National Library of Australia reopens for ticketed access

Good news for readers in Australia - the National Library of Australia (www.nla.gov.au) in Canberra has reopened from today. From the library:

Reopening the Library: step by step, together

We are delighted to be able to reopen the Library at 10am on 3 June 2020 for pre-booked ticketed access to our collections and eResources. The safety of our visitors and staff remains paramount, so a number of precautions will be in place.

Book your session

Booking is now open for three-hour ticketed access to use the Library’s collection material. Access is limited to 20 readers per session, and there are two sessions per day, Monday to Friday.

The session times are:

Morning session: 10 am to 1 pm
Afternoon session: 2 pm to 5 pm

Visitors can book a maximum of one session per day.

For further details visit https://www.nla.gov.au/stories/news/2020/05/29/step-by-step-reopening-together

By the way - it's a great facility!

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

MyHeritage introduces Cross-Language Record Matches

From MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com):

Introducing Cross-Language Record Matches

As many genealogists already know, MyHeritage is the website of choice for international genealogy, particularly in Europe. It is also extremely useful for U.S. genealogists whose ancestors arrived in the U.S. from other countries. This strength comes from the fact that MyHeritage is translated into 42 languages and is the most popular genealogy website in most non-English speaking countries, as well as having millions of international users who built family trees found only on MyHeritage, exclusive global record collections, and unique technology for overcoming language barriers.

We are working constantly to improve the technologies on MyHeritage even further and today, we’re delighted to announce a significant innovation: our Global Name Translation Technology™ has been extended to apply to Record Matches as well!

Individuals researching their heritage often face a language barrier when researching their ancestors who lived in another country. MyHeritage pioneered Global Name Translation Technology™ to help users overcome this barrier, by automatically translating names between languages. This unique capability, originally conceived by MyHeritage’s Founder and CEO, allows users to locate records that mention their ancestors in different and often unexpected languages (as well as in synonyms in each language). Initially, this was available in our search engine, SuperSearch™, and has now been extended to automatic Record Matches as well.

For example, if you search for an ancestor you know as Alexander, the algorithm may uncover a Spanish record where his name is listed as Alejandro (a Spanish version of Alexander), or a Russian record with the name written Александр in Cyrillic characters (the Russian way to write Alexander), or its common Russian nickname Саша (Sasha).

With this new addition, translated Record Matches are now calculated on an ongoing basis, and you’ll receive matches with historical records and family tree profiles in other languages. When you view them, the names will be conveniently spelled out using your own alphabet. You may already have noticed some records from other languages appearing in your matches.

This feature will help you easily locate records that would otherwise have been very difficult for you to find.

This unique technology is only available on MyHeritage and works hand in hand with our huge database of international records.

For further information visit https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/06/introducing-cross-language-record-matches/.

(With thanks to Daniel Horowitz)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

PRONI launches coronavirus census for posterity

This is such a brilliant idea, an Irish census story with (hopefully) a happy ending!

As part of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland's Stay Home Memories project initiative, launched on March 23rd 2020, the archive is now asking people to fill out a census form to describe the experience, for the use of future generations looking back at the coronavirus crisis of 2020. Here is the full project update:

Stay Home Memories project

As the Official Archive for Northern Ireland, PRONI will receive and archive records of the activities of the nine core Civil Service departments and how they responded to the pandemic. It is also important that PRONI is able to collect, preserve and make available the experiences of as many members of our community as possible, and for this we need your help.

PRONI has launched the Stay Home Memories project to gather information on the lives of the people of Northern Ireland and how the pandemic effected everything from work and education to shopping and family and social life.

Record keeping is vital to our understanding of the past, and the present. In recent years PRONI has been able to investigate and understand events around the Decade of Centenaries because of the historical records that were kept and it’s important that we collect information now for researchers of the future.

There are three ways that you can participate in the Stay Home Memories project:

Stay Home Census
Complete the Stay Home Census Form and tell us who you locked down with, how it affected your work, education and living arrangements.

Stay Home Web Archive
PRONI already archives government and local authority websites but so much key information is held on private and community based websites. Help to capture our online heritage by nominating websites containing information on community activity and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stay Home Diaries
Diaries can tell us so much about an individual’s experience of a historical time period – have you been keeping one during the COVID-19 pandemic? If so, would you consider depositing it with PRONI? We can accept both paper and digital diaries, as gifts or loans and you can decide who gets access to it and when.


The Stay Home Census form is accessible at https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/stay-home-census. Once filled in, you are asked to return your completed census to pronievents@communities-ni.gov.uk or by post to STAY HOME MEMORIES – PRONI – 2 Titanic Boulevard, Titanic Quarter, Belfast, BT3 9HQ.

And finally:

"By returning this census you are gifting it as a record to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. All census returns will be archived in the Stay Home Census archive at PRONI, held under reference D4771. In line with data protection legislation, the census returns will be closed to the public to protect personal information relating to living individuals. Any data used publicly will be anonymised."

