Showing posts with label Welsh News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Welsh News. Show all posts

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

News from ALL Five Nations!

NEWS

Unusually, today we have news from all five major 'nations' of the British Isles...

The biggest announcement of the day is probably Ancestry's release of 130-year's worth of London electoral registers, 1835-1965 - a whopping great resource by the sounds of it, though I've not yet investigated it myself. Have a look at the story here.

Ancestry has also released a new batch of records for Kent, namely, the Tyler Index to Wills, 1460-1882 - see Ancestry's updates page.

And, lastly from England, there's this news story about the threat to the future of the Wedgwood Museum & Archive in Staffordshire.

News of a forthcoming Open Day at the National Library of Wales can be found here. Note that some sources are giving the date as 29th January - but surely the library's website itself can be trusted with the correct date, namely, Saturday 28th January. Not sure if the talks have to be booked.

Electric Scotland has issued another update - follow the relevant link from here.

There are genealogy courses available on both sides of the border in Ireland - see Claire Santry's blog entry on the topic.

We're off to the US now for a useful video presentation by FamilySearch regarding search methods which may be employed when using their website. A neat lesson in lateral thinking which could come in handy when using other databases and websites.

ARTICLES

We return to Ireland for an article from the Irish Echo (via the CIGO website) about the campaign for the early release of the 1926 Irish Census - with plenty of background info, too.

And FindMyPast Ireland has a piece on Irish Marriage License Bonds.


On a slightly grander scale, we have another media rumour about Henry VIII and the identity of who should have been the 'real Queen Elizabeth I'.

MEDIA NEWS

The WDYTYA? Magazine website has a media update, including a chance for you to appear on TV.

Click here>>>  BI-Gen Store   <<<Click here

Saturday, 7 January 2012

FamilySearch Bonanza

NEWS

FamilySearch have announced massive additions to their datasets over the holiday period - over 100 million new records from 33 countries. Included are developments relating to the 1871 Census for England & Wales, Norfolk PRs, and Welsh Probate Abstracts.


There's more information about the release of additional detail from the 1911 Census for England & Wales at FindMyPast. Important that you read this, too, as there's a special offer on regarding purchasing credits for viewing the 1911 Census.

Manchester researchers will want to keep an eye on the Manchester Histories Festival website. This year the programme runs from 24th February to 4th March.

Southampton City Archives are due to re-open soon. However, the occasion has been put back from Tuesday 10th January to Tuesday 17th January - keep an eye on the situation here.

And there's a new history Podcast from the BBC, here.

ARTICLES

Following on from yesterday's effort, there's another twins story, here.

There's the week's 'History Headlines' from the Beeb.

And there's a 'taster' article from the Jersey Evening Post about governmental record releases. Though the article doesn't give much away, I think you get the gist - especially when you read the comments underneath! One of the comments actually makes an interesting (and valid, I think) point about confidentiality regardless of any 100-year-rule... (thanks to James).

MEDIA NEWS

I see the US is preparing itself for another series of WDYTYA?

The Genealogist - UK census, BMDs and more online

Friday, 6 January 2012

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.


Saturday, 24 December 2011

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)...



Friday, 23 December 2011

Genealogical Festive Offers and News

NEWS


FindMyPast are offering 10% of all subscriptions from (as far as I can tell) now until the end of January. Reports vary as to the length of this offer and even when it officially starts, but I'll be carrying a link on my blog entries for a few days to remind you of the same - at least until we get through the 'Start Your Family Tree Week' during 26th Dec - 1st Jan....



Pen & Sword Books are (again) in discount mood, too - check out their latest bulletin, here.

Ancestry have made a couple of 'techie' announcements: the first concerns their new 'Android App', and the second relates to updates to their 'Image Viewer'.

Off to the Society of Genealogists now, and a reminder of their holiday opening hours on their main page; and they have also began pushing their January lectures.

There's bad news concerning the future of Carmarthenshire County Museum, with various blogs and websites reporting on the source of the news story, here.

And BBC History Magazine has posted another Podcast, here (Exeter's underground tunnels and the perils of water in Tudor times).

ARTICLES

The BBC also has a raft of special 'Festive Features' on offer. And of course there is the usual batch of 'History Headlines' for the week.

MEDIA NEWS

... Oh, and don't forget the next week's worth of TV & radio highlights.

OTHER STUFF

The HistoryToday website has posted its latest prize crossword.

And if you're a follower of Nick's Barratt's new-ish Family History Show website, then you may wish to offer a bit of feedback, here.

