The Unofficial Footnote Blog

Years ago, when I was working at Footnote, I got a call from a librarian at Southern Utah University. She wondered if we might publish a single roll of microfilm that the library owned. The roll contained the account books of the Deseret Iron Company.

While I said sure, the project didn’t proceed past that point during my tenure there. But this week, the account books of the Deseret Iron Company were published on the footnote site. There are 551 pages, organized by year, and month, and page number. The page numbers are a continuous sequence – 1854 starts on page 1 and 1855 on page 21.

There wasn’t a lot of cash around, and employees were paid on account. These books tell a great deal about pioneer life in the area that later became Cedar City.

I’m not familiar enough with the records or the history to say why the gap exists between 1862 and the final year, 1867. Let’s speculate that the company ceased operation in 1862 and cleared up the books five years later. Making it up is so much easier than research. That’s why 74% of genealogists do it.

Kudos to Footnote and SUU for publishing original images of a unique historical record. I don’t have any pioneer Utah miners in my family tree, but I think it’s the kind of publishing decision that gives the site value.

Tags: Southern Utah University, SUU

The following table lists titles added or updated at Footnote.com this week.

“%age” is the percentage complete, according to the website

“total pages” is the total images for that title when I last measured it (they can change at any moment).
“last week” is the change in the number of images since the last similar blog post.
“prev week” is the number of pages added in the previous week.

No new titles were added this week.

The following table lists titles added or updated at Footnote.com this week.

“%age” is the percentage complete, according to the website

“total pages” is the total images for that title when I last measured it (they can change at any moment).

“last week” is the change in the number of images since the last similar blog post.

No new titles were added this week. The %age for the GA Civil War Soldiers ticked over to 100.

On 29-Oct, Footnote announced the intent to complete the US Federal Census collection – at least the extant population schedules. At that time, we wondered what to expect. Would the project be completed quickly? Would other titles be pushed aside so that this project could be done sooner?

Two months later, we still don’t know for sure. But we do know what has been published since. Here is that report.

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The following table lists titles added or updated at Footnote.com this week.

“%age” is the percentage complete, according to the website

“total pages” is the total images for that title when I last measured it (they can change at any moment).

“last week” is the change in the number of images since the last similar blog post.

One new title was added this week, “Homestead Records.” It’ s not clear how it compares to “Homestead Records – Broken Bow, Nebraska” which was published previously. The description says that the records are from “various land offices in Nebraska.” You might imagine it as being titled, “Homestead Records – other land offices, Nebraska” but that’s a bit verbose, I’ll admit.

Happy New Year!

There are 31 titles on Footnote that are almost done, but have had no pages added in the past month. They are “stuck” – as if the runner had fallen right before the finish line.

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The following table lists titles added or updated at Footnote.com this week.

“%age” is the percentage complete, according to the website

“total pages” is the total images for that title when I last measured it (they can change at any moment).

“last week” is the change in the number of images since the last similar blog post.

No new titles were added to the site this week. Several newspapers have been added to the list, but no pages have been published for them yet. It’s a bit of a short week – I would normally wait another day to complete a week of production, but perhaps we’ll have a long week somewhere down the line.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

I keep a list of titles from the National Archives that have been   on Footnote.com. The list has been updated. These updates take place on a random schedule, the last having been 19-Oct.

The appearance of the list has changed significantly. I’ve taken the time to put the list into a table, instead of a straight text list. You might find it easier to scan. The list might have contained some duplicates before. I made an effort to minimize those this time.

As I said last time, next time, I may add the “% complete” from Footnote. I may. It could happen.

Oh, and I changed the publication date for the post. If you have been saving a link to the old list, I might have broken it. I’m amazed at how impermanent a permalink can be.

The following table lists titles added or updated at Footnote.com this week.

Dec 18

“pct” is the percentage complete, according to the website

“pages” is the total images for that title when I last measured it (they can change at any moment).

“last week” is the change in the number of images since the last similar blog post.

No new titles were added to the site this week. Some titles, such as the Native American Photos, carry the “NEW” tag. I’m not sure how long they stay new.

Have a great weekend! You have a short week next week.