Ruth’s Recommendations
Here are my favourite blog posts from the past several weeks.
The Library and Archives Canada Blog had a post called “How to Find Digitized Publications – Part II” They provide a list of Canada-wide and regional resources to help you find digitized publications. They have a link to part one of the post.
The FamilySearch Blog had a post called “New Digital Family History Books – July 2012 Report” which provides a list of new additions, over 700 of them, to the free Family History Books database. They even have a breakdown of books in a PDF document with hyperlinks: British Isles Books; Compiled Genealogy Books; International Books; and United States and Canada Books.
The National Archives announced the release of a Victorian Britain resource. The article is entitled “The National Archives and the V&A launch resource on Victorian Britain” It is to help teach primary school children about the Victorian era but we might find something new as well.
The Genealogy Canada blog had a post called “Talk Notes” about the availability of notes from talks presented to the Alberta Family History Society.
The British GENES blog has a post called “Concrete map of Scotland listed.” This is something I hadn’t heard of before and I find it very interesting. I am glad they decided to list it so that it isn’t lost.
Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter has a post called “TLC Network Reported to Be in Talks to Pick Up “Who Do You Think You Are?” TV Show.” It is not definite yet but this is good news. Keep your fingers crossed a deal happens quickly and “Who Do You Think You Are?” is back on the air very soon.
The Inside History magazine blog has two posts of interest and they are both from the Q&A the magazine held on their Facebook page. They are: “Expert Q&A: Today’s toolkit for the digital historian” and “Expert Q&A: Using Trove for research.” They each provide quick tips, links and a transcript.
Brenda Dougall Merriman’s blog has a post called “No Surnames” where she helps you to work through the issue of lack of surnames in some areas of Europe.
John Reid of the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog as a post called “Canadian genealogy survey and “Canadians and their Past” which provides a brief synopsis of the BIFHSGO September meeting where they had Leighann Neilson from the Carleton University Sprott School of Business presenting some initial results from the Canadian Genealogy Survey that was taken last autumn. I can’t want to hear more about this survey.
This one isn’t from a blog. The Genealogy Society of Ireland posted this link on Facebook and I just had to share it. The Irish Times had an article entitled “Library seeks help to digitise collection.” The National Library of Ireland is hiring a company to digitise their collection of newspapers, parish records and other documents relating to genealogy. They are considering using a pay per view website to share the information. Let’s hope this happens quickly.
The National Archives of England blog has two posts. The first is “260 years of double-dating” which looks at the change over from the Gregorian to the Julian calendar in the 16th century. The other post is called “One Year On: leading the archives sector” which recognizes the first anniversary of when the National Archives took over the leadership roll from the former Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. It looks at all the changes that have taken place.
The ActiveHistory blog had a post called “The Day the Music Died: Remembering Same the Record Man.” This post recognizes the invaluable contribution of Sam Sniderman to the Canadian music industry. I used to go to the Sam the Record Man shop on Yonge Street. I would get the latest CHUM chart and then decide which ones to purchase. It brought back some lovely memories.
Marian’s Roots and Rambles had a post entitled “The Demise of Books?” In this post she looks at the possible demise of books due to the new technology. Schools are turning to eBooks for their textbooks instead of the actual book. This could be a good thing as it would be easier to keep the textbooks up to date. I am not so sure that all books are going that way yet. I love to be able to go to a book on my library shelf when I am doing research. I find it easier to search a hard copy book than an electronic one as the search capabilities are not always reliable in electronic books.
The Irish Genealogy News Blog has several posts relating to the Back to the Past show at the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) in Dublin. They are called “Back To Our Past gets underway in Dublin,” “Day Two at the Back To Our Past show” and “Back To Our Past 2012: Ancestry.” These are great posts and provide some wonderful new information on the release of records relating to Ireland. One day I hope to attend this show.
The National Archives of England blog has a post called “Toy stories: Peter Rabbit and friends.” It looks at the different toy registered designs that the archives hold. I love the picture of the stuffed Peter Rabbit that is first on the list.
The NLI Blog has a post called “YouTube It!” which talks about the National Library of Ireland video guides available on YouTube.
What were your favourite blog posts?
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
Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog
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