Discovery eresource from the UK National Archives

Thomas Godstone (or Gadstone) was convicted at Lambeth of stealing 7lbs of pork [P COM 2/290/24]

The latest State Library subscription eresource is Discovery which is on trial until 22 May 2013. Discovery is the new search feature for the vast collections of the UK National Archives at Kew and, while Discovery is freely searchable on the internet, this subscription allows State Library members to download digital content free of charge.
Digital content includes:

• Victorian prisoners’ photograph albums 1872-1873
• Wills – e.g. Pre-1858 wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
• Army records – e.g. British Army nurses’ service records 1914-1918 and British Army war diaries 1914-1922
• Navy records – e.g. Royal Navy ratings’ service records 1853-1923
• Merchant Navy records – e.g. Royal Naval Reserve service records 1860-1955
• Air Force records – e.g. Royal Air Force officers’ service records 1918-1919

These are just some examples of what is available through Discovery. For a more comprehensive list visit Our online records on the National Archives’ website.

The great news is that State Library members can access Discovery from home as well as within the Library. Access Discovery by visiting our eresources page and choosing Featured & On Trial.

If you don’t have a State Library card, please go to eresources at home for SLWA Members. From this page you can follow the link to Join the Library.

If you already have a mylibrarycard, simply log in by entering your full name or surname followed by your barcode on the reverse of your card. Please note that the barcode is case sensitive so you will need to enter the letters as capitals e.g. CSLIBM etc.

If you are having difficulties accessing any of our eresources, come into the Library and see the friendly staff at the Welcome Desk or phone us on 9427 3111.

Family trees now on Ancestry

Marcella Dillon nee Kavanagh (1849-1919) and extended family

Ancestry Library Edition has recently been updated and one of the big changes is that family trees and photographs submitted by the public are now available to view. This is a vast resource but please bear in mind that all sources need to be checked.

• Nearly 40 million trees have been contributed by more than two million Ancestry.com members. These members have indicated that their tree(s) can be viewed by all Ancestry members
• The trees can change over time as users edit, remove, or otherwise modify the data in their trees
• The trees in the Library Edition are read-only. Library patrons cannot edit the existing trees or add new trees
• Information about living people is not shown. There are more than two billion nodes in the Public Member Trees database. A large percentage of the nodes are not for living people
• Each Public Member Tree is owned by the individual who put it on Ancestry.com
• Ancestry.com does not verify that any tree or fact is correct, nor will they correct or edit a tree
• Library patrons will not have the ability to contact the owner of the tree
• Library patrons can submit anonymous comments about any tree
• There is no login for individual users of the Library Edition

 

Family History Seminar with Paul Milner

Paul Milner is a professional genealogist, lecturer and author, specialising in British Isles research for over 30 years. He is an internationally recognised speaker on British Isles research and migration.

Paul will be presenting:

• Buried treasures: what’s in the English parish chest
• Finding your ancestors in Scotland: the big five
• Finding your ancestors in Ireland
• Overcoming the ‘dead end doldrums’

Other presentations:

• Flip-pal mobile scanner demonstration by Rosemary Kopittke
• Findmypast.com.au: gateway to the world collection by Rosemary Kopittke
• Soliciting your ancestors: the records of Stone James and Co. An illustrated talk based on the records of an early firm of solicitors which include many records relating to early WA pioneers by Tricia Fairweather and Leonie Hayes

When: Saturday 23 February, 8.30am – 5.00pm
Where: State Library Theatre (Ground floor)
Cost: Pre-booked by Thursday 21 February – $39.50 full day, $29.50 half day
On the day – $60 full day, $40 half day
Full details and bookings: Unlock the Past or (08) 8263 2055

Please note that entry before the Library opens is via the Francis Street entrance.

Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) talk at City of Vincent

Sketch by surgeon, Alexander Rattray, during a voyage on HMS Salamander to Australia in 1867 [AJCP reel M 711. Original now held at The National Archives, Kew at Adm 101/138]

Have you always wanted to know more about the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) collection?

This wonderful collection includes:

• surgeon’s journals from convict and migrant ships
• applications for free passage, permission to marry, land grants etc.
• government and military appointments
• prison records
• musters
• and much, much more!

