Articles Galore

ARTICLES, etc.

Was having a wander round the Internet this morning and have found plenty of weekend reading for you. So let's get cracking...

The National Library of Ireland have published a piece entitled 'Researching the Irish Famine'.

Those with an interest in Irish emigration to Australia may find FindMyPast Ireland's recent post on the topic of interest.

An unusual piece on the death of Tom Williams, Edinburgh's hangman, has been flagged by Christine Woodcock. See the relevant post, with link, here.

With WDYTYA? Live 2012 approaching fast, That Moment in Time blog reminds us that you can still get your hands on the handouts/notes from the 2011 event, here. Very useful.

The latest newsletter from GenealogyInTime is worth a quick look - see here.

The week's 'History Headlines' from the BBC are now available.

The same website also gives us some smashing images from the travels of Captain Scott.

Might as well stick with the Beeb, and their latest Podcast (again, more Antarctic stuff).

Oh, and there's another Podcast - this time from TNA - to be found here.

BTW, just one slight amendment to give you to yesterday's blog entry. Many of you will have spotted the deliberate mistake in the email address given for the Ancestral Tourism Partnership event - yes, it should have read n.phillips@kingston.ac.uk (and not three l's as previously given!).

I think that's enough for the weekend. See you Monday. Occasional minor updates and other nonsense available on Twitter by following me at @HistoryMick (or click on button, top-right).

Fancy a book? Have a browse of...

Libraries Bite Back!

NEWS

Tucked away on the BBC website is a story to warm the hearts of library lovers, historians and genealogists across the land concerning the decision taken by Somerset County Council to scrap their plan to close several of the county's libraries. Fact is, they have had their hand forced by the High Court, no less - and it looks like it will lead to a bit of a cash injection for the institutions, too. Wow! One would assume that a precedent has now been set...

The Parish Chest has issued its latest newsletter, which includes details of the release of many, many new genealogical products.

As this year sees the passing of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, I guess we'll be hearing rather a lot from the guy in the near future. Londoners can kick off with this offering from the Museum of London.


I had a look at Claire Santry's Irish Genealogy News blog this morning, and realised that I'd fell behind a bit with the same! Claire has been busy catching up with various bits and pieces concerning Irish research - so I'd urge you to go there now and bring yourself up to speed on items such as ... oh, there's too much, so just take a look for yourself!

It seems that legendary blogger, Dick Eastman, is over the worst of his health scare.

And Pen & Sword Books have more offers up for grabs, here.

MEDIA NEWS


TV & radio guides for the next few days can be found here and here.

ARTICLES

Another story out of Somerset, with the unearthing of an alleged 'Jack the Ripper' manuscript.

And if, like me, you're just getting into Twitter (or are thinking about it), then check out these two online articles on the same which I found most helpful:

• GenesReunited item on 'Social Media';
• New to Twitter? piece for genealogists.

Thanks to the many of you who have already decided to 'follow me' (see http://twitter.com/HistoryMick ) - which means that I shall have to at least try to entertain you as best I can with regular instalments!

OTHER BITS FROM TWITTER

In the meantime, I realise that many (most?) of you don't bother with Twitter, so the blog shall very much remain the main medium through which I work. And here are a few more little stories from the, er, Twittersphere, as I believe they call it...

• Footage from Ireland in 1962 (from @thejournal_ie);
• Canadian Emigration Papers release from FMPIreland (from @findmypastIE);
• 'What a clever girl' story from Ireland (from @the_irish_times);
• Online Palaeography lesson from TNA (from @familytreemaguk);
• History in schools discussed in House of Commons (from @HistoryExtra);
• History of Leinster House (from @findmypastIE).

TNA Stuff & a Good Deal of Reading

NEWS

A couple of announcements from The National Archives first:

• BT Archives to be digitised;
• Closure of 'Your Archives'.

And there is also a new TNA Podcast to take in - Anxiety, Dread & Disease: British Ports 1834-1870.

The Scottish Genealogy Society is offering free advice sessions for newbie genealogists - see their homepage. (thanks to Chris Paton/Chris Halliday).

And followers of US blogger, Dick Eastman, will no doubt already know about his recent illness.

ARTICLES

And with a good few articles to get through, we'll start, in fact, with the aforementioned Mr Eastman, and a strange tale about genealogy and crime detection. 

