The Genealogy Guys
If you haven’t listened to the latest The Genealogy Guys Podcast, it’s available at www.genealogyguys.com. We proudly sponsor George and Drew, and they always have a great podcast.
Finding Your Family in Old Newspapers - Top Web Sites for Getting the Scoop on Your Relatives
NewspaperARCHIVE is sponsoring the Family Tree Magazine webinar “Finding Your Family in Old Newspapers - Top Web Sites for Getting the Scoop on Your Relatives”. In addition to being featured in the webinar, presenter Lisa Louise Cooke will produce a podcast for use on NA.
Newspapers serve as a time capsule for your ancestors. They can provide clues to major events in your ancestor’s life through obituaries, missing friends advertisements and other news stories. Researching historical newspapers may provide the key to unlocking a wealth of geneological information that you have been missing.
* Date: Wednesday, July 29 at 7 p.m. EDT
* Length: 1 hour
* Price: $29.99
* Presenter: Lisa Louise Cooke
* What you’ll learn:
o key family history information you’ll find in historical newspapers
o what types of articles to look for
o how to identify papers that likely covered your ancestors
o Web sites that have major newspapers and collections of newspapers
o search hints for key online newspaper collections
Your registration includes:
* Participation in the live presentation and Q&A session
* Online access to the workshop recording after the session concludes
* PDF of the presentation slides for future reference
Lisa Louise Cooke is a regular contributor to Family Tree Magazine and frequently speaks at genealogical events around the country. Cooke authored Genealogy Gems: Ultmate Research Strategies and runs the Genealogy Gems News Blog. She also hosts the Family Tree Magazine Podcast, as well as the Genealogy Gems and Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcasts. To learn more about this webinar presenter, visit her Web site.
Stars and Stripes Archive Now Available at NewspaperARCHIVE
NewspaperARCHIVE, in partnership with Stars and Stripes U.S. military publication, announces the online release of the Stars and Stripes historic newspaper archive.
Stars and Stripes, the daily independent news source for the U.S. military community, has partnered with NewspaperARCHIVE to digitize and make its entire microfilm archive available online. This partnership, which also includes microfilm preservation of Stars and Stripes newspapers, gives libraries, historical societies, educational institutions and individuals online access to more than one million pages of historic newspaper content never before available.
“We are proud to be able to distribute this historic military publication,” said Jeff Kiley, General Manager of Heritage Microfilm. “Researchers across the globe will now have access to Stars and Stripes, which has been reporting on major headlines from the front lines continuously since World War II. The newspaper’s archive offers readers a global perspective on events that shaped the world’s history, such as the Vietnam War, the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall and much, much more. Stars and Stripes is a wonderful research tool for historians and genealogists, containing a wealth of information about American service members and the events which shape their history.”
The archive is the culmination of nearly two years’ worth of work assembling the best microfilm of the Stars and Stripes collection available, scanning it into digital form, inspecting each image for irregularities and quality issues, correcting any problem images, and building a fully-searchable digital archive website.
Content from Stars and Stripes is featured on NewspaperARCHIVE, located at www.newspaperarchive.com. The archive is divided in two editions – the Pacific Stars and Stripes and European Stars and Stripes. The Stars and Stripes collection is integrated into almost 100 million additional newspaper pages of valuable content from the U.S. and around the world, dating as far back as 1753.
Tell Us What You Think (and maybe win a $200 gift card from Amazon)
Dear NewspaperARCHIVE Subscriber,
In an effort to provide NewspaperARCHIVE subscribers like yourself with a more enjoyable user experience, we are asking for your feedback. We have created a quick survey to give you a chance to tell us what you think of our services - tell us what you like, and maybe what you don’t like.
Tell us a little about yourself - how do you use our website, what are your interests, how do you feel NewspaperARCHIVE can be better? The better we know our customers, the better we can do our job.
We are continually striving to improve our website. As one of our subscribers, you can be instrumental in guiding us. We hope you can take 5 minutes (or less) to complete the survey.
