Hi List Members - From time to time, I share with you a few administrative matters that relate to BLANCHARD-L and other services at RootsWeb. As the year winds down, this seems like a good time to post some of these to the List. __________ 1. After upgrading my mail program (Eudora), the Greetings/Guidelines message that I send to new subscribers, appears to have been sent but later, the message shows up in my out box as having been 'queued' but not sent. Several times I resent the message and also sent a note to the new sub, apologizing if two G/Gs were received. I'm still waiting for help from Qualcomm tech support about this but wanted to report this in case I missed explaining it to someone. 2. A new Utilities Page that RootsWeb list coordinators use to manage their lists, is being tested. This does not affect subscribers directly, but it does remind me to get your opinions on the following; I'll copy/paste directly and add my {comments}: * Prepend something to the subject of each message? If you enter ``BLANCHARD'' here, then a subject line that says ``Looking for John Smith'' will be changed to ``[BLANCHARD] Looking for John Smith.'' To disable the subject-line prepend, leave this box blank. {If your mail program has filters for sorting messages, this allows you to sort your mail messages according to the list surname (or any other key word that is appropriate). We are not using 'prepend', now. I have no preference, but one disadvantage is that for a long Subject: line, less of it will display in your mailbox table of contents window, etc.} * Use RootsWeb's commercial taglines? RootsWeb offers some tagline space for companies that want to put commercial messages there. These taglines are added to unsponsored lists. One of the ways you can help RootsWeb is by voluntarily adding these commercial taglines to your list as well. They will be added below any regular taglines you may already be using, and won't interfere with them. {B-L currently has 10 regular taglines - one of these appears randomly at the end of each posted message. They incude directions for locating useful web sites and how to support RootsWeb by becoming a contributor. I prefer not to add commercial taglines (See 3., below for background information) but would welcome your opinions} * Should replies be directed back to the list automatically? This option adds a Reply-To header to any message that doesn't already have one. If someone on the list replies to one of these messages, their response will be sent back to the whole list by default. {The way B-L has been operating, I think that it is best not to add a Reply-To header so that replies are sent to all list members. Each member can decide whether to contact the individual who posted the message or, with a little extra effort, send a message to the BLANCHARD-L@rootsweb.com address, for distribution.} 3. Our Sponsor+ account at RootsWeb for our List and Web Page for 1999-2000, is 'paid in full'. I was expecting a renewal notice but had to contact them to straighten out the "books" and learn that our account date is June 28 and not Oct 24 when we upgraded from Sponsor to Sponsor+, last year. As I have suggested in the past, if any members would like to contribute to RootsWeb, I suggest you contact them directly by visiting the site shown on one of our 'taglines' - Support RootsWeb! Go to: http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html 4. In November, RootsWeb developed a Personalized Mailing LIst (PML) as a bonus for all contributor accounts. The user enters search phrases into the Edit program and RW then reports all instances of these words/phrases appearing in posts to the following: Any mailing list that is archived by Archiver (preserving list messages in the RW Archives is optional with the list coordinator; B-L is archived). All posts to the GenConnect Boards. All listings with the RootsWeb Surname List (RSL) I subscribed for B-L and am collecting 'hits' on "Blanchard" which I will report to the list from time to time. My search phrases need to be refined to eliminate the 100s of appearances of hits like, "Charles Blanchard, Editor. Chicago: F. A. Battey & Co., Publishers, 1884. Historical and Biographical Sketches, Indiana. (Charles appears to have been a prolific writer!!), Blanchard, OK, and lots of 'Blanchard' middle names!! 5. Hartman Papers at New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYGBS) As many of you know, Mr. J. Crawford Hartman collected a considerable amount of research material on his wife's line from Thomas B. through his son Samuel, but he was unable to publish this, along with other information on the descendants of Thomas, before his death. The papers were given to NYGBS and I have been trying to work with them to make the Blanchard research materials more readily available to genealogists. I'll include here a brief report of where that effort stands and we can discuss this further on the List in a separate 'thread'. a. Volunteers working at NYGBS on projects like this do not have to be society members. b. All work will be done under supervision of the Library Director or a library staff member. c. The results of any 'photocopying, scanning, digitizing, indexing, etc.' will remain in the library and not be distributed or disseminated in any way. d. Only G&B members can look at the Hartman Collection (and enhancements we might prepare) and only members can use their fee-based Record Search Service by mail. Specific questions about a specific person can be asked through this service, but multi-generational research is not permitted. e. It is unclear just how much information a member who visits the Society Library, can take away but on my visit this fall, I was given permission for limited use of a hand scanner. By the time I prepared a brief inventory of the two boxes that I viewed, there was no time to scan any of the documents. I will postpone my comments on the NYGBS situation until I get some feedback from our members. 6. I will be adding the following brief data set to our Web Page: Blanchard: from Braintree History by Royce Bass; Vermont Vital Records & Census Some Descendants of brothers William and Barnard Blanchard of Worcester, MA and Braintree, VT This was provided by Maudeen Neill <maudean@sover.net> of Montpelier, VT, who is a descendant of Barnard (1772-1857), a descendant of Joseph and Ann Blanchard. This supplements the information on Barnard [A36-267-11] in Pat Blanchard Curry's "Joseph" and Ann database on the BLANCHARD-L Web Page and provides misc. census and vital record data on Blanchards for that part of VT and time period. Please let me know if youhave similar material that you would like to have added to the Web Page. _________ Happy Holidays to All! Fletch