The Passionate Genealogist blog's post from a couple of days ago makes mention of two very interesting articles. Firstly, there's a lengthy piece on War and Famine in Ireland, 1580-1700; and then there's a light-hearted piece about how NOT to conduct your FH research. Access both here.

And the eternal question of the location of the geographical centre of Great Britain is tackled on the OS blog.

MEDIA NEWS

Several blogs and websites are reporting the beginning of a new series of BBC Radio Scotland's Digging Up Your Roots. It began on Sunday - access it on the BBC iPlayer, here. It's only online until 15th - but is also available as a download from iTunes.

OTHER BITS FROM TWITTER

As I've just signed up to Twitter (@HistoryMick), I will, in due course, be working out ways of bringing you extra snippets of news from this area of the Internet - just as soon as I've got used to the darn thing. For the moment, though, I'll tag a few bits on at the end of my daily posts for you to take or leave as you wish...

• TNA looking for help with their new guidance notes (from @UkNatArchives);
• TNA Chief to speak in London (from @KathrynHannan);
• @findmypast recommends this TV programme;
• New book on dieting in history (from @genesreunited);
• Predictions for the future from 1900 (from @findmypast);
• 1940s POW twitter diary (from @genesreunited).

If you want to 'follow me' then please do (@HistoryMick). Once I'm up to speed with the set-up, I shall no doubt contribute as best I can!

Check out the TEXTBOOK SALE at...

In Vision and Sound

NEWS

OK, so it's not exactly riveting viewing, but some brave soul ventured onto the roof of the National Library of Wales yesterday to capture this footage of bit of the roof blowing around in the gale force winds. The emergency soon passed, though, and it seems that no serious damage was done to the building nor its contents (see also here).

There's more video viewing to be found of Irish rural life in the 1930s at YouTube, here. Rose-tinted specs and all that, of course. Also worth having a look at the related videos down the right-hand side.

Something to listen to, now, in the shape of a Podcast from The National Archives - and the extraordinary story of one of Queen Victoria's favourites, Duleep Singh.

The latest issue of Your Family History is now on sale - see here.

Pen & Sword Books have launched their January sale.

And don't forget that FindMyPast.co.uk are still offering 10% off all new subscriptions during January - just use the code NEWYEAR12 when signing up for a package.

WEBSITES

Several sources have mentioned forthcoming developments at www.militaryarchives.ie - the website of 'Defence Forces Ireland'. About the best description of what is afoot can be found at Chris Paton's British GENES blog, here.

ARTICLES

I suspect the strange story of the twins born five years apart will not be quite so unusual in the future, but it still makes interesting reading in the present.

And The Family Recorder blog has an important lesson about swotting up on your geography - or at least not jumping to hasty conclusions due to your ignorance!

MEDIA NEWS

TV & radio for the week ahead can be found here.

Having a Quiet One

NEWS

To be expected, I suppose, but this week is a bit on the quiet side. Many of the commercial companies and a fair old chunk of the bloggers are out of action until the New Year, leaving the few of us who are left struggling to entertain the readership. There are lots of festive ramblings on the blogs - many of them very entertaining - but I guess you don't need me to add to the nostalgic quagmire!

Can I interest you in a Podcast? The latest offering from TNA stems from the major Census conference at the organisation back in October and can be found here (Preparing the 1911 Census for Digitisation).

FindMyPast Ireland has ended a quiet month for them with the release of one last record set, namely, 'Thom's Irish Who's Who 1923', which is self-explanatory. Read all about it here.

I don't usually mention each and every individual talk held at the SoG (they are all listed here), but the one lined up for 28th January looks particularly interesting and will appeal to, well, almost everyone, I should think. It's entitled Tracing Female Ancestors & Women in the 1800s, and runs for a half-day.

I suppose the genealogy big-boys will be vying for our attention as keenly as ever in 2012. Here's what Ancestry have to say about the near future in their '12 Things You Can Count on in 2012'.

And finally, the guys who run the specialist genealogical search engine, Mocavo, have posted a couple of new items on their blog concerning recent developments for users of their site.

Day 4 of 'Start Your Family Tree Week'...

No Christmas Let-Up for us Bloggers!

I was hoping for a few 'blog-free' days over the Christmas period, but an unexpected rush of news items has put paid to that! Seems like everyone is trying to clear their desks of all sorts of bits and pieces - so here's a selection for you. Nothing major, really, but I'll run them past you none the less...