My History

Thursday, 22 December 2011

GRO Debate Continues

ARTICLES

Blogger Audrey Collins has joined the 'GRO certificates' debate with an interesting analysis of her own on The Family Recorder blog. It's a funny old situation and it now needs to be carefully looked at by the folk in charge. It seems hard to believe that a system cannot be devised to modestly cash in on the sizeable demands of us family historians.

I see that Claire Santry has begun a series of guest blogs on the 'Certificate of Irish Heritage' website, with an article entitled 'In Search of the Townland'.

A short reminder of our early days of research is provided by the Genes Reunited website with their Top 20 Family History Tips as compiled by their members. Always useful to be reminded of such simple matters every now and again!

NEWS

Due to relocation in early 2012, Ceredigion Archives have revised their opening times for January and February - see here. It does, however, seem that they will specially open up for you if travelling from 'another continent', as they put it!

TheGenealogist has issued an update for it's Diamond subscribers - see here (mainly English stuff).

The National Library of Scotland has issued a fresh 'Events' listing covering January-March.

A listing of 'Black and Asian British History Seminars 2012' has popped up on The Historical Association's website.

MyHeritage have released a new version of their popular (and free) software program, Family Tree Builder - see the lengthy feature on the same here.

Check out some unusual discoveries made in The National Archives' holdings.

And I haven't mentioned the ReadIreland Book Database for a while - so check it out here (then click on 'Read Ireland Book News').

MEDIA NEWS

Here are a few TV/radio programmes which may interest you over the next week or so.

My History

Friday, 9 December 2011

More 1911 Progress at Ancestry

NEWS

Ancestry have announced the availability of more 'searchable records' pertaining to their 1911 Census holdings for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Read all about the latest developments here.

The National Archives have issued a couple of news items in the last day or so. The first refers to the pending release of records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (follow the link in the piece for much more info); the second concerns movement at the highest level of the archive industry, namely, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Archives and History's latest get-together with the sector's leaders.

Denbighshire Archive Service will be closed next week (Mon 12th to Fri 16th) for its annual stocktake - see here (where their Christmas hours are also on display).

A couple of special offers:

  • Your Family History magazine have what looks like a great 'Starter Pack' up for grabs - and their latest issue is also now available;
  • Pen & Sword Books have a '3 for 2' offer on all local & family history publications - see their newsletter, here, and click on the relevant banner.

The Christmas issue of BBC History Magazine is also now available.

MEDIA NEWS

TV and radio for the coming week can be found here.

ARTICLES

And a neat follow-up article to last night's Find My Past TV show on the subject of the Suffragettes is provided by writer and researcher Ros Bott - see here.


Save 10% on Gold or Diamond Subscription to 'The Genealogist'...

The Genealogist - UK census, BMDs and more online

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

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:


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.




Saturday, 3 December 2011

New GOONS Membership Options

NEWS

If membership of the Guild of One-Name Studies is something which may interest you, then check out their new flexible subscription rates across six different currencies. Confused? There's no need to be: there's a nice table for you to examine, here.

Claire Santry brings us news of the CIGO's 2011 Award for Excellence in Genealogy - read all about it here. And whilst we're in Ireland, check out the recent additions to the IGP Archives. Thanks Claire.

You may be able to find something with which to entertain yourself in the BBC's 'Out and About' feature for December.

Pen and Sword's latest discounted books/offers are lined up here.

ARTICLES

There's an article of sorts on the subject of Welsh Wills on the FamilySearch blog.

MEDIA NEWS

Another of those brief interviews concerning the Find My Past TV show can be found here. Interesting, but it's a pity the Q&A sessions weren't a bit longer.

OTHER STUFF

By following the link from the TNA's announcement, here, you can access the organisation's rather sweet 'Image Library'. Have a browse of all the categories, why don't you?

And finally, if you haven't tripped over it already, please have a look at my brand new 'Local & Family History Centre' website. All you need to know about it is easily accessible on the site itself. If you want to get involved then, well, get in touch! It's completely free...

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

British Newspaper Archive Now Live!

NEWS / WEBSITES

The major news story of the day (week/month?) is the unveiling of the British Newspaper Archive website - a joint venture by the British Library and commercial concern BrightSolid. The story is all over the Internet, but why not go straight to the horse's mouth and the British Library's formal announcement. There's very little available without parting with some cash, but you can at least perform a full search of the records for free. The mammoth 10-year project is on-going, of course, so this is just the start - with currently only around 4million of the 40million page-target online. Some useful comment from The Family Recorder blog on the subject can be found here.

