There's a number of both free and ticketed events scheduled at The National Archives this week. On Thursday the 27th March, there's a free talk entitled 'We may lie and die in a land of plenty..'- the Victorian poor in their own words. This talk looks at pauper letters, statements and petitions highlighting the concerns, thoughts and feelings of the poor in their own words.
On the Friday, television broadcaster Jeremy Paxman explores what life was like for the British during the First World War, from politicians to newspapermen, Tommies, factory-workers, nurses, wives and children. Cost for this talk is £5.
For more details and to see the other talks and workshops available, go to The National Archives website.
The National Library of Scotland have announced a couple of workshops for January designed to help people make better use of their services. The workshops offer practical information on family history research and advice on what services they can offer to the family historian.
On the 14th January, the workshop is 'Getting started at NLS' and on the 15th January, the second workshop is 'Discovering family history at NLS'. If you're local to Edinburgh or have a Scottish ancestral connection , it may be worth a visit to find out more! There's more details on the National Library of Scotland website.
This year, The National Archives announced 'Discovery' their new online catalogue, would become the only way to search online through The National Archives record collections. Many family historians were used to the previous 'Documents Online' system in place before Discovery so to help with any queries and to help people find their way around the new online catalogue, The National Archives have announced a webinar on the 20 January 2014.
The webinar takes place from 14.00 to 15.00 hours UK time and will look at how to conduct searches, using keywords, filters and other useful features to help make the most of the 'Discovery' catalogue. It's hosted by Audrey Collins and if you'd like more information, please visit The National Archives website.
The Society of Genealogists 'Evening Skills Course Stage 1' starts up again on the 23rd of January. For those new to family history research or have only a little experience in researching, the course Stage 1 is ideal to build up your knowledge. It is a 10 week course.
The course has proved very successful in the past and the SoG have a team of professional genealogists who will introduce the records and illustrate how they should best be used for the study of family history.
According to the SoG website, "publications, electronic finding aids and the internet will, of course, be included along with all the basic sources needed to start research. Skills courses stages 2 & 3 will follow later this year."
If you'd like more information , please visit the Society of Genealogists website.
The excellent courses available from the Society of Genealogists in London are well worth taking a look at and there's a free course coming up on Wednesday the 23 October.
There's only a few places left for the short course on 'Getting the most from the Society Catalogue'. It's from 10.30 to 11.30 and features guidance from the society's librarian, Tim Lawrence.
Learn how to get the best from the Society 'Library catalogue'. The course is free, but must be pre-booked. There's more information from the Society website at http://www.sog.org.uk/books-courses/events-courses/getting-the-most-from-sogcat/
To contact the Society please contact their events department on 020 7553 3290 or by email at [email protected]
English or Welsh family tree brick walls? Why not get some help?
There's a well received beginners level course, delivered weekly to your computer to study when you want, which offers information packed, step-by-step tutorials. Provided by Nick Thorne (a.k.a. The Nosey Genealogist), it's great for those people new to family history who would like some expert guidance on how to find their way around those potential difficulties and pitfalls that we all stumble across when researching our family history.
Also of great benefit to those who are a bit more advanced, this course quickly takes the student on to look at the many different record sets and archives that you may not have thought to look. Places that your ancestors may be hiding in full sight.
Nick Thorne is a leading family historian (with a number of years of researching family histories behind him) and in the course there are also some contributions from Mark Bayley, Head of Online Content from TheGenealogist.co.uk
Topics covered in the 12 months include:
The census collections; The Parish records; The Parish Chest; Dade Registers; County Record offices; Nonconformist; Religious records; Clandestine marriages; City and Town Directories; Census substitutes; Apprentices; Professionals; Army ancestors; Royal Navy ancestors; RAF forebears; Merchant Navy ancestors; Illegitimacy; The Workhouse; Poor Law; Death records; Burial; Wills; Rural ancestors; Bankrupts; Black sheep; Genetics and DNA; Occupations; Maps and Charts; The National Archives; Family Search Centres; Passports; Manorial records; Old Newspapers and much more!
It costs £9.95 a month but there's currently a special trial offer available. It's well worth checking out at http://familyhistoryresearcher.com/trialoffer/
New online family history training course
Here are some of the things people are saying about this course:
"You communicate in an understandable way! Thank you for the modules that I have had so far." P. Martin."I have enjoyed the time as a FHR member and thank you for your helping hand in trying to solve a problem printing out the guides." T. M. U.K."I would like to thank you for the resources, which I have received weekly, they are very interesting and informative, also a big thank you for thebrilliant customer service." P. Beilby."I am finding the course very useful, even though I have been doing family history for many years." Kind Regards, H. Stephens.
Reading through the latest issue of the monthly journal from the Society of Genealogists, there's a few interesting courses and lectures scheduled in over the next couple of weeks. On the 22 June, Simon Fowler gives a talk on 'Making the Best Use of The National Archives Website' and on the 29th June, AlecTritton talks about 'Nonconformist Ancestors - including 19th Century Sects'.
More details on both these talks and other events can be found on the Society of Genealogists website.
