One Commonwealth, Many Families: the Games & an Exhibition in Glasgow

 

This afternoon I spent some time visiting an exhibition that's in Glasgow for the two weeks of the Commonwealth Games which are being held here. It's aptly titled "One Commonwealth, Many Families" and traces the history of the Commonwealth from its roots in the British Empire until today. Alongside that history is a timeline showing the development of records preservation technology. I always feel like a historical exhibit myself when things like this appear in museums...

...as some of my earliest family history research was carried out on equipment like this! (if you don't know what it is, ask your nan)  I was rather moved to come face to face with the IGI in its original format after all these years.

FamilySearch is the organisation sponsoring this exhibition and it has played a leading role in advocating for the importance of preserving records around the world. The exhibition showed some of the work they have done and are still very much involved in...

For example, one of the exhibitors explained that at the moment there are upwards of 80 FamilySearch workers based in Ukraine, digitally imaging the records there that are presently at risk.

Touchscreen exhibits like this one took me round the world to Commonwealth countries, showing their medal tally and events in the Games that they've historically taken part in (Scotland won two golds in the swimming yesterday - I don't know if that's been added to the total yet!).

I loved the quote from Salman Rushdie in the photo of the map: "To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world."

There were some stories of individuals' lives that illustrated the path that citizens of the Commonwealth have taken to Glasgow, including the story of Sawarnjit Matharu, who grew up in Glasgow and in 1974 became the first South Asian policewoman in Scotland at the age of 17. Watch her telling her story at https://youtu.be/x0szVB4KNPU?si=ekV68yNv8oE1dz98

If you're in Glasgow for the Games (or any other reason), the exhibition is here until 2nd August, at the Sir Jim Macdonald Technology & Innovation Centre on George Street, G1 1RD. It's just a short walk from George Square in the city centre, is open daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is free to visit. Well worth your time!

Finding Your Way

 

The Statistical Accounts of Scotland

There are plenty of online resources to help you locate and become familiar (or more familiar!) with the places where your ancestors were born, lived, worked, and were laid to rest. I've picked just a few examples and you can find plenty more using GENUKI for the UK and Ireland, or Cyndi's List for pretty much everywhere.

The Gazetteer of British Places was created by the Association of British Counties and has a number of useful tools including a post code converter, an interactive map of the UK and Ireland, and a database of more than 300,00 place names. It's a fantastic reference resource and definitely worth adding to your bookmarked websites.

When I'm carrying out research in the United States, my first port of call is often Hometown Locator. Its searchable website lists places in the USA by state, county, and city, providing maps and useful historical information about changes in county boundaries which can dictate the location of the archive most relevant to your search. Although it's aimed at current house hunters, it's proved invaluable to me as I've found my way around my ancestors' American wanderings.

Once you've pinpointed where your family's home was, you'll want to learn more about the area when they lived there. 

For Scottish research, some of the best resources for this are The Statistical Accounts of Scotland 1791-1845. These contain contemporary descriptions of each parish, county by county, with details of the geography, history, trades and industries, agriculture, historic sites, and land-owners. The latter is invaluable for finding out who your ancestors might have worked for, or been tenants of. The accounts only refer to individuals who were influential, wealthy, or otherwise of note, so don't expect to find your family named unless they fall into one of these categories!

An equivalent for England is the Victoria County History. Each county has a home page assigned to it, where you can find links to historical resources such as the Red Books, which may be hosted off-site at the Internet Archive. These include references to sites within the county that are recorded in the Domesday Book.

Victoria History of the County of Surrey

No list of geographical resources would be complete without reference to the National Library of Scotland's excellent online map images. It covers the whole of Great Britain and Ireland and its historical maps go back several centuries. It also hosts town plans, admiralty charts and aerial photography collections.

NLS Maps

And of course it wouldn't be a frugal family history post if any of these resources cost you anything! A word of advice: set yourself a timer or alarm, or you may find that hours have gone by since you started browsing...