Birmingham Archives and Heritage Service

I visited them yesterday Birmingham Central Library and their heritage, genealogy and archives search room has been reorganised - a 56 photo set on Flickr

this building is doomed to be abandoned after 2013

Birmingham Archives and Heritage Service:

"Birmingham Archives and Heritage Service is a fusion of Birmingham City Archives and the former
Local Studies and History service. We now offer improved access to archival material and resources
for researching local and family history on Floor 6 of Birmingham Central Library."



Archives and Local Studies services – major changes: "The new service will be known as the Birmingham Archives and Heritage Service and will be focussed more on providing access to Archives and Local Studies collections and less on providing a general history reference service"

New counter
We have built a new counter for combined service at the far end of floor 6 where the microfilm readers and genealogy desk used to be. The main counter and open access research area of the new service are open the same hours as the Central Library, that is:

• Monday to Friday 9-8
• Saturday 9-5

Secure serving area
A new secure serving area is now located next to the counter for archives and other unique and rare collections.



This is accessible to all for the first time with no need to use the spiral staircase to gain access to Archives. Archive material and some rare and unique material from Local Studies will be served in this area which have slightly extended hours compared to the previous Archives search room. The new hours are given below and will come into operation from February 2008:

• Monday closed
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10-6
• Thursday 10-8
• Saturday 10-5

see my Slideshow

Somerset Military Museum

Somerset Military Museum - Research, Regimental Histories, Reading List and Museum Shop: "The modern County Regiment
An explanation of how the former Yeomanry Regiments of Somerset combined with the Somerset Light Infantry territorials to form an important element of the former County Regiment, The Light Infantry, which on 1st February 2007 amalgamated with three other Regiments to form Today's County Regiment, The Rifles. See also Regular Army and Territorial Army charts covering the period from 1951 until 31st January 2007."

Somerset Military Museum - North Somerset Yeomanry: "The History of the North Somerset Yeomanry started in 1798, when a Cavalry Troop was raised by James A Wickham at Frome and was known as the Frome and Selwood Volunteers. It numbered about 60 strong and as one of a great many units raised that year all over England it had the job of protecting local towns and villages in the event of invasion by the Napoleonic forces. Over the next few years it was sometimes stood down for a few months at a time, but remained in being as a Unit. This Troop of Volunteers was amalgamated with the East Mendip Cavalry in 1804 in order to make up a Unit of Squadron strength and was renamed the Frome and East Mendip Regiment of Volunteer Cavalry.

Further Troops were added, all based in the North and East of the County, and kept constantly under training. In 1817 it was renamed the North Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, there was considerable unrest in the woollen mills and in 1822 the Frome Squadron was called out in aid of the Civil Power.

In 1831 the Bedminster Troop was called out to help quell the Bristol Riots and succeeded in dispersing the crowds. It continued training regularly and took part in large scale exercises with both Regular Troops and other local Regiments of Yeomanry. In 1900 this culminated in the first call to the Yeomanry for service overseas to go to South Africa. The Regiment provided a Company (48th North Somerset) of Mounted Infantry as part of a Battalion of Mounted Infantry known as the 7th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. This Company was involved in several skirmishes before acting as bodyguard to the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Roberts."

Yeomanry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "In the 1790s, the threat of invasion of the Kingdom of Great Britain was high, after the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. In order to improve the country's defences, volunteer regiments were raised in many counties from yeomen. The word 'yeoman' refers to small farmers who owned the land they cultivated, but the officers were drawn from the nobility and many of the men were their tenants. These regiments became known collectively as the Yeomanry. Members of the yeomanry were not obliged to serve overseas without their individual consent.

During the first half of the nineteenth century, Yeomanry Regiments were used extensively in support of the civil authority to quell riots and civil disturbances (including the Peterloo Massacre), but as police forces took over this role, the Yeomanry concentrated on local defence.

During the Second Boer War, companies of Imperial Yeomanry were formed to serve overseas from volunteers from the Yeomanry. In 1901 all yeomanry regiments were redesignated as 'Imperial Yeomanry', and reorganised.

In 1908, the Imperial Yeomanry was merged with the Volunteer Force to form the Territorial Force"

read this Blog

DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog: DearMYRTLE's Family History Hour 10 June 2008 genealogy podcast

and lots more

SERIOUS NFS Concerns

Shoebox Genealogy: NFS Concerns: Part 11 - Old Databases Shut Down:

"Old databases should not be shut down

In our discussion with Gordon Clarke, we asked
him what was to become of the old familysearch.org page.
He matter of factly told us “It’ll be shut down, there will be no use for it because all of the information will be in the New Family Search.”

