Library challenge -- Lesson 9 History and Genealogy Resources

Discovery Exercise -- History and Genealogy Resources -- AncestryLibrary, Heritage Quest and Sanborn Maps

1. AncestryLibrary -- After inputting my name in the search box it came up with my address and phone number, though the number no longer exists. Did not have too much information on me other than that.

2. Search for a grandparent -- I looked for my fraternal grandmother but did not find anything on her, am I correct in supposing the site only gives hits for the US? I did find my mother who lives in Illinois but any other searches on my family gave me no results. It could be that I do not know how to use the site and perhaps that is why I did not have much success.

3. Photos and Maps -- This search gave a total of 176,456 pictures ranging from general photos of the bureau of ships to family and yearbook photos. I saw a picture of the Corn Palace from 1909 "..the Corn Palace, built from 3500 bushels of corn..." Also a picture from Deadwood and of a poster offering free homes and cheap deeded land in South Dakota. This was interesting.

4. HeritageQuest -- I browsed a few of the options in HeritageQuest, but not really knowing what or who I am looking for I was at a bit of a loss. While I can see that it would be a great tool for research I think you really need to know what you are looking for. I ended looking at a book on the history of Fresno, California since I have a cousin that lives in Fresno. I think since it appears to be that it is more related to the U.S. I would say that HeritageQuest lends itself more to history, social studies, research of genealogy or geography as it relates to human movement since it does have a section on the Census.

5. Sanborn Maps -- I chose Rapid City and started on Oct 1885, in that date the one building that existed and that is still in use was the bank on the corner of 7th street and Main. I then changed the date to Nov 1915 the year the Firehouse was built, that building is now a micro-brewery and restaurant and it's located on Main st and 6th street. In 1885 there was a building there but it was not a firehouse and it was much smaller, also I noticed the Elks theater existed by 1915 these are two of my favourite places downtown. I find it fascinating to be able to "go-back" in time with maps. I could probably spend hours looking at old maps and in my opinion it would be a very usable resource for students in the classroom for research or just to create more authenticity to any report or essay.