NEWS

If document preservation is your thing then you may be interested in the December newsletter of the British Library Preservation Advisory Centre.

Or maybe you're interested in developments in the library sector on the Continent? In that case you'll want to have a look at Europeana Libraries Project's December bulletin (check out the article on the forthcoming 'European Library' website).

Blogger John Reid has fell upon some important news for those of us with an interest in Welsh wills.

And though it's not of direct interest to genealogists, I have noticed a recent burst of activity on the 'Heritage of Wales News' blog. Well, fans of Welsh history may be interested, I guess.

More 'Workshops' of interest to family & local historians have popped up on the National Library of Scotland's website - see here.

Dick Eastman brings us news of the release of The Master Genealogist version 8.

And both students and tutors of family history will want to cast their eyes over the December issue of the Pharos bulletin.

ARTICLES

The Anglo-Celtic Connection blog has an article on the effect of breast-feeding habits on infant mortality rates.


Still hungry for more Festive reading? Then have a browse of these special articles plucked from the HistoryToday archives.

And there's more general comment from Nick Barratt, here, which includes reference to a Daily Mail article on our family history skeletons (link is at the very bottom of his post).

And don't forget the following coming up on 26th (which is when you'll next hear from me)...

Genes Reunited News

NEWS

I can't speak with any great authority on the matter as I'm not a fully paid-up member, but the Genes Reunited website seems to be experiencing problems at the moment. A recent 'technical update' is the latest offering, so hopefully things will be ironed out soon. Another announcement on the site seems to indicate that the new-fangled British Newspaper Archive is accessible through Genes Reunited - but, again, I've not tried this myself.

The Irish Genealogy News blog has a mid-December update from the Ireland Genealogy Project Archives - see here.

Irish researchers may also wish to know the festive opening hours at PRONI.

WDYTYA? Magazine have a competition for you, here.

And blogger John Reid points us in the direction of some Scottish naming stats/patterns, here.

ARTICLES

Dick Eastman has posted an interesting piece about the family histories of the 2012 presidential candidates. Stick with the piece, as it leads onto an even better article about other inheritance traits (eye colour).

And thanks to The Passionate Genealogist for flagging a story on the concept of making a pack of playing cards bearing the images of your ancestors.

MEDIA NEWS

Tomorrow (Thursday) sees the final episode of the Find My Past TV show. Catch a preview here (main website here).

Special offer from...

... by clicking above, then clicking on 'Home' you can get even more than 10% off!

More Scottish Census News

NEWS

Further to last month's news about the 1861 Scottish Census, FindMyPast have now released transcriptions of the 1871 Scottish Census - meaning that the website now has 1841-71 covered for the nation. Due to licensing regulations it is not possible for any of the commercial companies to offer the original images of the documents, but FMP are claiming a high degree of accuracy with their efforts. Go to FMP's Main Page, and the story is under 'Family History News'. 


Oh, and whilst you're visiting the site, look out for FMP's take on the forthcoming 'Start Your Family Tree Week' (top right of home page). There's also a competition to enter in relation to the same.


Staying in Scotland, the British GENES blog has a piece about the final stages of the re-location of Edinburgh City Archives.


As you probably know, MyHeritage have recently brought WorldVitalRecords.com under their umbrella, and this blog post reveals the organisation's early attempts at integrating the said records into their existent data sets.


Ancestry have added some new Kent records to their website. This page is as good a way into them as any (and then click on the relevant link).


The deadline for the FFHS's long-running competition is fast approaching. See the note on the main page of the Federation's website, here.


A couple of events - both postcard fairs - are coming up soon, at Digbeth (Birmingham) and Cheltenham on 28th & 29th December, respectively. See here for further details - and please check with the organisers before travelling, if possible.


WEBSITES


Blogger Dick Eastman has flagged a website which will keep map enthusiasts busy for a while. See his post regarding the Worldology site, here.

Famous Scots Blog Discontinued

NEWS

Followers of prolific blogger/writer/lecturer, Chris Paton, will perhaps have already heard the news that he has discontinued his famous Scottish GENES blog. The news is not quite as dramatic as it sounds, however, as Chris has simply transferred his entire blogging effort over to his British GENES blog - and the Scots coverage will not suffer in the slightest. Get it from the horse's mouth here.

Chris's blogs have kicked up a couple of recent items which I have missed, namely, the pending change in the opening hours of the Hawick Heritage Hub, and a new project concerning the East India Company.

