Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
Family history research; you don’t know what you may find
Global Genealogy: Canada’s history & genealogy store
Have you checked out the offerings at the new and updated globalgenealogy.ca? The focus is now very much on Canada and Canadian authors. Material is being added each week.
Robert Fitzroy empowered individual sailors to use their own judgment about the weather forecast.
MI5: Official Secrets – podcast
Learn from guests Gill Bennett, a historian specializing in secret intelligence and former Chief Historian at the Foreign Office, and Mark Dunton, Principal Records Specialist at The National Archives.
Federal Websites Quiet
A reminder that during the federal election, most departments are not permitted to make new announcements. Websites remain without updates. We still receive essential services, such as weather reports and forecasts. Let’s look forward to a flood of new developments when the results are confirmed, and hope that means a government wanting to enhance openness, not shut it down.
The Toronto History Lecture
Scheduled for Tuesday, 5 August 2025, for its 14th season, the organizers seek proposals to speak, or speaker recommendations, by 1 May. See the Call for Proposals at:
https://torontofamilyhistory.org/learn/toronto-history-lecture/
Findmypast Weekly Update
Following last week’s initial launch, even more Guernsey records, over 390,000, are added.
Guernsey Poor Relief Records
Explore 89,580 images and transcriptions detailing recipients of poor relief during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Guernsey Passenger Arrivals
Guernsey Identity Registration Forms, 1940-1945
Guernsey Hospital and Asylum Admissions
Guernsey Evacuee Return Requests
Newspaper Archive
This week, 288,627 pages were added to the newspaper collection, featuring eight new titles and updates to 20 existing publications.
New Titles:
- Anti Corn-Law Circular, 1839–1843
- Birmingham Morning News, 1871–1875
- National Reformer, 1861–1891
- Police Chronicle, 1880, 1886, 1892, 1894–1899
- Seaham Weekly News, 1861–1863, 1865–1868, 1873–1880, 1889, 1911–1938
- Tuesday Express, 1903–1910, 1912–1916, 1918–1973
- Widnes & Runcorn Chronicle, 1903, 1911, 1921–1929, 1931–1954
- Wigan Examiner, 1854–1858, 1875, 1890–1896, 1898–1899, 1910
Updated Titles:
- Banffshire Journal, 1960–1969
- Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser, 1892, 1896–1898, 1910
- Batley News, 1986
- Brighouse Echo, 2004
- Hemel Hempstead Gazette, 1983
- Inverness Courier, 1910–1927, 1931
- King and his Navy and Army, 1900–1902
- Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 2004
- Leytonstone Express and Independent, 1913–1918
- Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle, 2004
- Morning Advertiser, 1911–1918
- Prestatyn Weekly, 1934–1937, 1953–1958
- Roscommon Herald, 1897–1899, 1910–1913
- Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, 1860–1869
- Shrewsbury Chronicle, 1779–1780, 1787, 1790–1799, 1801, 1803, 1809–1822, 1827, 1830, 1873–1877, 1911, 1913, 2003
- Time & Tide, 1920–1929, 1940–1942
- Todmorden & District News, 2004
- Waterford News, 1901–1902, 1905–1907, 1909
- Westmeath Guardian and Longford News-Letter, 1922–1924, 1926–1928
- Whitehaven News, 1889–1899, 1911, 1913–1914
Climate Change
I asked ChatGPT to create an image in abstract artwork that visualizes the agony of future generations and the sorrow and regret of present generations who failed to act on warnings about climate change and its impacts. Use a vibrant neon colour palette and visual metaphors, rendered in a textured mixed media style.
