For week 5 I looked at the Probate records in Virginia and Maryland. This was more interesting than I thought it would be. For those of us that like material culture, these records could prove invaluable. Full inventories were included as well as the facsimiles and transcripts. It is amazing to see what people had in the 18th and 19th centuries, right down to the nutmeg in their cupboards. But apart from the wow factor, the creators of the sight did a really good, thorough job in researching, organizing, and presenting the material. The audio describing how the project worked was informative, although a bit choppy at times. However, the New Media Center is doing great work getting this and other information out there for people to utilize.
