We will be holding a meeting of Footnote.com members at the 2007 FGS Conference in Ft. Wayne, Indiana on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 2pm. The meeting will be held at the Grand Wayne Center Board Room. Footnote members who live in the Ft. Wayne area or who will be attending the 2007 FGS Conference, are welcome to attend. We will discuss future plans, solicit member opinions, give out door prizes and have fun with Dick Eastman and Beau Sharbrough. Anyone who is interested may attend. Seating will be limited. If interested please contact Elizabeth.

After nearly seven months, we’ve hit the 14 million mark and continue to add documents at a pace of more than 2 million a month.

As a comparison: According to Agence France-Presse, the Library of Congress has digitized 11 million documents in 12 years (as of April 2007).

There is no master plan of History.

Events happen, we witness and, later, we try to make sense of them.

When tragic or momentous events do occur, we often seek to forgo patience for prescience. We want it all to make sense now. We want order and meaning restored.

In an age when reporting has mostly given way to analysis, a look back into history suggests that observations and facts are far more valuable since true perspective can only come with time.

As an example, I came across this letter written by Thomas Jefferson 218 years ago today:

It is vivid and striking not only because of its rich details but in its lack of any superfluous prognostication or color commentary. It’s just the facts written by a shaken but brilliantly coherent observer.

The letter describes an angry mob storming a prison, taking up arms, freeing captives and beheading authorities.

Jefferson, for all of his intellect, cannot see beyond that moment. So he writes for it. It’s what a good reporter would do.

He stands amid the chaos watching the instant one of the world’s most powerful countries begins to furiously unravel at the seams.

He witnesses the genesis of something before its consequences can be known, or before the master plan can be seen - even before it has a name: The French Revolution.

Cross-posted at Hypergene Media Blog

Adobe, the publishers of the Flash Player plugin, have announced that a security update is now available for the Flash Player. Upgrading the Flash Player plugin is not required to continue using Footnote.com or our Document Viewer. However, as this update improves the security of your computer, we do recommend it. This update patches some vulnerabilites that could allow malicious code to take control of your computer.

This update applies to users of Flash Player versions 9.0.45 and earlier. To check which version of the plugin you have installed, visit Adobe’s “About Flash Player” page, and look for the box below:

You will only need to upgrade your Flash Player if the version shown is 9.0.45 or lower, as shown above.

To upgrade your Flash Player, visit the Flash Player Download Center. This page will help you find the appropriate download to upgrade your Flash Player. As a word of warning, updating the Flash Player will require that you quit your web browser while the update is being applied, so be sure to save any Annotations, Story Pages, or anything else you’re working on before beginning the update.

Once the update is complete, you should then have version 9.0.47 or higher installed.

More technical details of this update can be found on Adobe’s site: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb07-12.html

Last week we added some new features to the site that should make using Footnote easier and more fun.

We added Spotlights and Title Information Pages and overhauled the Original Documents and Profile pages. Here’s a little more detail about the changes:

Spotlights
Spotlights are an easy way to call attention to something interesting that you find or upload to Footnote.

1. While viewing an image, click the “Spotlight This” button.
2. If you only want to spotlight a portion of the image, click on the arrow to the right of “Spotlight This” and choose “Select a Portion of Image.”
3. Click “Continue.”
4. Enter a title for your Spotlight and, if you like, a short description of what you found or why you think it’s interesting.
5. Click “Create Your Spotlight.”

We’ll create a page so that other Footnote users can enjoy and comment on what you found.
Here are some examples of Spotlights that already have been created:

• Anniversary of Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight
• Bureau of Investigation case file on Frank Lloyd Wright
• Page from a high school yearbook
• Naturalization document for Charles See of See’s Candy

Title Information Pages
Now each title on Footnote has a Title Information page that includes descriptions, free sample images, the number of images from that title currently on Footnote and, where available, the completion status for the title.

Title Information Pages also show how site members have been using documents from the title by listing recent annotations, Spotlights, Story Pages, and comments from images in that title.

Check out the Title Information Page for the American Milestone Documents. You’ll find links to the Title Information Pages in various places around the site, including the Original Documents page.

Updated Original Documents Page
We’ve completely reworked the Original Documents page to provide a clearer picture of what we have on the site and to make it easier to find what you are looking for and how much of it currently is accessible on Footnote.

The new page includes a full listing of all the titles available on Footnote with completion status and short descriptions for each. When you scroll over a title, you’ll find buttons to search or browse, or you can click on the name to go to the Title Information Page.

Another nice feature of the new page is the ability to sort the list by update date. At the upper right of the page you’ll find a pull-down menu that lets you choose to sort the list by “title name” or “new and updated.” If you choose new and updated you can see which titles have just been added or had new images added to them.