As a token of our thanks and appreciation for your time, all survey participants will be entered for a chance to win a $200 gift card from Amazon.
Again, thank you from everyone at NewspaperARCHIVE.
Click Here to Complete the NewspaperARCHIVE Subscriber Survey.
New Content on NewspaperARCHIVE
Available 6/22/2009
Title: Kossuth County Advance
Country: United States Of America
State: Iowa
City: Algona
Page Count: 598
Date(s): 1934
Title: Piqua Daily Call, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Ohio
City: Piqua
Page Count: 3420
Date(s): 1934
Title: Estherville Enterprise, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Iowa
City: Estherville
Page Count: 225
Date(s): 1934 - 1935
Title: North Adams Transcript
Country: United States Of America
State: Massachusetts
City: North Adams
Page Count: 1175
Date(s): 1934
Title: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Country: United States Of America
State: Alaska
City: Fairbanks
Page Count: 928
Date(s): 1934
Title: Denton Record-Chronicle
Country: United States Of America
State: Texas
City: Denton
Page Count: 4793
Date(s): 1934 - 1935
Title: Brownsville Herald, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Texas
City: Brownsville
Page Count: 8964
Date(s): 1934
Title: Daily Mail, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Maryland
City: Hagerstown
Page Count: 5572
Date(s): 1934 - 1935
Title: Gallup Independent and Evening Herald, The
Country: United States Of America
State: New Mexico
City: Gallup
Page Count: 2297
Date(s): 1934 - 1935
Title: Blytheville Courier News
Country: United States Of America
State: Arkansas
City: Blytheville
Page Count: 502
Date(s): 1935
Title: Logansport Pharos-Tribune
Country: United States Of America
State: Indiana
City: Logansport
Page Count: 3011
Date(s): 1934
Title: Salt Lake Tribune, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Utah
City: Salt Lake City
Page Count: 10033
Date(s): 1934
Title: Daily Capital News
Country: United States Of America
State: Missouri
City: Jefferson City
Page Count: 3216
Date(s): 1934 - 1935
Title: Humboldt Independent
Country: United States Of America
State: Iowa
City: Humboldt
Page Count: 519
Date(s): 1934 - 1935
Title: Record-Argus, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Pennsylvania
City: Greenville
Page Count: 2907
Date(s): 1934
Title: Cumberland Evening Times
Country: United States Of America
State: Maryland
City: Cumberland
Page Count: 3401
Date(s): 1935
Title: Free Press, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Illinois
City: Carbondale
Page Count: 1542
Date(s): 1935
Title: Marshall Evening Chronicle
Country: United States Of America
State: Michigan
City: Marshall
Page Count: 2238
Date(s): 1934
Title: Hawarden Independent
Country: United States Of America
State: Iowa
City: Hawarden
Page Count: 912
Date(s): 1934
Title: Avalanche-Journal
Country: United States Of America
State: Texas
City: Lubbock
Page Count: 1469
Date(s): 1935
Title: Rock Valley Bee
Country: United States Of America
State: Iowa
City: Rock Valley
Page Count: 373
Date(s): 1934
Title: Morning Avalanche
Country: United States Of America
State: Texas
City: Lubbock
Page Count: 2766
Date(s): 1934
Title: Evening Gazette
Country: United States Of America
State: Ohio
City: Xenia
Page Count: 2673
Date(s): 1934
Title: Ironwood Times, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Michigan
City: Ironwood
Page Count: 696
Date(s): 1934 - 1935
Title: Altoona Herald, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Iowa
City: Altoona
Page Count: 423
Date(s): 1935
Title: Clovis New Mexico Evening News-Journal
Country: United States Of America
State: New Mexico
City: Clovis
Page Count: 2521
Date(s): 1934
Title: Rhinelander Daily News, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Wisconsin
City: Rhinelander
Page Count: 2352
Date(s): 1934
Title: Weimar Mercury, The
Country: United States Of America
State: Texas
City: Weimar
Page Count: 415
Date(s): 1934
