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Researcher's Notebook weblog

March 31, 2009

Minnesota History Journal Now Searchable Online

Filed under: Research Tools — debbie.miller@mnhs.org @ 3:42 pm

A great day has arrived for researchers and writers of Minnesota history.  We can now do full-text searches of the journal Minnesota History from the first issue up through 2003. The most recent 5 years will not be searchable in hopes of encouraging readers to purchase copies. 

From the Minnesota History homepage you can search by year and issue, get a list of the articles in that issue, and then open a PDF of that article. Or you can still search the index (grey navigation bar on the left-hand side of the webpage) by letter of the alphabet and index entry, then click the blue hotlinks to the full text of the citation(s). 

Please consider sending some of your “finds” in this wonderful resource to the Researchers Notebook blog if you think others might be interested in them as well.

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March 28, 2009

April 2009 Monthly Meeting

Filed under: Monthly Meetings — debbie.miller@mnhs.org @ 1:07 pm

We will gather for the monthly research meeting this coming Tuesday, April 7, from 10:00 a.m. to noon.  We’ll be meeting in a new place that we hope will be a little roomier, the Pillsbury conference room on Level A of the History Center.  Here are some directions, and if you don’t remember them, just ask at the MHS Information Desk on the first floor when you enter the building from the parking lot.

As you enter the History Center from the parking lot, come straight down the hall, past both stores, and turn left when you can’t go much farther.  You’ll be at a set of 2 elevators.  Take an elevator down 1 floor to Level A.  Straight ahead of you when you get off at Level A will be the Pillsbury Conference Room.  

We look forward to hearing about your current and planned research projects.

If you can’t make the meeting but would like to send a message to the group (raise a question, ask for research help, make an anouncement, or offer a suggestion), let Debbie or Kathie know. We can even post your message on the blog, if you want, and you can receive “virtual” answers! If you really want to get into blogging, we can make you a “contributor” and you can post messages yourself.

Please let Debbie or Kathie know if you would like to remove your name from the monthly reminder list.

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March 9, 2009

Minnesota State Census Available

Filed under: Research Tools, Resources — debbie.miller@mnhs.org @ 3:10 pm

The Minnesota Historical Society now has available on its website an index for and images of the Minnesota State Census, 1849-1905. This is the same index and images currently available on Ancestry.com but unlike Ancestry, MHS will be able to correct the index and even replace bad images. 

The index works like the Minnesota Birth Certificates and Minnesota Death Certificates indexes, with drop-down menus for “exact,” “contains,” “starts with,” and “ends with” for both last and first names; Soundex and extended Soundex; and the ability to limit the search by year and county.

The Society’s innovative WOTR (Write On The Record) comment feature is usable on the census index. This means that you can report errors and MHS will make corrections. Also, the census images can be purchased online, with electronic delivery within minutes, just like the birth certificate images.

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