The AJCP microfilm collection, available at the State Library, is packed full of interesting information useful for family history and historical research. The original material is held in libraries and archives in the UK so is not easily accessible.

The Family History Subject Specialists from the State Library will be giving a talk on this fantastic resource at Vincent Library and Local History Centre at 2.00pm on Thursday 25 October.

Please phone the City of Vincent Library on (08) 9273 6090 for bookings or more details.

Do you have a convict in your family?

Individual convicts can be named in these volumes – this table even gives wives’ maiden names [Convict system, volume 8, page 65 of section on Western Australia]

The State Library is adding new digital content to its website all the time, which means that you can do some of your family history research from home. For instance, if you have a convict or guard in your family, you might be interested in the Convict system. This eight-volume set, housed in our rare book collection, consists of corrrespondence about the convict establishment from the Comptroller General.

Lots of convicts are named, as you can see from the example here, and there is plenty of background information too. For instance, I was able to find out when the government ceased the practice of recouping passage money from convicts – 1857. There is a notice to this effect on page 29 of the same volume.

The easiest way to access this wonderful resource is to type convict system under Title in our catalogue and select State Library Online from the drop-down box. Once you’ve selected a volume, you can browse through the pages by placing your cursor on the edge of a page and clicking. This makes a very satisfying page-turning noise! If you want to search for names, scroll down and select the Download button. This means you can save a searchable PDF version to your PC. The files are fairly large so you may need to be patient.

Family History Week at the State Library

Unidentified family portrait, example of an ambrotype [069321PD] Do you recognise these people? If so, we’d love to hear from you!

National Family History Week is being celebrated at the State Library from Wednesday 1 August to Friday 3 August. There will be tours, digital scanner training and talks on topics such as getting started with your family history, choosing genealogy software, pensioner guards, research in India, electronic historic newspapers, Ancestry, Findmypast and more. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced family history researcher you are sure to learn something new!
Experienced volunteers from the WA Genealogical Society will also be available each day to help you get started or overcome those brick walls. See our full program and information on how to book at What’s On – National Family History Week.

British Newspaper Archive now at the State Library

The Illustrated Police News is just one of the many newspapers available in this wonderful archive [Illustrated Police News, May 21 1887]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The latest addition to the Library’s family history e-resources is the British Newspaper Archive, which gives you access to millions of pages of digitised historical newspapers held at the British Library. There are newspaper titles from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and you will find news articles, family notices, obituaries, letters, advertisements and illustrations.
Please note that you need to be within the State Library building to access the British Newspaper Archive and you will also need to register i.e. create your own login and password. Once you have done this you will be able to search, view articles, save (bookmark) articles of interest into different folders and add tags or comments. You will also be able to correct the optical character recognition (OCR) text, making articles easier for other people to find, in a similar way to the National Library of Australia’s Trove website.

Lost marriage certificate for Richard Samways and Hannah Gray

Found at the State Library.

An original marriage certificate for Richard Constantine Samways and Hannah Snell Gibbons Gray who married in Perth in 1923.

If this is your certificate it can be claimed from lost property at the Welcome Desk on the Ground floor of the Library.

Sunday Times newspaper (UK) on trial

Front page, Sunday Times, July 4 1915

The State Library currently has the Sunday Times Historical Archive, 1822 – 2006 (UK) available as a trial e-resource. To access it you need to be within the State Library building.

This newspaper archive, covering more than 180 years, complements our other British newspaper e-resources such as the Times Digital Archive and the Illustrated London News. See the full list of Family History e-resources here.
This is a very useful addition to our collection for both social and family history. Feel free to try it out during the trial and please give us your feedback.

World War One soldiers’ in memoriam cards online

To commemorate Anzac Day, the State Library has digitised a collection of Western Australian “In memoriam” cards which were collected by Dr Battye to commemorate Anzac Day.
Each card features a photograph of the deceased soldier together with biographical notes which often detail how the soldier died and where they are buried. Names of other family members are also given. This is a small, but poignant, collection which will be of interest to anyone researching World War One as well as to the relatives of the men featured.
You can browse the complete collection here. Or, to search for an individual, select Subject from the drop-down box and enter surname followed by first name or initial e.g. miller e or miller ernest.
This collection adds to the photographs of WWI soldiers previously digitised through the Adopt a soldier project.