Europeana 1914-1918

Europeana 1914-1918 is based on an initiative at the University of Oxford where people across Britain were asked to bring family letters, photographs and keepsakes from the War to be digitised. The success of the idea – which became the Great War Archive – has encouraged Europeana, Europe’s digital archive, library and museum, to bring other national or local institutions across Europe into an alliance with Oxford University.  The project is collecting memorabilia and stories from the period of the Great War (1914-1918). This phase of the project is focussing on European items: letters, postcards, photographs and stories from Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland, Slovenia and the UK.

The Word on the Street - Scottish Broadsheets

In the centuries before there were newspapers and 24-hour news channels, the general public had to rely on street literature to find out what was going on. The most popular form of this for nearly 300 years was 'broadsides' - the tabloids of their day. Sometimes pinned up on walls in houses and ale-houses, these single sheets carried public notices, news, speeches and songs that could be read (or sung) aloud.
The National Library of Scotland's online collection of nearly 1,800 broadsides lets you see for yourself what 'the word on the street' was in Scotland between 1650 and 1910. Crime, politics, romance, emigration, humour, tragedy, royalty and superstitions - all these and more are here.
Each broadside comes with a detailed commentary and most also have a full transcription of the text, plus a downloadable PDF facsimile. You can search by keyword, browse by title or browse by subject.

Dating old Photographs

The Roger Vaughan Picture Library provides a guide with a number of links to help date old photographs, with advice to determine what decade is a photograph from using the changes of the designs on the back and  fashion changes over time.  The site also covers types of photographs and links to online photograph databases as well as local trade directories.

London marriage licences, 1521-1869

The book of London marriage licences, 1521-1869, has been digitally scanned and is available online via the Internet Archive.  Contributed by the University of California Libraries, the book can be read online or downloaded in a number of formats, including PDF, Kindle, and EPub.  It is an alphabetical index by husband's surname, with an index of matches for the female partner included at the back, and is 866 pages in length.
Examply entry :
Mason, Stephen, of St Bennett, Gracechurch, London, Merchant, bachelor, about 26 and Mrs Sarah Woolrich, of Bartholomew Close, London, Spinster, about 25, her father' consent - at Barrett, co Herts.  18 June 1677. V.

Norman Clark in the news

My great uncle Norman Clark died at the age of 18 when he was taken by a shark off Middle Brighton Pier on Feb15th 1930.  He was the first swimmer to be killed by a shark in the bay for over 50 years, and was killed in full view of hundreds of people as there was a boating regatta taking place at the time.  The incident was reported in numerous papers around Australia - not just the Melbourne Argus but papers like the Rockhampton News, Launceston Times, Adelaide Advertiser, Brisbane Courier and Western Australian Mail.

Just looking at the language is fascinating - I doubt it would be allowed today to describe a young man's death in a shark attack as a "thrilling struggle".

I have over 20 newspaper articles reporting the attack and subsequent hunt for the shark, which was never found.  All the articles were found in about an hour while searching Trove, the website of the National Library of Australia, which has been busily digitizing newspapers for some time now.  What will you find there?

National Family History Week

National Family History Week is held from 2nd - 11th August this year.  During the week events will be conducted across the country that focus on genealogy, family history, heraldry and related subjects including family reunions, seminars, talks, open days, history walks, book launches, film evening and expos. Check your state on the website for details of local events.
Campaspe Regional Library will hold a series of Family History talks.  Bookings are essential for all sessions and can be made on 5482 1997 or by contacting your local branch library.
Sessions times and topics
Fri 2nd - Intro. to online resources.  Echuca Branch Library, 2-4pm
Sat 3rd - Intro to online resources.  Kyabram Branch Library, 10.30am-12noon
Mon 5th - Using Trove.  Echuca Branch Library, 2-3pm
Tues 6th - Ancestry.com.  Echuca Branch Library, 12-1pm
Tues 6th - Intro. to online resources.  Tongala Branch Library, 4-6pm
Wed 7th - Famliysearch.  Echuca Branch Library, 12-1pm
Thurs 8th - National Archives of Australia.  Echuca Branch Library, 12-1pm
Fri 9th - Victorian Public Records Office.  Echuca Branch Library, 2-3pm