The weekly 'Events Listing' continues to dwindle as the winter deepens...

  • Monday 12th & Tuesday 13th December - British Library's 'Royal Manuscripts Conference';
  • Saturday 3rd December - Norwich Book Fair;
  • Postcard Fairs at Haywards Heath (3rd), Northampton (3rd), Birmingham (4th - see top right of page - a major event), Cirencester (7th) - see here. Please check with organisers that fairs are still going ahead before travelling to venues;
  • And what is left of the SoG's talks for the rest of 2011 can be found here (you'll have to be very quick to book).

If the topic of Welsh wills interests you, then you'll want to check out this lengthy news report from The National Library of Wales.

The FFHS has made an announcement regarding their 'Projects' department.

The specialist genealogical search engine Mocavo have launched a 'UK' version of their facility which, obviously, focuses on searching UK web-based resources - further details here.

OTHER STUFF

There's a History crossword for you to tackle, here.

Dead End Hobby: Oddments from the World of Family History - last few days of special pre-publication offer. See here for full details.

The Genealogist - UK census, BMDs and more online

Monday, 14 November 2011

Yet More War Stuff

NEWS

Well, what seems to have been an extraordinarily active Remembrance period has finally passed us by. Record sales of poppies, they tell us, and so much mention of the occasion in the media that many were beginning to air their annoyance at the saturation coverage. I'm almost frightened to say it for fear of criticism, but it has been a bit OTT, hasn't it?

Anyway, if nothing else, the Remembrance frenzy at least seems to send our genealogical service providers into overdrive. In addition to what I've already mentioned over the past few days, take a look at the following...

The Family Tree blog has flagged an online WWI project by the Imperial War Museum entitled Faces of the First World War. See the relevant post here.

The British Library are helping Europeana, publicity-wise, with their WWI project - a scheme that will come to a head, appropriately, in 2014. See the press release, here.

Many of you will have spotted three more Navy Lists popping up on the Ancestry website. Ancestry also has more information on their recent 'Nurses' records' release, here.

GenesReunited has also announced additions to its military records, though it is a little unclear exactly what those new records are. About all I can do is reproduce a section from an email circular they sent me:

The new release includes The National Roll of the Great War 1914 -1918 which has brief biographies of soldiers who survived the Great War and also information on those who supported the War, such as nurses and civilians, who rarely feature in other WW1 Records.
The complete list of the new military records added to www.genesreunited.co.uk is below.
1861 Worldwide Army Index
Paddington Rifles 1860-1912
Royal Fusiliers Collection 1863-1905
Surrey Recruitment Registers 1908-1933
Army Roll of Honour 1939-1945
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour
Distinguished Conduct Medals
National Roll of the Great War
Royal Marine Medal Roll
The 1861 Worldwide Army Index includes soldiers who served across the World in Queen Victoria’s empire states.   The index is also useful for members to identify men missing from the 1861 census.
The newly added military records are available online at www.genesreunited.co.uk and can be viewed on a pay per view basis or Platinum members can choose to add on one or more of the record sets to their package at a low cost.

So make of that what you will.

Elsewhere, there seems to have a been a little burst of genealogical books onto the market. Chris Paton has a short summary of some of them, here (you can also see form his blog that he has one or two books of his own on the go which may interest you). You may also wish to keep an eye out for the following on the bookstands (announcement via FFHS) ...

... a new publication 'Discover Your Ancestors' in association with Ancestry.co.uk will be on sale at WHSmith from November 20th, 2011.

"Content rich and bursting with information about researching your family history, Discover Your Ancestors brings never-before-seen content, ideas and inspiration to people interested in this fascinating topic".

The publication is also available in the USA, Canada and Australia.

Discovery Your Ancestors, 188 pages, perfect bound, £4.99.

You can also order a copy directly from the publishers. Please send a cheque for £5.99 (includes P&P) payable to Discovery Media Group Holdings and send to Discovery Media Group, Discovery House, 63 Dundale Road, Tring, Herts, HP23 5BX, UK. (Please add £3 if you are ordering from abroad.)


And then there's this book - an overseas effort, but sounds really interesting.

Personally, I've not seen any of the books above, so can't vouch for them. But I CAN vouch for two books (well, booklets) that will be coming onto the market soon ... because I've compiled them! I'll be making an announcement about them soon, so keep checking the blog.

