What is a GSU or DGS number and should I care?
I was writing a response to a question and thought you may be able to use this as well.
What is a GSU or DGS number and should I care?
I was recently asked about this and thought it would be good to share in case others had similar questions as they looked at sources and citations for their ancestors.
You asked what each of the following mean and I have provided some description as follows:
GSU number = The identification assigned to a roll of film that was captured by the Genealogical Society of Utah. This is the number that the Family History Library and the associated catalog refer to as an identifier for a portion of a collection and this allows the patrons to order and look at rolls of film in the local Family History Centers or at the main library in SLC. For instance if I were looking for records that have been filmed in Iowa I would search the Library Catalog online at FamilySearch.org and determine if there were records from the place and time my ancestors lived in this area. There are 157 titles that cover that location. I found there are many books included in the 157 results in the catalog. If I chose the 1850 Census, which is on film, and I looked at the Film Notes (Upper right Side) I would find that the Film # is 844885 and within the film it should be Item # 4. This is the GSU number for the Iowa 1850 Census. The item # 4 tells me where on the film I s
hould look.
Digital GS number = The same idea but I know the images are digitized and will be available electronically. The file format will be .jpg once it is online. I will be able then to look at this item with a computer and not with a Micro Film Reader as is required for the GSU numbered items. It is more and more common that you will find items that are on Film will also be digitized and thus have both a GSU and a DGS number.
Image number = The unique identifier assigned to an image within a collection. This should be a way to say with some confidence this is my image and if you want to see it go to image number xx. There is some work to do here to make the image number absolute throughout time. Each time a film has to be re-scanned (re-digitized) there is a chance that an image could be missed or a blank one thrown in to cause some or all of the image numbers to be moved by one or two. There are efforts to try to make the possibility of the image number changing go away but it could be with us for a little while.
Good luck on finding your Family in History.
To be listed in the Social Security Death Index, all that is needed is that the person must have had a social security number and his death must have been reported to the Social Security Administration. Social Security payments or a death benefit need not have been paid for a person to be listed in the index. The Social Security Master Death File was computerized in 1962 and very few names before then are in the index. The state where the social security number was issued which may give another area to search records. This is the state where the deceased applied for his Social Security number, most likely when he/she first got his first job or where he was working when Social Security was started. It may or may not be same as birthplace.
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mikemathew
Wyoming Treatment Centers