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FOOTNOTE.COM
Check Out Footnote.com
by Holly T. Hansen of My Ancestors Found
Footnote.comFootnote is a terrific place visit!
On Footnote.com you have the opportunity to find content that is found nowhere else on the web. Additionally, Footnote helps you to have a deeper experience with your discoveries by providing tools that enable you to interact with the content.
Let's begin finding content on the site
Finding images on Footnote can be accomplished in various ways. We are going to look at the two most common features: Searching and Browsing.
Searching: You can search for images on Footnote using the search box at the top of most pages after you leave the Footnote home page.
Don't be afraid to try it. Remember, all indexes on Footnote.com can be searched for free. That means each document located through the search will be included in the search results. This will help you decide if you have found the correct document for your ancestor. Additionally, Footnote has created some simple search tips found at http://www.footnote.com/page/1176/Footnote-Search-Tips/
Just for fun, I did a quick search for the surname Shupe. And the pension application for my 2nd Great Grandfather, Andrew J. Shupe, was the 2nd listing! Wow! That was easy!
For those of you who have used Footnote before you may be amazed to learn that Footnote has been working on a whole new search experience. Take advantage of the new search option, it utilizes a more powerful search engine and a more user-friendly interface. You can access this new search tool by clicking the Try the New Search link above the search box on the results page (see blue arrow in graphic above).
Browsing: You can do this by clicking on the Browse All Titles link at the top of most pages. From this you can browse through the titles alphabetically or choose a category to browse within. To choose a category to browse within, click on the category you'd like to look at and you will see the available titles appear in the next column.
At any point in the browse process you can use the brown Search within box at the bottom of the page to search only the images in the group you have selected.
After finding documents of meaning, Do more with the content!
On Footnote you can engage with your search results in a way that makes your discoveries more meaningful and more findable for others who may be searching for the same ancestors. There are several activities that you will enjoy using with any document you find on the site. It also works with any photo, letter or document that you freely upload to Footnote.com. Let's explore the options:
Personal Gallery: Create your own personal gallery of images you find on Footnote and your own images that you have uploaded to the site.
Annotations Make annotations, a simple label or transcription of part of an image or document. On Footnote you can add annotations about People, Places, Dates or other Text from an image.
Story Pages Share your story using this easy way to exchange your ideas,while you are sharing, you can attach related documents! This gives a bigger picture to the whole story.Story Pages are easy to make and update, and you can make as many as you like.
Use Story Pages to:
* Write a biography or memorial for a favorite person.
* Highlight interesting things you find on Footnote.
* Keep notes on your research for you and your friends.
Spotlights - Spotlights let you quickly show off an interesting image or a portion of an image for further discussion.
Footnote is working aggressively to put as much valuable content on their site as possible. Important to know is that most of content available at Footnote you can't find anywhere else. Footnote is working with many groups to digitize records, one of their key partners is The National Archives of the U.S. Using our nation's very valuable resources and content from other providers, Footnote is adding an average of 2 million images every month. Footnote has a very active community ensuring that valuable content, comments and insights are added regularly, so keep checking back as there is always something new to discover.