea to post old articles from my local newspaper, the Worcester Telegram, on my blog at some point. Jennifer is a thorough researcher, writes well, and knows her way around a citation. A win, win, win combination. I also read Craig Manson's posts at GeneaBlogie on his Grand Genealogy Journey, specifically his posts GeneaBlogie Grand Genealogy Journey - Day 1 Sacramento and the The Grand Genealogy Journey: Aboard the California Zephyr. My family and I visited the California Railroad Museum which he mentions in his Sacramento post. What a great museum! I was amazed at the extent of the collection, and my husband and son enjoyed the museum as well.

To humor me, or as I like to say, "Just make mommy happy, okay..." the guys agreed to check out the Rosie the Riveter Memorial Park in Richmond, California. A while back Joan at Roots 'n Leaves mentioned that her aunt Gail Sigford worked in the shipyards. When I noticed the sign for the the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond I thought it would make an interesting stop. The memorial is interesting and informative, and is situated in a very pretty park. The National Park Service offers free ranger tours a few times a month. I also noticed on their website that you can submit a World War II home front story to their website about the Rosie the Riveter or Wendy the Welder in your family. My mom worked for the Worcester, MA office of the Ration Board during the World War II, so I plan to submit a story.

I did a little pleasure reading while on vacation. I read the Kindle version of Alan Furst's The Spies of Warsaw. I honestly had never heard of Alan Furst before but found the Spies of Warsaw fascinating. The novel takes place in 1937 Warsaw, the exact year I am writing about in my series of articles Trip to Poland, 1937. The book was a great read, and I am looking forward to reading another one of his books, The Polish Officer sometime soon.

Finally, I've decided to reread my copy of Simon Winchester's A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906. I read it and enjoyed it a couple of years ago. I decided not to re-read it before or during vacation, as I didn't want to tempt fate in some weird way, if you know what I'm saying. I started it last night, but need to recover a bit more from my jet-lag induced state before continuing on. I only managed to read a few pages before falling asleep, which is no reflection on Mr. Winchester's writing, but is very much a reflection on my ability to function on the limited amount of sleep afforded passengers on the red-eye to Boston.

There was so much to see and do in California. I wished we could have done more, but we just ran out of time. Overall, we had a lovely vacation, but I'm glad to be back home in New England. Now it's time to get busy blogging, but first I think I'll take that nap. Zzzzz...

Follow Friday: Oh, Those Poles! and More...

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) Well I've finally decided to enter the Follow Friday discussion. After two weeks at sea blogging about my Aunt's 1937 trip to Poland I decided I needed a bit of a break. The irony of my lengthy blogging journey has not escaped me. I think my aunt spent less time at sea than I have spent writing about it. It's kind of like taking three hours to watch James Cameron's movie "Titanic" when it only took two hours for the ship to go down. Thankfully, we've finally landed, but I need a break so I've decided to do a little review of what I've been reading.

Nolichucky Roots - Susan from Nolichucky Roots and I share a common interest in Carpatho-Rusyn heritage. She is truly a woman after my own heart especially when it comes to surname variations. This week I enjoyed her story, "Catching Some Zs, or What's in a (sur) Name?" very much, where she ponders the frustration of, well Z. Susan, I feel your pain. I also enjoyed her article, "Treasure Chest Thursday: What they kept."

Basia's Polish Family: From Wilno to Worcester - I'm thrilled to find another blogger writing about the Polish community in my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts. I have enjoyed hearing Barbara speak at a local genealogy conference and have both of her books on Worcester Poles published by Arcadia Books. Just today I found her blog article, "Finding 19th-Century Houses on 21st-Century Maps" particularly interesting and useful. Thank you Barbara.

Rainy Day Genealogy Readings - I love this blog. I started following Jennifer's blog a couple of weeks ago when I saw it mentioned in one of Greta's Genealogy Bog Follow Friday round-ups. I was fascinated by her recent article, "Topics in Research-The Great Grasshopper Plague of '74." In general, I love newspapers. Not only do newspapers offer information about our ancestors, but newspapers put our ancestor's world in context. Don't even get me started. My husband's eyes start glaze over when I periodically exclaim that I could spend the whole day reading old newspapers (and the census, and city directories). He doesn't share my level of enthusiasm, shall we say. Or maybe I just need to get out more...

Small-leaved Shamrock - I just started following this blog today. What's a nice Polish girl doing following an Irish genealogy blog for you might ask? When asked, I tell my Irish friends that there are no Irish roots in my family unless the boat from Poland made a stop in Ireland somewhere along the way. What I discovered is that Lisa's writes about her family in Schuylkill County, PA. If you read my blog posts, "Postcards from the Edge: Genealogy Road Trippin'" and "What in a Name? (An Ongoing Series): Radziewicz" you know that I've been researching Victoria (Szerejko) Radziewicz who lived for a time in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, PA. I'm looking forward to learning about Schuylkill County from Lisa.

Finally, I found a super cool website this week--Warszawa - Wycieczka Wirtualna or a Virtual Tour of Warsaw. I discovered my grandfather's brother, Feliks Szerejko, and his wife, Leokadia Szymanska, were married at the Church of the Holy Cross (Kosciol sw Krzyza) in Warsaw on 07 Sep 1919. If you go to the Virtual Tour of Warsaw you can actually click on a little camera icon and view a 360 view of the interior of the church. I have to say it again, cool.

That's it for this edition of Follow Friday. TGIF. It's time to get off the computer, get outside, and enjoy the weekend!