Advance Notice: Deep Histories, Deepening Connections: The National Archives UK and Ireland’s Lost Records

Here is information about a major free online event on Wednesday 30 June starting at 09:00 EDT. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/deep-histories-deepening-connections-the-uk-and-irelands-lost-records-tickets-159442373431.

On 30 June 1922 the Public Record Office of Ireland (PROI) in Dublin was destroyed in the opening battle of the Irish Civil War. The ‘Record Treasury’ at the PROI, with its six floors of records dating back to the twelfth-century conquest, was entirely ruined.

On the 99th anniversary of this tragic event, The National Archives invites you to a virtual research showcase, run in conjunction with the Beyond 2022: Virtual Record treasury of Ireland project. Deep Histories link archival collections in Great Britain to those lost in 1922. Now Deepening Connections are driving an exciting collaboration to recover and reconstruct in fascinating detail much that was lost, facilitating next generation access to seven centuries’ of Ireland and Britain’s deeply connected histories.

The showcase will focus on the contribution of The National Archives and other UK memory institutions to the virtual reconstruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland. In a series of presentations and discussions it will:

· reveal the surprising stories behind medieval tax finance and the accounting scandals that led to centuries of Irish records being sent to England

· tackle the conservation challenges of providing access to premodern collections;

Schedule

Welcome: 14.00

Dr Jessica Nelson, Head of Collections (Medieval, Early Modern, Legal and Maps and Plans), The National Archives

Session 1: 14.05-15.15.

DEEP HISTORY: The National Archives and Beyond 2022

Opening remarks and introduction to The National Archives’ Irish collections (Jeff James, Chief Executive Officer and Keeper of Archives, The National Archives Dr Paul Dryburgh, Principal Records Specialist (Medieval Records), The National Archives).

Medieval Irish Exchequer Gold Seam: the records and demonstration of the knowledge graph.

An introduction to the records of the medieval Irish exchequer at The National Archives, the scandalous background to their transmission to Westminster in the Middle Ages and an exploration of the impact new technology pioneered by the Beyond 2022 project on access to records of Ireland and Britain’s premodern past. This session will include a demonstration of the project’s Knowledge Graph for Irish History.

(Dr Elizabeth Biggs and Dr Lynn Kilgallon, Beyond 2022 Medieval Gold Seam Research Associates, Trinity College Dublin).

Conservation Conversation

Senior conservators and conversation scientists from the UK and Ireland in discussion about evolving conservation techniques, ongoing challenges and the potential of AI technology to open up new avenues of access to historic collections.

(Dr Lucia Pereira Pardo, Conservation Scientist, The National Archives, and Zoe Reid, Senior Conservator, National Archives Ireland).

Exploring the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland

An online demonstration of the Virtual Reality model of the Public Record Office of Ireland as it was in 1922 and its potential to transform access to Ireland’s past.

Q&A (Chair: Dr Jessica Nelson)

BREAK: 15.15-15.45

Session 2: 15.45-17.00

DEEPENING CONNECTIONS: International archival partnership and archival discovery

Opening remarks Mr Adrian O’Neill, Ambassador of Ireland to the United Kingdom

Archival Discovery

An overview of The National Archives’ role in Archival Discovery in Great Britain and of the processes involved in locating, scoping and ingesting digitised images and records into the Virtual Record Treasury pipeline.

(Dr Neil Johnston, Head of Early Modern Records, The National Archives and Dr Sarah Hendriks, Beyond 2022 Archival Discovery Fellow, The National Archives).

Unlocking the Content and Linking Archives

Launch of the Beyond 2022 English-Language Handwriting Model on Transkribus: a preview of next generation access to records of Ireland and Britain’s past and the potential for linking collections digitally.

(Dr David Brown and Dr Timothy Murtagh, Beyond 2022 Archival Discovery Fellow, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland).

Q&A / Closing Remarks (Chair: Dr Jessica Nelson)

Close: 17.00

This online event will be presented on Zoom. You will be emailed an access link shortly before the event is due to start.

Ancestry Adds Ireland, Jameson Distillery Staff Wage and Employment Books, 1862-1969

The collection has staff details from wage books, time books and insurance books. These are registers of those employed at the original site at which Jameson Irish Whiskey was distilled until 1971.