Now and Then Newsletter

Now&Then provides up-to-date information about new research tools and resources, services and seminars, exhibitions and other activities taking place at the State Records of New South Wales. Now & Then is distributed every two months.
Articles from the latest issue include : Online News - 2012 Christmas Competition Winners! - 2012 Satisfaction Survey Results - Probate and Divorce transfers from the NSW Supreme Court update - Sentenced beyond the Seas update - Probate and the Divorce transfers from the Supreme Court update - Archives Outside blog update - Flickr update - Treasures in the records - Spotlight on Surveyors' Sketch Books - Stay up-to-date with State Records - Upcoming talks and tours.

The will of David Mulholland

This is the handwritten will of my great-grandfather David Mulholland, found on the Public Records Office of Victoria website.  This fascinating document not only gives the names of David's wife and surviving children, it gives the married surnames of his daughters, plus an insight into the family dynamics.  David's wife Eliza can live in the house for her lifetime (and can do as she likes with the furniture upon her death) and the two sons who have worked the land with their father share the land and stock and pay their mother 5 shillings a week to live on.  The son who has his own business receives 50 pounds cash, the unmarried daughter living at home 20 pounds - and spends the rest of her life living on her brothers' charity.  Of the 3 married daughters my grandmother Pricilla (Mrs Clark) is clearly the favourite - she receives 10 pounds from her father while her two other married sisters get a shilling each!

Irish Lives Remembered

Irish Lives Remembered is a free online genealogy magazine focusing on Irish research and resources.  Issue 10 of the magazine, the March 2013 edition, is currently online and features a 16 page special Irish-Australian supplement along with a number of other articles on Irish genealogy research.  Through the website Issuu - also free - you can also view back issues of the magazine.

RootsTech

RootsTech is an opportunity to discover the latest family history tools and techniques, connect with experts to help you in your research, and be inspired in the pursuit of your ancestors. It is a conference with a unique emphasis on helping individuals learn and use the latest technology to get started or accelerate their efforts to find, organize, preserve and share their family’s connections and history. Workshops and interactive presentations are aimed at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level.

The conference took place in Salt Lake City, Utah from March 21-23, and many of the presentations can be viewed onlint via the RootsTech website.

The Forgotten Times

Australia's first FREE digital-only online history magazine, The Forgotten Times is a history magazine with stories for those interested in all issues relating to genealogy, Australian history or researching a family tree.

The Forgotten Times is produced by a team of journalists keen to provide the very best history and family tree stories - ones that are really worth reading. If you ever asked What is History? well here it is in its most readable form.

Their list of expert writers continues to grow and includes : Christine Yeats, Australian History Society; Zoe D'Arcy, National Archives of Australia, Australian National Maritime Museum with more to come...

1922 Irish Army

MilitaryArchives.ie has updated their 1922 Irish Army Census database. It is now searchable by name (first and last), location and age. The database contains 33,210 records. A typical record lists the name of the soldier, where they were stationed, their division, home address, age, marital status, religion, name and address of next of kin (typically a father or mother) and the place and date of attestation (when and where they signed up for the military). The image below shows a typical record. Access is free.

Welsh Newspapers Online

In March 2012, the National Library of Wales is expected to launch online the first one million pages of its historic newspaper collection, called Welsh Newspapers Online. Eventually, the aim is to digitize some two million pages of newspapers and journals from before 1911 (the current out-of-copyright date). A list of newspapers and journals that have been identified for digitization is available on the website. When this website launches, it will provide the largest body of searchable text related to Wales. Access will be free.

National Archives of Ireland

The National Archives of Ireland site was launched on 8 November 2012 by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. From this site, you can access the Census records for 1901 and 1911, the Tithe Applotment Books for 1823 to 1837 and the Soldiers’ Wills for 1914 to 1917.


The site will have a large number of other genealogical records added to it over the coming years, including:
1) Calendars of Wills and Administrations (1858– 1922);
2) Nineteenth-century census survivals (1821-1851);
3) Valuation Office House and Field Books (1848–1860);
4) Census Search Forms for the 1841 and 1851 Censuses.
All of these records will be free to access, through searchable databases and linked images of relevant pages. Eventually, it is hoped that the site will contain all of the important and easily accessible genealogical material in the custody of the National Archives.

