Digital Horizons

Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash

I always am on the lookout for new genealogy sites to explore. The FamilyTree Magazine’s July/August issue has the top genealogy sites plus Rick Crume has complied a list of the 75 Best State Websites. After researching in the Dakota for years, I was surprised to discover a site that I wasn’t familiar with: Digital Horizons. Let’s look.

Digital Horizons is an online resource for North Dakota and Minnesota. Their Vision: Digital Horizons is dedicated to creating a digital collection of the region's unique and historical resources. It supports education, scholarship, and enrichment through Internet access to these collections.
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The home page provides a great overview of the variety of resources on this site: photograph collections, college newspapers, city commission meeting notes, and more. As an example, I chose the Father William C. Sherman Photograph Collection (NDSU GRHC). Old photographs of family farms featuring the architecture of the northern plains. What a treasure trove if you find a relative or family member’s farm photo! Wouldn’t that be a nice entry in your family story?
I was quite pleased to see how many County history books have been digitized and available. Here is the link to that collection: North Dakota Histories (ND State Library) - Digital Horizons (digitalhorizonsonline.org) In addition to the county histories, there are church and organization histories. It’s worth exploring.

While I enjoyed browsing through the various collections and within collections, you can do a site search using the search bar on the main page. Or if you have a particular collection that you want to explore, you can search within that collection, including within digitized books. I was able to find the Richland County WWI book which included bio snippets and pictures of all the soldiers from Richland County, ND. It was fun exploring beyond those bios with featured articles about the ladies who were recognized for their knitting contributions and another who created a special flag with stars representing the soldiers who served from Richland County, updating the white stars with gold for those who were killed in action.

As usual when I find interesting sites, this blog has taken longer to write because I’ve gotten lost exploring the treasures on this site. Have fun searching on Digital Horizons!