I keep banging on about this, but please take care with opening hours of libraries and record offices over the next couple of weeks or so. Also, of course, many repositories have the habit of changing their hours permanently with the dawning of a new year! I see that The National Archives have publicised their holiday hours here - ditto the ScotlandsPeople Centre here.

The ScotlandsPeople Centre have also published details of a Family History Talk on 25th January, and are reminding folk of their free taster sessions (plus one or two other bits of news) on their main page, here.

And returning to TNA, why not have a listen to their latest Podcast (How the Ministry of Pensions Constructed Gender in the 1950s).

ARTICLES

And if you feel like cancelling Christmas this year, then you can take a lesson from history.

Christmas Offerings

NEWS

Suggestions from the keyboard of blogger Claire Santry as regards Christmas pressies can be found here (mainly Irish stuff, but not all). And, thanks, Claire, for the endorsement of my own publications (what, you still haven't bought your copies yet?). I would also remind readers of the special December offer from CW & S Parkinson Genealogical Storage - see here.

The very same blog also warns Irish researchers of festive opening hours at the country's major repositories - a reminder to us all to be careful when planning our Christmas/New Year research trips.

The WDYTYA? website brings us a story about the re-opening of the Wiener Library in London. This is truly major news for those of us with links to the Holocaust.

And the same website is running a competition to win a year's subscription to their magazine.

Dick Eastman's blog has a feature which may interest all 'techies' - it's all about the new 'MacFamilyTree' software package and another genealogy app for the iPhone/iPad/iPod. Find out more here.

The January issue of HistoryToday is now available.

And the specialist genealogy search engine, Mocavo, have unveiled a 'fee-paying' version of their Web tool called 'Mocavo Plus'. No idea what sort of advantage it gives the user over the free one, though.

ARTICLES

As the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic approaches, the National Library of Ireland's blog gives an interesting perspective on the disaster.

GRO Shenanigans

NEWS

The latest Lost Cousins newsletter has plenty to say about the GRO and its fees system. Peter Calver, with his background in economics, suggests that the folk in charge have missed a trick and should be looking to reduce the cost of certified copies of BMD certificates. There is, of course, plenty more on offer in the bulletin, including news of free access to the Lost Cousins website over the festive period. Read all about it here.

The BritishGENES blog has picked up an important piece of news for those of you with Jewish ancestry.

TNA has issued another Podcast - this one's entitled Untold Histories: black Britons during the period of the British slave trade, c.1660-1807.

Two items from the British Library: firstly, a new sculpture by Antony Gormley has been unveiled (in these especially tough times for our branch libraries I trust it didn't cost too much?); and there's a new Victorian Christmas iPad app available for purchase.

And for all you Europhiles, here's the December newsletter from Europeana.

WEBSITES

Two useful and interesting online resources have been doing the rounds of late - and The Family Recorder blog does as good a job as any of explaining them to us: firstly, there's a post relating to the 'Locating London's Past' website; and secondly there's an introduction to the 'Edible Archive'.

ARTICLES

Having, as I do, an interest in the early days of organised football, I was intrigued by Christine Woodcock's post on the subject of pioneer women's football. Those early press reports make extraordinary reading. Oh, and have you seen my own footie book, here? (couldn't miss a chance like that to mention it, now, could I?).

MEDIA NEWS

Thursday night's Find My Past TV show can be previewed here (main website here.).

And one or two other TV programmes can be found here.

News from the FFHS

NEWS

Those of you interested in the mechanics of the GRO - and maybe even having a say in how the institution operates - may well be interested in attending one of the forthcoming 'User Group' sessions. One will be held in London and the other in Southport. Check out the FFHS announcement on the subject.

Looks like I'm a tiny bit late with this one, but I have just spotted the November issue of the FFHS's E-Zine. Included within is the first mention I have seen this year of the annual 'Start Your Family Tree Week'.

Reader Niall McChesney points us in the direction of an interesting 10-minute programme on BBC Radio 4 last Sunday, namely, A Point of View. In it, the historian Prof Lisa Jardine (daughter of Jacob Bronowski) gives a talk where she begins by admitting a measure of academic stuffiness about family history, but goes on to say that she has been converted after hearing some oral history made by older members of her family. You can listen to the programme here. By a strange quirk of fate, within minutes of reading Niall's email I noticed the announcement re. Lisa Jardine's new role at The National Archives. One wonders if she was 'converted' prior to or following her prestigious appointment...


