The Brothers Josephu

The Brothers Josephu
Young Josef at work...circa 1917

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Google me this...

I must say that my research efforts have become the poster child for Google.

I'd go through some letters received when I started years ago - from places recommended by the Austrian Embassy and Austrian Cultural Institute in NY. I'd enter some of the references into Google 's search and find a web Page. Then I'd turn on Google Translate and the page would shift from German to English, then I'd email someone through that page. If their response as German, I'd cut/paste the text into the Translator, and voila! (well, yes, I know Voila is French, not German). f it was a printed letter, I'd scan into a PDF, then I could copy the text and paste into the translator.

When given an address of a place to visit, or a location of a statue, I'd use Google Maps to pinpoint the spot and, in some instances, switched to the Satellite view, to actually 'see' the location.  I'll utilize these maps to find my way to the locations during my visit. I was able to pin point locations in Vienna, by address or building name, then add them to a custom map - which I'll use to make efficient routes to visit all the statues. Google Maps allows you to edit those point and add in notes, such as what statue is located there. When there I'll use a GPS to not only to navigate around but to pin-point statue locations and record their locations by longitude/latitude for future reference.

I'm using Google's Blog page to leave these notes (in case you didn't already know).

Then, I loaded up all my old photos of the statues - or photos we found online or provided by family - to a Picasa album (a Google property).

Some of those I emailed (with Gmail) responded they had no information, some had very little, and others had information I already knew....sometimes I was given a referral to another person to reach out to.

Letely' more items are showing up thanks to Google Books - excerpts from old texts about the Josephu brothers (in German, then thru Google Translator).

One of those referrals has been extremely helpful - his research skills are a marvel. Herbert Fischer has found some records, located family graves of my great grand parents, and confirmed to statues I suspected still existed. And he is being so kind as to give me precise locations, and take photos! I am looking forward to meeting Herr Fischer in person during my visit, and possibly enjoy a lunch

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

More discoveries...

Today I received an email from Vienna with more good news. Five statues have been located. Four are bu Florian Josephu-Drouot, and one may be by Josef or Florian. We'll better determine when we visit and photograph.

At this point the biographical work will expand to cover both Florian and Josef...and a growing interest in not just a book, but a documentary. So, while in Vienna there will be bother photos and video taken.