Findmypast Ireland provides access to Prison Registers 1790-1924

The subscription database Findmypast Ireland has added a new series of records that offer a great new resource for family historians with an Irish background.

Irish Prison records are a key source for tracing family history because they record such a huge volume of prisoners, their relatives and in many cases their victims. This dataset is compiled from the collection housed in the National Archives of Ireland and covers most surviving records for prisons in the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland. In total there are 2.7 million records, with information on over 3.5 million people. Please note that the database can only be used within the State Library building. To access, simply type Findmypast into our online catalogue or click on the logo above.

Ancestry talk at Toodyay

The State Library’s family history subject specialists Tricia Fairweather and Leonie Hayes will be visiting Toodyay this Wednesday 22nd June to give a seminar on how to search the genealogy database Ancestry.com: what you can find and the best ways to search.
Tricia and Leonie will also show you how to explore the State Library’s website to discover digitised resources including directories, indexes and guides.  They will advise on effective use of the catalogue, how to find free websites to further your family history research, electronic resources available from home, events, workshops and more. Tricia and Leonie are also happy to offer advice on your own research.

For further information, please contact Toodyay Library on 9574 2323.

Images now available for some Dublin parish records

The free website Irish Genealogy   has been adding the digital images to their indexes of some Dublin, Kerry, Cork and Carlow parishes. Records for Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland baptisms, deaths and marriages have been digitised (along with a small number of Presbyterian records from Lucan) .   If you have Dublin ancestors, it is well worth visiting this site as you may find several generations of your forebears documented within these registers.  Be aware also that not all of the records have been made available and the project is not yet complete.

This wonderful project has been supported by the Irish Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport – so if you are inspired to go off and visit the land of your ancestors, let the Irish Minister for Tourism know that your family history research influenced your decision to make the trip.

Helpful Family History Websites

 

Think you’ve checked all the online resources available?

Looking for ways to break down that brick wall?

Want some social history background to fill out your family history research?

Would like to do some research from home but don’t know where to go?

The Family History Subject Specialists at the State Library of Western Australia maintain a collection of bookmarks relating to family history – and they are publicly available via our website.  Just follow the links from our home page:  Quick Links – Family History – Websites, or click on the icon above, to visit our site and start your research. 

Topics are arranged in alphabetical order, the larger the script the more websites are available.  Most of the websites are free.  Take advantage of this great resource to further your research from home.

Australian Women’s Weekly to be Digitised

The National Library of Australia is to digitise the Australian Women’s Weekly from the first issue, 10th June, 1933 to 15th December 1982.  The project is being undertaken in association with the publisher of the Australian Women’s Weekly, Australian Consolidated Press, and with the State Library of New South Wales.
The National Library does have some gaps in its holdings of this magazine so if you have any old copies you might like to check them against the list of missing issues that can be found at: www.nla.gov.au/digicoll/AWWmissingissueslist.html.  Should you have one of the missing issues, the National Library would like to hear from you.  

Once scanned, the Australian Women’s Weekly will be searchable through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.  It will be possible to keyword search in a similar manner to that used at the Australian Newspapers site: newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

Having the first 50 years of this iconic Australian magazine available for social research and just strolling down memory lane will no doubt tempt many of us to spend far too  many hours at our computer screens.

Free one year subscription to LostCousins if you register before January 10th

LostCousins allows you to identify known family on the 1881 census so that you can connect with distant relatives researching the same ancestors.

LostCousins is also offering free access between Christmas Day and January 4th – all members old and new will have subscriber privileges for those 11 days.

Also, any new member who joins between now and January 10th 2010 quoting the offer code PROJECT1881 in the offer codes box at the bottom of the registration form will get a complimentary subscription that lasts until December 31st, 2010. There is only one catch – the new member must have at least one British ancestor who was recorded on the 1881 Census.

Follow the link: http://www.lostcousins.com or click on the image above left to visit the LostCousins site.

The more relatives you enter on your My Ancestors page the more cousins you may find because each is a potential link to a new cousin.

Pilot Digitisation Project for Early Passenger Lists in N.S.W.

State Records New South Wales have commenced a pilot project to digitise early passenger lists. This is part of a plan to digitise the microfilm copies of the Persons on bounty ships, 1838-96;  Persons on bounty ships arriving at Port Phillip, 1839-51 and Germans on bounty ships, 1849-52.  For further information or to browse those passenger lists already online go to: http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/nrs-lists/nrs-5316   If you find your ancestors, don’t forget to check the rest of the list to see who may have been travelling with them.

Limited Free Search Offer From The Irish Times Digital Archive

The digital archive of  The Irish Times, published from 1859, has been made available for free searching until December 14th 2009 as part of the newspaper’s 150th anniversary celebrations.  Make the most of this opportunity to research your Irish ancestry while the offer lasts.  Visit: http://www.irishtimes.com/search/index.html or click on the Republic of Ireland flag to begin your journey into the past. Don’t forget to use the ‘refine by’ option to limit your results.

Congratulations to The Irish Times on its 150th anniversary – and thank you for this great free offer.

New edition of Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning

Want to know how to find a convict ancestor?  Need to access divorce records for Western Australia?  Plan to research the history of Broome?  Where do you begin?   Try our website! 

Steve Howell, Subject Specialist Battye, has drawn on his extensive knowledge and experience of Western Australian historical resources within the State Library and the State Records Office to produce the eagerly awaited revised edition of Dead Reckoning: how to find your way through the genealogical jungle of  Western Australia.    This is an online edition and can be accessed by clicking on the image on the left or via our homepage and following the links at the top of the page: How do I find – Westraliana – Dead Reckoning.  Once you have read the introduction use the headings in the left-hand panel to navigate around the publication.

Dead Reckoning is the most comprehensive guide available for researching Western Australian topics in the State Library and State Records Office. Social and family historians will find it an invaluable tool for planning and undertaking their research.

The Australian Newspaper Service starts its roll-out of the Sydney Morning Herald

  The first 20 years of the Sydney Morning Herald have now been loaded on to the National Library’s digital newspaper archive.  The newspaper appears first under the title Sydney Herald 1831-1842 and then the later Sydney Morning Herald title 1842-1852. 
Issues from 1852 – 1954 will be made available each week from now until early 2010.  Also during early 2010 the Sunday Herald 1949-1953 will become available.  Click on the Australian Newspapers logo to connect to the home page.