While Ancestry notes there are over 1 million records the information is scant. Names are often just surname and an initial, and sometimes just “Mr Smith.” You’ll find in which department J Smith worked, how much they were paid, insurance paid, etc. If you can identify your person you may be able to discern the period(s) they were employed.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Dead reckoning: Canada’s national cemetery is bringing truth about residential schools to light.

Something’s rotten in the state of the internet, and archivists are worried

Are advertisers coming for your dreams?

Amsterdam is laying down a model for what tourism should look like after COVID

How a Scottish graveyard in Kolkata revealed the untold stories of colonial women in India

TheGenealogist has added 24 million transcript records from the Census of Scotland 1841-1901. Already available on Ancestry, Findmypast and in part on FreeCEN and MyHeritage, they are transcripts, the images being available exclusively on ScotlandsPeople.

The Society of Genealogists announce the last day they will be open at their Charterhouse Buildings location is Saturday 17 July. The collection will be inaccessible and kept safe pending a move — location in London to be announced.  Digitization work with archive partners will continue.

Is the new feed working for you?
I’ve had one comment about an annoyance with the new feed of the daily update email now it’s switched to MailPoet. Let me know about your experience, positive or negative.

Thanks to this week’s contributors:  Anonymous, Brenda Maitland, Brenda Turner, Celia Lewis, Douglas Wallace, Gail B., Glenn Wright, Unknown.

LAC Co-Lab Updates for June

Here’s a report on progress with Library and Archives Canada’s Co-Lab Challenges since last month.  No challenges report progress and two are less complete this month than last!

While other Co-Lab activity may have happened, the Challenges are a FAILURE this past month.

John Freemont Smith remains 89% complete.

War Diaries of the First World War: No. 2 Construction Battalion is 99% complete, 100% last month.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association remains 94% complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 88% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 98% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities remains 2% complete.

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War remains 99% complete.

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 is 95% complete, 96% last month.

Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner remains 99% complete.

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War, remains 61% complete.

The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters remains 93% complete.

Projects that remain 100% complete are no longer reported here.

Four North Plantagenet Township Cemeteries, Prescott County, Ontario Publication

There’s a reissue of a 51-page publication Four North Plantagenet Township Cemeteries, Prescott County, Ontario originally published in 1998 by Ottawa Branch OGS. 
This new reprint, published by Global Heritage Press, Ottawa, includes all the original content up until the original publication, for:

Glenburn Cemetery [previously Methodist]
George’s Lake United Cemetery [previously Methodist]
St Leon the Great Roman Catholic Cemetery
The Church of the Good Shepherd Anglican Cemetery (abandoned).

Find out more, order the book in hardcopy or as a downloadable pdf, and view the index for each cemetery at http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/ontario/eastern-ontario/resources/otw-9808.htm

Findmypast Augments England & Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935

Over 800,000 additions to a collection of over 6.6 million records, means you’ve got more chances than ever of finding a criminal connection. The new records from series MEPO 6, PCOM 2, and PCOM 4 include mugshots, prison registers, visitors’ details and many victims of crime.

 Prisons featured in these latest additions are:

  • Prison registers and minute books from Pentonville Prison
  • Visitor’s book and journal of proceedings from Gibraltar Prison
  • Register of prisoners from Chatham Prison, Kent
  • Index of working parties from Portsmouth Prison
  • Index of working parties and register of prisoners under separate confinement from Wormwood Scrubs Prison
  • Book of questions from Millbank Prison
  • List of prisoners and chaplain, surgeons, and sheriff visits from Newgate Prison
  • Governor’s journal from Bedford Gaol
  • Visiting committee records from Lindsey Gaol
  • Calendar of trials and quarter sessions from Liverpool Gaol
  • Entry book of prisoners pardons and visiting justices’ records from Reading Gaol
  • Register of debtors and plaintiffs from Lancaster Gaol
  • Gaoler’s journal from Oxford Gaol.

 

Advance Notice: The story of Canada’s famous Hudson’s Bay Company

On Monday 28 June, at 6 pm, American Ancestors (the New England Historic Genealogical Society) is hosting a presentation in the American Inspiration author series.

