COULTER-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: interesting site
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 17:07:55 EDT

For American researchers of passenger lists.
Just received this from another site and thought I'd post. You might
want to check it out. Delores Riley

IMMIGRANT SHIPS TRANSCRIBERS GUILD
CELEBRATES ITS FIRST ANNIVERSARY
BY OFFERING TO THE GENEALOGICAL COMMUNITY THE
ISTG COMPASS <http://istg.rootsweb.com/>;

by Patty MacFarlane Prather <>

As mariners depended on their compass, you can count on this
special section of the ISTG Web site, which will act as a guide
for all and make navigating the roots of your family tree a
little easier. Harriet Rosch, resource coordinator, and her
crew: Mary Rigali, Sharon Richlen Ballard, Bette Dew, Faith
Gibson Tegethoff, Jan Mann, Jane Stauff, Kathy Stice, Barbara
T. Grimm, Pat Lisk, Lynn Faranda, Regina Landis, Pat Becker,
Penny J. Sabin, Rose Robke, Ruth C. Hakala, Penny Jansen, Deb
White, and Maia Cowen are to be applauded for this wonderful
addition to the site. Researching the data included in the ISTG
Compass took more hours than we can ever imagine. Sheila Jensen
Tate, production coordinator, also spent countless hours
designing this Web site.

The ISTG Compass is a site for young and old alike, with some
special attention given to young people who are discovering the
value of studying their ancestors and what they left behind,
what they endured on the voyage, and how they began to build a
new life in a new land. Some of the categories designed to help
in your research are:

IMMIGRATION & NATURALIZATION BY COUNTRYPORTS & OTHER PLACES OF ENTRY
ETHNIC AND IMMIGRATION RESOURCES
MARITIME RESOURCES - MUSEUMS/LIBRARIES
PASSENGER LIST SITES
EMIGRANTS -- By Surname EMIGRANTS -- By Group
SHIPS
SHIP TYPES & DESCRIPTIONS
INDIVIDUAL SHIPS WITH THEIR OWN SITES
SHIPPING LINES
SHIP IMAGES (These are sites where you may view ship and
nautical images/photographs/prints/etc.)
SHIPWRECKS
BIBLIOGRAPHIES, ARTICLES and MEMOIRS
MAIL LISTS
SITES OF GENERAL MARITIME INTEREST
JUST FOR FUN and MISCELLANEOUS
VOLUNTEER HELP
SOME OF OUR EMAIL (A few thank you notes for our first year)
ACRONYMS and DEFINITIONS -- coming soon.

The ISTG Compass will be an ongoing project. The research began
10 months ago and is likely to continue for as many more.

One year ago on September 15, 1998, a small group of volunteers
began the difficult task of transcribing manifests from the
National Archives and Records Administration, putting them on
the Web site generously provided to ISTG by RootsWeb, where
they would be freely available to all. Today, the Immigrant
Ships Transcribers Guild is 450 members strong, has completed
its first volume of 1,000 ships' passenger lists, and is almost
500 ships into the second volume of 1,000 passenger lists.

ISTG staff members Patty MacFarlane Prather, guild coordinator;
Sheila Jensen Tate, productions coordinator; Pam O'Day, surname
coordinator; Harriet Rosch, resources coordinator; Marie M.
Davis and Mary Beth Arthur, coordinators of new volunteers; Meg
Sibbrensen, interpretations coordinator; and David Anderson,
correspondence coordinator have given many hours of their time
and effort each day to the guild, its volunteers, and its Web
site since the first list was uploaded on October 1, 1998.

"Each and every guild member is essential to our success," says
Patty MacFarlane Prather, guild coordinator. "In addition to the
staff members, many volunteers take on the additional tasks of
formatting the lists, managing data, and serving on various
committees and crews which are critical to the daily operations
of this highly visited Web site, which now receives more than
2,000 hits each day." The guild has received thousands of thank
you notes from researchers who are grateful to find a Web site
devoted to adding passenger lists to the Internet at no cost to
them.

"We are very grateful to the have the ongoing support and
cooperation of Brian Leverich and Karen Isaacson and the
RootsWeb staff, Sue Swiggum of Ships-L and Debbie Beavis of
Mariners-L, with whom we have a good working relationship, and
many other Webmasters with whom we have reciprocal sharing of
information in order that it gets maximum exposure."

"Like raising a child," Patty concludes, "it takes a village.
While the work can be exhausting, the cost of maintaining the
project expensive, and the deciphering of the lists frustrating,
the rewards are great. I am honored to be working with a group
of dedicated and selfless people who share a common passion."

You can visit the ISTG Compass at: <http://istg.rootsweb.com>;

This thread:

• interesting site by <>