Books, Resources & Other News: My Genealogy Week 23 - 30 Jan 2025

Well time is moving fast. My Easter orchid is in bloom, a bit like having hot cross buns in the shop. A hectic week preparing a confirmation report for my Ph D. Still to do the slides but should be ready for presentation on 7 February. 

Books 

My reading pile of books is huge and I have them on Kindle and Funnell too and an academic platform. Not to mention all the academic articles relevant to my research on women incarcerated in colonial Queensland. Had to go through them for my uni report and so many are also relevant to family history research. 

For example, Tanya Evans' Family history, historical consciousness and citizenship: a new social history. I really like her introduction looking at the origins and practice of family history in Australia, Britain and Canada.

Another one that I haven't read fully yet is Janet Few's Marginalised women: a guide for family historians which is on my Kindle. It is good to compare my Queensland examples with her British case studies. 

Conferences

March is the big month with Roots Tech attending virtually and giving two sessions. The theme this year is Discover and I am sure we will all learn something new.

Then the AFFHO Congress in Brisbane where I will present one session in person. Sadly nothing after that unless I see an interesting virtual/hybrid conference. Just have to cheer myself up with my trip to Sweden to see the family.

New Resources & Magazines

WDYTYA January 2025 features one of my guest posts on a reader's question. Always exciting to do but also often quite hard to resolve. Sometimes our ancestors just don't want to be found.

Ancestry now has the 1921 census for England and Wales. 

The Museums of History Newsletters provide updates about the records held by the State Archives in New South Wales. I get really good tips when they produced their own newsletter. There is a webinar on how to read a parish map if you are not familiar with these. Plus information on what is in education records.

Lost Cousins newsletter is still informative and lots of information on updates and new resources.

Talks

February is a big month with a session with Monash Library family history group on searching techniques and a similar session up at Noosaville mid February. 

Love the graphic Noosaville did to advertise the talk. Details of my talks are on the Events page of my website.

What's Coming Up?

I'm buying a new car and should have it by the end of the month or early February. Exciting times. Love the colour and so much quieter and safer than my Mazda. Although not sure that I will get used to a self steering car and one that can move forward and back without me in it.

Until next time, happy searching, Shauna