Here, in an The Old is New Again section are news items that are related to my prior posts in my series, Researching Photographers Working in the South — but the following is information that was new to me, and perhaps to you, too.

Eadweard Muybridge. The Horse in Motion as Shown by Instantaneous Photography with a Study on Animal Mechanics. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

This month, The Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) announced the addition of more than 1 million newspaper pages to the Library of Congress Chronicling America site. Now historical newspapers from Greeneville, Jonesborough, Memphis, Sweetwater, and Winchester, Tennessee, from approximately the 1850s to 1900, are available for free. http://tnsos.org/Press/story.php?item=570

As a reminder, it is always worthwhile to check Kenneth Marks blog “The Ancestor Hunt,” for the “Free Newspapers” segments. It is continually updated and it is an excellent place to find newspapers you might want to use in your hunt for any particular photographer, artist, or studio http://www.theancestorhunt.com/index.html

I’ve discussed using  JStor and their MyJStore area before. This is very useful for those of us who are not presently connected to a library or other member repository. Now they have something new they call JPASS which, after your free sign on, gives you access to select scholarly journal content in JSTOR. You can download articles you need to keep for future reference. There is a cost attached to JPASS – they have a month-to-month plan as well as a yearly plan.  jpass.jstor.org

I would suggest you try out MyJStore first, in order to see if you can access what you actually need, and if you would need to buy it.  See the information on MyJStore at http://www.jstor.org/  You have always had the ability to save up to three articles here. Something new is that now you can save citations from articles, and also save searches and have JStor tell you when new content arrives containing that search term or phrase. You can also be informed when a journal you are looking for or are following, arrives.

I recently discovered something about the updated Maryland State Archives site. If you click on their brand new Historical Photographs of Maryland, it takes you to their “Photographic Archives” search page where you can select Search All Photographic Collections – if you enter the keyword “Photographer” (singular), the search leads to several photographs of some Maryland photographers, of them in action, or of their studios. Next, click on any of these photographs for collection names and other information. This site is a goldmine of visual information.

http://speccol.mdarchives.state.md.us/pages/photos/about.aspx

And in the Kentucky Digital Library I recently discovered the rather unusual Pepper Family Photographic Collection, 1903-1904. Thomas L. Smith was an Army cartographer in the Philippine Islands in 1903 and 1904. His letters to his wife, Lyne Starling Pepper Smith, daughter of Robert P. Pepper, contain examples of cyanotype and Van Dyke brown print photographs he produced.  Both types of photographic prints could be made directly on regular typing paper, and after developing they could be used as stationary.  Smth’s letters describe, in text and in images, his work on a cartographic survey mission for the U.S. Army on the Philippine island of Siassi. http://tinyurl.com/ljc3fzw

And now, for the somewhat Newer News:

Eadweard Muybridge. Woman Washing Floor; 1883–86, printed 1887. Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no.  44.34.8 

New to us all was The City of Savannah’s announcement on Sept. 25 that digital access to many of the City’s most significant records are now available via Ancestry.com, and more will be added. If you do not have a subscription to Ancestry, see if it is accessible via your public or university library.

I am so anxious to check all my Savannah, Georgia photographers in these records!  Available on Ancestry.com right now are:

Vital Records, 1803-1966

Land, Tax & Property Records, 1896-1938

Voter Records, 1901-1917

Naturalization Records, 1825-1904

Records of Titles, 1791-1971

Court Records, 1790-1934

Cemetery and Burial Records, 1852-1939

http://collections.ancestry.com/search/GA/CityofSavannah

The City’s collection of Free Persons of Color Registers (1817-1864) is currently being indexed and will eventually be available.

Speaking of Savannah, I heard a rumor that the wonderful Digital Library of Georgia will be adding the Savannah newspapers to their ever growing collection of Georgia newspapers. Great news!

A good site to try for all your searches is The Genealogy in Time Search Engine. A search here can result in some unexpected hits for those things you had not previously considered.

http://www.genealogyintime.com/GenealogyResources/Tools/free_genealogy_search_engine.html

Another site you may not have considered before is The HathiTrust Digital Library. This is a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. There is an entire section for “Ancestry & Genealogy” as well as “Patent Indexes.”  http://www.hathitrust.org/

All users can access any U.S. work published prior to 1923. There are ways to access more, even if you are not part of a “partner institution.” http://www.hathitrust.org/help_digital_library#FriendAccount

That’s all the news I have for now. I wish you all the best of luck in Hunting and Gathering that research this week!

© E. Lee Eltzroth and Hunting & Gathering, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without  written permission from this blog’s author is prohibited. The piece can be re-blogged, and excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to E. Lee Eltzroth and Hunting & Gathering, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.