One simple way to select a family branch is to search for an individual and then add all of his ancestors using the “Add to Clippings Cart” command.

A new window will appear where you can select the file to upload.  In the “Folder name on server”, select a directory where to store the image.  You can create a new directory by typing the LastName/FirstName in the text entry box.  This will keep photos organized by individual.

Be sure to select “Yes” in the Highlighted Image drop down so that this file appears as the individual’s portrait image.

Historical newspapers and other large-format documents are too large for consumer-grade, flatbed scanners. The only option is to scan these documents in sections and then re-assemble the sections into a composite image resembling the original document.

Manually reassembling the sections is time consuming and tedious.  The sections invariably requires rotating, panning and sometimes skewing the sections to make them fit into the composite.  Software tools are available to simplify the process.

Microsoft makes a simple, free and effective tool for creating composite images, aptly named the “Image Composite Editor” or ICE.  It is the tool I use for creating digital images of newspapers.