Fold3 and Newspapers.com
I asked the following question thru the RootsTech chat:
"Is Fold3 or Newpapers.com part of the expo?"
I was directed to:
https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/rtc2021/series/exploring-ancestrys-other-sites
Is there a disconnect with Fold3 and Newspapers.com with FamilySearch?
Is the information provided in Fold3 or Newspapers.com only affliated with Ancestry?
I was hoping to find new techie information or "special offers' from Fold3 or Newspapers.com via the Expo. Both sites are fairly pricey to use.
Hope I am not stepping on anyone's toes..
Answers
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Hello Vince, Fold3 and Newspapers.com was not a part of Rootstech as a separate booth. For you information, should there be a Family History Center in the area you live and it is now open to visit, Fold3 and Newspapers.com is available to search without cost. Otherwise, you are correct about those to sites are spendy should a person want to obtain a subscription for personal research. I hope this will help you with your ongoing research.
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@Vince Fuller A simple answer to your original question asked through RootsTech chat would be, "Yes." But a bit more explanation might also help, since they are part of the Expo by virtue of being two of the products offered by Ancestry.com, which is one of the companies participating in RootsTech.
As you saw from the response that you got directing you to "Exploring Ancestry's Other Sites," there were specific sessions you could watch on both Fold3 and Newspapers.com. So the person that provided that answer did point you in the right direction as far as the question goes, because immediately you saw that there were "sessions" (recorded presentations) available on RootsTechConnect for both sites (Newspapers.com and Fold3).
As for there being a "disconnect with Fold3 and Newspapers.com with FamilySearch," technically the answer is "yes." They are disconnected in the sense that FamilySearch is a website owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and both Fold3 and Newspapers.com are owned by Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com is a completely separate company and not affiliated with the Church in a business sense. They are a for-profit company providing genealogical/family history services, though they have cooperated very nicely with the Church to help all of us (as have many other companies and organizations - see the Expo Hall list). But in that sense, they're totally "disconnect[ed]." Questions about their operation would need to be directed to Ancestry.com.
As for the Expo Hall on RootsTechConnect, that is the equivalent of an area that has been available at previous RootsTech conferences physically held in Salt Lake City where attendees could walk up to a booth and speak with representatives from all the various companies that chose to participate in RootsTech, and visitors could ask questions of those companies about their products.
So when you asked your question in the Chat section, someone appropriately directed you to the Ancestry.com "Desk" (a virtual desk this year, of course, due to COVID). And there you found two virtual classes specifically on Newspapers.com and Fold3, with great information - just maybe not with everything you wanted.
So just as Family Tree is only associated with FamilySearch and the Church in terms of who owns it, Newspapers.com and Fold3 are only associated with Ancestry.com, who own those two resources. And as such, you'd need to talk directly with Ancestry.com about any special offers they may have, since they're a company that exists to make a profit at what they do as they provide their services. You can also get on their mailing lists, and occasionally they do offer discounted subscriptions for a period of time which then reverts to their normal pricing structure after that intro period.
Ancestry.com also has their own customer service like any other good company, and they can help with technical questions, but the basic learning about how to use their products is handled by webinars, their "Help" sections, etc., like most other companies.
RootsTech happens to be a creation of the Church, and exists to bring together as many different genealogy/family history resources as possible, to one spot for the benefit of all of us who are interested in pursuing our own genealogy and family history. The various companies "sign up" to be part of RootsTech so they can better assist those who are using their products, and also increase their numbers of subscribers. It's a wonderfully cooperative business arrangement where everyone potentially wins. AS the explanation on the home page of the Expo Hall says, "Companies from around the world are here to help you discover your unique story. See new products, get hands-on instruction, and enjoy exclusive opportunities to get 1:1 help," with a list of all the companies that came together to assist us all in this year's first virtual (online) RootsTech. Perhaps the person that answered you in the Chat section didn't quite realize what you were asking about, and therefore just referred you to the two classes on those two services from RootsTech. And depending on what time you asked the question, there may not have been an Ancestry employee available in the chat area available to answer you but someone else just tried to provide at least a helpful response.
As for pricing, yes it can be a challenge for many people to subscribe to all the many services "out there" such as those listed on the main Expo Hall page. However, as Family History Centers and local public libraries begin opening up more and more, you'll find that many of the libraries and all of the Family History Centers have free availability to Ancestry's (and other's) products, including Newspapers.com and Fold3. Newspapers.com changed a bit over a year ago within Family History Centers, and seemed to be scaled back somewhat from what they used to offer for free, but it's still a great resource. We just need to remember that all those businesses that offer their products need to make a profit in order to remain in business. FamilySearch is an exception simply because family is central to the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ, so the Church has chosen to allocate a considerable part of its resources to provide free access to the genealogical/family history resources it has created, for the use of anyone in the world through the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and the many Family History Centers scattered around the world. But fortunately, since the Church cannot offer everything that all of those companies can - partly because those companies actually own many of the records they provide access to, RootsTech was created to bring all that together each year just as they did this year with the virtual RootsTech.
By the way - if you happen to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Church has also negotiated a few free resources such as Ancestry.com for its members. However, there are still fees required by those companies for some of their offerings (such as Newspapers.com and Fold3). Check your local library and at the nearest Family History Center to see what's available in those locations that we can't get at home without the subscription prices. It's not as convenient, but at least it helps. And sometimes it's just plain worth it to pay for a subscription in order to have direct access 24/7 at home when we need it. It's just a matter of a person's ability to pay companies for the services they provide.
Sorry for the rather long response, but I hope it addressed each of the elements in your question.
--Chris
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