February 16, 2006
Wisconsin Pre-1907 Birth Index
We've published a great new resource for genealogists. The Wisconsin pre-1907 birth index includes almost 1 million birth records dated between 1852 and September 30, 1907. The index also includes about 20,000 delayed birth entries, graciously provided by the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society.
Searching
You can search the index by Last Name, First Name, Full Birth Date, County and Birth Year. Last Name is required unless you search County and Year.
Results
Your search results include the person's name, birth month, day and year, County, Microfilm Reel number and Record Number. An Order button takes you to our online store where you can purchase a printed copy of the record. If you prefer to obtain a copy yourself, the Microfilm Reel and Record Number are included to assist you.
Search Tip
Last and First Name fields are "Starts With" searches. The Last Name field requires at least 3 letters. If you type "smi" in the Last Name field, you will get "Smiath" to "Smizinek." Include a single letter in the first name field to narrow your search. For example, adding "f" to the first name field produces 270 records, from "Smibitner, Franz" to "Smizinek, Franziska"
What's Next?
Marriage and Death entries will be added in coming months.
Links:
Wisconsin Pre-1907 Vital Records Index
Wisconsin Pre-1907 Birth Records Help page
Wisconsin State Genealogical Society
October 07, 2005
Wisconsin Historical Images News Feed
Last week my "Toot" (Tootin' Our Horn) was about Wisconsin Historical Images. I'm back again to talk about it. Wisconsin Historical Images is a great resource for finding historical images. Not only do we have a lot of Wisconsin images, we also have images from all over the country and on many topics. A collection with a national scope.
The Digital Lab adds images 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. They're a busy bunch. Photo researchers have told us that they'd like an easy way to see new images. So, we've added a few tools.
One way to see new images is to visit the Recently Added Images page. Here you can search for images added in the last day, week, two weeks, month, three months, six months, and year.
A new resource is available to people who use RSS Readers. An RSS news feed is available to check for images added in the last 24 hours. Each image record includes the image title, date created, description, creator and thumbnail image. Click on the thumbnail and you are taken to the full record.
To use this news feed, you'll need a News Reader. Visit our Syndicate This Site page for more information. If you already have a News Reader, the search feed is here. 
Give it a try and send us your feedback.
Links: Wisconsin Historical Images
Recent Additions to Wisconsin Historical Images RSS Feed
September 23, 2005
Wisconsin Historical Images
My "Toot" for this week is for Wisconsin Historical Images (WHI). This is an amazing online collection of almost 20,000 images from the Society's collection of several million photos. Images are added daily, so make sure to come back often.
Highlights of the Digital Collection:
* Flexible Searching: Can search many ways, such as Title, Description, Subject, Creator, Location, Decade, Genre, When Added, and more.
* Search Results: Search results can be sorted by Image Creation Date (new to old, old to new) and Title.
* Find Similar Images: On the Image record page you can click on a list of Subject Terms to browse for similar images.
* Buy Images: Every image is available for purchase! Click "Add to Cart" to buy a print.
* Featured Collections: A custom presentation of images brought together by topic or collection.
* New Images: Search for images added in the last day, week, month, etc.
What's Next?
* Better searching by location
* Tell a Friend
* Personalized & saved searches
* RSS Feeds
* Lot's more content
So stay tuned.
Link: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/
September 16, 2005
Green Bay Packer Yearbooks
Got some feedback from Society staff wondering if I was going to publicize the great digital content that we put online. Good idea, great idea in fact. So, I've created a category called "Tootin' Our Horn" and will make it a weekly addition.
This week's "Toot" goes to the addition of Green Bay Packer Yearbooks to the Turning Points in Wisconsin History collection. The Yearbooks cover 1960 through 1967, and include the glory years under Vince Lombardi.
Go Packers!
1962 Packer Yearbook cover photo showing Vince Lombardi being carried off the field by his team