He couldn’t be more wrong. The current familysearch.org page is much faster and easier to use for genealogists. Trained eyes can sort through the duplications in seconds, where it takes several minutes to determine correct information from the information in NFS. Shutting down the old system would force everyone into the NFS. I understand how this would seem like a good idea. However I know several people who have stated they will “retire” from the profession (joking or not, I don’t know) if NFS is mandated, and the old databases are taken off-line.
If everything in NFS was fixed and you had the genealogical community on-board, that would be one thing, but force-feeding NFS is not the way to clean up the system."

the old system should be frozen and maintained as a legacy

EG
browsing by, or searching within, a batch number for example is not available on the new as far as I can see

searching for the vital records of siblings with mispelled names is far harder on the new

familysearch batch numbers - Google Search
and
IGI batch numbers - Google Search

this is of international concern

Welcome to News.Individual.NET « News.Individual.NET

Welcome to News.Individual.NET « News.Individual.NET: "Access world-wide Usenet for only 10 EUR per year" my choice of usenet NNTP server for about 8 years

Obituary Daily Times

Obituary Daily Times (GEN-OBIT list) Search: "The Obituary Daily Times mailing list is intended mostly (but not only) for Family Historians, researchers and compilers (ex. researching all of ONE FAMILY). The Obituary Daily Times is an index of published obituaries across the world. Regular contributors (volunteers) can request information about particular obituaries between themselves."

Friends Reunited update

Friends Reunited - Welcome to the new site - 19 million members

Welcome to the new Friends Reunited. It’s free to register and free to contact your friends from primary and secondary schools, universities, streets, armed forces and teams and clubs. You can create your own profile to share your photos and life with people you know in real life and map out your life on your timeline, a personal life diary. Friends Reunited helps you find friends from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong or Malaysia. You can also setup school reunions and university reunions using our reunion organizer.

it looks like it is now financed by adverting

Genealogical Society of Ireland

Welcome to the Genealogical Society of Ireland:

Backcopies of Gazette in PDF and IRELAND'S GENEALOGICAL GAZETTE
JUNE 2008 in full

Ireland's Genealogical Gazette
June : Meitheamh 2008 , Volume 3, Issue 6

Special Heritage Status for the 1926 Census Returns?

The 1911 census returns are currently being digitised and made freely available on the internet by the National Archives. Indeed, the public interest in this research facility has been nothing short of phenomenal. The 1901 and 1911 census returns have been open for public research for over forty years. However, census returns taken since independence are closed for 100 years by Section 35 of the Statistics Act, 1993. At the time of the passing of Statistics Bill through Seanad Éireann in 1993, this Society urged Senators to reduce the closure period to between 50 and 70 years.

The importance of census returns to genealogy was recognised by the then Minister of State, Mr. Noel Dempsey, TD, when he introduced the Statistics Bill in Seanad Éireann on June 17th 1993, he said of the census returns "they provide an invaluable source of information for genealogical purposes, and many people call into the archives every day to find out more about their ancestors". In his reply Senator Maurice Manning, who agreed to support the amendment proposed by the Genealogical Society, argued that "at present Cabinet papers are made available after 30 years and they frequently contain sensitive material which can make or break reputations, and provide a fuller picture of how Government operated on our behalf at that time.

The data made available under a 50 or 60 year rule would largely be used by bona fide scholars and researchers". Senator Manning put down an amendment at the Committee Stage reducing the period of closure to 50 years however this amendment was withdrawn at the request of the Minister who would consider a 70 year closure period. Unfortunately the amendment was not pressed and the Bill finally passed all stages on July 7th 1993.

This Society has campaigned ever since for a reversal of this 100 year rule. The period between the 1911 and 1926 was arguably the most turbulent period in modern Irish history. It included World War 1 which cost the lives of around 49,000 Irishmen and the Easter Rising in 1916 followed by the General Election in 1918 and the establishment of the First Dáil in 1919. The declaration of independence by the first Dáil on January 21st 1919, a date peculiarly not officially marked in Ireland, was followed by the War of Independence until a truce was declared in 1921. After difficult negotiations a Treaty with Great Britain was signed in 1921 which established the Irish Free State in 1922, only to be followed by a bitter Civil War which ended in 1924. Four years after its establishment, the new Irish Free State held its first census in 1926 at the height of economic depression and emigration.

