LAC Changes “Search” Feature

Have you noticed the changes made between the old landing page of the LAC and the new landing page of the LAC in addition to the new layout?

There is one big change to me, and that is, on the new website of the LAC at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx as opposed to the old website of the LAC at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html they have changed the Search feature!

On the old website one could search the federated search site on the top right hand corner of the website, and your search would be broken down into Library, Archives, and Ancestors. You could choose just one way to search, or you could search all three. You could clearly see which one you wanted to search first. I found it a very efficient way to search the holdings for my clients. Now you just get “results” of your search – the three fields are all mixed together.

I also see where there has been talk about the LAC making plans to digitize newspapers once again.

And when these plans are finalized, will the papers be indexed, as well as digitized? That is my question, and the answer will probably be " No."

Anyone who has had occasion (like myself) to work with the digitized Land Petitions of Upper and Lower Canada, know what a task it is to find anyone within the pages and pages of paper – it involves hours and hours of work on the Intertnet to find the exact record. They are not indexed by the  person's name!
© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Genealogies at FamilySearch

Have you seen the latest improvement to FamilySearch.org?

On Dec 13th, they launched Genealogies which is a “set of lineage linked conclusion trees provided to FamilySearch by users. This data comes from the Ancestral File, the Pedigree Resource File and other user submissions”.

So I put in the name of one of my favorite ancestors, my 4th great grandfather Andrew BARCLAY, and his parents, and where he lived  – but I didn’t find anything new about him, or his grandson by the same name.

But the information submitted is correct according to my genealogy. And it’s so much easier than before, when you had to put in the information in each file in order to get the result.

Our thanks should go to those people who have and still are spending hours of their time checking this type of work to make sure that it is as correct as possible.

So give it a try, and see how it works for you..

To go to FamilySearch, the website is https://familysearch.org/family-trees

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Kandahar - The Fighting Season

There is a special exhibit at the Canadian War Museum consisting of photographs by Louie Palu, courtesy of Kinsman Robinson Galleries, showing the Canadian Forces in the most dangerous districts of Kandahar. Palu captures “their world of firefights and exhausting patrols in an unforgiving landscape”.

Canadian Forces were there from 2005 to 2011. The exhibit will be on display until September 2013.

To see more about other exhibits that the Canadian War Museum has on display, go to www.warmuseum.ca/exhibitions

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved