Blogging about British Columbia Genealogy Resources
You may think it’s odd that I’ve chosen ARCHIVES as in British Columbia, Canada, as elsewhere, archives are closed up to combat the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
My thinking is:
1. We’ll come out of this experience and be able to research outside our homes again someday soon. We can get our research plans prepared now.
2. Many archives have on-line databases and experiences; we can use those now,
3. Knowing where we may find genealogy information and evidence later will keep up our optimism!
I’ll be following other genealogy bloggers’ articles as the month rolls on so watch for links below here. Or to see all of the 449 bloggers who've signed up, go to the website http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/ to see the Master List.
MemoryBC: Gateway to British Columbia's Past
A for ARCHIVES
Luckily in BC we have a free one-stop search tool for most local, regional and specialized archives – MemoryBC: Gateway to British Columbia’s Past, developed and hosted by the Archives Association of British Columbia (AABC).
MemoryBC is a database of descriptions of more than 200 archival collections around the province. Although many archives have digitized some documents for use online, most archival collections are not available online. MemoryBC lets you find out what's in repositories in British Columbia.
Use any keyword (surname, topic, place, type of document, name of an organization) or use the many options in the Advanced Search.
Or search or browse only in the criteria shown (archival descriptions, names, subjects, places) or the descriptions of the holdings of one particular repository to see information on collections or individual items related to your family history.
You will find links to the repositories involved. Do click through to see what else may be available. You may find especially now that information is not up to date. Be patient. And do further searches yourself.
Two examples. (I will cover the Archives of British Columbia in a future 'letter'.)
The Leonard G. McCann Archives at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, documenting Canadian marine heritage, is included in MemoryBC. The Vancouver Maritime Museum now has a new library catalogue online as well.
The City of Vancouver Archives has digitized many of its photographs and some document collections. And made most freely available to all.
A link to MemoryBC’s approved subject headings can be helpful. Here’s the link - https://aabc.ca/media/5412/MemoryBC_subject_groups.pdf
Just for example, here are the subject headings for Women:
· History, social, political and cultural situation of women
· Women’s issues
· Individuals
· Clubs, societies, organizations
· Women-only facilities and activities
· Records created by women
The Help Document is really meant for those submitting data, but here are a few tips that may be helpful.
DATES – should reflect when a subject was alive or active. These can be given as:
• 1950 = Still current
• 1950-1990 = Birth/death dates or start/end dates known
• 1950 or 1951-1990 = Start/birth date not certain, but within 2 yrs.
• 1950?-1990 = Probable birth or start date • ca. 1950-1990 = Year of birth or start date uncertain
• ca. 1950-ca.1990 = Both dates uncertain
• b.1950 = Birth date known
• d.1990 = Death date known
• 20th cent. = Both dates unknown, but century known
NAMES – if alternate names (birth names, titles, AKAs or pseudonyms, former company names) are known to the submitting archives, they should be shown. But an archives often may not have that information. Be creative with your name searches.
ONCE YOU FIND AN ENTRY THAT INTERESTS YOU, you may be able to use the Explore options or check the Scope and Content section and any physical and date description of the documents included in the collection to see how relevant they might be to your research project. There could be a link to a finding aid with more detail. Or you may find some or all of a collection has been scanned and is on-line for your immediate use.
Dates of the documents or objects (CDs, etc.) may be listed like these:
• 1950 = Materials are from one year only, 1950.
• 1950-1990 = Materials are from 1950 to 1990 only.
• [ca. 1950]-1990 = Materials have an approx. earliest date of 1950 but end in 1990.
• [195?]-1990 = Materials have/probable earliest date of the 1950s, end in 1990
CITE YOUR SOURCES – You can use the Clipboard option with each collection entry to create a printed or .pdf linked list of sites or collections, or copy the relevant info along with the name and contact information for the repository. Then I enter all on my future research sheet so I’ll be well prepared later when I visit or send a query. This lets me craft my final citations later.
City of Vancouver Archives, Union Steamship Company of British Columbia fonds, Postcards. Item : AM75 P-24 Container: 201-B-06.
“Bathing at Bowen Island, B.C. B8”; [192-?]-[193?]. Photographer’s name not given. https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/union-steamship-company-of-british-columbia-fonds
5 comments:
Genealogy research has come a long way since pre-internet times for sure! By connecting with just one person several years ago, I was able to trace my father's family back to the 1600s in Normandy.
Great start to the challenge!
Great information Diane. I’ll be sure to bookmark that site, thank you.
I love genealogy! It's been one of my great passions for 10 years now. My kids like to tease me about how much I like dead people!
Although I'm not a genealogy blogger per se, I do often blog about genealogy and family history, and I thought doing a genealogy theme was perfect for the challenge this year. Thank you so much for stopping by.
Sounds like a great resource. It's amazing what you can find records on these days. Weekends In Maine
You've prompted me to revisit our Gowans branch in BC, Thanks.
Post a Comment