Indeed, this 100 year closure is in stark contrast with other western democracies, except the UK. In the US, for example, the census returns for 1930 are available on-line. A Draft Bill was presented by this Society to Senators and it is currently under consideration with a view to publication. Whilst keeping the 100 year rule for all other census returns, the Draft Bill seeks to create an exception for the 1926 census by affording it a "special heritage status" by amending the 1993 Act. The huge interest that such a measure would have amongst our Diaspora would be welcomed by many sectors in the economy, not least, the tourism industry. The release of the 1926 Census Returns would be an enormously significant contribution to our understanding, knowledge and appreciation of the early years of the independence of our State and its people, our ancestors.

Sixteen Year Closure Ends
A Victory for Common Sense

The denial of public access to the microfilms of the parish registers for the dioceses of Cashel & Emly and only very limited access to those of Cloyne and Kerry was widely criticized. Generally viewed as backward and wholly unjustified, the closure for Cashel & Emly lasted sixteen years. The recent announcement by the National Library that these records are now open for research was widely greeted as a victory for common sense. The closure should not have happened in the first place and hopefully lessons have been learned in the interim.

Public access to these microfilms of held by the National Library should be seen as a right and not a concession. The various reported reasons behind these closures remain controversial, although, they have been vigorously challenged by many over the years. This sixteen year closure was totally at variance with this Society's long-held principle of public ownership and right of access to our heritage, including the genealogical heritage contained in parish registers. Any future attempt at the closure of access to these records should be greeted with a firm and swift refusal by the Board of the National Library.

Writing Style Web

Writing Style for Print vs. Web (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox): "

Summary:
Linear vs. non-linear.
Author-driven vs. reader-driven.
Storytelling vs. ruthless pursuit of actionable content.
Anecdotal examples vs. comprehensive data.
Sentences vs. fragments.

We should accept that the Web is too fast-paced for big-picture learning. No problem; we have other media, and each has its strengths.

At the same time, the Web is perfect for narrow, just-in-time learning of information nuggets — so long as the learner already has the conceptual framework in place to make sense of the facts."

RootsWeb: Genealogy Mailing Lists: GenToday

RootsWeb: Genealogy Mailing Lists: GenToday: "A read-only mailing list for the distribution of the online newsletter, Genealogy Today, which contains informative how-to articles on researching ancestors, tips, new books on the market, coming events and queries."

Family Tree Connection BLOG - Genealogy Database Updates

About the Family Tree Connection: "he Family Tree Connection is a growing collection of data indexed from a variety of secondary sources such as high school and college yearbooks, city directories, local club member lists, church records and much, much more. We are excited to offer this unique and valuable resource to family researchers, and hope it will help you will make many 'family tree connections' in the years ahead!

This project is all about capturing details about the lives of your ancestors -- from their early years in school, through college and then in their careers and spare time (i.e. hobbies and group activities). Surprisingly, many clubs and organizations kept close track of their members, even after they moved out of town or passed away. And some schools recorded the progress of their alumni (including marriages).

The Family Tree Connection database resides at Genealogy Today and is integrated into the search engine on that site. To subscribe, following the link below which will take you to the Genealogy Today web site. You will have the option to pay online using a credit card via the PayPal service, or print an order form and mail in payment."

One-Step Webpages

One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse: "Ellis Island
Overview Ellis Island White Form (1892-1924) Ellis Island Gold Form (1892-1924) Ellis Island Manifests (1892-1924) Ellis Island Ship Lists (1892-1924) Ellis Island Additional Details (1892-1924) All NY Passengers (1820-1957) All NY Manifests (1820-1957 All NY Ship Lists (1820-1957) Morton Allan Directory Ship Pictures Ships & Fleets NARA/FHL Roll Numbers
Castle Garden
All NY Passengers (1820-1957) All NY Manifests (1820-1957 All NY Ship Lists (1820-1957) Castle Garden Manifests Castle Garden Ship Lists Castle Garden Browser Castle Garden Passengers Ancestrylibrary/Ancestryinstitute
Other Ports
Baltimore Passengers (1820-1948) Baltimore Manifests (1820-1948)
Baltimore Ship Lists (1820-1948)
Boston Passengers (1820-1943) Boston Manifests (1820-1943)
Boston Ship Lists (1820-1943)
Galveston Passengers (1844-1954)
Galveston Passengers (1893-1948)
Galveston Manifests (1893-1948)
Galveston Ship Lists (1893-1948)
New Orleans Passengers (1820-1945)
New Orleans Manifests (1820-1945)
New Orleans Ship Lists (1820-1945)
Philadelphia Passengers (1800-1945)
Philadelphia Manifests (1800-1945)
Philadelphia Ship Lists (1800-1945)
San Francisco Passengers (1893-1957)
San Francisco Manifests (1893-1957)
San Francisco Ship Lists (1893-1957)
Hamburg Passengers (1850-1934)
Hamburg Manifests (1850-1934)
Canadian Passengers (1895-1956)
Germans to America (1850-1897
) Italians to America (1855-1900)
Russians to America (1834-1897)
Ancestrylibrary/Ancestryinstitute
US Census
Overview 1910-1940 Census ED Finder 1910"

