—

The Illiana Genealogical & Historical Society will host a seminar, Photo Preservation, from 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 26 at the Illiana Genealogy Library, 215 W. North St., Danville. Stephen Ingram of St. Joseph, who works with the Illinois State Archives and the Illinois Preservation Society, will cover dating old photographs and how to keep them from deteriorating.

The cost of the seminar is $15 for IGHS members and $20 for nonmembers. Coffee and doughnuts will be served during a break. To reserve a seat, call IGHS at 431-8733, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Ingram’s specialty is tintype photography. If weather permits, anyone in the community may have a tintype made after the seminar’s conclusion at noon. Cost will depend on the size.

Digital collection

The Indiana Digital Archives now has digitized naturalized records of 40 Indiana counties. The most recent addition to the collection, Harrison County, has four naturalization books containing almost 1,000 entries covering the years 1830 through 1926 and can be viewed at http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org. (Harrison County’s naturalization proceedings were discontinued on Sept. 27, 1927.)

From this website, click on “naturalization records” and search for a surname or an individual in Harrison County or all the counties in the database. If the name is found, a click on that name will take one to a page with more information: name, age, nationality, city of departure, city of arrival, date of arrival, and record creation date.

Jim Corridan, director and state archivist of the Indiana Commission on Public Records, notes: “There are now more than 2 million records available to search on the Indiana Digital Archives at no cost. These records provide access to incredible pieces of family history.”

In addition to naturalization records, the Indiana Digital Archives’ collections include death records, institution records, military records, and miscellaneous historical records. Collections that are due to be added soon include Carroll, DeKalb, Grant, Madison, and Wells County naturalization records, closed nursing schools, and Crawfordsville Land Office records.

German heritage

The German Digital Library has been created to allow viewers to access Germany’s cultural heritage from sources in almost 2,000 cultural and academic institutions in that country. It is intended to be a “single access point to millions of books, paintings, films, museum objects and archival records” for researchers worldwide.

Visit http://www.dw.de/germanys-cultural-heritage-goes-digital/a-16424664 and click on the toolbar at the top, which offers links to Top Stories, Media Center, Program, and Learn German.

The Top Stories links to German history include interesting articles on German burials at Flanders Fields and a prison where RAF members were imprisoned and later found dead.

Anyone with German roots will probably find this website interesting — and informative.

Queries, as well as a general exchange of genealogical material that readers would like to share, will be printed in the column for free. Contact Joan Griffis by e-mailing JBGriffis@aol.com