Just before Canada Day, join us for a spirited evening featuring scholar Stephen Bown and his compelling narrative history of Canada’s famous Hudson’s Bay Company. Follow its rise from a small 1670 trading business backed by Royal Charter through its intersections as a political and economic force working with indigenous people as well as French, and American settlers on both sides of the 49th parallel and beyond. The Company became the single biggest political and economic force in North America, influencing the lives of people from Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific Ocean.

See Bown’s illustrated presentation and insights on this rich and peopled history; and his discussion of Canada, then and now, with fellow countryman Jeff Breithaupt.

Register at https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/4816208575540/WN_cu9cYcs9QD23CP3PJkHPPA

New on Ancestry: Ireland, Casey Collection Indexes, 1545-1960

There are over 1 million index records, 1,037,567 according to the catalogue entry, in this newly available collection.

Taken from a 16-volume series, commonly known as the Casey Collection, it is a compilation of Irish genealogical and historical records from parts of counties Cork and Kerry — Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, and Quaker birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial records transcribed from parish and civil registers.

“You can search the database using the indexed fields or browse by volume. The information contained within this collection includes the following:

Name
Gender
Event type (birth, marriage, death, and burial)
Date range
Denomination
Event barony
Event county
Event parish
Birthdate
Event date
Marital status
Age at time of event
Death district
Father’s name
Mother’s name
Next of kin’s name
Relationship.

More genealogical and historical information can be found by viewing the images.”

Anglo-Celtic Roots: Summer 2021

For those who lead an impoverished life,  not being members of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, here are the contents of the latest Anglo-Celtic Roots issue. The feature articles, in bold, continue with stories of war brides from the previous issue.

From the Editor.
From the President.
Ida Naylor Bancroft Cooke, War Bride (Brenda Turner).
Our Journey to Canada: Nancy (Nan) Archibald, née Chester, 1921–2021 (Nan Archibald and Margaret Amoroso).
A Tale of Three War Brides (Lynne Willoughby).
The Cream of the Crop (John D. Reid).
Membership Report (Ann Burns).

The present very generous practice is to make a pdf of the issue available to all after a year.

Internet Genealogy June/July 2021

This is an especially rich Internet Genealogy issue for those of us who research in England.

The lead article Researching English Criminal Ancestors, by Australian Michelle Dennis, presents the evidence used to reveal the life and fate of her criminal ancestor. The five-page article is brimming with resources and links illustrated by the case of a relative, Mary Ann Stow, born in Greenwich in 1844. Canadians can only salivate at the mention of “the fabulously free on-line historical newspaper and record resource Trove, the National Library of Australia’s collection of online newspapers, gazettes, images, maps, diaries, letters and so much more at www.trove.nla.gov.au.”

Exploring City Directories Online in England and Wales, by Ed Storey covers how to use directories and supplemental material you might use. The focus is the University of Leicester special collection of directories that includes at least one directory from every county in England and Wales.

For the magazine’s US readers there are articles on Florida and North Carolina family history. David A. Norris looks at online sources for locating gravestone inscriptions for ancestors who served with the US military.

For us all my favourite regular contributor, Sue Lisk, looks at online collections of oral histories and why they can be valuable to family historians, and also online sites that help understand how general stores played a role in our ancestors’ lives. Sue includes Canadian content in both articles.

Another regular columnist, Tony Bandy, reviews MobileFamilyTree, available exclusively on iPhone and iPad devices utilizing iOS 11.4 and up.

A second article by David A. Norris, Deciphering Elusive Surnames, looks at coping with troublesome handwriting and smudged letters. That’s a nice complement to Dave Obee’s back page article on Perils of Deciphering Old Handwriting.

Find a snippet of the longer articles and subscribe at https://www.internet-genealogy.com/issue_contents.htm.

Annoyances Fixed

It appears issues with the blog and delivery have been dealt with. Writing that is to tempt fate!

The daily update email should now show as coming from Anglo-Celtic Connections.
It should arrive in your mailbox more reliably around 7 am.
The initial snippet is shorter, 4-5 lines of text.
On the website, the links list to my choice from the top (almost) daily genealogy blogs is restored, plus links to BIFHSGO and OGS Ottawa Branch.

The old blog remains available from a link in the side column for legacy items. With more than 15 years archived it’s a resource I turn to frequently.

Please help make the blog more useful by sending news items using the Contact utility at the top of the blog page.