Liverpudlians may already be aware of the family history column that Martin Rigby regularly writes for the Liverpool Echo http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk. He also contributes a genealogy blog to the newspaper’s website, which is full of useful advice particularly for the beginner. It’s actually hard to find on the main site, but you can read it at http://genealogy.merseyblogs.co.uk Recent posts include articles about wills, family photographs and, um, gardeners.
Is your bloodline Royal? Is that entrepreneurial spirit an inherited flair? Did your ancestors com…
If like me you spend a lot of time searching the internet, you might like to visit Research Buzz. It is an American site run by a librarian Tara Calishain at http://www.researchbuzz.org with pages of reviews about search engines, databases and the like, plus tips about how to use them and details of new bells and whistles that are constantly being introduced. I should stress that it is not specifically about family history, although she does reasonably often review genealogy sites, and some at least of the resources described elsewhere could be adapted for genealogical purposes. Unfortunately her site is arranged as a blog and is not all that easy to search (perhaps a case of the cobbler’s children). I subscribe to her monthly e-newsletter which has links to many new search engines, websites and services. Irritatingly my email program thinks the e-newsletter is junk, so I have to occasionally retrieve it from the trash. You may find the same happens to you!
Just published by The National Archives, "Philip and Elizabeth 20 November 1947" tells the story of the fairytale wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Greece in the midst of post-war austerity. Using documents at Kew it tells the story of the organisation of the wedding and how the great day unfurled. Potentially this may seem to be a dull topic, but the author Val Horsler, uses some wonderful quotes and a dry wit to bring the day alive. The book costs £7.99 and can be ordered from the bookshop at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/bookshop/details.aspx?titleId=441
Every year The National Archives runs a conference on the online catalogue and ongoing cataloguing projects. This year’s event takes place on 30 November at Kew. Among other topics, Speakers will be talking about the project to index the Navy Board papers, digitising 20th century Cabinet papers and saving searches done on the catalogue. The event is free, but is very popular so it is a good idea to book now. For details visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/events/catalogue-awareness-day.htm
Article features renowned expert who solves family photo mysteries for celebrities and genealogy enthusiasts. (PRWeb Oct 15, 2007)
Post Comment:Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/TG92ZS1aZXRhLVByb2YtVGhpci1UaGlyLVplcm8=
Find out from world experts at The Genetic Conference 2007 the first open UK debate on the facts a…
It can be hard to find links to key genealogical websites in one place. Although very comprehensive, both Genuki http://www.genuki.co.uk and Cyndi’s List http://www.cydnislist.com suffer from having too many sites to wade through. A reader sent me details of an impressive American site http://pricegen.com/english_genealogy.html which has links to over 500 sites by category (Census, migration, heraldry military etc etc). The hyperlinks themselves are colour coded between sites which are free and those which charge – a nice touch. There are also a selection of articles on research problems. The site is actually a spin off from the work of Price and Associations who are professional researchers specialising in English research based in Salt Lake City. If their work is as good as this site, they may be worth hiring!
They include at least one site I hadn’t come across before: the Genealogue http://www.genealogue.com which claims to contain "genealogy news you can’t possibly use". It combines news stories (many from old newspapers), quiz questions and humour. It is an American site, so some of the humor doesn’t translate, but there is enough to amuse and intrigue visitors to allow them waste many minutes, as I have to confess I have just done.
Over the years I have attended a number of very interesting Public History seminars at Ruskin College in Oxford. The 2007-08 programme is as follows: On 24 November Liz Leicester talks about "Memory as historical material" considering the oral history of a strike of Leeds textile workers. On 26 January Alastair Owens, Karen Wehner, Nigel Jeffries and Rupert Featherby present "Living in Victorian London: a material history of everyday life" about a project which is seeking to gain "a deeper understanding of the social complexity and geographical diversity of metropolitan lives in the mid-nineteenth century through a study of the material culture of everyday domestic life" (I’m not sure I could explain this in words of one syllable, but it should offer insights into how our ancestors lived 150 years ago) and on 15 March, Mandy Richards tells the story of the Women’s Freedom League, an almost forgotten suffrage organisation.
Sessions take place at the Elvin Room, Ruskin College, Walton Street Oxford 0X1 2HE and begin promptly at 11am. There’s coffee from 10.30 and seminars finish by lunchtime. To be added to the mailing list or for more information contact edeeley@ruskin.ac.uk.
