Now and next

 

Image by Gerd Altmann at Pixabay

Social media is a bit of a Marmite* thing - people tend to either love it or hate it. But like any aspect of technology, it can be used positively or negatively, and if you're aware of how to make it work for you, it can be a great route to learning about new family history resources and events.

In the past week I've come across some familiar and new sources of information that I'll share here. I believe it's important to share what we learn about becoming better genealogists because ultimately, we all benefit from building our skills and our trees!

My first find promotes one of my local groups' meetings, the Renfrewshire Family History Society, on Thursday 19 February at 7.30pm. It will be held in Paisley South Church at 123 Rowan Street and and also on Zoom. It's free to join and details are on the society's website. The guest speaker will be Gillian Brogan, who will give a presentation about Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life. This museum is a great free attraction showing many aspects of Scotland's industrial heritage that you can explore, including trams and a coal mine. 

The next item on my list of recent discoveries is The Canadian Letters & Images Project, a digital archive of photographs and correspondence relating to the Canadian experience of World War I, on both the home and battle fronts. Rather than official government or military documents, this collection is made up of personal letters and photos shared by families. You can search or browse the names listed for any relatives who might be mentioned. This could very well include some of my family who emigrated from Scotland to various parts of Canada including Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, although I've yet to discover any in this particular archive.  Fortunately, the letters have been transcribed alongside the scans of the originals, so reading the handwriting isn't a problem. If you have any material that falls into this category you may consider sharing it with the project.

Last but not least, the annual family history conference RootsTech is coming soon, 5-7 March. For most of us the free online event is what we can sign up for and enjoy, although for others there is an in-person conference in Salt Lake City. This year there's also a series of live webinars in the run-up to the event itself, in the next week or two. There's a huge number of activities to take part in online, including "Relatives at RootsTech", a tool to help you link up with your distant cousins who are also joining the conference. 

There are hundreds of video presentations available from previous RootsTech years, covering many topics relating to family history. You can watch a few of mine at https://tinyurl.com/yk8msuac

*Marmite - a Love and Hate Story