This a Northern Ireland focussed project, but what a great idea for all of us around the world.

Great work, PRONI.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Registration for 2020 Virtual British Institute now open

From the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History (www.isbgfh.com)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COLORADO

Given the current restrictions on travel as the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, we at ISBGFH have made the decision to change our 2020 British Institute to a three-day Virtual event. This allows people to attend, to attend more than one course and to remain safe while learning from our instructors.

OCTOBER 12-14, 2020
As planned for the in-person event, we will have three instructors, one each day:

• Chris Paton – Irish Research
• Paul Milner – English Research
• Darris Williams – Welsh Research

Each instructor will present 8 hours of online instruction (live) and will be available to answer questions. All sessions will be recorded and access to the recordings will be open until the end of November, 2020.

Attendees can attend one full day, all three days, or a combination of any two days. There is a discount for ISBGFH members.

Registration for the Virtual event is now OPEN

For details: https://www.isbgfh.com/BRITISH-INSTITUTE

Contact: InstituteDirectorISBGFH@gmail.com

COMMENT: Should be fun - I hope to see you there!

(With thanks to Megan Heyl)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

History of Dundee course

If you live in Scotland, there's a free to access course on the history of Dundee available from the University of Dundee:

The History of Dundee 1700-2000

Level 1
History - School of Humanities
Coursework 100%

Description

The aim of this module is to offer an introduction to the history of the city of Dundee. It introduces students to the periodisation of the city’s history. It contracts Dundee with other Scottish cities, primarily Edinburgh and Glasgow. It sets the history of Dundee in its global context. The aim is to enable students to understand specific architectural, social and economic features of the city in historical context. The following will be considered in class:

• Dundee as Renaissance City
• Trade and the growth of the city
• The maritime quarter and the rise of whaling
• The Victorian city and class
• Dundee and Modernism
• “City of Women”: The role of gender in civic development
• From Dundee to Tel Aviv and back again: Dundee in the history of urban planning

Convenor
Mr Andrew McDiarmid

Teaching
Structured learning will take place in a workshop format including lectures, seminar discussion, collaborative thinking and reflective learning.

Assessment
Course Journal (70%)
Source Interpretation (30%)

For further details visit https://www.dundee.ac.uk/cpd-upskilling/modulesandcourses/creativity/

(With thanks to @AlikiVarvogli via Twitter)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Scottish Indexes conference programme for June 8th

The programme for the third free to attend Scottish Indexes Conference is now available online via the company's website at www.scottishindexes.com. These are the talk times for the UK (worldwide time equivalents are listed on the website):

Scottish Indexes Conference Monday 8 June 2020

● All times given in this schedule are British Summer Time (BST).
● Most presentations will be followed by a live Q&A with our expert genealogists.
● This event is free, to donate please go to www.scottishindexes.com
● To access this event please join our Facebook Group ( www.facebook.com/groups/scottishindexes ) or see www.scottishindexes.com

Programme

First session
07:00 ‘Finding your Scottish Ancestors in Australia’ by Kerry Farmer.
08:15 ‘Using Deeds to Trace Your Scottish Family History’ by Graham Maxwell.
09:20 ‘Scottish Burgh and Trade Incorporation Records’ by Chris Paton.
10:30 ‘Referencing for Genealogists: or how to show where you found the data’ by Tahitia McCabe.
11:30 ‘Sounds like Family - Using Audio Recordings for Research’ by Jeni Park.
12:15 Genealogy Q & A hosted by Graham and Emma Maxwell.
13:00 ‘Finding Scottish Origins in U.S. Records’ by B.J. Jamieson.
13:30 ‘Finding Your Scottish Ancestors in Canada’ by Christine Woodcock.

Second Session
15:00 ‘Referencing for Genealogists: or how to show where you found the data’ by Tahitia McCabe.
16:00 ‘Sounds like Family - Using Audio Recordings for Research’ by Jeni Park.
16:40 ‘Using Deeds to Trace Your Scottish Family History’ by Graham Maxwell.
17:45 ‘Scottish Burgh and Trade Incorporation Records’ by Chris Paton.
19:00 Quiz
19:30 ‘Finding Scottish Origins in U.S. Records’ by B.J. Jamieson.
20:00 ‘Finding Your Scottish Ancestors in Canada’ by Christine Woodcock.
21:00 Genealogy Q & A hosted by Graham and Emma Maxwell.
21:45 ‘Finding your Scottish Ancestors in Australia’ by Kerry Farmer.

As noted, I'll be giving a talk on Scottish Burgh and Trade Incorporation Records at 9.20am and again at 5.45pm, and will pop in for other sessions throughout the day, including the two Q&As. There might even be a wee competition prize going...!

This is the most international conference yet, and once again, should be a lot of fun - hope to see you

there!!!

