Historical Directories

Historical Directories is produced and owned by the University of Leicester. It is a digital library of local and trade directories for England and Wales, from 1750 to 1919.  They include Post Office directories, Kelly's directories and more, and can be searched by location, decade or keyword.

Classes at Echuca and Kyabram

Campaspe Library now offers free beginners classes in Online Genealogy Resources monthly at Echuca and Kyabram Branch Libraries.  Classes run for 2 hours and cover a range of resources, from online databases to lookup exchanges to mailing lists, and exeryone attending is given a list of all the sites covered during the class, plus more sites listed on the Library Homepage.  Anyone interested in attending a class please contact your local Branch Librarian to find out when the next class will be held.

Irish Archives Resource

The Heritage Council of Ireland has just funded and launched a major new web portal called the Irish Archives Resource. It enables researchers to locate archival collections in Ireland that are relevant to their research. The intent of the site is to essentially act like a giant card catalogue for anyone doing ancestral work on Ireland. A search function allows users to pull up the relevant collections. A detailed listing is provided for each collection along with instructions on how to access the collection either online (if available) or physically at a public location in Ireland. Many of the major city and county archives in Ireland have already contributed to the website and much of it would be of interest to anyone with ancestors from Ireland.  Access is free.

Hearth Tax Online

The Hearth Tax was levied between 1662 and 1689 on each householder according to the number of hearths in his or her dwelling.  The online records currently cover ounty Durham 1666, Kent 1664, Surrey 1664 and Yorkshire West Riding 1672.

Irish Genealogy Toolkit

The Irish Genealogy Toolkit includes :
• Advice and tips for beginners
• Downloadable free family history forms and charts in formats used by professionals, a selection of free family tree templates , and even old maps of Ireland
• Info about Irish civil registration and Irish census records, and how to access them
• How to trace family history through Irish church records
• The very latest news about groups, meetings, resources, and all Irish genealogy issues
• An insight into the daily life, Irish crafts, social customs and Christmas traditions of your ancestors and well-known symbols of Ireland
• The importance of land and property records in Irish genealogy
• The story of Irish emigration to Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the USA
• Recommendations for recording and preserving your genealogical discoveries
• Information about Ireland, from visitor facts to in-depth articles.

British History Online

British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.  Indexes are available by place, subject, period and source and a number of primary and secondary history sources have been digitized.

Genealogy and Family History Podcasts

For those unfamiliar with them, a podcast is an audio or video file that is made available on the Internet for download and playback using a computer or a mobile device such as an Ipod.
Podcasts of the BBC Radio genealogy programmes are now available online.  Tracing Your Roots was a series of talks on BBC Radio 4, and Digging Up Your Roots is BBC Radio Scotland's genealogy programme.
The National Archives in Britain also have a series of podcasts available on a variety of topics.