Moving swiftly on, I see that Ancestry have updated several of their London record sets (note the UK Prison Hulk records in there, too).

The Irish Genealogy News blog brings us yet more Irish events for November.

A reminder that the London Metropolitan Archives have re-opened today - but with revised hours. See here for full details.


And Meirionnydd Archives should be re-opening this week, too.




Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Tuesday's Genealogy Events Listing

NEWS

Here's your weekly instalment of forthcoming events of interest:


I must apologise for missing the news of the re-opening of Gwent Archives a couple of weeks ago. I knew it was coming, but had a temporary malfunction in my memory bank. Anyway, check out the new set-up here.

A couple of items from the British Library now, beginning with the availability of more than 50,000 university theses. Don't know about you, but I often find some really useful historical stuff in this sort of material, so you may want to check it out. And those of you who regularly use the BL's Document Supply Service may not be aware of this helpful link.

ARTICLES

There's a helpful piece for those of you who are heavy users of the FamilySearch website, here.

The HistoryToday website has a short article about the German perspective on WWI and 'Remembrance'.

And The Telegraph website has a curious little item about the island of Lundy.

WEBSITES

'A History of Parliament' website is new to the Web. Not as boring as it sounds, as it contains articles covering many aspects of social history - even if they do seem to be a bit on the short side. Could be a one to add to your 'favourites'.

Thursday, 3 November 2011

Worcestershire's Grand Plan

NEWS

There are grand plans afoot in Worcestershire. All of the county's major heritage services, it seems (city & university libraries included), are soon to be housed in one major new building called 'The Hive' in the county town of Worcester. I guess this is the way all of us will be going eventually, and it certainly makes sense. The situation is splendidly explained here, and there's even a blog covering developments here.

Find My Past have announced their latest record release: Military Nurses, 1856-1940.

The National Archives have arranged a series of talks next week which celebrate the diversity of their collections. Not sure what I'm on about? See here.

The Irish Genealogy News blog has issued an update on the Ireland Genealogy Project Archives. And whilst we're with Claire's blog I should also like to mention goings-on at Glasnevin Cemetery, near Dublin - see a little news piece here, plus a rather splendidly enthusiastic podcast about gravedigging, etc.!

I know I touched upon this briefly a few days ago, but if you're looking for a catch-up facility for the series of current PRONI lectures, then I can tell you that they've launched their own YouTube channel (this link should take you to the first part of the first lecture).

There's a nice little story, here, about Queen Victoria's bloomers (as well as a few other choice items of Victoriana).

And there's news of the release of the December issue of the WDYTYA? Magazine.

WEBSITES

Just in case you're not aware of them, here are a couple of websites of interest to Welsh historians: Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Wales and the related blog - and I've deliberately led you into the latter on a post about an interesting forthcoming book entitled Inside Welsh Homes.

If you've been taking notice of my blog over the past few weeks then you'll be aware of the splendid free online magazine that is Warfare. Well, the mag now has a dedicated website - see the announcement/newsletter here. Frankly, this looks like a brilliant stopping off post for military buffs - as well as access to the magazine, there's a rolling news blog, too.

And the genealogical search engine, Mocavo, has had another revamp - see here.

MEDIA NEWS

And if you still need more information to get you in the mood, here's a summary about what to expect on tonight's Find My Past TV show.

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

WDYTYA? Live! 2012

NEWS

Thanks to The Wandering Genealogist for pointing out that tickets for next February's Who Do You Think Your Are? Live! fair are about to go on sale. See his post here, and follow the links.

Ancestry are running Remembrance fundraising campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic. The UK/Irish appeal can be accessed via the relevant Facebook page. And by the way, it's Ancestry who are stumping up the donations, not us - so get to it!

Some interesting developments are coming out of Suffolk regarding the future of their libraries/archives service (as well as their archaeology and museums services) - see Chris Paton's two posts on the subject here and here. A sign of things to come for similar services across the whole of the British Isles, perhaps?

Chris also brings us news (via his sources) re. Oldham cemetery records and West Glamorgan electoral registers having popped up on the FamilySearch website - see here.

The November issue of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's eNewsletter can be accessed here.

There's a webinar coming up on the subject of Family Tree Maker 2012 on 9th November (though I should imagine you'll be able to 'catch up' on it afterwards).

And there's a curious little story about the famous Scottish explorer and missionary, David Livingstone, at the National Library of Scotland website.