JewishGen: The Home of Jewish Genealogy: "®, Inc. is the primary internet source connecting researchers of Jewish genealogy worldwide.
Its most popular components are the JewishGen Discussion Group, the JewishGen Family Finder (a database of 400,000 surnames and towns), the comprehensive directory of InfoFiles, ShtetLinks for over 200 communities, Yizkor Book translations, and databases such as the JewishGen Communities Database and the All Country Databases.
JewishGen's Family Tree of the Jewish People contains data on nearly four million people.
JewishGen also serves as host to independent organizations such as Jewish Records Indexing - Poland."

Ellis Island Database -- One-Step Search Tools: "We acknowledge the work of Dr. Stephen Morse, the originator of the One-Step Search Tools,"

Böttcher Homepage

Böttcher Homepage: "Henning Böttcher Fislisbach

Homepage für Genealogie

« bis dat qui cito dat »

Je umfangreicher die Seitengröße, desto länger die Übertragungszeit !"

Adressbücher im Internet: "Eine nicht zu unterschätzende Quelle für familienkundliche Forschungen sind Adressbücher. Diese existieren teilweise schon seit langer Zeit (teilweise seit ca.1800, vorher gab es noch anscheinend ungedruckte Vorläufer, wie ‚Einwohnerverzeichnisse’).

Nachfolgend sind Hinweise bezüglich Adressbüchern von meist deutschen beziehungsweise ehemals deutsch(sprachig)en Städten angegeben. Einige Adressbücher liegen digitalisiert vor, worunter hier verstanden wird, daß die Eintragungen im Internet in Textform abgefragt werden können (‚Dig.’).

Andere sind gescannt, das heißt, daß die einzelnen Seiten im Internet als leserliche Graphik gelesen werden können (‚Scan’) oder, daß die Seiten auf eine kaufbare CD gebrannt sind,

während schließlich bei weiteren im Internet nur angegeben wird, daß sie vorhanden sind und wo sie stehen (‚Verz.’)."

Google translation

One should not be underestimated familienkundliche source for research, address books. These exist in part a long time (since partially ca.1800, before there was apparently unprecedented predecessor, such as directories residents').

Following are notices of address books, mostly former German or German (language) en cities. Some address books are digitized, including here understood that the entries on the Internet in text form may be consulted (Dig. ").

Others are scanned, which means that each page on the Internet as a legible graphics can be read (scan) or that the pages on a kaufbare CD,

Finally, while in other only on the Internet indicated that they are available and where they stand (bearing).

Staden Aarhus Stiftsamt arkiv

Aktstykker Vedkommende Staden og Stiftet Aarhus ... - Google Bogsøgning
by Dr J. H. Hübertz

published 1846
Kjöbenhavn (Copenhagen Denmark)

the original copy is in New York Library and the pdf is excellent

Ancestry public relations policy

Ancestry.com appoints Paine as AOR - In Brief Blog - PRWeek Blogs:
"IRVINE, CA: Ancestry.com, part of Provo, UT-based The Generations Network, hired PainePR as its national AOR, after an RFP. Paine plans to use traditional, experiential, and new media strategies to reach out to Ancestry.com’s target baby boomer audience and expand into the Generation X female market. Paine previously announced a partnership for Ancestry.com and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for ongoing digitization of records."

• Agency of Record, a media assignment term used in the Media Industry

PainePR: "The revolution in public relations starts right here - at PainePR.
Browse their site for information on our international capabilities, our in-depth industry experience, our blue chip client roster and our innovative methods of delivering outstanding service and results. Learn more about:"