Census Records by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images |
It’s been a big week for genealogists with English or Welsh
ancestors! The 1921 Census was released on FindMyPast and has been greeted mainly
with rejoicing. There have been some
folk who want to be able to access it free of charge, but then they’d have to go to a library and scroll
through miles of microfilm, since the charges pay for the digitising and indexing
that has been done. And of course, it IS
free to access at three archives/libraries in England and Wales.
There's plenty of online material explaining how to
make the best use of the collection to track down grandparents and
great-great-aunts (and in some cases, parents - you know who you are). Some of these free resources are listed below.
☙ Family Tree magazine posts an
Introductory User Guide (although there is a charge to watch their “Celebratory Census Conference”)
☙ The National Archives hosted an expert panel discussion which you can watch back on their Facebook page
☙ FindMyPast’s YouTube channel has several videos about the background to the census and its digitsation
project plus a short how-to clip.
☙ They also have two Facebook live events coming up this
week, on Wednesday and Thursday (both at 4pm UK time), where you can ask questions about the census and hear about some of the interesting finds made by the conservation team
Some of the most useful suggestions for searching the 1921 returns have come in the shape
of social media posts by family historians sharing their tips. Tune in to Twitter for #AncestryHour, either
in real time any Tuesday at 7pm (UK), or by catching up using the hashtag later
on, and you’re sure to see the census discussed and perhaps catch some ideas
for research strategies.
Scottish Indexes Conference
In other online event news, this Saturday (15th) sees the
latest Scottish Indexes Conference. It will run two showings of each
presentation, morning and afternoon, for participants in different
time zones. The talks will cover topics of
particular interest to researchers with Scots heritage, such as crofting,
Edinburgh and Lanarkshire records. Find
out more about the speakers, and how to watch, via Zoom or Facebook on the Scottish Indexes website.
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