Overview of the
USGenWeb Project

When I first volunteered to sponsor the Baxter County section of the ARGenWeb portion of the USGenWeb, the first thing I did was send for this "whitepaper" giving the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the project. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did, and I also hope it will encourage you to contribute some information to the Baxter County GenWeb.

Subject: Information request
Date: 28 Dec 96 23:35:15 -0600
From: whitepaper@usgenweb.com (whitepaper@usgenweb.com)

This article is copyrighted by the USGenWeb Project. Permission is explicitly granted to distribute and publish this article unchanged. Questions regarding publication should be addressed to John Rigdon . Please send a complimentary copy of all publications to John Rigdon, 438 Malone Ave., N. Augusta, SC 29841-4663.

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Overview of the USGenWeb Project

The goal of the USGenWeb project is to create a global library for genealogy research. This library provides electronic versions of genealogical resources and volunteers to answer research questions via the Internet. The Archives maintain original source data (transcriptions of censuses, wills, etc.) and will be the foundation and material source for publishing of genealogy efforts.

The USGenWeb Project will provide resources for each state (and each county or equivalent) in a format that makes national publishing projects possible.

Who were your ancestors, and what was their life like? The answer to this simple question is not easily found. The course of a genealogical project is slow and tedious. Public records are searched, manuscripts are read, and books are studied. Contact with other genealogists is sought. The information gleaned from these sources is organized, and theories are formed. More research is needed to prove or disprove the theory. As more information is collected, the answer to the question slowly begins to unravel. Finally, after countless sources have been assimilated, the information is finally ready for publication so others can benefit.

By far, the greatest amount of time spent on a genealogical project is in research. Originals of public records are scattered throughout the country and access to them is available to only those able to travel to them. Placing transcriptions or copies of regional records in various repositories makes research possible at more locations; however, the information is still not accessible to the entire population. The time spent searching for each individual record is usually greater than the amount of time spent utilizing the record.

The Internet can make access to records easy. The USGenWeb Project seeks to leverage this new great new medium to the advantage of genealogy researchers in several ways:

Your family and mine might have no names in common, but we might find ourselves linked by the database of a third person. So, if all three databases are online, and if a mechanism exists to link those databases together, then we effectively have a single database. It doesn't matter where the data actually resides. What matters is that we have access to it and that it is organized in a manner that makes research easy.

Goals and Objectives for the Project

"Genealogists Rush in Where Angels Fear to Tread"
A History of the USGenWeb Project

The USGenWeb project had its roots in discussions that occurred on the GenWeb mailing list hosted by Gary Hoffman. In March and April of 1996, Jeff Murphy laid out a framework and began to solicit volunteers for the KYGenWeb project.

Through Jeff's vision and organization, the KyGenWeb Project took shape in an amazing 90 days. Here's a quote from his posting to Roots-L on "April Fools Day" '96.

"The structure revolves around linking together databases which have people who were born, married, or died in KY. To facilitate the placement of these databases... we have started by creating a master page for all counties in Kentucky... This will give all KY researchers a single entry point to all counties in the state.

If you would like to have your data available on the web, and have names in KY, please look at the master page to see if a county has been created yet for your data. Contact the page owner and talk to them about linking to your data, and about locating space on the web where your data can be placed...

We are also looking for some software support, to help us implement a special LINK feature, which will help tie together individuals in different databases and provide an html pointer to the other database...

This is an opportunity to create a working model for the rest of the country, and other states may follow suit..."

In June, 1996, the USGenWeb began as an outgrowth of the KYGenWeb project. It, too, has had phenomenal growth. As we celebrate the 6 month birthday mark for this initiative, we have almost 1,345 counties being hosted by county coordinator volunteers all over the country. Here are some recent statistics:

The USGenWeb project introduces several new ideas to genealogy research on the WEB:

  1. Organization of data on a statewide county-by-county basis. Up to now, the data that have been placed on the web has focused on a particular family name or a specific locality.
  2. Organization of data for research. Prior to the introduction of this project, very little data were available for actual research, and the available data were not organized effectively.
  3. Nationwide coordination of volunteers in support of the project. The USGenWeb represents far and away the largest, most focused effort by volunteers to organize genealogical material. Prior to this time, several individuals had created some significant sites, but they were essentially one-person initiatives.

Fifty-one coordinators (every state and Washington, DC) have their own state page. They are seeking out volunteers for every county in their state. From the USGenWeb site (http://www.usgenweb.com), you can go directly to a state's homepage. Take New York state for example:

NYGenWeb - http://www.usgenweb.com/ny

From the NYGenWeb page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~nygenweb, you will find:

The status of a county may be any of the following:

  1. No volunteer yet
  2. A volunteer, but no homepage published yet
  3. A volunteer that has their page on line

Counties that are already online will have a direct link from the state page. County pages in general have the following

  1. Map of the county
  2. History of the county
  3. Names of the towns and cities in the county
  4. Postal addresses or internet links to:
    1. Historical or Genealogical societies
    2. County or municipal offices
    3. Other links of interest to people researching in that area
  5. A page where you can post queries to request information from other researchers
  6. A page where you can list the surnames you are researching from that county
  7. A page where researchers (like you) can list the books they own.

Organization

Our organization can best be described as "webby." The individuals who populate our organization tend to have "webby" personalities. That is, there is a sense of interlinking of interests and a spirit of teamwork. The "rules and regulations" are few and open to change -- the biggest rule is "If you want to play, play nice!" We use a lot of smileys :-) grins <g> and we like it that way :-) < g >

Our structure is geographic: a user can enter WorldGenWeb, hotlink to USGenWeb, then to TNGenWeb, then to Lincoln County, TN. The county page may also offer hotlinks to towns since, in some states (New England especially), the town is the basic genealogical unit rather than the county.

Each web page is maintained by a coordinator. With over 3,000 US counties, it is futile to expect consistency -- and, in any case, not within the spirit of our organization. Yet, the user will find a great deal of similarity since sample pages and guidelines are available to make the coordinator's life easier. State coordinators support county coordinators and mailing lists are provided (by Dale Schneider and others) for all geographic levels (except counties, which are too numerous). For example, the mail list usgenweb@nebr.dsenter.com allows US state coordinators a place to discuss state-level concerns; and, magen-l@nebr.dsenter.com allows Massachusetts county coordinators a forum for discussion.

Call for Volunteers

In conclusion, the USGenWeb Project will require helping new people set up databases. It will require some funding. It will require that all data be accessible on line. It will require some organization, and it will require a lot of work by thousands of volunteers.

We need you to make this project successful. Here's how you can help.

Thanks to the following individuals who have contributed to this article. They are all a part of the USGenWeb project and helped in its creation. Also many thanks to the hundreds of other volunteers who are working to make the USGenWeb Project a success.

Joy Fisher - cityslic@ix.netcom.com
Barry McGhee - mcnamara@usit.net
Kim Harris Myers - estral@vivanet.com
John Rigdon - JRigdon@gabn.net
George Waller - hbladm1@uconnvm.uconn.edu

USGenWeb Project - Release 5 10/04/96

©1997-2002 AuxArc Publications

Last updated Monday, June 24, 2002.