Title: Williamsburg Journal-Tribune
Country: United States Of America
State: Iowa
City: Williamsburg
Page Count: 418
Date(s): 1934
Title: Camden Times
Country: United States Of America
State: Arkansas
City: Camden
Page Count: 26
Date(s): 1935
Title: Greensburg Daily News
Country: United States Of America
State: Indiana
City: Greensburg
Page Count: 2313
Date(s): 1934
Title: Ukiah Dispatch Democrat
Country: United States Of America
State: California
City: Ukiah
Page Count: 491
Date(s): 1934
Title: Redwood Journal
Country: United States Of America
State: California
City: Ukiah
Page Count: 451
Date(s): 1934
Title: Ukiah Republican Press
Country: United States Of America
State: California
City: Ukiah
Page Count: 424
Date(s): 1934
Title: Carroll Daily Herald
Country: United States Of America
State: Iowa
City: Carroll
Page Count: 3138
Date(s): 1934 - 1935
Title: Estherville Daily News
Country: United States Of America
State: Iowa
City: Estherville
Page Count: 3797
Date(s): 1934 - 1935
Today in History
1910: First Father’s Day is celebrated
Father’s Day was celebrated for the first time today in Spokane, Washington. The day was organized by Sonora Smart Dodd. Because Dodd was raised by her father after her mother died, she thought he deserved a day of honor to complement the already-existing Mother’s Day.
“After listening to a 1909 Mother’s Day church service, Mrs. John Bruce Dodd told the minister she ‘liked everything he said about motherhood,’ but don’t you think fathers deserve a place in the sun, too?” reported the Tri-City Herald on June 18, 1972. “That sermon of long ago ‘was full of adulation for motherhood,’ Mrs. Dodd said. ‘I began thinking of my mother who passed away in 1898 while I was yet a child. My thoughts naturally turned to my father who was left with the responsibility of rearing six children.’”
NOTE: Dodd also suggested that roses should be worn on Father’s Day to honor their fathers - a white rose for fathers who were deceased and a red rose for those who were living. In 1966, 56 years after Father’s Day was first observed in the United States, President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation and declared the third Sunday of June to be Father’s Day.
New - Free Front Pages
NewspaperARCHIVE has now unlocked every front page in our archive, giving all of our visitors the ability to look through millions and millions of unique newspaper front pages. Whether you are a first-time NewspaperARCHIVE visitor, a Free Member or a Premium Member, just check the box labeled “Front Pages Only” and your search will return results from some of the best front pages in history.
These front pages cover history from 1759 through 2008 and are fully text-searchable. I’ve found some choice front pages covering the Battle of Gettysburg, the World War I Armistice, the death of Lenin, V-E day ending World War II, the first walk on the Moon, and the death of Elvis Presley, but there are thousands more events waiting your discovery!
Give our Front Page search a try today and see what you can find.
You Can’t Win If You Don’t Shoot
Author; Joe Manning
My latest story is less about family history and more about local history. It’s incredible what you can find out if you are both curious and determined, and you know where to look. My research was aided by a surprising series of serendipitous events, which led me to so much more information that I ever dreamed I would find. Once again, NewspaperARCHIVE.com proved indispensable.
On the evening of Valentine’s Day 1963, Calvert High School lost to La Plata High School by the score of 4-1. The two Southern Maryland schools weren’t playing soccer, baseball or hockey; they were playing basketball. I know, because my brother, then called Bobby Manning, was a starting guard for Calvert. I was known then as Howard Manning, and I graduated from the old Calvert County High School in 1959. I didn’t attend the game, but I found out about it in the strangest of ways.