The new Original Documents page also includes a counter with the total number of images, including member contributed images, on Footnote. The counter is updated every 10 seconds, so when we are importing new images, you may see it move while you are on the page.

Updated Profiles
The Profile page now gives a more complete view of what a member has done on Footnote, including uploads, annotations, Spotlights, Story Pages and comments added.

We also added an About Me section to the profile so you can give a brief statement about yourself, your research interests or whatever else you would like people to know about you.

You may notice that we’ve increased the display size of the avatar photo on the profile. Some of the older profile images look a little rough in this larger size. If yours looks rough, you can fix it by re-uploading your image.

Here’s the profile for one of our super users, bgill.

We’d love to get your feedback on these changes and to hear anything else you’d like to say about Footnote. If you have a comment, please contact us.

In July 1947, the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) issued a press release saying they had recovered debris of a crashed “flying disc” sparking intense media interest. They later corrected themselves by stating the materials were that of a downed weather balloon.

60 years later, speculation and fascination about the incident continues. Just this week, a peculiar eyewitness report by a retired public relations officer for the base surfaced.

If you’re curious about what people have seen in the sky over the past 60 years, we might have something to keep you busy.

Footnote has free and complete access to more than 129,000 documents of Project Blue Book - investigations conducted by the US Air Force’ from 1947-1969. Note: The original Roswell incident was not covered by this series of investigations. But the reading is fascinating. First-hand accounts from everyone - farmers to fighter pilots.

You can also view more than 1,600 documents that the FBI has released.

Which two people died on the 4th of July?

• Benjamin Franklin Born: 1706
• George Washington Born: 1732
• John Adams Born: 1735
• John Hancock Born: 1737
• Thomas Jefferson Born: 1743
• Abraham Lincoln Born: 1809

Good luck.

Even the night before the Fourth of July, it’s easy to obtain (where legal, of course) nearly an unlimited supply of fireworks, sparklers and other brilliant incendiary devices. Though such gunpowder-based confections stir delight in children and swelling patriotism in grown-ups, they belie the true state of affairs that General George Washington and his troops faced during the American Revolution more than 230 years ago.

But don’t take our word for it. You can see for yourself in this letter - and many others in our free Birth of America preview this month. Notice Washington’s distinctive signature as he endorses yet another plea to the Continental Congress begging for more gunpowder and ammunition.

In a time when it was customary to fill correspondences with platitudes, excessive praise and indirect requests, Washington makes the situation clear:

“… but there are operations, which may hereafter become practicable, and adviseable, that we should not be able to undertake for want of ammunition, unless we can derive a supply elsewhere.”

– General George Washington to the Continental Congress on 29 July 1779

What are the Papers of the Continental Congress?

The Papers of the Continental Congress are comprised of nearly 180,000 official records from the first three representative bodies of the original United Colonies and ultimately the United States of America. The First Continental Congress was formed in 1774 to address “intolerable acts” by the British Parliament.

It ultimately formed the Second Continental Congress in May 1775 which, through 1781, was famously responsible for the Declaration of Independence and many critical articles establishing the United States of America.

The Congress of the Confederation (1781-1789) immediately succeeded it after ratification of the Articles of Confederation and lasted through the end of the War for American Independence.

These are the important papers, letters, treaties, reports and assorted records—famous and obscure—relating to the formation of the United States government. While they contain exceedingly important reports, many of which may be well-known, they also contain much covering the day-to-day government of a fledgling country.

The original documents are currently held at The National Archives.

The Papers give you a privileged view that few other resources can. They show the dangers, debate and ultimate consensus that gave birth to the country we’ll be celebrating this Fourth.

How did Footnote get these online for the first time?

Getting nearly 200,000 documents digitized and online was not the hardest part - making them easily findable was.

Computers are getting good at reading typewritten text but handwritten text is nearly impossible for them - and many of us - to decipher.

Paying a staff to cross reference the millions of different names, dates, places and topics would have been too time consuming and expensive.

Instead we found a printed five-volume set of books that referenced each document in the microfilm and had our computers “read” that typewritten text. We then matched those descriptions up with our digitized collection and indexed that with our search engine and it worked.

For the first time, anyone can access, annotate, comment or share this great American collection.

Where do I start?

Here’s a small sampling of some of interesting finds:

• Read George Washington’s Acceptance as General of the Continental Army
• Read the first printed draft of the Constitution
• John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations…” Read what Adams was referring to
• Read a letter by Thomas Jefferson
• A timeline of British colonization of America
• Franklin wanted to call America “The United Colonies of North America”
• Read about medical treatment during the Revolutionary War
• Read Adams’ report on European opinion of the Revolutionary War
• Read George Washington’s Acceptance as General of the Continental Army
• Read Washington’s resignation speech

If you find some interesting writings, please share them with us by either annotating the document in the Viewer or creating a Spotlight or Story Page with more details.

We look forward to your discoveries.