The Soldiers’ Wills collection is the latest major project to become available free online, providing access to the wills of soldiers who died in the First World War (1914-1917). This is the first phase of the project carried out by the National Archives to digitise the 9,000 wills of the soldiers who died. Work is continuing and the remainder of the collection will be released online in 2013.

Onlinenames

Free online name listings including: Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, United States, Wales, Zimbabwe and world-wide one-name studies.

Online names is a free searchable database managed by Adelaide Proformat and compiled from public submissions. It has been available since 1997. The site has been upgraded since 8 June 2011 and many new features are now available.  While still small, the site is well worth using and will only grow if people take the time to post the names they are researching.

FamilySearch and WorldCat

FamilySearch.org has formed a partnership with OCLC to share genealogical data. OCLC is a non-profit library organization that originally started as the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) and has since grown to become an international library cooperative that is best known for the WorldCat library catalog. WorldCat links over 10,000 libraries worldwide. It is essentially the world's largest library catalog.

In this new partnership, FamilySearch.org will make its catalog of genealogical information accessible to WorldCat users. In exchange, going forward FamilySearch will be incorporating WorldCat search results into their website. What this means for genealogists is that the sharing of genealogical information across two major (and free) organizations will ultimately make it easier for people to find their ancestors.

National Archives of Australia

The National Archives of Australia is looking for volunteers to help transcribe records. They have created a special section on their website called arcHIVE for anyone interested in transcribing records. To make the process easier, every document awaiting transcription is identified as easy, medium or hard. You also have the option of choosing the type of record that you would like to transcribe. This allows transcribers to work at their own pace and comfort level from their own home.

Tasmanian Records

FamilySearch.org has added a new collection of some 96,000 images of various Tasmanian genealogy records. This collection spans the years 1829 to 1961 and includes land records, school records, court records and occupation/guild records. Details on Australian convicts can be found buried in the court records. There are four types of convict records (tickets of leave, certificates of freedom, pardon and convict indents). The records are organized by location. Access to the collection is free.

Police Gazette of Western Australia

The State Library of Western Australia has digitized and put online the Police Gazette of Western Australia. This collection spans the years from 1876 onwards. This gazette basically lists all the police activity by year. Typical information would include a list of people arrested and their sentences, police appointments and promotions, conditional pardons issued to convicts, physical descriptions of convicts, etc. This gazette contains a wealth of information for anyone looking for criminal or police records in Western Australia. Access this collection is free.

Queensland Shipping Records

The Queensland State Archives has released a new index of original shipping registers for vessels that arrived in Queensland from 1848 to 1912. A typical record lists the name of the ship, European port of departure, date of departure, place and date of arrival in Queensland, list of passenger and type of passage (free, assisted, remittance, bounty, steerage, etc.).

This index is for ships from the United Kingdom and Europe. It does not include ships from New Zealand, the Americas, Asia, Africa or other Australian ports. As well, some of the records from the 1860s are missing due to damage incurred in the Queensland 1893 floods. These indexes can be searched alphabetically by last name. Access is free.

FamilySearch

What's new at the FamilySearch website?
FamilySearch has created a new collection of Kent electoral rolls. This collection spans a broad range from 1570 to 1907 and consists of some 132,000 images. Included in the collection are a few militia muster rolls (for Faversham). The collection contains other types of related records, such as jury service lists (which were often drawn from electoral rolls). This collection can only be browsed at the moment.

FamilySearch has also added some 1.2 million parish records for Plymouth and West Devon. These are baptism, marriage and burial records that date from 1538 to 1912 and can be searched by name.

Access is free to both sets of records.

National Archives of Ireland

The National Archives of Ireland has created a special website specifically devoted to genealogy. Included are the 1901 and 1911 census records, tithe applotment books from 1823 to 1837 and soldier’s wills from 1914 to 1917. Eventually, the website is expected to contain all the genealogy records in the custody of the Irish National Archives, including Calendars of Wills and Administrations, 1858 – 1922; Nineteenth century census survivals, 1821-51; Valuation Office House and Field Books, 1848 – 60; Census Search Forms for the 1841 and 1851 censuses.  Please note the website states there are many incorrect entries, locations, names and spellings in the tithe entries. These are being corrected over time. Access is free.

