Tuesday, October 30, 2012

British Network Rail

Network Rail has opened an online archive showcasing the heritage of today’s railway infrastructure in England. The archive brings together original documents from the earliest days of railway construction, allowing you to discover 19th Century engineering.
The railway has created large quantities of records, however not all information relating to the history Network Rail. These records have become widely dispersed in archives and museums across the country.
The National Archives, Kew holds the main business records of English and Welsh railway companies nationalise in 1947.
The National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh holds records relating to the development of railways in Scotland and the main business records of Scottish Railway companies nationalised in 1947.The National Railway Museum, York holds various collections relating to the history of civil engineering and signalling. They hold major collections of railway photography, posters and artwork.
Records relating to non-operational railway land and buildings belong to British Railways Board Residuary Ltd. BRB(R)’s policy is to deposit these records at the National Archives, the National Archives of Scotland, or a suitable archive repository. Searching in the
National Register of Archives will tell you where records relating to a particular railway company, location or person are held.
Railway staff records from 1833 to 1963 are available through ancestry.com.
Image: High Level Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne

Labels: , ,

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Think Genelaogy App

ThinkGenealogy has just released an app to help you with researching your family history. Their press release says:
The ThinkGenealogy app is a valuable reference to guide you through the research process and help you do professional quality research — whether you are a professional genealogist or a family historian. The app is currently available for Windows Phone with other devices under consideration.
Features:
1. A map so you won’t get lost while you are doing your genealogy research.
2. Shows how important concepts are related.
3. Includes a concise explanation of the Genealogical Proof Standard.
4. Follows concepts in Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.
5. Glossary of genealogy terms.
6. Helpful links.
7. A video tour of how to use the app.
You can see the features in action on YouTube: http://youtu.be/Rrpqjt9PjEA?hd=1
You can purchase the application at http://www.shazaml.com/thinkgenealogy
Think Genealogy is also seeking feedback for this app. They are looking for ideas to improve their product and invite you to complete a 9 question survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RYDFF53

Labels: ,

Family Tree Software

I am often asked about the best family history software packages. There are many commercial packages, plus some freely available online. Genealogy Today recently published a comparison of 49 software packages to help genealogists evaluate dozens of family tree software solutions at http://familytreesoftware.genealogytoday.com/
However there was one they missed and that is the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) from FamilySearch. This is a free desktop genealogy and family history program for Windows. It allows you to quickly and easily collect, organise and share your family information. It is found at:  https://familysearch.org/products . I have been using this program for some time, but new products are always coming out. FamilySearch has quite a few new programs on their products page, including Ancestral Quest (AQ). I have not used this program as yet, but it is supposed to be a fully-featured family tree program. The windows versions of PAF were created from an earlier version of AQ, so it is an easy transition to using the screens, reports and other functions in AQ if you have been using PAF. The new AQ includes features not found in PAF and FamilySearch considers it an upgrade to PAF.
Happy recording.

Labels: , ,