I thought you knew about this. I work for the meyersdale library and they have a wonderful genealogy section. they have a lot of records from the funeral homes in the area. check out the meyersdalelibrary.com site under genealogy. there is a section the lists most of the items we have in the genealogy room. Crystal --- cbeachy <[email protected]> wrote: > Sonny, > Thanks for posting this. > > Glad to see that Carol Hepburn is still part of the > Somerset County > Genealogy functions. She's a wonderful lady. > > I wish more people would volunteer for projects like > this. > > Connie Beachy - Volunteer at the Allegany County > Genealogical Society > > > > > > > Meyersdale, PA Public Library Donates 28,000 > Obituary Records for Online > > Genealogy Research by Joe Patterson > > The Meyersdale Public Library graciously donated > over 28,000 obituary > > records to the Somerset County, Pennsylvania, > USGenWeb project, see > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~pasomers/ > > > > The obituary records were donated as part of an > ongoing records > > transcription project initiated by the Meyersdale > Public Library. "The > > library has been encouraged to place records > online as part of its overall > > Internet database policy but was unable to perform > such a task on its own. > > Their resources were limited, and they just didn't > have enough manpower to > > transcribe the records for online storage," said > Carol Hepburn. The > project > > was initiated by Cynthia Mason, Research Librarian > and resident > Genealogist > > with the Meyersdale Public Library and began last > August with an email > > asking for assistance. Miss Hepburn, USGenWeb > Archives and Somerset County > > website co-coordinator, was contacted by the > library staff and asked if > > there was any way the website project could handle > transcribing and > placing > > the obituary records online. Her reply was, "We > have had great success > > getting other records transcribed, most notably, > the U.S. Census > Schedules. > > Our team coordinator, April Phillips, has done an > outstanding job > > coordinating volunteers and overseeing the Census > Project for several > years > > now. I knew with her help we could recruit > transcribers and get these > > obituaries placed online." > > > > The USGenWeb Archives was selected as the online > storage location as its > > policy of free access was in keeping with the > library's goals and not > > dependent on any one person maintaining this large > collection. Placement > in > > the Archives makes the data available to the > USGenWeb Archives' county, > > state-wide and national search engine, as well. > The collection, originally > > in tif format on CD-ROM, was converted to smaller > gif files, and uploaded > to > > a temporary directory, where transcribers and > proofreaders could view them > > as they typed in Notepad, using Windows split > screen, a system much faster > > and economical than sending out paper copies to > transcribers. > > > > Over the course of the past eight months, 50 > volunteers were involved in > > scanning, typing and proofing the 28,000 > obituaries. Continued support > from > > the Meyersdale Library was essential in resolving > questions on obituaries > > which were partially unreadable or caused other > questions. The Project is > > nearly complete, thanks to the dedicated efforts > of the volunteers. > > > > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/somerset/mdale.html > > This Special Obituary Collection (primarily > 1970-2004) contains not only > Somerset residents but many from nearby Pennsylvania > and Maryland counties > and former residents who migrated. The obituary > project management team > members are dually county coordinators for PAGenWeb > and file managers for > the PAGenWeb Archives. Anyone interested in > additional details for > organizing a project of this scope, please contact > Joe Patterson, File > Manager for PAGenWeb Archives, at > [email protected] > > > > > > ==== MDGARRET Mailing List ==== > > If you need help with this list, make sure to > email the list > administrator, Sonny O'Haver, > [email protected] > > > > > > > > > > ==== MDGARRET Mailing List ==== > Looking for your Garrett County ancestors? Make sure > to visit us on the web at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdgarret/index.html > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com