WEBSITES

The FamilySearch blog has posted a piece guiding us towards a couple of websites for 'Name Nerds' - see here. I must confess that my major surnames of interest weren't even listed (!), but the sites may be of use to some of you.

ARTICLES

Coincidentally, a couple of items have appeared covering roughly the same aspect of family history research, namely, the hobby's contribution to the issue of family health. FindMyPast Ireland has a piece here, and John Reid raises the matter here.

MEDIA NEWS

A little more background information on last week's Find My Past TV show can be found here.

Friday, 28 October 2011

Archive Closures

NEWS

Several of England's archive centres are on the verge of temporary closure. London Metropolitan Archives are due to close today (28th) at 4.45pm and will not re-open until 14th November - see here. Then there's the West Yorkshire Archive Service, where all five offices will be closed from 31st October until 4th November - see here.

Ancestry have completed the first part of their 1911 Census transcriptions - see the announcement here. I also just happened to fall upon more useful comment on this news item via blogger John Reid.

S&N Genealogy have released their Late October Newsletter. Again, there is some news about the 1911 Census to be found therein, plus details of recent releases from TheGenealogist, too.

The Irish Genealogy News blog brings us details of an interesting-looking day of talks at the National Museum of Ireland (military stuff).

London's Gresham College has released its latest newsletter, which basically lists its full November lecture programme. They're free and open to all (some are pre-bookable).

Next, a couple of BBC news articles which caught my eye. Firstly, there's the appearance online (free) of the Royal Society's journal archive; then there's a piece on changes to the rules of succession (and marriage) in the British royal family.

Oh, and there's a new BBC History Magazine Podcast available here (Edward III, and a major naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars).

ARTICLES

The Family Recorder blog has a useful advisory piece on 'real' names.

And the week's 'History Headlines' from the BBC can be found here.

MEDIA NEWS

And you'll be wanting to know what lies ahead on TV & Radio? Well, see here and here.


Thursday, 27 October 2011

Dorset Treat

NEWS

Big news for serious researchers of Dorset history with the announcement from The National Archives of the availability of the Dorset Manorial Documents Register - see here. A FFHS circular doing the rounds also reveals that the Dorset Record Society has produced a guide to the county's manorial records - check out their website for details.

Nearby Cornwall also has some new online resources available for scrutiny, courtesy of the FamilySearch website - see blogger John Reid's post on the topic.

An event for the weekend which has escaped my notice has been flagged by blogger Chris Paton - see his post here for news of the Swansea Local History Book Fair this coming Saturday.

Followers of the 'Ireland Reaching Out' project (IrelandXO) may wish to have a browse of their latest newsletter.

And there's 40-minute's worth of historical chat available via the HistoryToday magazine's latest Podcast.


MEDIA NEWS


Tonight brings us episode 2 of the Find My Past TV show. Remember, it airs on Thursday evenings at 9pm on the Yesterday channel. In this week's episode the relatives of a wireless operator, a passenger and a steward discover how their lives intertwined on board the ill-fated Titanic in 1912 - see the 'taster' here. Apparently the show is repeated daily, so if you miss it, well, it should be easy to catch up with! During each episode, Find My Past experts will also be on hand providing further insights into the episode and tips on researching family history at http://twitter.com/#!/yesterday_TV. (My thanks to Jon Freeman for this info).


WEBSITES


EUscreen is launching a new portal today into its handy-looking collection of videos, stills, texts and audio from the Continent - all free. See here


The blog of the National Library of Wales has moved ... to here - where you will find an interesting piece on the great Welsh historian, John Edward Lloyd.


ARTICLES


The tenth and final part of Jayne Shrimpton's comprehensive series of articles on understanding and interpreting old family photographs has popped up on the FindMyPast site - see here.


OTHER STUFF


In need of a special offer? Well, CW&S Parkinson Genealogical Storage are offering a 15% discount on all of their products for readers of my blog until 31st December 2011! Just enter the discount code "Bi-Gen" on the ordering page of their website at www.cwsparkinson.co.uk. And they've got a new Certificate Binder up for sale, too - or rather they've brought it back by popular demand. Please click on the 'NEW PRODUCTS' link at the top on this page for full details. 



Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Genealogy Events

NEWS

Here's your usual Tuesday round-up of forthcoming events:


Welsh researchers may be interested to learn of the completion of the Powering the World Project - a venture to catalogue and improve access to the nation's business collections. The official announcement is here, and the dedicated blog can be found here.