British National Archives

The British National Archives has made good progress in digitizing their collection of World War I war unit diaries. A war unit diary is essentially a collection of field reports by various military units. A typical war unit diary contains daily operational reports from the front lines as well as local intelligence summaries. These war diaries were written between 1914 and 1923 by various British and colonial units that served in various theatres of war. Most of the unit diaries cover activity in France, Germany and Belgium. War unit diaries can contain a wealth of information for people looking for their ancestors and they are one of the most requested items in the British Archives reading rooms. In order to search these diaries, you need to know the regiment and battalion of your ancestor.

Chronicling America

On 22 October 2012, the website Chronicling America posted its 5 millionth historic newspaper page onto its website. The Chronicling America project now covers more than 800 newspapers from 25 different states spanning the period from 1836 to 1922.  This website was originally launched by the Library of Congress in 2007.  Access is free.

UK National Archives Documents Online

Digital microfilm allows you to search and download some of The National Archives' most popular records, which were previously available on microfilm. The Archives owns a large collection of microfilmed records, which they have now made more accessible by making them available online. Many of the records are indexes, which will be helpful in locating other relevant records.
These documents are free of charge to download and are delivered as large pdf files. Be aware that each download contains a whole piece, which could be up to 800 pages long. NA have not indexed the detail within the records and so you cannot search them in the same way as you can search for a medal card, for example. Instead you will need to scroll through the pdfs, much as you would when using a microfilm.  With most of the items only part of the series is available online, not the whole series.  Still, this collection is well worth a look at Documents Online.

Mundia

Mundia is the new family history site from Ancestry.com, a global platform offering access to more than 13 million family trees from all parts of the world with more than 1.4 billion profiles, and is available in multiple languages.  Basic membership to Mundia is free.
With Mundia, you can:

• Build your family tree. Then grow it by sharing and collaborating with others.
• Receive hints about matching ancestors and relatives in other members' trees.
• Contact other members and find unknown living relatives.
• Keep up to date with your family through comments, stories, and photos posted within your family circle.

Church of Ireland Records

The Church of Ireland has put online parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials for the parish of Delgany (Glendalough) and vicinity in North Wicklow. The records (together with an index of names) span the years 1666 to 1900. Access is free. The complete Delgany parish registers can also be conveniently downloaded as a pdf.

Genealogy In Time

GenealogyInTime Magazine has added 400 million new records to their two free search engines. The Genealogy Search Engine (which covers ancestral records) now searches an additional 100 million more records, while the Family Tree Search Engine (which covers genealogy forums and online family trees) searches approximately 300 million more records.

In total, the two search engines now cover 5.7 billion records across more than 1,000 different websites. The records are split between the Genealogy Search Engine (covering 1.9 billion records) and the Family Tree Search Engine (covering 3.8 billion records). There is no overlap of records between the two search engines.

GenealogyInTime Magazine now gets over 40,000 queries per month for the two search engines. This makes them one of the most popular alternatives to the FamilySearch website for people wanting to look for free ancestral records. Significant holdings exist for the United States, Canada, England/Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Europe, Australia and New Zealand with minor holdings for the Caribbean, South America and South Africa.

Some of the highlights of the latest addition to the Genealogy Search Engine include:

• 55 million new records for the United States and 6 million new records for Canada. These are primarily ancestral records held in digital archives of public libraries and universities across North America. Many of these new records are historic photographs.
• 23 million new records for England, Ireland and Scotland. These are primarily twentieth century obituaries.
• 14 million new records for Europe. These are primarily birth/marriage/death records from Central and Eastern Europe.
• 2 million more ship passenger records.

The underlying technology has also been improved:

• The search routines for both search engines have also been strengthened to provide better results.

• The number of returned records for a search query has been increased from 8 pages to 10 pages.

• Results are delivered even faster than before.

Access to both search engines is free and the underlying records are also free.