Monday, July 1, 2013

German Military Grave Registration Service

The German Military Grave Registration Service database contains more than 2 million names of missing and dead German soldiers from World War I and World War II. All that is necessary is a surname (nachname) to search. On the first visit you will be required to register with your name and address (Straße/Nr. - Street and Number, Land - Country, PLZ - Postal or Zip Code, and Ort - City) to view the search results.  Be aware the site is in German, which can make navigating the site challenging - my one year of high school German was not really adequate to the challenge!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Internment.net

Interment.net is a free online library of cemetery records for historical and genealogy research.  The database contains over 3 million records from over 5000 cemeteries worldwide and contains actual cemetery transcriptions as well as links to other cemeteries around the world. You can search cemetery burial records or browse records by region.  While coverage is not extensive in some areas it is well worth browsing their list of cemeteries to see what is available.





Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Free access to Irish Records with Find My Past

On June 30, 1922, the Public Records Office of Ireland, located at the historic Four Courts in Dublin, caught fire during the Irish Civil War. Tragically a considerable amount of Irish records were destroyed. The fire has had lasting effects – still felt today – as Irish family history requires a unique approach to research than other heritages. To commemorate this anniversary and encourage exploration of Irish genealogy, findmypast.com will offer its full collection of Irish Birth, Marriage and Death indexes free of charge from June 27 to June 30. Anyone searching for their Irish ancestors can access the full Irish record collection by registering for free at findmypast.com.


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

English Heritage Archive

Search over 1 million catalogue entries describing photographs, plans and drawings of England's buildings and historic sites, held in the English Heritage Archive.

•Including photographs dating from the 1850s to the present day
•Ranging from architectural details to archaeological landscapes, from country houses to coal mines
•Covering counties from Cornwall to Northumberland

Friday, June 14, 2013

Australian War Memorial

ANZAC Connections: Centenary digitisation project

The Australian War Memorial is currently undertaking a project to create a comprehensive digital archive of the ANZACs and their deeds, and of the wider Australian experience of war. The collections selected for this project will reflect the experiences of Australian servicemen, nurses and civilians during the First World War, not just well-known personalities. This project will digitally preserve the Memorial’s collections as well as provide full copies for research on the Memorial’s website.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Lives of the First World War

Digital publisher Brightsolid and the Imperial War Museum are creating a new platform to capture stories from the First World War.  Called Lives of the First World War, the website will enable people to share the stories of men and women who served in Britain and across the Commonwealth.  After registering on the sire for free, researchers will be able to add details about their ancestors, uploading photographs and other documents.  The site will also offer access to digitised records from libraries and museums such as The National Archives and Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  The launch of the new website is part of the Imperial War Museum's program of events to commemorate 100 years since the outbreak of WW1 in August 2014.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Family History magazines on Issuu

Issuu is a leading digital publishing platform delivering magazines, catalogs and newspapers on  wide range of topics, including genealogy.  Millions of readers come to Issuu every day to read free publications, created by enthusiastic publishers from all over the globe. Created by a bunch of geeks with a mad love for the publishing industry, Issuu has grown to become one of biggest publishing networks on the planet.
While not all of the publications on Issuu are full-text - instead only giving you a few pages of a publication to get a taste - many are the full publication, and there is a LOT of material to choose from.  Irish Lives Remembered is an online magazine pubished in full, as is Going In-Depth.  Others such as Ancestors and The Connected Genealogist publish pamphlets and articles through Issuu.
You can just browse and read things as you come across them, or you can create an account (for FREE) and choose to follow certain publishers, so that whenever they publish a new edition it is highlighted for you.  It is also possible to publish your own family history with Issuu. 
With over 11 million publications, and 25,000 new items every day, there is bound to be something for you on Issuu.