Digging Up the Past Together

by Bob Karrow, Special Collections

We're pleased to announce that 8,200 records have been added to the Newberry Library Cartographic Catalog for road maps issued between the 1920s and 1950s by dozens of publishers for dozens of American oil companies. Our growing list of transportation maps dovetails neatly with the library's extensive travel and exploration collections. Nearly 12,000 road maps spanning the 16th-21st centuries are now cataloged.

The catalog also contains some 7,400 railroad maps published since the 1820s.

In addition to maps, atlases, and other works with 5 or more maps, the map catalog includes our expanding Bibliography of the History of Cartography. Comprised of some 8,000 titles, it forms the most complete guide to secondary sources on the history of cartography available on the web.

Now approaching 70,000 total records, the map catalog has nearly doubled since going online in late 2004, the result of thousands of hours of labor completed by intern catalogers and volunteers.

by Grace Dumelle, Genealogy and Local History Assistant

Tucked away on a side street in Cicero, Illinois is a treasure trove of materials relating to Eastern European heritage and the impact of its peoples' immigration to Chicago, the Midwest, and beyond. It's the library of the Czech and Slovak American Genealogical Society of Illinois (CSAGSI).

You'll find church anniversary books, biographical compilations, pamphlets, maps, journals, high school yearbooks and so much more. Of course there are reference copies of the essential publications of CSAGSI, also held at the Newberry, such as the Denni Hlastel Obituary Index and Index to the 1872-1899 Death Records of St. Procopius Church, Chicago, Illinois. See the Newberry's pathfinder for Bohemian research here (www.newberry.org/genealogy/bohemian.html). [-more-]

Flipping through the pages of the 1933 World's Fair Memorial of the Czechoslovak Group, I found a full-page story with photos about Leader Department Store, a place where I spent my allowance growing up in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. Though the text was in Czech, I learned there were three locations, begun by a gentleman named Eduard Oplatka. The photo of the 18th xamp; Paulina location I frequented showed awnings on the ground floor and a vertical sign almost three stories tall - details that were long gone by the time I knew the place.

Materials like these enrich the history of many city neighborhoods and suburbs such as Cicero and Riverside. Judith Mason, Volunteer Coordinator, told me she's uncovered many Irish names while indexing a Czech newspaper. The Irish worked as foremen and pressmen for the newspaper and sometimes joined Czech organizations. There are probably similarly interesting discoveries to be made in the library resources for Czech and Slovak areas in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and other parts of the world. To see what the library holds, go to the CSAGSI web site www.csagsi.org and click on the Table of Contents on the left. Then go to "Genealogical Resources." The first link in this section takes you to the library holdings in various categories.

Researchers sit at communal tables and enjoy the help of CSAGSI volunteers, who offer strategies, find materials, and translate text. Patrons often chime in with suggestions based on their experiences. You may find the kibitzing distracting to your research, or you may relish the friendly atmosphere.

Besides waits for the single copier ($.10/page), other slight drawbacks are that the materials are hard to locate on the shelves. They are grouped according to subject (e.g. immigration) but are not filed in any discernable order; they do not have call numbers. Also, the facility is only open nine days a year, on the second Saturday of the months September through May, from 10 am to 2 pm.

There's no fee to use the library, located on the second floor of the T. G. Masaryk School, 5701 22nd Place, Cicero, 60804. Free street parking is available. You can also take the Pink Line to its terminus at 54th xamp; Cermak and walk four blocks west and one block south. The next Saturday dates are April 10 and May 8, 2010. Top off your research with a visit to nearby Klas Restaurant and Rosicky's Bakery on Cermak Road, for a true ethnic immersion!

Authors Richard Cahan and Michael Williams recently visited the Newberry to talk about their book Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home. Filled with exquisite photgraphs by Alexander Vertikoff, the book documents the life and work of the Chicago artist who painted, sculpted, drew, designed, and carved his way through six decades. Find out more about this fascinating man, his art and the book by visiting ChicagoAncestors.org. Search for keyword "Edgar Miller".

At 9:30 a.m. on March 6th, Matt Rutherford, Curator of Genealogy and Local History, will introduce novices to the basics of research with a free informal orientation. No reservations are necessary. The session will meet in the Towner Fellows' Lounge on the second floor of the Newberry Library. Click here for directions to the Newberry.

Starting this Friday, March 5th, NBC will debut its new genealogy program, "Who Do You Think You Are?" Modeled on the popular BBC series of the same name, the show will explore the family histories of seven celebrities, including Susan Sarandon, Spike Lee, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Emmitt Smith. The series airs at 7:00 p.m. Central time. More information can be found on the series's website.

by Autumn Mather, Reference

The American West: Sources from the Everett D. Graff Collection at the Newberry Library

The Newberry collaborated with Adam Matthew Digital to digitize approximately one-third of the materials in the Everett D. Graff collection. The result of this digitization project is The American West, a database that is available on all public computers in the
Newberry Library.

The Graff collection is focused on the exploration and development of the American West in the 19th century. It contains emigrants' guides and maps, rare broadsides and other ephemera, correspondence, diaries, and photographs. Printed and manuscript material in the Graff collection documents the exploration of the West; town, county, and state histories; the development of the railroads; and industries such as the fur trade and cattle farming.

