DIANE’S GENEALOGY (AND OTHER THINGS) NEWSLETTER - Nov/Dec 2021

 

2021 hasn't been all that bad. :-) despite unwelcome surprises and outright emergencies.  I am looking forward to 2022 and beyond. 

Another busy #genealogy month - attended several conferences and a number of webinars (and meetings).

Although most conferences have gone virtual, they all have at least a little bit different take on user experience. Most include chats with speakers and/or attendees and a number had good virtual exhibitors' booths, as did The Really Useful Family History Show, for example, and The Genealogy Show.  And almost all have given attendees extra time to watch (or rewatch) presentations if they didn't catch them when first aired. This is very helpful to those, like myself, who often find themselves tuning in to faraway time zones.

The Genealogy Show's presentations are available 'On Demand' till the 2nd of January 2022;  you can get a ticket now to watch the more than 60 talks available. And you'll be able to contact presenters with questions or comments. (Disclosure - I am a presenter: "Researching Your Family in Western Canada" and "Why Study A Surname?")

I hope that conference and seminar organizers and membership societies will keep these scheduling and other initiatives in mind when we do all get back to our (new) normal. Many have already scheduled 2022 dates so that sounds good.

John Reid of "Anglo-Celtic Connections" has a short survey on 'How’s Your Online Conference Experience?'. Let him know what you think.  I filled mine in already. https://www.anglocel ticconnections.ca/2021/12/06/hows-your-online-conference-experience/

Many more amazing exhibitions and collections online now! Be sure to see "All aboard! Derailed: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada", a multimedia exhibition presented by Myseum of Toronto in collaboration with author/transnational scholar Cecil Foster, author of They Call Me George: The Untold Stories of Black Train Porters.  This was another book I reread recently, a part of our history we should all be aware of. So much to learn - and to try to understand.

Still working away on all my usual projects. Finished a new index which should be available here tomorrow. And reading, of course. Next on my list for the weekend is Professor Amanda Vickery's book Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England. Here's a review from The Guardian by Kathryn Hughes (24 Oct 2009, another favourite author). Or, if you like, hear - "What did eighteenth-century men want?" (Amanda Vickery for Gresham College, 12 Aug 2011, Youtube). 

I did get myself going on a new family project - every day of Advent I'm emailing the 'kids' a very short story or snippet or a few times a photo from our more recent family history. 

Did you see Grammarly's Most Memorable Words and Sayings of 2021? Watch for the winning Business Word of 2021 soon. Some days I do recognize it must be Blursday, but hope most days I'm more positive about it all. If nothing else, the pandemic has brought much of the genealogy and family history world closer - at least if you have good Internet service, power and some time. How about Rethrival for #genealogy and #familyhistory's 2021 word? 

Here I'm thinking of the great interest, and indeed intentions, expressed this fall by a number of genealogists towards a future where we see #GenealogyForAll. If you haven't attended one of the discussion sessions already, or even if you have, Janet Few, President of the Family History Federation, will be speaking at 7pm GMT on 16 December 2021. Free, open to all interested, sponsored by The Guild of One-Name Studies.  

The topic: Why we need to make the genealogy community more inclusive, with particular reference to age. What are the current barriers? What needs to be done? 

The important part of this session will be the discussion afterwards.

Register here, free, open to all interested:  https://one-name.org/next-generation/

See you on Zoom, or elsewhere, soon! 

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.)