Last week’s find was the craftwork of a silversmith. This week’s #FridayFind is how you can find said craftwork.

Written By Dmitri Schmidt

So you want to investigate whether or not your ancestor had an occupation that might have resulted in physical items. Beyond just checking the usual censuses and city directories, try looking at databases specifically on craftspeople! For example, Ancestry.com has one called “U.S., Craftperson Files, 1600-1995,” but others are out there too. From there, you can learn who they worked with or apprenticed under.

Need help in your treasure hunt? Email us at emma@backlog-archivists.com!

Dmitri Schmidt

Dmitri plays a pivotal role in coordinating Backlog’s outreach efforts. They curate our weekly #FridayFinds and #ArchivalTips social media posts, shedding light on items discovered in our genealogy work and providing tips and tricks to approaching problems in the archives.

Dmitri holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and German Studies from Saint Louis University. During their university years, they dedicated over 1000 hours to interning and volunteering at local St. Louis institutions, including the St. Louis Science Center and the St. Louis University Museum of Art. As the Collections Intern at the Science Center, Dmitri assisted in developing and installing the "Into the Vault" exhibit.

Before joining Backlog, Dmitri served as a Fulbright Grantee, teaching English as a second language in former East Germany. From guiding 11th graders in analyzing pop albums as poetry to discussing the significance of the civil rights movement with 8th graders, they covered a broad spectrum of subjects. While reveling in connecting with students and injecting fun into grammar lessons, Dmitri's deep passion for all things archival eventually drew them back home.

Today, Dmitri works as a Herbarium Assistant at the Missouri Botanical Garden, helping digitize the millions of preserved plant specimens. After being scanned and transcribed, these images aid scholars around the globe in furthering botanical research. Dmitri also serves as the archivist for the Kirkwood Historical Society. They are currently overseeing the “Journeys into Kirkwood’s History” project, which aims to digitize documents related to Kirkwood’s early Black settlements.

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From vivid deaths to thrilling 19th-century thefts, past newspapers differ from today. This week’s #FridayFind explores what was deemed newsworthy in a 1916 newspaper!
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Tracing your family’s lineage can be a treasure hunt (or maybe a wild goose chase when you hit a brick wall). This week’s #FridayFind, however, isn’t quite so metaphorical.