The HistoryToday website is carrying a story about an attack on the National Library of Wales by its own government for accepting a slightly dodgy bequest. There is a link in the piece to the original Guardian article of last week.


FamilySearch has added 18 million records from 12 countries to its holdings - see here. Nothing new from the British Isles in there, though.


There is now very little in the way of 'forthcoming events' to report in my regular Tuesday listings. All we have this coming weekend are:

• Saturday 10th December - Edinburgh Book Fair;
• Saturday 10th December - Ribble Valley Book Fair;
• Sunday 11th December - London Holiday Inn Book Fair (Bloomsbury).

WEBSITES

If you have ancestors in the North of England, then the website pointed out, here, by blogger Audrey Collins may interest you. All to do with the so-called 'Cause Papers of 1300-1858'.

ARTICLES

What may be classed as an independent review of the new Family Tree Maker 2012 has been posted by Ros Bott.

OTHER STUFF

I seem to have tripped over another discount coupon for the Lulu website at www.lulu.com - apparently WINTERSAVEUK305 will get you 30% off any order (up to £100 of savings - and ends 11.59pm on 7th December). My own Lulu Storefront is here - though the code can be used anywhere on the site.

'Family & Local History Quiz Book' Launch

NEWS


As hinted at in previous posts, I have today published my new 60-page booklet entitled the Family & Local History Quiz Book.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it is the first publication of its type ever published - which is why I decided to put it together in the first place! Full details of the same, and how to purchase a copy, may be found here (and scroll down a bit - and there's a chance of a 'sneak peek' at the first few pages). Both 'hard copy' and e-copy versions available, with prices starting at £1.90!


I'm desperate for some publicity for both this and my recently-released Dead End Hobby, so if you're reading this and can offer a bit of help in this department then please spread the word - or get in touch with me at micksouthwick@blueyonder.co.uk.


Incidentally, if you use the Lulu.com website at www.lulu.com (where you will find my books listed here) the following special offer coupon may be of use to you: BUY2GETONEUK305. I received the offer in an email, but see no reason why it can't be used by anyone (hopefully).

[Here's the instructions for the coupon: "Enter coupon code BUY2GETONEUK305 at checkout and receive a free book when you buy two. You need to have 3 books in your shopping cart for this coupon to work. The maximum savings for this offer is £25. Sorry, but this offer is only valid in Pounds and cannot be applied to previous orders. You can only use this code once per account, and unfortunately you can't use this coupon in combination with other coupon codes. This great offer expires on 7 December 2011 at 11:59 PM, so don't miss out!"]

Moving on, here are a few other bits and pieces which have dropped into my In-Box over the weekend...

West Midlands researchers should take note of the following announcement (sent via the FFHS news service):
Due to the building of the new Birmingham Reference Library to be opened in 2013, there are restrictions on access to some of the services, the Archives section on the 6th floor included. From Monday 12th December 2011, the opening hours for the Archives and Heritage open access service on floor 6 will be:
Wednesday 10am – 6pm

Thursday 10am – 6pm
Friday 10am – 6pm
Saturday Closed
This is due to staffing levels and the need to begin preparing our collections for the Library of Birmingham. It is also essential to book in advance to use the archives searchroom. For further information please visit the website here or contact the Archives service at archives.heritage@birmingham.gov.uk.

The GenealogyInTime website has issued its monthly round-up of news from around the globe - see here for the December instalment (previous months are lower down the page).


And Nick Barratt offers his thoughts on some of the issues in the news over the past week.

'Dead End Hobby' Book Launch

NEWS

Excuse me for indulging myself once more, but today is the official launch day of my new family history publication, Dead End Hobby. All very exciting, and you can secure your copy in a variety of ways - with the e-copy available for as little as £2. The best way to bore you with the full facts of this world-shattering event is to refer you to the relevant page on my personal website, here (where you will find a link to a 'sneak peek' of the book). In fact, this link is part of a completely new website in itself, so feel free to have a browse - if you're having trouble sleeping it's sure to send you off to the land of nod. And if you do click on the link above, you will also catch a glimpse of my next publication...

And there's even more to come - but I'll leave that until Saturday.

Meanwhile, from the rest of the genealogical world...

Check out FindMyPast's new record releases:

• 1861 Scottish Census;
• The Manchester Police Index, 1812-1941 and the Prestwich Asylum Admissions, 1851-1901 - for both, see here.