This looks like a tasty book: Dublin 1911 - just the sort of thing you may wish to put on your Christmas list!

TNA's latest Podcast, English Burial & Cemetery Records Online and On Film, is now available.

And I know I mentioned this a few days ago, but there is a handy listing of all those recent additions to the Ancestry databases to be found here (Warwickshire, Dorset & West Yorkshire stuff).

ARTICLES

Here's the sort of story us genealogists revel in: an amazing coincidence which occurred on a beach in Normandy - see here.



Tuesday, 11 October 2011

'The Genealogist' Developments


NEWS

There have been some interesting and important developments at TheGenealogist/S&N recently. Obviously, most of the stuff concerns subscriber services, but it's worth knowing about all the same. I can do no better than refer you to their October newsletter, where you can read all about it. Look out for their new 'Marriage Finder Tool', some new 'Biographies/Who's Who' records, some Catholic releases - and a few other bits and bobs, too.

The latest Lost Cousins newsletter is also available. This offering is a bumper edition, with absolutely loads of interesting reading. I'm not even going to begin to describe what's in there, so you'll have to have a look for yourself, here!

I occasionally receive programmes of forthcoming events at our record offices and libraries (more, please!), and the latest update which has fallen into my lap is that from Essex Record Office.  Now, ERO will be launching their 'Essex Ancestors' pay-to-browse subscription service on 17th (more on that next week), but in the meantime you might want to check out what's left of their 2011 programme of talks, etc., by having a look here. Their website can be found here.

Talking of events, here's what we have for the next few days...


Also, a reminder that a rather large event is also taking place in Dublin during 21st-23rd October, namely, the Back to Our Past extravaganza. FindMyPast Ireland are gearing up for the same with this announcement.

One more thing. A spot by blogger Chris Paton, being a set of new Facebook services on offer from FamilySearch. Take in Chris's post here, where you will find the links in question.

Monday, 10 October 2011

Free Stuff Update

NEWS

Just a reminder, in case you should need it, that Ancestry are now well into their 15-day run of free access to a selection of their records. Today is extra special, because the records up for grabs are the England & Wales Birth Records - but check out everything on offer here. Remember that all the offers run up until the end of 15th October.

In a similar vein, folk will be aware that much of the England/Wales BMD Indexes are freely available on the excellent FreeBMD site.  Well, blogger John Reid has reported on a recent update to the said resource, here.

Those who indulge in the Discover My Past magazines (Scotland and England) may wish to read Chris Paton's blog entry re. the same here. Great shame to see the disappearance of the Anglo version.

Over to Ireland now, and the latest issue of the Eneclann newsletter (inc. a county focus on Tipperary). Then there's a couple more bits of news from Claire Santry of the Irish Genealogy News blog - namely, the online appearance of a whopping 534,000 Waterford births/baptisms; and the opening of a new exhibition at Linen Hall Library (check out the Library's 'What's On Guide', too, which includes some info about the exhibition).

And Welsh researchers may be interested in this entry from the National Library of Wales blog about their tie-in with the Europeana Libraries Project.

ARTICLES

A worrying story has been posted on the BritishGENES blog (original source Celia Heritage) about institutionalised vandalism at a cemetery in Greenwich, London.

And those of you interested in the educational side of genealogy will want to take in this lengthy post on the subject by The Professional Descendant (aka Kirsty F.Wilkinson).

Tuesday, 4 October 2011

TNA's New Role

NEWS

Just when I thought the news had passed us by with barely a whimper (and a brief mention on this blog yesterday), The National Archives have 'gone big' with the announcement that they are to take over responsibility for archives across England. They've even set up a new website dedicated to the matter, here.

TNA have also put out an appeal for volunteers to help with the digitisation of World War I war diaries - a truly major project involving one of the institution's most popular resources.

Carmarthen Museum is showing an exhibition set up by the county's archives service entitled Treasures at the Archives: Centuries of Records.  Runs until Christmas - but the only decent online mention I could find was here.

Parish Chest have issued their latest newsletter.  The usual friendly chat, followed by new releases from a host of vendors. Look out for a chance to get a free back copy of Family History Monthly.

And the next few days see the following events coming to towns up and down the land:

And a reminder that the Cleveland FHS get-together at Scotch Corner on 8th October has been cancelled.

WEBSITES

Fans of the Europeana website will be interested to see the site's planned new layout.

ARTICLES

The Family Recorder blog has issued the first in a series of articles on the many available BMD search sites. Definitely worth a look.