The Unofficial Footnote Blog

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.

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

20091211

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

“to date” is the total images for that title when I last measured it.

“unknown” is an interesting calculation. I compared the change in the total number of documents as measured by the “Big Number” on the homepage, with the change in the number of images for each title that is listed as “new” or “updated.” The difference is a mystery.

Further, if one added up the number of images for all of the titles on the site, the number would be short of the “big number” by about 200,000 pages. Since I have no concrete idea how either set of numbers is managed, I prefer to think of the difference as some wonderful collection of images that will be revealed for a birthday or holiday. Perhaps we’re measuring the dark matter in the universe! If I learn what 70,000 pages were added this week and are not on this list, I’ll post it here.

Have a great weekend! Do you know how many people you could meet at a mall this month?

NOTE: The missing images are from two new titles that I didn’t put on the list.

City Directories – Toledo. 40,290 images
City Directories – Minneapolis 28,979 images

There is also a new title on the list – City Directories – Kansas City, but it currently contains no images.

What’s in a name? Well, if you use a term to mean more than one thing, there is ambiguity in a name. So when is two titles actually eight titles? Well, sometimes a title is a title, and sometimes it’s five titles.

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If you know someone that is secretly wanting the Footnote subscription, but is just a bit hesitant about it based on the price … well, you’re in luck!

Today, Footnote.com is showing a “holiday discount” from $79.95 to $49.95. That’s a $30 savings. You can find the promotion here, until the promotion ends. [link]

If you’re a current subscriber, or a Footnote affiliate, you might be disappointed. Affiliate links to that page produce the regular price. Current subscribers who might have paid more may need some holiday spirit to avoid feeling some disappointment.

Come on, people! This is not the season for selfishness! Put aside self-centered thinking, and help others have a great holiday! You may not find a better opportunity than this one.

Last week, I wondered about what happens in the “genealogy industry” after the US census collection becomes freely available. I blogged about it over at the RootsWorks blog [link]. If you are interested, or have comments on the topic, that site is devoted to technology and genealogy, and the topics are broader than Footnote.com-related issues.

See for yourself. [link]

Almost a month ago, Footnote announced their intent to complete the US Federal Census.

First, a few thoughts about the project. At present, there have been 15 censuses released. The first 6 censuses (1790-1840) only list the head of household. Beginning in 1850, the census lists every name, and beginning in 1880, they show the relationship of each person to the head of the household. There are 9 “EveryName censuses,” the ones taken 1850 and after. The 1890 census was lost, except for about 6,000 names.

Footnote already has 1860 and 1930 online, and we’ll omit 1890 from this discussion, leaving 12 to do, and 6 of the EveryName censuses. But Footnote is not the only organization working on a complete census collection. The genealogy world has known for years that FamilySearch intends to create one, as well. And today, it appears that they might complete the EveryName census years before Footnote does.

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Pages added to the Footnote site since 24-Nov

• Civil War Soldiers – Union – MO. 110,823 added. More than 1.7 million pages in this title.
• Civil War Soldiers – Union – KY. 37,068 added. More than 1.2 million pages total.
• Naturalizations – NY Southern. 20,630 added.  Almost 750,000 pages total.
• Texas Death Certificates. 20,531 added. More than 2.8 million pages total.
• Poughkeepsie Journal. 19,511 added. More than 280,000 pages.
• WWII Captured German Records. 16,961 added. More than 175,000 pages total.
• Naturalizations – NY Eastern. 7,428 added, almost 800,000 total pages now.
• Approved Southern Claims – Alabama. 6,002 added, over 32,000 pages total.
• Approved – Virginia. 5,349 added, more than 40,000 pages total.
• Civil War Widow’s Pensions. 3607 added, more than 500,000 pages now.
• 1900 US Fed Census. 1744 added, 7500 total.
• 1910 Census. 1592 added, total is almost 5,000.
• WWII Nuernberg Interrogations. 1215 added, almost 30,000 total.
• Ft Wayne (IN) News – 984 added, more than 40,000 total.

These additions comprise 257,820 pages added to the site since 24-Nov.  The total number of images on the site is nearing 61 million.

Two quick lists for today.

The 10 titles which are 100% complete, containing less than 1000 images

• Photos – WW II Japanese FREE
• Civil War Soldiers – Union – UT
• Ardelia Hall Collection: Wiesbaden Photographs FREE
• Custer’s Court Martial FREE
• Constitutional Convention Records FREE
• Foreign Letters of the Continental Congress FREE
• Photos – Coolidge FREE
• Photos – Eisenhower FREE
• Amistad – Federal court records FREE
• Town Records – Goffstown NH FREE

What’s the takeaway?

Footnote contains a combination of short and long titles. You would not want to judge the value of a title based on its size.

NOTE: The word “FREE” in a title means that it was free on Footnote.com on 17-Nov.

The titles having more than 250,000 images remaining to be completed on 24-Nov.

• Navy Survivors’ Certificates. 14,000,000 to go. There’s a good chance that this number is high, by up to five million.
• Texas Death Certificates UPDATED. 2,100,000
• Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871-1880. 1,370,000
• News – Poughkeepsie Journal UPDATED. 1,000,000
• Naturalizations – NY Southern UPDATED. 800,000
• Apollo Missions FREE. 650,000
• Civil War Soldiers – Union – MO UPDATED. 580,000
• Census – US Federal 1900 NEW UPDATED. 490,000
• WWII Captured German Records FREE UPDATED. 395,000
• Texas Birth Certificates. 350,000
• Census – US Federal 1910 NEW. 332,000
• Census – US Federal 1920 NEW. 300,000
• Naturalizations – NY Eastern. 276,000

NOTE: Remaining images are calculated from percentages, not from exact title sizes. As such, they are only estimates, and therefore rounded.

This last list does not include the “Widow’s Certificates.” There are about 165 million pages of these. Footnote and FamilySearch are in a pilot project to do 500,000, which is nearing completion.

What’s the takeaway?

Footnote tries to publish complete titles. This aids records custodians, because they can use the digital copy for circulation and reference, and retire the film or paper documents. It benefits researchers, because they can infer important information from a search, even if it does not include the name they seek. Footnote produced approximately 10 million images in the past year. If production continues at that rate, and if the count on the Survivor’s certificates is correct, something on this list will not be complete in late November, 2011.  I rather suspect that it till be done sooner.

Also, notice that six of the thirteen titles say UPDATED. That’s a sign the they have had pages added recently, and are in current production. Three of them say NEW, and those are also in current production. One might expect more additions in the short term from titles that are in those groups.

Footnote publishes many numbers. For instance, the home page contains the total number of images – just above 60 million today. They also display the percentage that a title is complete, in some cases. When you view the “title index page” for a title, you will see the number of images published to date for that title.

Today, let’s discuss the percentage of completion.

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Footnote recently announced that they will publish the complete US census.

The Footnote announcement, in part:

How much interaction is interactive?

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