I was stationed then at Greenville Air Force Base, in Mississippi. The night after the game, I was watching one of the network evening news programs – Cronkite, Huntley-Brinkley, I don’t remember – in the TV lounge at my barracks. Near the end of the broadcast, the announcer said something like this:
“An unusual high school basketball game was played last night in Maryland, between La Plata and Calvert. Calvert froze the ball the whole game and almost won. Their only point came on a foul shot by Bobby Manning. And that’s the way it is…”
More than four decades after the event my brother now calls “The Game,” I decided that I wanted to find out what really happened. But where was I going to start? Bobby (called Bob now) was not a good source, most of the details having been purged from his memory. So I tried looking for old newspaper articles about it. The Calvert County Library tried to help but couldn’t find any, so I checked out NewspaperARCHIVE.com, an online paid subscription service with over a billion articles on file. Surprisingly, I found more than a dozen about it, all various versions of a short UPI item that ended up in a number of newspapers across the country.
One of them mentioned the Calvert coach as Gordon Wright, who I remembered as a young teacher when I was a student. So I looked up his name in the Internet white pages for Maryland, knowing full well that there was little chance I would locate him. After all, he could be anywhere, if he was even still around. I found five listings for that name and called the first one. It was him.
He was stunned and excited, and eager to tell me all about the game. I interviewed him, and within two weeks, I had tracked down and interviewed the other Calvert Coach, Tim Carney, and two of the La Plata players, Dale Cornette and Larry Ringer. I also interviewed brother Bob. In the following paragraphs, you will find all you’ll ever need to know about one crazy basketball game.
Gordon Wright
Gordon Wright grew up in Garrett County, Maryland, in the rural western part of the state. He worked in steel mills and automobile factories in Ohio and Baltimore in the summer to help pay for college. After attending Potomac State College, in West Virginia, he graduated from West Virginia University, where he later got his master’s degree. In 1958, he was hired for his first teaching job, at Calvert County High School.
“At that time, the schools were segregated,” Wright remembers. “There was Brooks High School, the black school, and Calvert. I got a job teaching math, science and social studies. I met the physical education teacher and coach, Don Merriman, and he and I became good friends. Don had come out of Glenville State College in West Virginia, and had been at Calvert about two years. I told the administration that I was trained in physical education and science, and that I did not plan to be back the following year unless they gave me a position in physical education. So they put me in charge of physical education for the seventh and eighth grades. I started helping Don with the athletic teams, and since I played soccer in high school, I became the soccer coach.”
“I helped Don with the coaching for two years, and then in the fall of 1961, he got a job at Gwynn Park High School, in Prince George’s County (Maryland). So I took over the basketball team, but there was no pay for coaching. When the new Calvert High School opened in 1962, I had a family by then, so I applied for a job in Prince George’s County, where the pay was much better, and it was within driving distance of my home in Dares Beach.”
“In the meantime, I met Tim Carney, also from Glenville State, who had started teaching in the middle school, which was in the old Calvert County High School building. I asked him to help me coach. He knew a lot more about basketball than I did. They were still building the gymnasium. It was not going to be completed until the second half of the year, so we had to schedule all our games away from home at the beginning of the season. I was teaching physical education classes in a barn out in back.”
“Calvert was a rural county, and a lot of the kids never came out for the team until they were 16 years old and could drive a car, because that was the only way to get home from games and practice. Therefore, Calvert’s teams were not very successful. In fact, when Don was there, we had about five wins each year, and I had a similar record my first year. But for this season, we had a pretty good team.”
Wright still has vivid memories of the game, and most of what he told me is confirmed by the newspaper articles, including one he sent me from the Washington Star. Wright continues:
“Ed Lakes, the coach at La Plata, had come out of West Virginia. There was rumor that he had won a high school state championship there. In an earlier game at La Plata, they had beaten us badly, 79-53. When we played them at Calvert, La Plata already had 15 victories. Tim Carney came up with the strategy, and I figured we had nothing to lose by trying. Tim said, ‘La Plata plays a zone defense. Let’s hold the ball and make them come out and play us. If they do that, we’ll have an opening to go in.’”
