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15 March 2016 By Margaret Eves Leave a Comment

Genealogy Insights from D. Joshua Taylor: His Circus Performer Ancestor, Video Research Logs, and Ancestor Elevator Speeches

D. Joshua Taylor, Co-host of Genealogy Roadshow on the PBS network and President of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYG&B), took a few moments from his busy schedule at RootsTech 2016 to chat with me about the future of genealogy and how video plays a role. I reduced our conversation to the concentrated interview excerpts below for quick reading. Click here for more extended excerpts and a link to the full audio recording of the interview, complete with the energy-filled hubbub from the Expo Hall at RootsTech 2016.

The Ancestor Elevator Speech: Genealogists Face The Challenge Of Telling The Story, Not Just Reporting The Facts

pocket-watch“We encounter this all the time on Genealogy Roadshow, where we have 50 documents to share, but in reality, we have to whittle it down to a six-minute segment.” Josh went on to note: “So in many cases, it’s how do you tell a story and use the documents as illustration versus simply giving them a research report? I see other genealogists when sharing stories with their family members; it’s very easy for it to turn into a very long-winded research report…It’s shortening that [to a] 30-second tagline about an ancestor. What’s the tagline in that case?”

“…one of the challenges for genealogists is … to create those elevator speeches of their ancestors … We want to tell so much more about the story and everything we’re finding, but when you’re sharing the story, it has to be that, in that shorter time.”

Josh’s Circus Performer Ancestor

circus-horses-jumping“…he’s actually a first cousin 3 times removed, but he was a circus performer in the 1850’s and 1860’s. He traveled all around the world. He was born in Missouri. He died in Bombay, India. He lived in Australia. He went to China. He went to England … he traveled the entire globe. When I think about him and his family, all of his children but one died very, very, young. I think about the struggles he had. He had a desire to express his creativity as an artist. He was able to travel all around the world–that absolutely inspires me.”

“I have photographs of him. In my office at home, I have a Playbill from a theater in Boston. He was performing there. I found it in an archive somewhere and then found another copy of it at an antique store so I was able to get that. I have visual representation in my pictures of him performing with horses. I have all the ads from the newspapers when he was in town. I have a lot about his story. I want to write a book one day. Even more, I want to write a video and produce the video about his life. He’s an incredible guy.”

“I’d much rather talk about my circus performer on video with images I could show [rather than] than lay out documents. It doesn’t actually capture his great story. It’s in the images, and in seeing that visual movement from place to place.”

Online Video Will Play More of A Role,  In Sharing And In Research

“In the future, I think it’s very possible that we will tap into a video experience, even if it’s only interactive video when we’re working with the librarian or an archivist somewhere when we’re actually doing the research… What would it be like if you could sit here and tap into a librarian of the New York Public Library, and have a reference conversation and record that and have that for future generations?”

Parting Words Of Encouragement On Using Video In Genealogy

ipad-718411_640“I would only add that [you should] start, start. I use video now to keep my research log. When I come back from the library, I … record on my camera, on my laptop, and I talk about everything I looked at. Then, I preserve at least that thought that was in the moment. I can share that with somebody and say, ‘… I went to the library and here’s what I found.’”

Thanks again to D. Joshua Taylor for taking time out to share his insights with the Video Genealogy community. You can learn more about D. Joshua Taylor on his website at www.djoshuataylor.com.

 

Got a great ancestor story you want to bring to life in video?  Get started now by downloading FREE Ancestor Story Tools here.

Image credits:

Margaret Eves. RootsTech 2016 Expo Hall.  Collection of Margaret Eves.

General Research Division, The New York Public Library. “$1.00 Yale Stem Winding Stem Setting p. 5 (detail)” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 14, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/aac6d860-a576-0132-5037-58d385a7bbd0

George Arents Collection, The New York Public Library. “Sensation cut plug [Horses jumping in circus?]” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 14, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-d9a5-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Pixabay.com

 

Filed Under: Articles, Interviews Tagged With: Ancestor Story, Circus, D. Joshua Taylor, family history, Genealogy Roadshow, historical images, Research logs, RootsTech 2016, Video Genelaogy

11 January 2016 By Margaret Eves Leave a Comment

New York Public Library Makes Public Domain Easy

FBpostCoffeeHouse

Next to coffee, public domain images are my favorite addiction. The New York Public Library introduced a way to get your public domain fix when it announced its enhanced public domain collections­–making it easier for users to search, remix and create with the rich offerings of images, manuscripts, sheet music, and even data–all free of copyright restrictions.

For the genealogist, this means even more opportunities to find great images, such as stereoscopic photographs, menus, sheet music, and even medieval illuminations, to illustrate an ancestral experience video. Users searching the NPYL digital collections can filter with an easy “Search only public domain materials” checkbox that appears magically when clicking in the search box.

Even better, the item descriptions offer citations in MLA, APA and Chicago/Turabian format. I love you New York Public Library.

stereoscope_Savannah_Wharr_man

A search on “Savannah” led me to a collection of stereoscopes that includes the view at right of a man standing on the wharf by the Savannah River.  The 3-D effect really pulls you into the shot.

GIF made with the NYPL Labs Stereogranimator - view more at http://stereo.nypl.org/gallery/index
GIF made with the NYPL Labs Stereogranimator

Enable your public domain habit. Learn more at nypl.org/research/collections/digital-collections/public-domain. Before you go there, download some helpful worksheets at http://bit.ly/AncestorTools to brainstorm some ancestor story ideas and generate some search terms.

Source citations:

Kimball, Shana. “Free for All: NYPL Enhances Public Domain Collections For Sharing and Reuse.” nypl.org. New York Public Library, 5 Jan. 2016. Web. 8 Jan. 2016. http://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/01/05/share-public-domain-collections

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. “Coffee House” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 10, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/af816b78-c712-c09e-e040-e00a18062945

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Along the wharf of Savannah River, Savannah, Ga.” (1895) New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 11, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-596a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Filed Under: Archives, Articles, Resource Tagged With: historical images, image archives, New York Public Library, Public Domain, Savannah

7 August 2015 By Margaret Eves Leave a Comment

Resource Spotlight: The Commons on Flickr

The Commons (on Flickr)  https://www.flickr.com/commons

The Commons On Flickr is a collective effort by archives worldwide to  “share hidden treasures from the world’s public photography archives.” The site encourages users to add tags and information to help catalog images. The FAQ has a wonderful explanation of “No Known Copyright Restrictions” which can help when deciding how to use and share images. When searching, use the “Search the Commons” lower on the page (rather than the generic Flickr search box at the top) to confine your search to the Commons.

Sampling of The Commons Institutions

Participating archives add to the Commons on Flickr as they digitize images, so revisit this site periodically for potential “new” finds.

A search on “Savannah” also took me to the Internet Archive Book Images collection. So images are not just limited to individual photographs. An amazing tool for finding images in books! Some entries included the text appearing in the book, providing more context for the image.

NPNP-book-coverThe Commons on Flickr is just one of the amazing sites I share in my image rich FREE eBooklet No Pictures? No Problem! 7 Great Sites for Finding Photos From Your Ancestor’s World. Request your free copy by clicking here or click on the book cover.

 

 

 

Image credit: 1945. Toni Frissell, sitting, holding camera on her lap, with several children standing around her, somewhere in Europe. (LOC)

Filed Under: Resource Tagged With: Commons on Flickr, historical images, image archives

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