Free Searchable Online Databases

1. Free Searchable Online Databases And other resources searchable from home.

2. BadgerLink • BadgerLink is a project of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning to provide access to quality online information resources for Wisconsin residents in cooperation with the state's public, school, academic, and special libraries and Internet Service Providers. • These services are provided by the Department of Public Instruction with funding through the Public Service Commission, Universal Service Fund. • It provides access to full text magazines, newspapers and reference resources, literature, and other information. • New information is added frequently.

3. How Do I Access BadgerLink? • Available from home, the work place and at all Wisconsin libraries at http://www.badgerlink.net • Or directly reach the genealogy resource page at http://www.badgerlink.net/genealogists • Wisconsin resident authentication is done by IP address identification. If your IP address is not recognized you will get this message. • Whoops! Our system was not able to recognize you as a Wisconsin resident (why not?).  Please fill out our technical support request form to notify us of your difficulty.  While we investigate, log in with your Wisconsin library card or BadgerLink student login and we'll get you right back to your search. • You then need to Log in using your Library card.

4. BadgerLink Resources • BadgerBites, are one to four minute YouTube tutorials. • The BadgerLatté, BadgerLunch, and BadgerBrunch are webinar series explores BadgerLink’s rich collection of information tools. Each session covers one resource, database, or interface. http://badgerlink.net/help/training this page has links to the training videos, webinars, and documentation. • If you have questions about using BadgerLink that aren't answered, Ask a Librarian.

5. NewspaperARCHIVE.com • is the world's largest online newspaper archive. Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, • Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old - including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more – to fill in the life stories you are interested in. • All of the historical newspapers are full-page and fully searchable - try exploring and discover your history today! • Enter a name search. • Then choose a state or country. • Your may need to narrow your search.

6. If You Receive To Many Results • Fill in the Refine Keywords. • All of the words • Exact phrase • At least one of the words • Without all of the words • Narrow results by • Dates • Location • Not all newspapers are available. • Dropdown buttons offer choices.

7. Results Will Be in PDF Format • You then can save them. • Or Print them. • Note: this choice prints a small page. • It is better to enlarge the article. • Then use the snap shot tool, the select tool, or highlight over the article and paste into a Word document before you print or save it.

8. Examples of Articles That I Found 9/29/1937 Dad’s Obit 1935 Dad won Wheelbarrow race @ I.O.O.F Picnic May 1937 Father is promoted 9/27/1937 Father admitted to Hospital

9. Available Newspapers • Currently you can find newspapers from: • Canada • China • Germany • Ireland • Jamaica • Japan • South Africa • United Kingdom • US Virgin Islands • France • United States

10. For Foreign Papers Use • The papers are in PDF format. • Use the select tool to do copy and paste. • Paste the article into Google Translate. • In the left side box use the language that the article is written in and then click on translate into English.

11. Heritage Quest on Line • Offers six separate genealogy resources. • Search Census • Search Books • Search PERSI • Search Revolutionary War • Search Freedman’s Bank • Search U.S. Serial Set

12. Search Census & Search Books • In search census, find ancestors in the complete set of U.S. census images 1790 – 1940. Including name indexes for many years. • In search books, you will find information on people and places described in over 28,000 family local histories.

13. Search PERSI and the Revolutionary War • On search PERSI you will find information about people and places from this index of over 2.3 million genealogy & local history articles. • Search the Revolutionary War, has selected Revolutionary War Era Pension 7 bounty-land warrant application files.

14. Search Freedman’s Bank or the U.S. Serial Set • Search for individuals in the Freeman’s Bank (1865 – 1874) which was founded to serve African Americans. • The U.S. Serial Set lets you search the Memorials, Petitions, and Private Relief Actions of the U.S. Congress in the LexisNexis U.S. Serial Set.

15. History Reference Center • Full-text reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, history periodicals, historical documents, and biographies, as well as historical images, and historical video. • U.S. History. • World History.

16. Military & Government Collection • Current news pertaining to all branches of the military and government, through a collection of periodicals and academic journals. • Enter your search terms and search for articles.

17. Newspaper Source Plus • Full-text newspapers, television and radio news transcripts. • Years covered 1985 to current date. • Search for obituaries.

18. Wisconsin Newspapers Digital Research Site • Provides access to daily and weekly newspapers in Wisconsin, starting in 2005 to the present, with an embargo delay of 90 days. • Each newspaper addition is available cover to cover in a  searchable PDF. • This service is not available through IP address authentication like other BadgerLink resources but is available in libraries or by logging in with your library card.

19. Found in Wisconsin • Online collections index used to search for and link into digitized books, photographs, videos and other resources available on the websites of libraries, historical societies and museums statewide. • Click on the http link to get to the site with the information. http://fiw.dpi.wi.gov/ • Then click on Browse Resources. • 244 Genealogy resources are listed.