“In those days, there was no shot clock, so you could hold the ball. But you couldn’t just stand there with the ball, you had to make an attempt to go in toward the foul line every 15 seconds. So I told my two guards, Bobby Manning and Johnny Mattera, ‘Stand out there, dribble in toward the foul line every so often, but don’t try to take the ball all the way in as long as they are back in that zone.’”
“So La Plata got the tip-off – every quarter started with a jump ball in those days - and they went down and scored a basket. We came back and held the ball. Immediately, Lakes yells to his players, ‘Get back. Don’t go out after them.’ He saw what we wanted to do, so we told the boys, ‘Just keep it up, you’re only behind by two points.’ At the end of the quarter, we hadn’t taken a shot, and La Plata hadn’t touched the ball again. La Plata got the tip in the second quarter, but they missed a shot. We got the ball back and did the same thing, and the half ended like that.” “At halftime, we reminded the boys, ‘If they come out to get you in man-to-man coverage, then try to score, but don’t be too anxious. If we keep this up, we’ll still be in the game all the way to the end.’ The players were doing just what we wanted them to do, and they were doing it well. They realized that they had lost badly to La Plata, and they seemed to be with us on the strategy.”
“La Plata got the tip in the third quarter and scored right away, so it was 4-0. And then we held the ball the rest of the quarter. In the fourth quarter, we lost the tip again, but La Plata missed a shot, and we got the ball back. Late in the game, Bobby made a little push in and got fouled. Lakes yelled at his team, ‘Don’t do that, stay back.’ In those days, there was no such thing as the one-and-one, so Bobby got only one shot, and he made it. We put some pressure on, La Plata missed a shot, and we came back down.”
I wondered out loud why Wright didn’t call time-out.
“Back then, the coach couldn’t call a timeout. The boys on the floor had to do that. There was a lot of noise from the fans. It went down to the very end of the game, and we were yelling to the boys to take it in and shoot it. I think they were afraid of making a mistake, so they just kept passing it back and forth. They weren’t paying any attention to the clock, and it ran out. So Bobby’s foul shot was the only shot we took in the game.”
I asked why Calvert didn’t at least toss up a 20-footer at the end of each quarter.
“In hindsight, that’s what we should have done. But La Plata put on a little token pressure right toward the end of each quarter, so it wasn’t as easy as you think. You have to remember that you’re dealing with young boys that were not that experienced. You also have to understand that we didn’t anticipate this type of game. I think Lakes should take credit for the low score, because he pulled his team back and refused to challenge us. But we had a good season. In fact, we won the rest of our home games.”
The rest of this amazing story, including photos and many more interviews, can be found on my website at: www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/calvertgame1.html
NewspaperARCHIVE Ranked as Number Two Genealogy Database Website
NewspaperARCHIVE, the world’s largest online newspaper archive, is ranked by Alexa as the second most visited genealogy database website in the world.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (PRWEB) May 11, 2009 — NewspaperARCHIVE, the world’s largest online newspaper repository, has been ranked by Alexa, the Amazon.com-owned Internet usage tracking company, as the second-most visited genealogy database website.
“Alexa rankings have confirmed our goal, which is to firmly establish ourselves as an invaluable resource for family historians, whether dedicated researchers or weekend hobbyists,” said Dave Stoddard, Online Marketing Manager. “We provide a huge number of unique newspaper pages, but compliment that with a powerful search tool and plenty of great unique articles designed to help our users get the most out of NewspaperARCHIVE.”
Besides attaining the number-two spot for genealogy databases, NewspaperARCHIVE also holds the number three position for all genealogy services, as well as the number-nine spot for all genealogy websites.
NewspaperARCHIVE has recently launched a series of upgrades to their site in order to increase value for their users and improve the experience of searching thought million of pages of archives. Amongst these are a series of blogs aimed at increasing user interaction and helping genealogists connect, a series of attractive new membership options, and a refined search engine. Several more enhancements are expected in the near future.
