DIANE’S GENEALOGY (AND OTHER THINGS) NEWSLETTER, August 2021

DIANE’S GENEALOGY (AND OTHER THINGS) 

CANADAGENEALOGY NEWSLETTER, #1

Oregon trip with mum, early 1950s.

Just for fun, for the next few months, I’m going to write a SHORT newsletter. 

I did this in the really old days – then it was a new idea and almost all about genealogy.  Now it likely will be mostly genealogy, but other topics may appear – British Columbia museums, books, libraries, wildcats, who knows.

Hope you get an idea or two for yourself or your research, or that something here brings a smile.

GENEALOGY / FAMILY HISTORY

Any Lewis family members? This month in the evenings when I’ve been home (and that’s almost always) I’ve mainly been researching Lewis individuals and families in Scotland around 1851 and earlier. 

I’m an Associate with the brand new Lewis One-Name Study registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies. We’ve divided the research up geographically and many different people are building family trees and useful databases for Lewises worldwide. I just happened to pick Scotland.  If you are interested, do contact us. See our Lewis Study website: https://lewis.one-name.net/  

A silver lining to the Covid 19 closures has brought genealogists worldwide together as never before. Surely we won’t want to go back into our own little pockets – even though we still want to see our local research buddies and friends again. Zoom and the like have been a blessing. Projects and groups I belong to were pretty quick to recognize this. Much of the talk I hear nowadays is about ‘hybrid meetings’ which will benefit local people as well - bridging weather, illness, or transportation issues. 

And just look at the array of free (or very reasonably priced) webinars, seminars and conferences that have been and still are available to us – just dress up and BYO lunch! Be appreciative! 

I’m set for fall - from the Mayflower Conference I attended this weekend, to the Scottish Indexes Conference XII on the 4^th September (my favourite! https://www.scottishindexes.com ), the Oxfordshire FHS On-line Fair (https://www.ofhs.uk ), October 2nd– and more in between. What are you planning to attend? 

I am honing down my next research trip ‘want list’ – if all goes well I’ll be out at the Cloverdale Branch of Surrey Libraries in late September to attend a group and to add substance to my current genealogy research projects.  https://www.surreylibraries.ca/locations/cloverdale-branch

LIBRARIES

Visiting a library used to be weekly, sometimes daily!  To make up, I’ve been using a wider array of libraries online. Many, I’d love to see in person. This month, Deichman Bjørvika in Oslo was named the Public Library of the Year by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).  Norway has innovative libraries – learn more about ½ dozen of them here - https://www.visitnorway.com/things-to-do/art-culture/literature/6-libraries-you-need-to-visit/#msdynttrid=va_1Vq5v71EinjMyXLwN3nalEf_wcWXDPcf70MAbn9Q

Did you know Oslo has a library NOT for adults? And another that’s age and dementia-friendly. There are even services for floating bookworms. 😊

TWITTER

If you are on Twitter, don’t miss out on #Genchat - twice a month, Friday nights 7 pm Pacific time. Topics vary widely; discussions are ‘fast and furious’ (always in a fun way!)  The last two were ‘Gold Fever’ which I facilitated– such interesting stories people had! And last week’s was ‘Treasure Hunting on eBay and Other Sites’.

The Twitter hashtag is #genchat Follow @_genchat and the co-hosts, Christine @geneapleau and Liam @leprchaunrabbit

Check out the fall schedule right here: https://www.genchatgenealogy.com/schedule.html

READING and BOOKCROSSING

Funny how even my reading changed over this extended time at home. I seem to be reading fewer books (still lots) but far more articles, and more poetry too.  Part of that is likely that I’m not getting in all that daily digital reading time on Skytrains and buses!

My favourite lighter non-fiction book for 2020 was Love at First Bite: Tales from a Veterinary Life by Dr. Yair Ben Ziony about his work experiences in Israel and Iran (2018; now on Audible). 

And Bookcrossing – yes! The Lower Mainland Bookcrossing Group had a safely distant meetup in a local park recently. Felt so good to see friends, and of course, there were travelling books. I’ve had several books journaled lately from afar lately too. Hope to be able to really see all the group again soon. https://www.bookcrossing.com/

And speaking of hope, if you’d like a daily reminder of good things happening around the world, do visit or sign up for “Not All News Is Bad” – a daily story to raise your spirits. And you will likely learn something new each morning from the stories. I have! (You may already know the founder as “Ask Leo”, Leo A. Notenboom, the technology answer guy). https://notallnewsisbad.com/

 Here's a genealogy joke for today - 

 A family tree sometimes demonstrates how respectable we can be in spite of our ancestors.

(From my personal historical collection of genealogy quotes. Tuesday, 4^th July 1911, The Winnipeg Tribune, Manitoba, Canada, p. 4.)