20. Browse Resources Lists • I chose the Withee link. • The resources for Withee were • Withee Oral History Interviews Get very up close and personal with some people in Withee! Oral History interviews from over 30 citizens of Withee recorded for the Withee Public Library. Some interviews were done a few decades ago. • Here I found an Interview with Arnold Rasmusen, who was my step-father’s brother.

21. Recollection Wisconsin  • recollectionwisconsin.org is a place to discover and share your Wisconsin story.  • This website provides Wisconsin residents and audiences worldwide with free access to a growing set of historical resources from the collections of libraries, archives, museums and historical societies across the state.  • But this site is a place for more than just viewing digital resources. You’re also invited to contribute your own memories, images, knowledge and thoughts. http://recollectionwisconsin.org/

22. Browse Collections by Category • I chose city directories and received 12 different cities. • Under yearbook there were 18 entries. • Platt books, histories, post cards, and many more subjects are available.

23. 1927 New Glarus High School graduating class • The New Glarus year book collection had 12 photos of the graduating classes. • It lists the names of the students in the photo. • A great resource for a photo of your ancestor when they were young.

24. A Quick Visit To • For Genealogist • http://www.badgerlink.net/genealogists

25. USA Sites • RootsWeb: check out world connect and RootsWeb Surname List/RSL  (Surname Listings) http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ • USGenWeb: http://www.usgwarchives.net • FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ • American History & Genealogy Projects (AHGP) http://www.ahgp.org/ • American Local History Network http://www.alhn.org/

26. German & Prussian Sites • German Genealogy Group http://www.germangenealogygroup.com/ www.gig-wi.com/ • Links to Prussian Sites http://www.rootsweb.com/~wggerman • Germany Genealogy Links http://www.genealogylinks.net/europe/germany/ • Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies http://mki.wisc.edu • German Originality http://germanoriginality.com/heritage/genealogy_links.php

27. England & Ireland • Irish Genealogy Society of Wisconsinhttp://www.igswonline.com/ • United Kingdom & Irelandhttp://www.genuki.org.uk/big/ • British Interest (Genealogy) group of Wisconsin & Illinois www.bigwill.org/

28. Danish Sites • Danish Embassy “Tracing your DANISH ancestors”http://www.ambwashington.um.dk/http://usa.um.dk/en/about-denmark/tracing-your-danish-ancestors/ • The Society for Danish Genealogy http://www.genealogi.dk/ • The Danish Emigration Archives http://www.emiarch.dk/home.php3 • Danish Demographic Database • Danish church and census records on line

29. Norway • OlufRygh: Norwegian Farm Names Searchable online database. http://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh_form.html • Norwegian Genealogy http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~norway/ • The Norwegian American Genealogical Center and Naeseth Library http://www.nagcnl.org/ • Digitalarkivet Online: searchable databases from the National Archives of Norway and the University of Bergen. http://www.sffarkiv.no/sffbasar/default.asp?lang=eng

30. Swedish Sites • Swedish American Institutehttp://www.americanswedishinst.org/ • Embassy http://www.swedenabroad.se/Page____14345.aspx • Swedish Church Records: (now part of Ancestry)http://www.genline.com(You can use these records for free at the Family History Center.) • The Swedish American Historical Society of Wisconsin http://sahswi.org/

31. European Ethnic Group Sites • French- http://www.afgs.org • Polish- http://www.pgsa.org • Czech and Slovak- http://www.csagsi.org/ • Eastern European- http://www.feefhs.org

32. Special Ethnic Cultural Sites • Jewish Ancestry/Databases • http://www.jewishgen.org/ • http://www.ajhs.org • Gesher Galicia is an American non-profit organization dedicated to genealogical and historical research in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire province of Galicia. http://www.geshergalicia.org/

33. African-Spanish-Native American Sites • Spanish American sites can be found using Cyndi’s List. http://www.cyndislist.com/spain/ • African American site. http://afrigeneas.com • Native American site. http://www.accessgenealogy.com./native/ • African American Liveshttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/analyzing.html

34. Selected International Sites • Central Europe Rootshttp://www.rootsweb.com/%7Eceneurgw/ • Sweden http://www.rootsweb.com/~swewgw/ • Denmark on Line Genealogy Society. http://www.slaegtogdata.dk/ • Digital Archives (DA) are based on original sources (protocols and documents) in the National and Regional State Archives of Norway. http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/WebMeta.exe?spraak=e

35. Don’t Forget to • Check out Cyndi’s List http://www.cyndislist.com/ • Use Google http://www.goolge.com • Visit your library to use Ancestry Library Edition to point you to where you can find records. • Presentation presented by Patricia Skubis June 2014.