January 27th, 2012 
Linda Elliott 
Exciting news for those of you who have ancestors from York. The civic archives in the city of York will later this year start to create an online database of the contents of the archives. At the present time the only index to the archive is a hand written one that dates from 1909. Consequently the archive is under used.
http://www.york.gov.uk/archives/
January 21st, 2012 Linda Elliott 
The Wiener Library has relocated from Devonshire Street to 29 Russell Square, just round the corner from the British museum.
The library was established by Alfred Wiener, a German Jew who fled Germany in 1933. It is said to be the oldest Holocaust Memorial Institution in the world and contains much of interest for those with Jewish ancestry. Many of the resources are available online.
January 19th, 2012 Linda Elliott 
The previous posting about The Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway led me to this website, The Thoroton Society, which is the leading historical & archaeological society for Nottinghamshire. The aims of the society are to promote knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the history, archaeology and antiquities of Nottinghamshire, and to support local research and conservation.
This looks to be a very interesting & informative website which would be very useful to give a background to Nottinghamshire ancestors. It’s going onto my list of sites to spend time browsing at the weekend.
http://www.thorotonsociety.org.uk/
January 19th, 2012 Linda Elliott 
Have you got folk from Nottinghamshire ? My husband has so I was interested in this website. The first page introduction says it all really !!….
The Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway is designed to provide a guide to the heritage resources of the county, and a history of Nottinghamshire featuring the latest research.
The information provided by the Gateway is arranged through a series of research pathways, organised into the following groups: places, people, themes and events. The pathways provide users with a brief overview of a subject area and a list of key resources for further research, arranged by type of source material.
The Gateway is being developed by The Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire, and new pathways are added on a regular basis.
http://www.nottsheritagegateway.org.uk/
December 31st, 2011 Linda Elliott 
I have just come across the Imperial War Museum’s website set up to mark the centenary of World War 1. The website states …..
As part of the Imperial War Museum’s First World War Centenary Programme, photographs from the Museum’s ‘Bond of of Sacrifice’ are being uploaded to the photo-sharing site Flickr in a set called ‘Faces of the First World War’.
On Armistice Day 11.11.11, IWM made 100 previously unseen portraits of those who served in the First World War publically available for the first time on Flickr Commons.
IWM will continue to upload photographs to Flickr Commons every weekday until August 2014, the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War.
The Bond of Sacrifice is an archive of photographs collected by the IWM between 1917 and 1920. All of the photos tell a story. The men shown in them fought – and often died – for Britain and the Commonwealth during the First World War.
This is one of those websites where it would be worthwhile to set aside an evening to listen to the podcasts, read the articles and learn about the various projects that are being undertaken. There is even an interactive online family history course.
http://www.1914.org/centenary/
December 31st, 2011 Linda Elliott 
These days the online catalogues for many of the county archives are very detailed and in some instances give enough information that you don’t require a copy of the original document.
I have just done a search of the Dorset Archives looking for any instances of the surname Lush and came up with quite a few entries that have given me some good leads.
The website also offers an online catalogue of Dorset images, but the link isn’t working. I must make a note and try again after the New Year holidays are over. There are research guides as well for those who are just venturing into genealogy.
December 30th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
This website is a must for those trying to discover the fate of Jewish ancestors who perished during World War 2. There is the Shoah Victims Database, an online photo archive, educational material and much more.
I understand that the website was used in the making of the Stephen Fry WDYTYA episode. Not an easy area of research for genealogists, but one that may help family answer questions that have remained unanswered for several generations.
November 3rd, 2011 Linda Elliott 
Came across this online video about the digitising programme at the British Library. During the video it says that the Newspaper Archive will be going online in the Autumn.
Now I know that some of the newspapers are already online, but this seems to me to be referring to the FindMyPast project. So many exciting projects going on in the Genealogy World that it’s hard to keep up with it all. So much to look at and so little time !
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/europe/2011/10/20111018151013639488.html
November 2nd, 2011 Linda Elliott 
No don’t panic the Worcestershire Record Office isn’t closing permanently, but they are moving premises to a new location.
The office will close from 14th November until July 2012. The history branch will remain open during this time. Postal, email & phone enquires will continue until 10th February 2012, then until 28th May this service will be limited. After 28th May the usual service will resume.
I am sure all the disruption will be worth it in the end, just hope no-one from overseas is planning a trip to the Record Office during this period!!
More details at http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/cms/records/county-hall-branch.aspx
October 24th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
Nottinghamshire has added the catalogue of their Manorial Records onto the Manorial Documents Register. This means you will be able to search online at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/mdr/ to find out what documents have survived and where they are houses. Manorial records aren’t always where you would expect them to be ie at the county record office. For instance the Nottinghamshire records are held at nearly 50 different locations.
More information can be found at the following sites…
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/mdr/
There is an excellent podcast by Liz Hart on Manorial Records for those unfamiliar with these valuable records.http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/manorial-documents-register.htm
Hi, I am Linda Elliott, a genealogist with 30+ years experience in ancestor hunting. I work as a professional family historian and have helped many people with their family trees. My aim with Mad About Genealogy is to share with you, the many website links, information and the latest genealogy news that I come across. I hope you enjoy your visit to my website and will come and visit on a regular basis.
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