Midwest Genealogy Center Now Open for Researchers

Harry Truman's hometown hosts a new site for genealogy buffs

By JUDY WILEY
McClatchy Newspapers


Travelers who've caught the genealogy bug may want to make plans for a trip to Independence, Mo. The new $8 million Midwest Genealogy Center opens May 11 and houses microfilm and microfiche with Civil War histories, American Indian records, black family history records, passenger lists, plantation records and more.

Classes will be offered, as will consultation with foreign-language experts. And if you're really wrapped up in research, there's a break room, lockers and "limited" food service. More: http://www.midwestgenealogycenter.org/

Cont. here:

http://www.miamiherald.com/814/story/528501.html

Midwest Genealogy CenterDiscover YOUR History

The Library's goal in building the Midwest Genealogy Center is to provide a fitting and appropriate facility to house the library's nationally recognized, world-class collection.

The new library will be built on about 8 acres of land at the intersection of Lee's Summit and Kiger Roads in Independence, Missouri, and will open on June 2, 2008.

The new library will cost over $8 million and is being built without an increase in library taxes.

The new library will have over 50,000 square feet of space, on two-levels (more than 4 times larger than the current space).

The new library will have ample tables, computers, and reader-printers for researchers.

The new library will have lockers, a break area, and limited food service for patrons who frequently spend entire days exploring family histories.

The new library will include several oversize parking spaces for people visiting on daytrips, or those passing through with RVs.

The library is accepting donations to make this facility become a reality.

http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/genlh/mgc.htm

Centuries-Old Map Baffles Researchers

By Janet Crain

The 500 year old map going on display at the Library of Congress on Dec. 13th raises some extremely intriguing questions.

In fact, if the government hadn't paid $10,000,000 to purchase the map in 2003 and another considerable amount to restore and conserve the map, plus reportedly more for a chamber to house the map than was spent on those for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, I would be tempted to dismiss this map as a fraud. But surely these guys know what they are doing.

The map was discovered in the Waldburg-Wolfegg castle archives in 1901. It was created by the German monk Martin Waldseemuller. The Duke of Lorraine brought Waldseemuller and a group of scholars together at a monastery in Saint-Die in France to create a new map of the world in 1505. The effort took two years and is stunningly accurate.

Some eighty years later and for many years after that, the English searched for a Northwest Passage to the Orient. This belief that such a passage existed was not completely squelched until Lewis and Clark made the Voyage of Discovery and reported back to Jefferson in 1805.

When the early English explorations along the Eastern coast of North America were made by the colonists, some of whom were later known as the Lost Colony, it was thought that the mainland was only a very narrow strip of land with a body of water on the other side which would lead to India and provide riches through trade routes.

How many futile trips were made searching for this chimerical goal? The lives and fortunes lost were in vain. It seems a shame this knowledge was not universally shared.

You can read all about this amazing map here:

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/centuries-old-map-baffles-researchers/20071203221609990001