Popular Websites list

The Genealogy In Time Magazine website has released a Top 100 popular websites list. This is a worldwide collection but with a USA bias.


This list can also be downloaded as a handy PDF file.

Remember also that Cyndis List is a good port of call for that next step in your research or just for a good browse to see what is new.

Irish Military Archives

Ireland’s military archives have gone online for the first time on a new website called Military Archives. The website was launched in conjunction with the National Archives of Ireland. It will be the “place of deposit” for the records of the Irish Department of Defence, the Defence Forces and the Army Pensions Board. The website is planning a phased release of military records. Already online is a collection of maps, plans and drawings of military installations throughout the island of Ireland. Next up will be the Bureau of Military History Collection, which covers the period 1913 to 1921. This collection is expected to be online by March. It is composed of 36,000 pages of witness statements, photographs, letters, legal documents, etc. from the period. Access is free.

National Archives UK

The National Archives is launching a new online catalogue at the end of January. Called Discovery, it will make it easier for people to search the online collections. Discovery will run in parallel with the old search catalogue until 31 March, at which time the old search methodology will be permanently disabled. There is a fee to access most of the extensive collections of the National Archives, which currently number over 11 million records.  Go to http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/

National Archives of Ireland

The website for the National Archives of Ireland has been redesigned to make it easier to navigate and more intuitive to understand. The new website also comes with expanded guides for people wanting to trace their Irish ancestors. Most of the records on the Irish National Archives website cover records from various Irish government departments from the twentieth century. Access is free.

Ancestral Atlas

Major plans for the UK-based genealogical mapping site include adding the ability for users to attach image, audio and video files to their events/locations ; adding new datasets to complement the user-contributed data ; and making the interface cleaner and more intuitive.  Explore the Ancestral Atlas at http://www.ancestralatlas.com/

National Archives UK

The National Archives Podcast Series
Listen to talks, lectures and other events presented by The National Archives of the United Kingdom.  The list is updated frequently as new podcasts are released.  Go to http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/rss/podcasts.xml

FamilySearch

FamilySearch Ushers in the New Year with 119 Million New, Free Records from 33 Countries FamilySearch was extra busy during the holidays. It added 119 million new, free records online (about 64 million indexed names and 55 million browsable images). This latest round of record updates makes 1008 historic record collections online boasting 2.58 billion searchable names and 466 million digital images of historic documents.