Category Archives: MEDIA

All types of media used as a resource for family and social historians

WW2 US Veterans on Ancestry

WW2 US Veterans on Ancestry and how to find them

WW2 US Veterans and how to find them on Ancestry. Whether you are searching from Europe or the US, this slide set or slidedeck will provide a swift overview of what you might like to think about. Its published on Slideshare but embedded here for your convenience.

WW2 Veteran Purple Heart Returned Decades after it was lost

WW2 Veteran heart warming story at this poignant time of year both in the UK and in the US , there is never a better time to focus on your veteran’s history and this should certainly motivate us all to take a further look at least in the Military background of members of your family. Here is the related story and to get a good introduction to the history of the Purple Heart

 

Family history is a data rich hobby, collecting, organizing and analyzing the data takes years of hard work which is why using cloud computing has become such a vital part of the family history toolkit. more

How can use ‘cloud computing’ to aid your family history research. Think of the volume of data you have stored about the history of your family. Are you sure your data is backed up and retrievable in the face of a meltdown of your PC? How can you collect research data on your tablet / laptop and have it synced to your PC? more

Are there skeletons in your cupboard with right royal connections? Was a place or person of noble or royal birth? Can you trace your family tree back to the Plantagenet bloodlines? Take a look at some of the ways you can explore this online and at the same time glean a few insight into the origins of the Plantagenet and Angevin dynasties to add a little colour and perspective to your history project. more

Do you want to use the best FREE tools for the job of managing saving curating collecting and organising lots of data and disparate resources? Whatever your history project, the net and some great tools are there to help you. Toss out the overwhelming bookmarks and make way for something completely different…. more

Secret History of our Streets over 125 years BBC iPlayer

Booth’s 17 year study and survey of Poverty in London produced a ground-breaking set of revelations some 120 years later using 6 archetypal streets what has changed, what has not and why is the subject of this new excellent BBC Series. Ideal for anyone with family social and local history interests whether your subject is London and these streets or not. A collaboration between the BBC and OpenLearn from the OU coinciding with the Diamond Jubilee and Olympics some interesting observations, do we ever learn? more

An intriguing afternoon with Lady Carnarvon about The Real Downton Abbey Highclere Castle

Highclere history highlights some intriguing connections after an enjoyable afternoon with Lady Carnarvon. Did the price of grain lead to a significant increase in Anglo-American Marriages amongst the British Aristocracy? Were the aristocratic marriages significant in the development of our society and what impact did they have subsequently through two world wars on the Special Relationship between two Nation-States. Amazing what you can learn from an intriguing lunch-time talk… more

Great Presentation visual tools to communicate complex ideas and narrative in history

See this good example of just using google and images with simple captions to narrate a history project and projection of the future. Here is the challenge can looking at your history through the images of say a dozen objects attract new interest, communicate effectively, make new connections integrate with maps and timelines and with these new and intriguing connections can you gain some new insights? well worth a look tools tipsan technques to adapt for you and your history project. more

The great thing about new technology is not always about the technology itself, it’s also the applications that can be found for it. Facial recognition software, used to identify criminals, is going to be applied to historic portrait paintings. Who are the sitters for paintings such as Vermeer’s ‘Girl with The Pearl Earring’ or Leonardo’s… more

Ancestry Map with Photos Interactive from 1940 US Census

Intrigued about Maps and History, here is a new interactive graphic demo from ancestry linking photos to US 1940 census data, sound like History Pin…take a look. more

How can you build your own personal online art collection and maybe find some new and intriguing resources and information to enjoy and inform the research for your history project!. Automating some legwork sure worked for me, it is a bit like fishing you need to be patient but it yields results and does much more searching than you could do manually, take a look at the Painting I found for my One Name Study. more

Derived data from historical census material can open up a whole new avenue of research for family historians. The US Immigration Explorer gives an interesting perspective on foreign born individuals from 1880 to 2000 more

Research for your project, easily, quickly and share the results, an interesting new tool with Tech Savvy Supporters, well worth a look more

New Ancestry Website

New Ancestry Website

Is the New and major Ancestry upgrade more like colourful building blocks we all treasured as kids, or more like a battleship grey but none less popular Aeroplane kit, less creative and more prescriptive? Take a look a this excellent new interface and find out how together we might take a fresh look at our toolkit and resources for family history spurred on by this latest competitive leap by Ancestry.

The English Accent and Family History

The English Accent and Family History

What English accent did your ancestors speak with back in Elizabethan England? You might be surprised to learn that an American reciting Shakespeare is nearer to the mark than you or I.

Scotland’s Valuation Rolls

Scotland’s Valuation Rolls

The 1925 Valuation Rolls for Scotland have just been launched by Scotland’s People and are free to search.

People of Northern England Database

People of Northern England Database

The People of Northern England (PONE) database is not new but not much heard about either. This database is of the people in the Northern counties of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland from the C13th. It is drawn from two types of material, one financial and one legal. The financial material is drawn from the pipe…

History Pin WWI Hub

Use the History Pin WWI Hub to share your WWI project and let others connect with what you are doing. Your project may be large or small but by sharing it, many more people will be able to make links and connections with you.

Mapping the London Blitz

Mapping the London Blitz

Mapping the London Blitz is a great project which has used the collated and mapped all the census material of all the bombs dropped during the Blitz 1940 – 1941. It is a fascinating resource for family historians with a connection to WWII.

Red Cross POW Records

Red Cross POW Records

The Red Cross POW records are now digitized and available online to search. For many family historians these records complete the story of their ancestors who served in WWI.

New DNA Studies

New DNA Studies

A new study of European DNA has revealed a third population group that make up the DNA of modern Europeans.

WW1 Postcards

WW1 Postcards

WW1 Postcards a rich resource and a visual opportunity, find out how to discover and use the 20K plus postcards on Europeana for the period 1914-1918 and muse over how you might dig-out what ephemera you might have in your loft or research boxes that might help you and others connect and make that next step n researching your project wehther for your family history social, local or special interest project. In the first year of the 100th centenary of WW1 will there ever be such an opportunity to explore and discover what happened and better understand those momentous events?

Operation War Diary

Operation War Diary

Operation War Diary is a crowd sourced project to classify the WWI diaries of the British Army on the Western Front. A project involving the Imperial War Museum and the National Archive.

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