(With thanks to Emma and Graham Maxwell)

Chris


My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Mapping Enlightenment Edinburgh - online talk

A talk happening tomorrow (Tues) by Chris Fleet, curator of the National Library of Scotland's Maps Department:

Mapping Enlightenment Edinburgh
Tue, 2 June 2020
17:00 – 17:30 BST

This fully illustrated talk by Map Curator, Chris Fleet, will look at the most important maps showing the development of Edinburgh between 1750 and 1850. During this time, maps underwent a major transformation in form and content reflecting the new values inherent in the creation of Edinburgh’s New Town. Who made these maps, why, and for whom, and how far we should trust these maps as a true reflection of the reality down on the ground?

When you book this event, your personal information will be held and used by the National Library of Scotland and Zoom for the purposes of allowing you to join the event. For full information about how the Library will hold and use your personal information, see our privacy pages, in particular our event booking privacy notice.

To register visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mapping-enlightenment-edinburgh-tickets-105225145242

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

MyHeritage offers free records access in June

From MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com):

Have you ever wished you had full access to a certain paid-subscription-only historical record collection for just one day?

This June, you just might have your chance!

Each day, we will open one of our paid-subscription-only historical record collections to the public, providing full, free access to the collection. The collections we’ve chosen for this offer are not the collections you can find anywhere — they are rare and valuable, and many are exclusive to MyHeritage. We’ll be posting regular updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram about the collections, so be sure to follow us and stay tuned so you don’t miss anything!

In all, a total of 2,043,456,361 records will be made accessible for free during the month of June. This special offer is in the spirit of MyHeritage’s commitment to providing people with more opportunities and resources to further their genealogical research while at home.

The day-long window for each collection will cover all time zones, so as long as you visit the collection on the correct day, you should be able to search and view the records to your heart’s content.

Sometimes, a single day is enough to get the information you need and make major breakthroughs in your research. We hope you’ll take full advantage of the opportunity.

All the collections are available on www.myheritage.com/research, and you can find the full schedule for the free collections, including direct links, on our blog at https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/05/each-day-of-june-a-different-record-collection-will-be-free.

(With thanks to Daniel Horowitz)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

My next Scottish Research Online course starts on June 8th

The good weather is here and we're a little bit more free physically - but the mind still needs to soar! Well never fear, the next Scottish Research Online course is (very nearly) here, starting on June 8th - here's the blurb!

Scottish Research Online (102)
Tutor: Chris Paton

Scotland was one of the first countries to digitise its major family history records collections for accessibility online, and continues to this day to use such resources to promote a worldwide interest in family history for those with Caledonian connections.

This course, originally created by genealogist Sherry Irvine, and now taught and regularly updated by Scottish based genealogist Chris Paton, describes the major sites and record types that you will encounter in your research, and how to analyse the results. Most importantly it will inspire you to actively pursue your interest in Scottish genealogy and take it to the next level.

Lesson Headings:

• Understanding Scotlands People, FindmyPast, Family Search, Ancestry, and FreeCen
• Essential Maps and Gazetteers
• Civil Registration and Census Research
• Searching in Church of Scotland Registers
• Scottish Wills and Inventories
• Bonus lesson - Take It From Here

Note: it is recommended but not required that students in this course sign up for the basic search option, 30 units/seven days, at ScotlandsPeople (cost is £7.50 for 30 credits)

Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chat - See How the Courses Work.

STUDENTS SAID: "I particularly liked the fact that the course didn't just focus on the well-known BMD resources available, but on a much wider range of websites, including many which give extremely useful background information on the geography and history of the localities where our ancestors lived."

"a very knowledgeable Instructor"

Relevant Countries: Scotland

Course Length: 5 Weeks
Start Date: 08 Jun 2020
Cost: £49.99

For a wee video introduction to the course, see below or visit https://youtu.be/ssdYLlGtoHw

I'll hopefully see you there!

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Further military records added to FindmyPast

Just added to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

British Army Service Records
This essential military collection has been enhanced with over 89,000 records from the Coldstream Guards, spanning from 1800-1947. A Coldstream Guards enlistment register including the soldiers' service numbers, dates and places of birth and occupations.

Royal Engineers Journals 1939-1945
This unique collection is formed from The Royal Engineers Journal, a private newspaper that was converted into a journal and supplement in magazine form. In it, you can discover what life was like for anyone who served with the Royal Engineers during the Second World War.

Royal Air Force, Operations Record Books 1939-1945
We’ve added over 65,000 transcripts that provide a daily record of events within each RAF squadron during the Second World War. These operation record books can be used to create a list of all the flying operations that RAF aircrew completed during the war. They are also an excellent resource for compiling a record of a squadron's operations.

British Royal Air Force, Combat Reports 1939-1945
We've released over 30,000 transcripts for combat reports that were filled out by RAF pilots or air gunners after they had encountered enemy aircraft on operational flights.

For further details and links visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/ww2-british-military-records

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.