Tuesday, January 12, 2010

World Archives Project - Ancestry.com

Having a browse through my copy of Your Family Tree Magazine this month there was an article about volunteering to help with various transcriptions project. Having had a nosey through a few of the sites I decided to try Ancestry.com as I already have a subscription to that and recently found a few family members in their World War I records.

I've done a few records now mainly easy Naturalization index cards that were typed in the first place and even though these have nothing to do with my own research its really quite interesting.

Here is the blurb from their site.

The Ancestry.com World Archives Project gives people everywhere a unique chance to help save the world's historical records — millions that might otherwise be lost. Anyone can participate by accessing record images in our system and entering relevant names, dates and other facts to make the information searchable online.

As part of the Ancestry.com World Archives Project:

•All indexes will remain free to the public on Ancestry.com.
•Ancestry.com will donate copies of record indexes and images from the project to partnering government archives and genealogy societies.
•Images and indexes from the project will be available for free to patrons at thousands of subscribing libraries across the U.S.
•Ancestry.com will provide free advertising to partnering genealogy societies.
And coming soon:

•Active contributors will be able to vote on which records the project indexes next.
Currently, active contributors are participants who help index 900+ records per quarter.•Active contributors will receive free access to original images in the project’s databases. Those who already subscribe to Ancestry.com will be eligible for a discount on renewal.
Active Ancestry.com World Archives Project contributors can currently get 10% off an annual U.S. Deluxe membership renewal and 15% off an annual World Deluxe membership renewal. Active contributors coming up for renewal can call Member Services at 1-800-ANCESTRY to get the discount.