Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Quick Sheets

Have you used any of the "Quick Sheets" published by The Genealogical Publishing Company over the years? Several years ago SGS purchased a number of the QuickSheets created to accompany Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained book on citing genealogical sources and I bought one of them. It's been a lifesaver for me. She actually generated a series of QuickSheets for citing different kinds of sources.
Now Ms. Mills has a new QuickSheet available: The Historical Biographer's Guide to the Research Process. You can read all the details here. I haven't actually seen a copy, but it sounds like a quick "how-to" guide to the research process, data organization, and evidence analysis. The description on the GPC website ends with "If the objective of research is to reach conclusions and establish proof, this QuickSheet will get you to your goal with absolute confidence." I'm not sure how 4 laminated pages can make this happen, but it's certainly an interesting premise.
What was more surprising to me was to see that GPC and Elizabeth Shown Mills have developed two other QuickSheets related to DOING research (as opposed to CITING research sources):
--The Historical Biographer's Guide to Cluster Research (the FAN Principle)
--The Historical Biographer's Guide to Finding People in Databases & Indexes
These sound like they could be potentially very useful.
Have any of you readers seen/used any of these?
Please offer your comments by clicking on the "comment" button below.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Who Do You Think You Are? is back!

The season 3 premiere of the Ancestry/NBC series Who Do You Think You Are? will air Friday evening, February 3rd, at 8:00 pm with a show on Martin Sheen's ancestry. The Ancestry blurb says "Award-winning actor and activist Martin Sheen embarks on an epic journey into both sides of his family history. It takes him to Dublin, Ireland and Madrid, Spain, where he discovers that a commitment to social justice runs deep in his roots." Sounds interesting, doesn't it?
Next week's show will feature Marissa Tomei and a trip to Italy.
The rest of the season will include ancestral searches for Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen. Sounds like there will be something for everyone this year!      
Obviously WDYTYA? must be financially successful, since this year's series is 12 weeks long. Weren't the first two years just 6 episodes?
While we're talking TV, mark your calendar now for a new PBS series, "Finding Your Roots", featuring Henry Louis Gates Jr., debuting on Sunday, March 25th. The program's website is loaded with videos and "getting started" help. Check it out at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/