Digital State Archives

Thank you to Bobbi Harrison and Descendants of Nicholas Saum for this information!


Many states now hold a Digital Archives online.   Here is a link that can help you find out if the state you are looking for holds such a collection; I am also going to post the links below.

http://www.digitalstatearchives.com/


It looks like there are only 14 states who currently do not.

These states have an online collection available for searching:



Alabama   http://www.archives.state.al.us/

Alaska   http://www.archives.state.ak.us/

Arizona   http://azmemory.lib.az.us/index.php

Arkansas   http://www.ark-ives.com/

California   http://www.oac.cdlib.org/

Colorado   http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/

Connecticut   http://www.cslib.org/archives/

Delaware   http://archives.delaware.gov/

Florida   http://www.floridamemory.com/

Georgia   http://cdm.sos.state.ga.us/index.php

Hawaii   http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/cgi-bin/library

Idaho   http://www.digitalarchives.idaho.gov/default.aspx

Illinois   http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/archi
ves.html

Indiana   http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/

Iowa   http://www.iowahistory.org/libraries/index.html

Kansas   http://www.kansasmemory.org/

Kentucky   http://kdla.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx

Louisiana   http://www.sos.la.gov/tabid/53/Default.aspx

Maine   http://www.maine.gov/sos/arc/

Maryland   http://aomol.net/html/index.html

Massachusetts   http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcidx.htm

Michigan   http://www.digitalstatearchives.com/michigan

Minnesota   http://www.mnhs.org/index.htm

Mississippi   http://mdah.state.ms.us/

Missouri   http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/

Montana   http://mtmemory.org/cdm/

Nebraska   http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/index.shtml

Nevada   http://nevadadigitalarchives.org/

New Hampshire   http://www.sos.nh.gov/archives/default.html

New Jersey   http://www.state.nj.us/state/darm/links/archives.html

New Mexico   http://www.nmcpr.state.nm.us/

New York   http://www.archives.nysed.gov/aindex.shtml

North Carolina   http://genealogy.about.com/od/north_carolina/tp/nc_online.ht
m
(About.com provdes several good databases for North Carolina)

North Dakota   http://history.nd.gov/archives/genealogy.html (few items available online; most must be done in-person); also http://dlsd.sdln.net/   and http://library.ndsu.edu/archives/digital-collections

Ohio     http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/archlib/index.html

Oklahoma   http://www.odl.state.ok.us/oar/

Oregon   http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/vital.html

Pennsylvania   http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/

Rhode Island   None

South Carolina   http://archives.sc.gov/onlineresearch/Pages/default.aspx

South Dakota   None

Tennessee   http://www.tn.gov/tsla/resources/index.htm

Texas   https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/

Utah   http://www.archives.state.ut.us/

Vermont   http://vermont-archives.org/

Virginia   (by the Library of Virginia) http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/collections_a_to_z

Washington   http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/

West Virginia   http://www.wvculture.org/history/archivesindex.aspx

Wisconsin   (Wisconsin Historical Society)   http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/genealogy/

Wyoming   None

Create you own legacy

I loved listening to all the stories of my family and the ancestors -- I wish I would have written more of it down when I was younger. Future generations will want to know about you and your ancestors, you can give them some help by doing one of these things.

• Video Biography - there are so many ways to record lasting memories that include advice, anecdotes and life stories. Pull out your Flip, your telephone, video camera or hire a professional to record the details.
• Take Notes - ask your parents and other relatives questions and let them tell the stories. This is a great way to create a memoir with a personal touch.
• Photos - create a photo album -- or if you are really crafty, a scrapbook -- in tribute to your parents and relatives. This is a great gift to the future generations too when they wonder how we all looked in the "olden times."
• Ethical Wills - this is a way to share your values, blessings, life's lessons, hopes and dreams for the future, love, and forgiveness with your family, friends, and community. 

Email me anytime and tell me your story!  Please subscribe to my columns for great tips and information.

Stain remover - carpet

Okay, so this is a magic flying carpet and that isn't quite what we are talking about here, but I liked the image and it is a carpet. Besides all my photos of the various alcoholic carpets that I have had over the years are all in the PODS container...

In my mother's notes was a old yellowed piece of paper with this information on it:

This mixture helps remove stains from carpeting, use detergent-water-vinegar solution. Mix 1-teaspoon liquid dish or fine fabric detergent, 1-quart warm water and 1-teaspoon white vinegar.

From the look of it, we are to be intuitive enough on cleaning to know we should put this one the stain and then blot it off. I would use a white towel just in case so you don't transfer colored towel onto the carpet making matters worse.

Email me anytime and tell me your story!  Please subscribe to my columns for great tips and information.