If your ancestor was one of the many Americans who settled west of the Mississippi River in the 19th century, you can learn a lot about what his or her life was like by exploring the resources available in The American West. You can search the database by theme to look through sets of documents that include Mining and the Gold Rush; Pioneers Hunters and
Explorers; and The Railroads, Transportation, and Urban History. Alternatively, you can search by Region for documents on Illinois, on Texas, or on California, or you can search by document type to look through all the cattle brand books, directories, or pamphlets.

The database contains two sets of maps: original maps, which contains scans of historical maps from the Graff collection, and data maps, which consists of contemporary maps designed for the database. Using the data maps you can track the development of the railroads and the establishment of military outposts in the West, you can look at political maps over time, and you can map Native American tribal areas.

If you find materials to help you document your family history, you can save copies of the digital images as pdf documents. The database provides you with the Newberry Library call number for each item, so you can also go up to Special Collections and view the original document.

Finally, don't overlook the links to scholarly essays and to other digital collections that are available in this database. They may lead you to clues and resources that will provide you with even more information on your ancestors' lives in the American West.

Tony Burroughs, internationally known genealogy and author of Black Roots: A Beginner's Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree, will hold a workshop this Sunday, February 28th, 2:00 - 4:00 pm, at the Grande Prairie Public Library, 3479 W. 183rd St., in Hazel Crest. Join Tony as he shares tips on tracing, documenting, and recording your family's history. Please register with the Adult Services Department, 708-798-5563.

The DuPage County (IL) Genealogical Society holds its 35th annual conference this Saturday, February 27th. The theme is "Genealogical Building Blocks," and featured speakers include John Philip Colletta, Elissa Scalise Powell, Kathy Meade, and Jeffrey A. Bockman. The Newberry will have a vendor table at the event, so be sure to drop by!

The conference will be held at Hilton Garden Inn, 4070 East Main Street, in St. Charles. Further information about the conference is available here.

Afro-American Family History at the Newberry Library: A Research Guide and Bibliography was first compiled by David Thackery in 1988. He created an updated version of the guide in 1993, which was published by the Newberry as A Bibliography of African American History at the Newberry Library. David Thackery was the curator of the Local and Family History collection at the Newberry from 1983 until his death in 1998, and during that time he greatly strengthened the Newberry's African-American genealogical materials.

Following in David's footsteps, Jack Simpson, curator from 1999 until 2009 and current curator Matt Rutherford received a grant from the Illinois State Library using money from the federal Library Services and Technology Act to reprint an updated version of the Guide. The entire 2005 version of the Bibliography of African American History is now available on the Newberry website.

"If the study of the past has any value in helping us to understand the present, or in guiding us in trying to shape the future, then there can be few chapters in the American experience that speak to us more powerfully than the crucial years during which four million former slaves tried to make something out of freedom."

Aimed at historians and aspiring historians of slave emancipation and its aftermath, the After Slavery website is a collaborative work-in-progress involving a team of four scholars based in the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom, whose current research is focused on labor, race and citizenship in the post-emancipation Carolinas.

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the Freedmen's Bureau, was established in 1865. The Bureau supervised relief and educational activities relating to refugees and freedmen, and assumed custody of confiscated lands or property. The records were created by bureau headquarters, assistant commissioners and the state superintendents of education and included personnel records and a variety of standard reports concerning bureau programs and conditions in the states.

Legislation preserving these records was passed and became law on November 6, 2000. "The records of the Freedmen's Bureau are a vital source of information for historians and genealogists. These records contain a wide range of data about the African American experience during slavery and freedom, including in marriage records, labor contracts, government rations and back pay records, and indentured contracts for minors."

These records are organizied by the local field office where the records were created. This map, created by the Newberry Library, shows the location of the field offices and provides links to information about the records of these offices microfilmed by the National Archives.

On Friday, February 19, from 6:00-10:00 pm, Grace Dumelle will deliver two presentations in Evergreen Park as part of a "Genealogy Lock-in." Grace will speek on "Getting Started in Genealogy: Top 10 Terms and Principles" and "Understanding Your Past in Land Records."

Where: Evergreen Park Public Library, 9400 S. Troy, Evergreen Park

When: Fri., Feb. 19, 6:00-10:00 pm

Contact: Mary Deering, Evergreen Park Public Library, 708-422-8522

Recently, a patron in Pennsylvania contacted the Newberry asking for information about her grandfather's antique accordion. The accordion bears a tag stating that it was manufactured in Chicago by Dom. Pontarelli of the Italian Accordion Manufacturing Company. No date is included.

Newberry librarian Autumn Mather used several tools available on ChicagoAncestors.org (http://chicagoancestors.org/#tab-tools), including city directory listings, street guides, and the street renaming guide, to help determine that the accordion must predate 1918 and likely predates 1909. Using this information, the patron has now posted the accordion up for sale on Craigslist. The deductive process Autumn used, as well as some interesting photos of the accordion, are included in the Craigslist listing, available here.

If anyone has or knows of a good home for the accordion, or has further information about Dom. Pontarelli or the Italian Accordion Manufacturing Company, please contact the patron/seller at: sale-zsdyn-1594446110@craigslist.org

On Friday, February 12, Christina Bannon, DAR Chicago Registrar, will be at the Newberry conduction Revolutionary War ancestor lookups from the DAR's database and offering advice on the DAR application process. Christina will be available in the 2nd floor General Reading Room from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. Appointments are not necessary, though you will need a current Newberry reader's card. For information on obtaining a reader's card, click here.

The New York Times has an excellent review of PBS's "Faces of America," airing tonight. The review is available here.

More information on the program is also available in this earlier blog post.