10,000 Volunteers Sought

Message circulating the various websites:

Today's Topics:

1. Press Release: 10, 000 Volunteers Sought to Index Mexican
and Other Latin American Records to be put Online. (James W Anderson)

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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:43:33 -0700
From: James W Anderson
Subject: Press Release: 10, 000 Volunteers Sought to Index Mexican
and Other Latin American Records to be put Online.
To: gen-hispanic@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <1192128213.402936.150120@v3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Just got this press release in: Get involved, if they get even more
people working on this than the 10,000 indexers they are seeking, the
projects described will be completed that much faster. Some do more
than just one batch a week, sometimes much more, how much one does is
up to you. The website to sign up to do indexing and download the
software mentioned is at this link:

http://www.familysearchindexing.org/

Works best in Windows XP but I'm doing it on a Windows 2000 Pro
machine. Mac and Linux users are also doing indexing as well. The
software download is just under 29 megabytes, so you may have to wait
a while if you are on dialup. A batch downloads in about 3 minutes on
dialup also. You can finish a batch on more than one computer, as you
can save your work to the servers as you go. That way, you can do it
on any computer you have the software installed on at any time.

SALT LAKE CITY - FamilySearch - the world's largest repository of
genealogical records - is calling for 10,000 volunteers who can read
both English and Spanish to help index Mexican, Argentine and other
Latin American records for the Internet.

FamilySearch is embarking on a massive initiative to digitally
preserve and index millions of Latin American records that are now
difficult to access because they are located on microfilm or in an
archive.

The first target is the Mexican census of 1930. People interested in
finding their ancestors in that census now have to hunt among 506
rolls of microfilm at a special library. When the project is finished
within about one year from now, people with Mexican ancestry will be
able to search for relatives easily from their computers at home.

The project is being launched in cooperation with the National
Archives of Mexico.

Paul Nauta, manager of public affairs for FamilySearch, said the
volunteers could spend as little as 30 minutes a week indexing records
from their home computers. Volunteers should register at
FamilySearchIndexing.org, which will allow them to download one batch
(one census page) at a time. Volunteers simply type in the information
highlighted on the digital image. Each batch should take about 30
minutes.

The completed product will be a free, fully searchable online index of
the 1930 Mexico Census, and it will be linked to the original images
at FamilySearch.org. Digital images of the original census can be
viewed currently at FamilySearchLabs.org.

"The 1930 census project will be the first fully indexed census for
Mexico," Nauta said. "When finished, the database will be a tremendous
asset to family historians with Mexican roots."

Nauta said that census records are especially valuable because they
include a large portion of the population and can provide details
about individuals which may not be available on some church and civil
records.

"The 1930 Mexico Census is priceless to genealogists because it is the
most recent, publicly accessible census for Mexico. It can provide an
ancestor's age, birth year, religion, birthplace and occupation,
explain an individual's relationship to family members and provide
other family information," Nauta added.

The 10,000 bilingual indexers will be added to a growing army of
volunteers that will soon top 100,000, well ahead of year-end targets.

Over the past months, FamilySearch has been preparing digital images
of the various census pages and many other records for placement on
the Internet. However, without an index for the material, family-tree
enthusiasts would still have to go through the pages one-by-one
looking for their ancestors.

"Once indexed, the records are searchable in seconds, just like
looking up a name in a phone book - except quicker, easier and
online," Nauta said.

The 1930 Mexico Census marks the first Latin American project for the
Web-based FamilySearch Indexing program. In addition, FamilySearch
indexers just completed the Argentina census of 1895 and will soon
start on that country's 1855 census.

A four-year project to digitize historical land and property documents
and wills in Paraguay has just begun, and civil records in Nicaragua
will become part of the indexing program within 30 days.

FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members consider it a
religious obligation to identify their families. FamilySearch
maintains the world's largest repository of genealogical resources,
accessible through FamilySearch.org, the Family History Library in
Salt Lake City and over 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries.

End of GEN-HISPANIC Digest, Vol 2, Issue 33
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