Monday, March 11, 2024

One less hour in the day! But More Genealogy to Do...

 Well, as many will know, the past months have all been very busy - and no time for blogging or my own genealogy. January was a bit of a blur too, but March seems to be brighter, maybe with the 'time change'. 

Of course, I did attend RootsTech Conference last month, online, and that was fun. I'd surely like to attend in person one more time, so I should start saving my nickels. (No new pennies in Canada, and really not many nickels around every day either.)  

If by any chance you didn't attend RootsTech, go now online. Lots there to learn and do. All you need is to register for free: https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/ 

If you are looking at Scandinavian families, do attend the monthly Scandinavian Genealogy meetings in Burnaby at the Scandinavian Centre, usually the second Sat. of the month (but not in the summer). I am almost always there, and if you aren't able to come in person, we have a Zoom option. And soon enough it will be Midsummer Festival and our genealogy group will be there all weekend helping visitors find their families! https://scancentre.org

Coming up soon in April is the Spring semester at the Community Centred College for the Retired in Burnaby with a new set of Genealogy classes. I volunteer here and have been happily teaching genealogy for quite a while. Every semester is a little different depending on students' interests, experience and needs. The Spring class schedule will be online very soon. Enjoy a wide variety of classes from art to music, to computers, photography and writing, and more in between, including identifying family photos and postcards too.  https://www.cccrburnaby.org 

The Alan Emmott Centre in Burnaby, a heritage building and the home of the Community-Centred College for the Retired.

I'll post soon about more genealogy events coming soon!


































Monday, May 01, 2023

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 13 - The Finish

Today is the end of our Baker's Dozen (13 Days) of Online Resources for Vancouver Genealogy Research.

These are 'tried and true'. But, of course, you will find information on Vancouver city and people all over the Internet. 

Here are just a few more examples. Hope one or them at least brings you new information!

Library and Archives Canada

Many of the LAC databases have info, for e.g. the World War I personnel files, the Immigrants from China, 1885-1949 database, the censuses, the book collection, and the maps. Not everything is digitized, but some are, for e.g.,

"Atlas of the city of Vancouver, 1912", Ricketts, Tascherreau & Co. Ltd., :1 atlas (24 pages): b&w ; 57 x 99 cm. Fire insurance plans, Copyright expired. Library & Archives Canada: R6990-915-0-E, Box number: 2000762000. https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=3932441&q=Vancouver 

Here is the main page for LAC searches currently. Don't forget to 'Search – Theses Canada' and 'Voila' too: https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/search-collections/pages/search-the-collection.aspx 


The Internet Archive! Here's a favourite of mine. And one for fun! (Especially if you are a 'reader'.)

Souvenir of Vancouver, Album, Photographs, no date, Clarke and Stuart: Vancouver, BC, Canada. 

From the collections of Queens University in Toronto,  W.D. Jordan Special Collections and Music Library. Downloadable: https://archive.org/details/souvenirofvancou00unse/page/n19/mode/2up

The official catalogue of the books contained in the Free Library, Vancouver, BC, 1897
(from microfilm). Contributed by Canadiana.org. Digitizing Sponsor: University of Alberta Libraries. (Original in the Vancouver Public Library collections.) 
The catalogue was available for 10 cents then. Expensive. Downloadable: https://archive.org/details/cihm_16313/page/n15/mode/2up  


Don't forget the BC Archives. Many interesting Vancouver items in the Collections, as well as the larger provincial collections for Vancouver, for e.g., early police records, and wills - covered in an earlier post, Day 10.  

For items shown online, search with 'Digital Object Available'. 

A copy of this photograph is in the BC Archives and available online but it was damaged. Here it is shown as published in The Province, showing participants in the Canadian Pharmaceutical Convention held in Vancouver in August 1929 - men, women and children too. 

The BC Archives copy though has more information with it: " 'A.I. Commercial Photo Service Vancouver, B.C.' is embossed into the bottom right corner."  It seems to me. many, if not most, people will be recognizable in the newspaper photo, more than in the BC Archives copy. Best to look at both.

Pharmaceutical Convention August 1929, Vancouver, BC.
Pharmaceutical Convention, August 1929, Vancouver, BC. 16 Aug 1929, Friday,The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Courtesy, Newspapers.comThe BC Archives copy is titled: "Seventeenth Annual Convention of the Canadian Pharmaceutical Assn. at Grouse Mountain Vancouver, B.C. August 13 to 16, 1929", Public Domain, Accession number: 193501-001. https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/seventeenth-annual-convention-of-the-canadian-pharmaceutical-assn-at-grouse-mountain-vancouver-b-c-august-13-to-16-1929

HAPPY SEARCHING 

Saturday, April 29, 2023

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 12

 Nearing the last of our Baker's Dozen of Vancouver Resources but never least -

The City of Vancouver Archives - 90 years young this year - an essential source for Vancouver research.

I like to point people to this page which has guides to research at the Vancouver Archives, including genealogy, house history and more: https://vancouver.ca/your-government/research-at-the-archives.aspx 

The guides for genealogy include Directories (1882 to 1996; also some BC Directories), Mountain View Cemetery records, Voters' lists (1886 to 1992), News clippings, Private-sector records, Photographs and Books. Download the Genealogy Reference Guide for more details: https://vancouver.ca/your-government/genealogy.aspx 

AuthentiCity, the Vancouver Archives blog, has articles on many collections, like the recent one on the historical by-laws of Vancouver, Point Grey and South Vancouver where my own family lived: https://www.vancouverarchives.ca/ 

If you can't visit in person (yet), you should know that the City has been in the forefront of digitization and you will find many items online, including maps and photographs and other records. 


A New Map of Vancouver...with the compliments of Spencer's, Vancouver's largest department Store. Front page, fold-out brochure advertising Spencer's Department Store, Spencer's furs, and David Spencer Ltd. with an oblique aerial map of the Lower Mainland, and a road map of routes into Greater Vancouver, 194-. Courtesy City of Vancouver Archives AM1594-: MAP 293-: LEG1800.069. Public Domain. https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/a-new-map-of-vancouver


And speaking of books (as I often do), don't forget the Vancouver Public Library's Special Collections. The Library's Vancouver History page has a list of recommended books and many links to other resources, including 'This Vancouver', Vancouver stories collected in images, audio clips, and videos: https://www.vpl.ca/guide/vancouver-history