Housekeeping

Last week was one of those stressful winter weeks were I couldn't seem to get much accomplished and had an inability to write, or at least write well. I'm not happy with what I wrote about Sgt. Van Orman's sad homecoming but it affected me deeply so please take a look anyway. It was one of those cases where I wasn't sure where to post it.

Saturday I visited my sister and tried to help her set up google reader. She still has dial-up. Have you ever watched paint dry? DSL has just become a possibility for her and I hope she can get hooked up soon. But it occurred to me that if she has trouble loading my pages other might too so I have shortened the number of posts on my page to three so there isn't so much to load. I am also using widgets in my sidebar when possible in the hopes that that will help the page load faster.

I am using google reader to generate my blogrolls. My sister pointed out a couple of links that I didn't switch over. I think I have things right now but if I've left you off please let me know!

Terry alerted me that my email was bouncing last week. There was a three day period where I didn't get notification about comments too. This morning my cousin let me know that emails were also bouncing from my other aim account. I'll get a button up with my gmail address soon but meanwhile it's Apple194. If you did send something and it bounced please do try again. It's odd because I was receiving mail, just not all of it.

To address the comment notification problem I have subscribed to my comments so they now show up in my reader. I didn't know how to do this but I noticed that by accessing my dashboard through blogger in draft I could add subscription buttons for both posts and comments in one easy step. A couple of other new features at blogger in draft are a blogroll generator (I like the google option better) and the ability to schedule your posts. I haven't tried that yet but it would have been handy back in December!

And the Winner is.....

The iGene awards are brought to you via the 42nd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.

The judging for Best Picture was tough as many pictures are personal favorites but only one may be chosen so the award goes to the picture of my Uncle from Carlisle Family Home. From the straw hat to his not so happy expression, right on down to his bare little feet, this picture is a family treasure.

For Best Screenplay the award goes to A Very Special Christmas Stocking. A drama with a happy ending, maybe the Hallmark channel will pick it up. Based on facial recognition software Sissy Spacek will play my part.

The award for Best Documentary goes to My First Job. Tobacco farming in the 1970's was an experience I'll never forget.

In the Best Biography category there was only one entry last year. I was surprised that I only wrote one but pleased that Ruby Blanche Camfield was later featured at WeRelate.

The final award of the evening, for Best Comedy, goes to Dis(co)location. This was inspired by Janice and I had fun creating it. Go ahead and have a laugh with me. I will be returning to the scene of the crime in August for my niece's wedding reception. Will history repeat itself?

Carlisle Family Papers: University of Michigan

Back in November I asked what would happen to all of my genealogy work and family treasures down the road. Shortly after that Janice suggested that we start donating things now. It turns out that in 1972 my family did just that.

I'm not certain of the details but my grandmother required nursing care and moved out of the family home sometime in the 1960's. I remember visiting her in the nursing home in 1968 or 1969. Care of the house fell to my uncle and eventually it was torn down. Papers relating to my family's history were boxed up and donated to the University of Michigan. They now reside in the Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor, MI. They are safe there and have benefited many people researching women in the Civil War, but they have been frustratingly unavailable to me.

I first discovered that these papers existed several years ago while doing an online search for Hannah Carlisle. Imagine my excitement when I found this:

The papers of the Daniel Carlisle family of Buchanan, Mich. include thirty-two family letters (Aug. 17, 1862-Apr. 7, 1866) relating to Mrs. Hannah L. Carlisle, who served as a nurse during the Civil War. Seventeen of the letters were written by Mrs. Carlisle. They are chiefly from the Post Hospital at Columbus, Ky., where she was matron. She expresses her dislike of Copperheads and Secessionists. She tells of troop movements on the river, raids of guerrilla bands, the destruction of Secessionists' homes, hospital life, food and a Thanksgiving dinner, the celebration at the fall of Vicksburg, and the capture of Jefferson Davis. She often comments on the weather and the plague of mosquitoes. Later Mrs. Carlisle was in charge of a Columbus, Ky., school for the American Freedmen's Aid Commission, and she tells of the clashes between military and civil law officers, the plight of the Negroes, and the rough treatment accorded them.

I knew about the papers several ears ago when I took Mom on a trip to Michigan to visit my aunt and uncle. They shared family photos and what history they knew. We visited the cemeteries and toured the area. From a research standpoint it was a very fruitful trip even though Mom wasn't up to a detour to Ann Arbor. I did call the library to see what it would cost to have the collection copied and mailed to me. I think it took me a week to recover from the shock!

The time has finally come and I will traveling to Ann Arbor in April. I have been looking at the library's catalog and found this:

The Carlisle family collection consists of two feet of material dating from 1860 to 1972. The papers relate to various members of the Daniel Carlisle family of Buchanan, Michigan. The collection contains correspondence between Hannah L. Carlisle and her husband, Daniel Carlisle. Include as well are letters and eight of Hannah Carlisle's diaries, written between 1885 and 1900 and largely concerning her life in Dead wood, South Dakota.

Other family members represented in the collection are William and Phyllis Carlisle and Vivian Carlisle. The letters of William D. Carlisle concern his service in the US Navy during World War II. The letters of Phyllis Carlisle relate both to her student life at the University of Michigan during the early 1940s and to her service in the Waves during the war. The letters of Vivian Carlisle were written while a student at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University during the 1940s.

Other items of interest is a folder of genealogical material and a letter written by Francis A. Carlisle while serving in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, describing his experiences.

I'm not sure how Mom will feel about the fact that the library has letters that she wrote but I am very excited that I will get to see them. I can't wait to see what is in the "folder of genealogical material" I know that Isaac Ashley Carlisle was a Spanish-American War veteran but this is the first I've found that indicates that his son Francis served too.


Here's where I need help.

The only library I have ever been to is the Onondaga County Public Library in Syracuse. I have no idea what to expect from a large research library. The family papers take up 1.5 - 2 linear feet of shelf space. Mom thinks there may be some old pamphlets that were donated as part of the collection but even so the size sounds overwhelming. The main focus of the trip is to view and copy as much of this collection as I can but I would also like to have time to visit my aunt and uncle and make a few stops in Berrien and Cass Counties too.

I only have a week and I need two full travel days. How many days should I plan to spend in Ann Arbor? Will it takes days to make copies or will I be done quickly? I think the letters will be quick but eight diaries! There is no indication how large the folder of genealogical material is.

What questions should I ask the library ahead of time?

What do I need to take besides a notebook, my computer and a flash drive?

Any other thoughts or tips would be much appreciated!