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A new era has begun for the Pennsylvania State Archives, and that’s good news for our region’s genealogists.
Just days ago the archives reopened in a larger new Harrisburg building with better safety and environmental controls, the state announced. The previous building was a smaller one, opened in 1965, next to the state museum.
Visitors will notice some changes. They “will be able to research their own family history with free access to Ancestry.com,” a release states. “They will be able to utilize digital records the Archives have made available on the Internet and the interactive Digital Gateway touch screens to view documents and videos from the Archives.”
For those who cannot get there, “some of the archived records have been made available online through digital copies, including collection highlights such as land maps and photographs.”
Let’s take a quick look. Just search for “Pennsylvania Archives.” You’ll find a handy guide to everything available online, and there is quite a bit.
Click on “Browse or search our digital collection” and there will be everything from death indices to Revolutionary War pension records, everything from Eastern State Penitentiary records to aerial surveys.
The new building is at 1381 N. Sixth St., Harrisburg.
The website contains information on other forms of remote access, such as email.
Web security: The recent data breach of the DNA testing company 23andMe has sparked renewed attention to security of user information. Earlier this fall, 23andMe announced that several thousand people’s data had been compromised. But it soon turned out that many more – millions, in fact – were potentially impacted.
Detailed information has been published on numerous news and genealogy-related websites, and the story continues to evolve. If you are a genealogist, it will be beneficial for you to look up those articles, particularly with an eye to seeing what steps are being taken to shore up web defenses by all the testing companies.
Some corrective measures have already been taken.
“In the wake of the incident, the company forced all of its users to reset their passwords and began requiring two-factor authentication for all customers,” said “Wired” news, adding that other companies offering DNA tests are following suit.
Also, “FamilyTree” reported, “23andMe has disabled its DNA Relatives tool after a hacker gained access to the site and used it to scrape user information. This tool identifies genetic relatives in 23andMe’s database and allows users to connect with them. It’s unsure when DNA Relatives will return.”
RootsTech: Don’t forget, RootsTech 24 is coming up in just a little over two months. The annual conference in Utah, most of which is accessible all over the world, will run Feb. 29-March 2.
There will be a host of speakers on a wide range of genealogical topics, with videos becoming accessible almost immediately. If you want to register for the live sessions (for which there is a fee), go to www.rootstech.org. Otherwise, there will be dozens of free presentations that will be videotaped for online access later.
Speakers typically offer talks and advice on solving genealogical problems, conducting profitable research and exploring regions, countries and ethnicities.
Genealogy organizations: As always as the new year nears, resolve to join the organizations that are there to help you. In our area, that includes the Luzerne County Historical Society, the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society and whatever local historical groups are most pertinent to your personal genealogy.
In fact, don’t just join. Visit them to see what they have to offer. Volunteer if you can. Dues are always modest, by the way
Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy writer. Reach him at tommooney42@gmail.com.
Tom Mooney is a Times Leader history and genealogy writer. Reach him at tommooney42@gmail.com.