Author name: Ruth Blair

Ruth’s Recommendations

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Here are my favourite blog posts from this past week.

Irish Genealogy News had two interesting posts this past week. The first is “Images of Belfast burial records now available.” There are about 360,000 records for Belfast City Cemetery; Dundonald Cemetery; and Roselawn Cemetery.

The second is “Ill-conceived” merger attracts more criticism” which looks at the proposal to merge the National Archives of Ireland and the National Library of Ireland.

The 16th of June is Bloomsday in Dublin. There are celebrations and events relating to James Joyce’s book “Ulysses.” The National Library of Ireland blog has a post called “Joyce Manuscripts Online – Beta but Beautiful.” I haven’t had a chance to go in and look at them yet. It took me three months but I read “Ulysses” and am very glad I did. It was a challenging but wonderful experience.

Anglo-Celtic Connections has a post called “Blame, or credit, the ancestors” which looks at “Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of altered stress responses.” You need to read the post to find out more. It is an interesting theory and I can see instances of it in my own family history.

Since the 1000 days of remembrance of the War of 1812 began this week there is an interesting post from ActiveHistory.ca called “Podcast: “Whose War Was It, Anyway?” A Roundtable Discussion on the War of 1812.” If you are stuck inside with the heat, humidity and smog this might be a way of spending some of your time.

I enjoy the National Archives of England blog and this week it didn’t disappoint. They had a post called “A challenge and a solution” where they look at the photographic projects they are working on in the Collection Care studio. This is what an archives blog needs to be. They don’t only tell you stories regarding their collections; they also walk you through the process of conservancy and sorting their collections. This blog truly helps you understand what an archive does and the importance of supporting all that they do to preserve our history.

Marian’s Roots & Rambles has a post this week that says “Seriously, Not Everything is Online.” Everyone needs to remember that you cannot find everything online. I heard a statistic that said less than 1% of the information genealogists access is actually found online. The internet is a wonderful tool but not the only stop in your research process.

Find My Scottish Ancestors is starting a “(semi) regular” series on unusual words that they have come across during their research. The first post is “Old Scots Words – Afaldly or Afauldly.” I am looking forward to more of these posts.

What were your favourite blog posts this past week?

Let me know in the comments below.

Other bloggers that write their own lists are:

Genea-Musings – Best of the Genea-Blogs

British & Irish Genealogy

©2012 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

Mapping your Australian Ancestors

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Maps are a very important tool when you are doing your family history research. It is important to know the area where your ancestors lived, what the land looked like, the other towns in the area, the ease of migration and other items.

Today you can find many maps digitized and online. Two sites that have some good maps for Australia are the National Library of Australia and a website called Map History/History of Cartography.

The National Library of Australia website says you can find “200,000 post-1900 Australian topographic maps” and “800,000 areal photographs of Australia” as well as street directories, atlases and gazetteers. Their “collection includes over 600,000 maps, from early European charts to current mapping of Australia…”

The maps are not just for Australia you can find maps from around the world. Their decade lists goes from 1000 to 2010. The number of NLA digitized material is 14,698.

The Map History website has maps from around the world and a large collection for Australia. They provide a one line description beside each link that provides information about the maps details.

If you already use maps then these sites could provide you with more resources. If you haven’t used maps before then go in and find a map that relates to the area where your ancestors lived. You might be surprised what you find.

©2012 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

Library and Archives Canada in Crisis

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Library and Archives Canada is in crisis. There have been many reports about the massive cutbacks and the decimation of our National Heritage.

Our National Family Record Keeper is a bureaucrat and not a librarian or archivist. A bureaucrat is the member of the family who tosses all the paper and photographs from a family member’s estate into the garbage because they don’t understand what they have in their possession.

The Harper government has no concern about public opinion. They have been given their mandate with the majority government and now they are going to do what they want. It is fairly typical of any majority government.

There have been cut backs before for Library and Archives Canada but this time there seems to be a blatant disregard for the preservation of our Nation’s history.

In five years we will be celebrating Canada’s sesquicentennial and there is a project called “Canada 150” to help preserve the stories of families, communities, associations, churches and any number of other entities in this country.

Where are people going to do their research for these projects if they do not have access to Library and Archives Canada? The records are not all held locally.

Local archives, museums and libraries are in difficulty because of the cutbacks. Some will probably end up closing their doors. If they do where do their collections end up? Will the collections be able to go to Library and Archives Canada? Will they have the personnel and expertise to deal with the influx of material?

While attending a lecture this weekend the presenter said something rather prophetic. He said that not even our children’s children will see everything digitized and online in their lifetime. We still have a need for libraries, archives, museums and historical societies to preserve and protect our historical data.

If Library and Archives Canada is only to preserve the information relating to the Government of Canada and not for the people of Canada then it needs to be renamed Library and Archives for the Government of Canada.

Please let your voice be heard.

©2012 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

Save Library & Archives Canada

Send a Letter to Help Save Library & Archives Canada

Daniel Caron letter in Canada’s History Magazine

Saving Library and Archives Canada

The Wrecking of Canada’s Library and Archives

Cutbacks At Library And Archives Canada

Saskatchewan Archives cuts

Nanaimo archives in crisis after feds cut grants

Harper’s Assault on the Past

Cuts to Canadian archives suit the Harper Tories in more ways than one

Why Did Harper Cut Canada’s Library and Archives