Sunday, February 24, 2013

The World's Most Beautiful Cemeteries

I recently came across a wonderful travel article by Bruce Holmes about 10 of the world's most beautiful cemeteries. When I began reading it, I immediately thought of Waverley Cemetery in Sydney's eastern suburbs, and sure enough it came in at Number 9. Waverley Cemetery has spectacular ocean views from its cliff-top position, which many consider wasted on its 'residents'. The article notes that the funeral scenes from Baz Luhrmann's film The Great Gatsby (to be released in 2013) were shot at Waverley Cemetery.
If you are into family history, then you will be fascinated by these beautiful cemeteries from arounf the world and all the information they contain.

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UK criminal records

FindMy Past is really coming to the fore with the records it is currently releasing online. In one of the latest releases, FindMyPast is working with the National Archives of England and Wales to put 2.5 million criminal records online. They date from 1770 to 1934 and is believed to be the biggest collection of historical crime, prison and punishment records. The documents will include photos, court papers and appeal letters. The documents will also include names and locations of victims and witnesses, so even if the criminal is not your ancestor, the information may still be relevant to your family history.
Please note that this is on the UK database, so if you have your own subscription, make sure you have access to the UK records, or if you use Manly Library’s subscription, accessing the database while in Manly Library, make sure you choose the UK site and not the Australian database.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

British Newspapers

Find My Past has entered an exclusive partnership with the British National Library to provide access to British newspapers. The collection will cover local and regional newspapers in the UK dating from 1700 to 1950. The Statistics covering this project are staggering. There are 65 million plus articles covering three centuries and 8000 new pages are scanned each day. The newspaper coverage will provide additional information on family members not found in official records.  
This collection is accessible in Manly Library through the Find My Past database. Log onto Find My Past through the Manly Library On-Line Databases and choose the Australian & New Zealand edition. Simply click on ‘British Newspapers’ in the top line to begin searching.
Given the rate of additions to this collection, it would be worth checking it every few months if your previous searches proved unsuccessful.

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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Australian colonial images found in UK National Archives

A collection of photographs detailing the growth of the Australian colonies has been found in the London archives. The collection was put together by the British Colonial Office on the orders of the 2nd Earl of Granville as a means of reporting on the progress in the colonial Australia.
The Australia Collection is made up of 45 albums, which includes 2,500 images, photographs and drawings of things considered important at the time. The records have now been digitised and catalogued. The collection is to be released online on Flickr and the UK Archives website.

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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

It appears there is a new website which will fill the gap left by the exit of 'Random Acts of  Genealogical Kindness'. It's Generous Genealogists, which is manned by a community of volunteers who agree to provide free genealogy research and assistance, as an act of kindness, to 'those in need'. They are also 'a vibrant, vital and growing community teaching and helping each other in the best methods and traditions of the genealogists of today, yesterday and hopefully tomorrow'.
Generous Genealogists volunteers agree to donate their time for free and recipients agree to reimburse volunteers for any costs or expenses incurred in fullfilling their request. (e.g. copies, printing fees, postage, parking fees, mileage etc.)
The assitacne, research and networking provided is made availabel freely and without respect or intent of financial gain. All any of hte volunteers will ever request of you is expense reimbursement and a 'Thank You'.
This is a website you should check out to see what it offers and what you can offer to the cause.

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