The Family Tree magazine blog has a report on the pending digitisation of many of the India Office Records by Brightsolid.

Linen Hall Library, Belfast, has issued a list of forthcoming events for December.

S&N Genealogy Supplies have released their December newsletter. As you would expect, there's a Christmassy feel to it - and look out for a link to their 2012 Family History Guide. There's also news of the addition of new areas to their 1911 Census collection, among loads of other stuff (directories, etc). Note: if you're seriously thinking about taking out a subscription to one of S&N's 'TheGenealogist' packages, then please do so via the link at the bottom of this post ... as I'll get some commission from it! (it will make no difference to the amount you pay, and it'll mean I can feed my kids this Christmas).

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission have also released another newsletter - see here.

And TNA are trying to persuade us to part with our Christmas cash, here (free p&p on UK orders). Or you could, of course, spend your cash on my publications (see above) ... or possibly by clicking below.

More MyHeritage Takeover Info

NEWS

More information on the MyHeritage takeover of FamilyLink/Vital World Records can be found here. This really does seem to be a major move in the family history world.


BBC History Magazine's latest Podcast can be found here (impact of the death of Prince Albert, and Edward IV's library).

And The National Archives latest Podcast is also now available ('A Low, Artful, Wicked Man': poverty riots and bread - the response of government to the crises of the 1790s).


Nick Barratt has put out a blog post which will be of interest to those of you with Royal Marine ancestry. Check it out here, where you will also see an appeal for advice/comment on an important aspect of our research world, namely, collaboration between the many local & family history 'umbrella' organisations that we have here in the UK. Get your thinking caps on and contact Nick with your views!

I know many of you are interested in maps and mapping - if you are, then check out this post on the Ordnance Survey blog ... which includes news of an upcoming major conference which may tempt you.


Those of you with Indian connections may wish to cast their eyes over this news item from the British Library website.


Thanks to the British GENES blog for news of the latest Electric Scotland newsletter.

And several sources have mentioned the Origins.net '20% off' subscription offer which lasts until 1st December. Enter TG2011 at checkout/registration.


ARTICLES

Check out the BBC's 'History Headlines' for the week.

WEBSITES

Ancestry have launched a new blog called 'Sticky Notes'. I'm concerned that it may be a little too US-biased, but we'll see how it shapes up. See the announcement, here, where you will find a link to the blog itself.

Writing Up Your Family History

ARTICLES

After a quiet 24 hours or so, I thought I'd lead into today's post with a couple of articles. First of all, Ros Bott has penned a few paragraphs on 'How to Write Up Your Family History' - straight-forward useful advice on an indirect way of learning a lot more about your ancestors' world. A great way, too, to learn a little more about history in general if you take on the research yourself.

The MyHeritage blog has a link to a short piece on the 'Kindness Gene'. No doubt that this sort of thing exists, of course - just amazing that they've identified it!

NEWS

MyHeritage is also in the news for their takeover of a couple of fairly well-known family history concerns, FamilyLink and WorldVitalRecords. Mainly a one for the American market, this, but the development is, nevertheless, indicative of the ambitions of the Israeli-based company - with the move incorporating the establishment of their very first US base in Utah (thanks to GeneaBloggers).

Mocavo, the specialist genealogical search engine, has added another feature to its site, namely, a FAQ section - see here.

Immigration and Emigration is the theme of the forthcoming half-day course from the SoG (Sat 3rd December).

The Irish Genealogy News blog has a few 'Bits and Bobs', here (Cork/NAI/Workhouses).

And The Family Recorder blog has a book review on the recently-released Family Matters: A History of Genealogy.

MEDIA NEWS

The next episode of the Find My Past TV show looms (Thursday 9pm) - and here's a wee trailer. There are also interviews with presenter, Chris Hollins, here and here. Oh, and a competition, here.

WEBSITES

The British Library have made an announcement about their sound archive. Interesting resource, this - and to find the item specifically mentioned in the news item, follow the link then click on 'Oral History' and you should see it listed. All part of Disability History Month (you might want to check out this website's 'Events' listing, too).

OTHER STUFF

Blogger Christine Woodcock has posted an enthusiastic article on her new mobile scanner which may interest many of you. A quick search of the Internet indicates that it seems to be available in the UK at around £150 (and no doubt Ireland, too).

