All posts by Alice Kane

Chinese burials in Boston

Memorial Altar at Mount Hope Cemetery. Photo by Aaron Knox, https://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronknox/5732898399/in/photolist-ayZrcd-nHwhLY-9JAAXR-76LQUf/

This year I was sorry to miss a festival my family has participated in annually since my childhood. During the..

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Genealogy 101: the librarians' view

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending this year’s annual conference of the Massachusetts Library Association as a panelist for its Genealogy 101 discussion session. The goal of the session is to inform public librarians about how the staffs of..

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The “Orange Wars” of Chinese New Year

Oranges and money envelopes given for luck during the Lunar New Year.

With all the snow flying in Massachusetts these past few weeks, I nearly forgot that now is the time of the “orange wars.” At the beginning of every year, I must also mind the lunar calendar as..

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Barber's History and Antiquities

These days, it is easy to find information about any location in the world by typing in the place name on one’s personal computer from the comfort of home. The digital search results can even include high-resolution images of the desired site and its immediate..

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Mapping Vermont

As part of the Society’s Ask a Genealogist service, I was recently asked about locating someone in post-Revolutionary War Strafford, Vermont. The time frame in which this person lived reminded me of the special considerations for this region, which was once hotly..

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Ideas for Cuban research

The Cathedral in Havana

During my career in genealogy, I’ve become somewhat expert on a variety of subjects, even Cuban research – unexpected, perhaps, but true! Research at a distance – and for Americans, all Cuban research must currently be at a distance – is a..

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Twentieth century research in Massachusetts

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Massachusetts is one of a handful or so states that allow relatively open access to vital information. It is certainly possible to conduct family research after 1930 for Massachusetts using a combination of resources. FamilySearch.org..

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Online family trees

A recent reference question led me on an interesting journey discovering more about online family trees. Using a family tree service on the Web has attractive benefits: a centralized location on the Internet to store your family information, the immediacy of sharing by..

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A shopping list of technological and genealogical resources

As I was pulling together information for my upcoming April presentation, “Genealogy on the Go: Mobile Tools to Manage Your Discoveries,” I started thinking about how genealogy and technology go hand-in-hand these days – but that finding out more about the technology..

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Speaking in public

The first month or so of the New Year is turning out to be quite a busy one in terms of presenting lectures. Part 1 of a Mobile Genealogist series on Dropbox and Evernote is done, part 2 of the series on the Flip-Pal scanner and cameras is upcoming on February 1, and I..

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