Polishing the family silver

Winter is approaching and yet I still have no desire to polish silver... weird isn't it? In my quest to always find things that work well and are simple, today I'm sharing a silver polishing recipe from Aggie's kitchen.

• 1 quart water 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• Small piece of aluminum foil   

Place the water in a glass container. Mix in the baking soda and salt. Add the small piece of aluminum foil. Soak your silver in the mixture until the silver is clean. Soaking time will depend on how tarnished the silver is. After soaking, wash the silver with soap and water and dry well.


Do you have tips for cleaning silver? Share them in the comments.

Welcome to the World - Ellen Marie

Sorting through my all the things in my parent's house and I found this ditty my father wrote on the night my sister was born.

On August 19 at a quarter to three
Agatha drove off in Corsa with me

Kathy and Beast were all bedded down
Cause our purpose was not a night on the town

To Marymont hospital we drove that wet night
With thunder and lightning to hinder our flight

Up to the emergency door our Corsa it flew
But the guard said "No parking and I do mean you!"

The full moon was covered with clouds that morn
But a new Riley heir was soon to be born

Would it be Michael Donavan or Ellen Marie?
Either one would ease poor Ag's misery

Ag was on the table at three fifty six
And seven pounds 10 came at four twenty six

Big Dad shook hands with old Doctor Wise
And looked at the baby with tears in his eyes

She's a perfect little tyke its easy to see
Our new little daughter - Ellen Marie

Sharing Memories (Week 30 of 52): Summer Heat Waves

What did we do in the extreme heat when we were little? Did it ever feel as HOT and MUGGY as it did this year in Minnesota? When I was growing up, we lived in a number of states and I also got to spend big chunks of time in Indiana on various family farms and there were some steamy days.

What did we do as children when it was really hot? I do recall open windows at night, and there were occasionally fans involved -- but how many and when are unclear. I do recall one large fan that was a 1960s blue and felt like sitting in front of an airplane propeller. It was -- and still is -- on wheels and is about 3-feet tall and still feels a lot like sitting in front of a small plane. There were other more dangerous looking fans that had two thin pieces of wire that would not protect fingers from getting caught up in the cooling process. Come to think of it, those thin pieces of wire wouldn't have held the blade if it had shaken loose either. I recall one of the neighborhood boys sticking his tongue into that fan -- only once though...

One summer we had a vacation rental place in Sea Girt, New Jersey. My father was working in New York City and we stayed where we could get to the beach. That did make the heat much more tolerable. There was plenty of really fresh seafood, lots of playing in the sand, swimming in the Atlantic, trips to the library that smelled of old wood and books -- love that! Lots of visitors came that summer to see us and take in some salty sea air, still a favorite smell. We would walk to the beach at night when it was cooler and our Poodle, Hobo, got swept out into the ocean one night. In an amazing moment as a child, he came back no worse for wear. Now there is a moment of thinking about the Gaines Burgers that one of the house guests brought for the dog. I wonder what he ate the rest of the time, I don't have any recall on that, but it may have been table scraps. My paternal grandmother stayed with us the entire summer and painted seascapes and boats.

One theme that seems to run through all my tropical heat wave summers is being around some type of water. Many of my great summer memories include sail boats and various bodies of water like the Atlantic Ocean, Crooked Creek, swimming pool in the backyard at the Tulsa house, Lake Minnetonka, Lake Keystone, Mianus River, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Erie, Lake Tahoe and those are just some that I can recall. Guess we are water people.



Do you remember extreme summer heat when you were a child? Please share them in the comments.

My inspiration for this entry: It's Week 30 of our Sharing Memories - A Genealogy
Journey<http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/12/sharing-memories-genealogy-journey.html>Please join us each Sunday as we share our memories of childhood. Your
descendants will be thankful that you did! Write here as a comment, or on
your own blog, or in a private journal, but please write! 

Sharing Memories (Week 22 of 52): Memorial Day Thank You to Military Ancestors

I am working on sharing memories like my inspiration over at Olive Tree Genealogy. This week is about military ancestors -- of which I have many. I want to thank all military personnel -- past and present for your service, I for one greatly appreciate it.

My father was a United States Marine Corps Sergeant in Korea and prior to his tour of duty there spent time as a Drill Instructor at Camp Pendleton in California.

Neither of my grandfathers served in any wars or the military, although one worked in a factory as a foreman where they made military supplies and the other farmed and was registered for both WWI and WWII.

I do have other military ancestors including the Civil War and the Revolutionary War. I enjoy looking through the files to see where they were and was particularly interested in my 2nd great grandfather who was held as a prisoner of war by the Confederate States Army. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all they sacrificed to keep us free.



Olive Tree Inspirations are here.