HLF Gears Up For WWI Centenary

NEWS

The Heritage Lottery Fund, which we historians love so much, has thrown out an important announcement regarding ways in which communities may wish to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. Applications for funding are being encouraged in support of events which will take place during 2014-18. See the official website. [thanks to the FFHS News Service for this item]

The GenealogyInTime website maintains a handy-looking list of new online records as an when they pop up. The list covers the entire globe, with a heavy bias towards the English-speaking countries. As far as I can see, there is nothing there which hasn't appeared on this blog (for Britain/Ireland), but those of you with a smattering of overseas interests may wish to keep tabs on it.

The December issue of Family History Monthly is now available - but if you wish to learn more (or even if you don't), then why not read about it in their latest e-newsletter. You might as well, as there are a few other bits of news in there which may be of interest to you.

The recently-opened 'Royal Manuscripts' exhibition at the British Library is running a series of talks/events regarding the display. You can also click here for the library's full programme of events for the next few weeks. Whilst they're the topic of conversation, I might as well mention the email I received from the BL regarding their 'Seasonal Gifts'.

James McLaren of the Channel Islands FHS has contacted me regarding a very specialised history project that's come to fruition in his neck of the woods. The Societe Sercquaise have compiled a document called Men of Sark, which details every one of the 63 men from Sark who served in the First World War, and the one who left before the Occupation and served in the Second World War. For comparison, those 63 men represented about 50% of those eligible for service on the island... a rather sobering thought. The Societe are happy to make this available to whoever is interested (website at www.socsercq.sark.gg - though there is no mention of the document online yet, as far as I can see).

Pen & Sword Books have a few special offers on the go (inc. free p&p for a week) - see here.

The latest Ireland Reaching Out newsletter is now available, in which genealogy features in one of the articles.

The BBC's HistoryExtra website has a new Podcast (WWII veterans, and sugar in Victorian Britain).

MEDIA NEWS

The week's TV & Radio can be found here.


And don't forget to come back tomorrow for news of BI-Gen's new publication, and how to get your hands on a reduced-price pre-launch copy!

Mainly Irish Items

NEWS

It occasionally happens: a little rush of Irish news items. And so it is today, with apologies to those of you with no such research interests. There are one or two other items from elsewhere, too, though, so do read on...

Claire Santry leads the way with a couple of items. Firstly, there's an update on the progress of the Certificate of Irish Heritage; then there's another odd little story about a mooted 'Cork Passport'!

I don't know if I've mentioned this in a previous post, but there's a list of forthcoming Irish lectures to be found on the RootsIreland website - see here.

Just in case you need a reminder, Christmas is on its way - and Belfast's Linen Hall Library is quick off the mark with it's Festive holiday info. This seems like quite a lengthy break - so take care when assuming that the Christmas holidays will allow you to do a 'bit of research' at your local library!

The National Library of Scotland has recently updated its 'Events List'.

And on the international stage, I see that FamilySearch is to change its CEO in the New Year. Just thought you'd like to know.

WEBSITES

Back to Ireland, and the website of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations - with an announcement re. a new Irish Language online resource. My browser's 'translator' failed to perform its Irish-English task, so the site remains a complete mystery to me!

Remember the mention in yesterday's post about the 'Family History Show' video (Top Ten Tips)? Well, there's actually a dedicated website to the 'vodcast' efforts of Nick Barratt and Laura Berry - see here. Long-term, this may prove to be a great visual resource - especially for beginners. It's certainly worth a browse - and look out for the related blog, too.

ARTICLES

Ireland again. A short piece on the subject of Irish naming patterns.


Also:
A reminder to you all to continue to send any items of interest for use on the blog to me at micksouthwick@blueyonder.co.uk.  News items, interesting websites, unusual record entries (or stories) - you know the sort of thing I'm looking for: anything of general interest to the British/Irish genealogist! Remember, I will also mention new commercial products - and there's also a semi-permanent home for such announcements under the 'New Products' tab at the head of the page (currently free).

Tuesday's Genealogy Events Listing

NEWS

Forthcoming events of interest to the family historian are as follows:

• Saturday 19th November - Lanarkshire FHS's Military & Family History Day, Blantyre;
• Saturday 19th November - GOONS Railway Records Seminar, Swindon (places still available, I think - but be quick);
• Friday 25th November - TNA Catalogue Day, London (need to book);
• Sunday 20th November - London Alexandra Palace Book Fair;
• Sunday 20th November - Dorchester Book Fair;
• Saturday 19th November - Durham Postcard, Cigarette Card & Stamp Fair, County Hall, Durham City, DH1 5UL (10am-3pm). Please check with organiser Gareth Burgess on (01368) 860365 before travelling;
• Saturday 19th November - Chester Postcard Fair;
• 17th-30th November - Scotland's History Festival, Edinburgh (many events need to be booked);
• See top of right-hand column of this page for news of perhaps the biggest Postcard Fair of the year in Birmingham on 4th December!

