Westerly Steam Laundry

 taken from the 1892 RI City Directory in Westerly, RI. (date on it is mine)

1892 Ad, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

 Copyright and the Family Business

As part of teaching you project based genealogy, it is important to me to remember that I am an educator. I hold a Master's Degree in Education and have authored or co-authored 10 books on using technology in education. Learning about copyright was part of my Master's dgree coursework. I found few teachers understand copyright but they are trying.

I went to a genealogy society's lecture about copyright some time ago. "This I've got to hear!", I said. Wow, the genealogists and family historians were brutal! They didn't want people to steal their stuff (like family photos) but it was OK for them to steal from others.They were not pleased with the presentation. (it was not me speaking)

Education do hold a tiny advantage in copyright. It is known as "fair-use". I think it is still largely misunderstood. So, today, I am going to show you a clip of a city directory. It is the earliest one I can find. The purpose is to show you how much you can find out in a ad or a listing in the city directory. (That's the teaching part, got it?)

I am not sure what the Dixon House was but Dixon Street still exists. I have researched the other man named Merchant some but I am not sure if he was a partner in the business OR my great grandfather bought into the business. 

I have a lot to say about the city directories but it will wait until another day.

The first name for this business is Westerly Steam Laundry.