Research librarian for hire?

kevin993 · 04-02-2012, 05:19 PM

Have some pretty narrow European history-type questions and have run out of time and knowledge to make any further progress myself. At this point, I'm willing to pay somebody a few bucks to have a look. I have similar questions periodically, but always pretty narrow and sporadic. I wouldn't envision more than a few hours and no more than a few hundred bucks at a clip.

Have looked a little bit at sites like elance and odesk. They seem to be a little more technically oriented, but have an impressive breadth of applicants with a lot of skills. Any recommendations? Anything to lose by putting out a RFP and see who bites?

id10t · 04-02-2012, 05:41 PM

Find the nearest/best college that teaches library sciences and get someone who needs the $$

Paco Anton · Paco Anton's Garage

Why not try Pelican first? I am always amazed at the knowledge of this group.

Maybe you can post the questions here and see if we can help. I love reading about history and we have many people here with lots of knowledge and who love a challege.

id10t · 04-03-2012, 06:28 AM

Ok, so I sent one of our librarians an email with your original post in it... here's her reply...

"I wasn't familiar with elance so I checked it out, searching for "librarian". I found several seemingly qualified librarians with work under their belt and good solid reviews. I also searched for "researcher" and found more technical skills that wouldn't necessarily be helpful. I don't know what category he already searched for on elance but a librarian would more qualified for the type of research he needs. I am not familiar with any forum for librarians to which he could post an RFP. Most of my forums are education based and a head hunter type post would not be appropriate.

Sounds intriguing...wish I had time!
Cheers,
Nance
"

kevin993 · 04-03-2012, 06:23 PM

Thanks for the thoughts. My concern with using a generic local librarian is that they may not have European history familiarity or German language familiarity. A site like elance might give me a better shot at finding someone with a background that be relevant.

Here's an example of the type of question that is of interest: The tiny town of Werningshausen is in the region of Thuringia and is located just north of Erfurt, Germany. In the 1850s, 23 families apparently left to go to North America. I'm aware of one that ended up in Wisconsin. I'd like to know any circumstances I can find about why so many families left a very small town at the same time and went to North America. Did they all go to Wisconsin? Were they part of a church? Were they driven out during conflict in the area? What were their names?

(To answer the obvious question, yes - this particular question is connected to my family history, so this has a genealogy connection. Genealogy researchers charge big $$$ and my question is really more of a history question, so that's why I'm going this route.)

homer944 · 04-03-2012, 06:45 PM

Might not help much, but might be worth a stab. Check out facebook for someone who lives in that region. Ask them if they know of a historian, librarian, etc. You could also check some of the universities over there and see if you can get a hold of someone in the history department, explain what your looking for and see if they have someone that you could work with...and pay.

gassy · 04-03-2012, 07:41 PM

Probably not any help but peruse these three pages for 5 minutes-- it's about the Gimm family coming over in 1847 from that town. Maybe some of the names mentioned could turn in to leads. Could also be worthless ...

Read the ebook The Gimm family, history and genealogy by Augusta Virginia (Voigt) Johnson

LeeH · 04-03-2012, 08:43 PM

1850s for sure? Could it be 1870? Maybe they fled due to events leading up to Franco Prussian War?

"Albrecht von Roon, the Prussian Minister of War from 1859 to 1873, established a draft where every male Prussian capable of fighting would be conscripted at the time of mobilization. Thus, despite the population of France being greater than the population of all of the German states that participated in the war, the Germans mobilized more soldiers for battle."

kevin993 · 04-04-2012, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by homer944

Might not help much, but might be worth a stab. Check out facebook for someone who lives in that region. Ask them if they know of a historian, librarian, etc. You could also check some of the universities over there and see if you can get a hold of someone in the history department, explain what your looking for and see if they have someone that you could work with...and pay.

Good suggestion. I've reached out to someone at the University of Erfurt. They're going on Easter break, so doubt I'll learn much for a week or so.

kevin993 · 04-04-2012, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gassy

Probably not any help but peruse these three pages for 5 minutes-- it's about the Gimm family coming over in 1847 from that town. Maybe some of the names mentioned could turn in to leads. Could also be worthless ...

Read the ebook The Gimm family, history and genealogy by Augusta Virginia (Voigt) Johnson

Thanks - no obvious links, but I've been gathering anything I can find for the town for that era thinking that the pieces have to start connecting at some point. The town could not have been that large.

kevin993 · 04-04-2012, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeeH

1850s for sure? Could it be 1870? Maybe they fled due to events leading up to Franco Prussian War?

"Albrecht von Roon, the Prussian Minister of War from 1859 to 1873, established a draft where every male Prussian capable of fighting would be conscripted at the time of mobilization. Thus, despite the population of France being greater than the population of all of the German states that participated in the war, the Germans mobilized more soldiers for battle."

Certainly was a pretty volatile region at the time. My source for the 1850s is a reference on the website for a monestary located in the town. There is a page on their website that gives history about the town ("Unser Dorf"). Here is an excerpt - original in German, but run through Bing translator for English:

"During the revolution of 1848 / 49 in Germany there was a mobile guard under schwarz-rot-goldener flag in Werninghausen. At the beginning of the 1850s, 23 families emigrated to North America. in 1853, was founded a "Werningshäuser Liedertafel". in 1859, the municipality had a population of 950. Erfurt-Nordhausen railway line built in 1868 was available for the Werningshäuser of ring life or Straußfurt. in 1871, a warrior and military Club formed."

Priorat St. Wigberti: Unser Dorf