Nick Barratt and Laura Berry have posted a 10-minute 'Top Ten Tips' video presentation on their 'Family History Show' YouTube Channel. That now makes a total of five little videos for you to watch on the site.  

Users of the Family Historian computer package will be interested to learn of the imminent release of version 5. Get it from the horse's mouth, here.

WEBSITES

A curious offering has been brought to our attention by the Family Tree blog, namely, a website charting the history of English Nuns in exile during 1600-1800.

MEDIA NEWS

A wee preview of this Thursday's Find My Past TV show can be found here.

OTHER STUFF

Just a reminder that there is a special offer from CW & S Parkinson Genealogical Storage for readers of this blog - see the 'New Products' tab above for full details.

Remembrance

NEWS

In addition to the free WWI material currently available at Ancestry (see yesterday's post), a few other military bits and pieces are popping up on the Internet - which is to be expected at this time of year. TNA has a special post on the topic here, which provides a few research pointers. And Lost Cousins have produced a special issue of their newsletter which has a distinctly military air to it - see here (plenty of other news in there, too, of course!). If anything else surfaces in the next day or two I'll let you know.

Before we leave Ancestry behind completely, overseas readers may be interested in their competition to 'Follow Your Roots to Europe'.

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I think not, so here goes. Chris Paton has spotted a really interesting series of talks and events concerning Ballymena.

The British Library launches a new exhibition today, which runs until March next year - it's entitled Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination. Not of much relevance to genealogists, but worth a look if you're passing the place.

The next item concerns the West Yorkshire Archives Service and, more specifically, plans for their 'Leeds branch'. The text which follows comes via the FFHS and their 'informant', Jackie Depelle:

This is to provide you with some preliminary information on our plans for the service. I would be grateful if you would share it with others in your organisation who may be interested.

The Archive Service has been working with Leeds City Council to provide improved accommodation for and access to the irreplaceable archive collections relating to Leeds District. We have explored several options for potential sites and partnerships and have costed remedial work to the Art Deco Sheepscar building. The Sheepscar building has a number of problems related to its age and construction and the National Archives has declared it no longer fit for purpose. Having explored a range of other options, none of which proved to be workable or affordable, we have now received approval from the Executive Board of Leeds CC to move out of the Sheepscar building and convert space for storage and public access at the Joint Services HQ complex at Gildersome. This option provides the best storage and access we can achieve at a reasonable cost in the immediate future. It also means that the collections currently held at Sheepscar will be located at the same site as those Leeds collections currently housed in our modern outstore at Joint Services HQ. For the first time, nearly two-thirds of Leeds archives will be accommodated on the same site.

This project will provide:

• Much improved storage conditions for collections, ensuring their preservation
• Much improved security for collections, staff and customers
• Fully-accessible, modern, customer accommodation
• Free customer parking

We are planning for the new facilities to be ready in the third quarter of 2012. There will need to be a short time when the service cannot provide a public service, while the collections are in transit. We will make information available as soon as the timetable is finalised and keep that time to a minimum.

I am pleased to be able to assure you that, in spite of the problems the building gives us, no collections have been damaged. The staff and Conservation Team continue their vigilance and interventions and will ensure that archives remain safe until we can effect the move.

Katy Goodrum

Head of Archives

ARTICLES

Back to 'Remembrance' with a nice article on 'A History of Poppy Day' from Ros Bott.

And check out the BBC HistoryExtra website for their usual Friday offerings, with its heavy military bias this time around ('History Headlines', various blogs, and their latest Podcast - oh, and the December issue of their magazine is now out).

MEDIA NEWS

TV & Radio for the week ahead can be found here - as you can imagine, lots of military stuff to come. In addition to all those programmes listed, please see Chris Paton's post about the US WDYTYA? TV show (begins 16th).

OTHER STUFF

There are a couple of votes/surveys on the go at the HistoryToday website which may interest you (most important history book/historian of the past 60 years).