Trent Valley Archives

“Without archives, there is no history” is the tagline used by the Trent Valley Archives located in Peterborough, Ontario. I like this tagline, because it defines archives in one easy sentence. 

This archives is very active in its programming, has a great site, and a local history library. 

The research library has books on emigration, and ‘everyday life’. If you’re looking to learn about the history, people, sources and events that are linked to the area, this is a great place to start.

The website says that “This group offers many fascinating tours throughout the year, mostly in the summer and fall. From ghost walks, to pub crawls, to tours that focus on specific people or neighbourhoods, their tours are sure to delight any history or culture buff. You can stop by the Peterborough & the Kawarthas Visitor Centre to pick up a list of their upcoming events or go to their website to see which tours are available.”

In September, they had an open house, where they displayed, for example,  their holding of the First World War.

To read about the open house, you can go to http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2014/09/14/about-75-people-attend--trent-valley-archives-open-house

And next weekend, on October the 18th, they will present the Little Lake Twilight Cemetery Tour and Pageant, and the tours and pageant will begin at 6:00 pm. Reservation are required.

And on November the 6th, they will celebrate their 25th year anniversary. They will have a special dinner that night.

So it is clear that they are a very dynamic, engaged archives in the city of Peterborough, and if you have ancestors who are from there, this is one place that you should check for background information.

Their website is at http://trentvalleyarchives.com/

Their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/trentvalleyarchives

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, it must be the fall season! The leave are finally turning colour, and that lets us know that fall is here. It is Thanksgiving weekend is Canada, so it’s time to take a break away from genealogy, and rest and relax with our families.

In the meantime, Ancestry.ca has just notified me that they are offering 40% off their Canada Deluxe Memberships for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Go to Ancestry.ca if you wish to take advantage of this offer!

Canada GenWeb is ten years old!

This completely skipped my mind – the Canada GenWeb was 10 years old October the 1st. Congratulations to Sherri Pettit and to all of those who contributed and still contribute to the website today!

Sherri says “Initially our plan was to offer a cemetery directory and list of available cemetery resources for genealogists. It quickly became a repository for photos, indexes and transcripts. 

Over the past ten years hundreds of volunteers have offered their time, expertise, and passion to help this project grow. Because of their efforts CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project now offers a directory of 20,000 known Canadian cemeteries, over 1,000,000 indexed names, and more than 600,000 photographs.” 

I am at the site nearly every day to look at their maps, their cemeteries, their pioneer's profiles and I have never been disappointed. It’s one of my “go-to” sites when I am doing research. 

The website is http://canadagenweb.org/index.html

FamilySearch is looking for more indexers

I watched and listened to the Legacy Family Tree Webinar on Tuesday with Devin Ashby, Community Advocate for FamilySearch as he gave the talk Welcome to FamilySearch Indexing! The news is they are still looking for indexers. The webinar is free for the next seven days, so be sure to catch it at http://www.familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=213

You can go to https://familysearch.org/indexing/ to register to be an indexer, and there are projects that you can choose from at https://familysearch.org/indexing/projects/country/ca 

Meanwhile, British Columbia Death Registrations (1871-1986) at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1538285 , and British Columbia Marriage Registration (1859-1932) at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1307718 have been updated.

FREE Family History Fair

There is going to be a FREE Family History Fair in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Family History Centre on Saturday, 15 November 2014 from 9:30 am until 4 pm. 

Learn how to search for your ancestors and build your family tree. It will be a day of fun, music, discussions and great teachers. Presenters include Dr Allen Marble, the president of Genealogy Association of Nova Scotia (GANS) and other well known and experienced genealogists.

To see the schedule for the day, click on the following link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx5QmHTtDVKmWXNDNGljdzlzRVU/edit?usp=sharing  

Registration is totally free. Everybody will be provide with a free lunch. To sign up, click on the link http://www.lds.org/familyhistoryfair  

The location is Dartmouth Family History Centre, 44 Cumberland Drive in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. Google Maps gets you to the door: https://goo.gl/maps/FQ0MD 

For more information contact Doug Williams at ddoug.williams10@gmail.com 

LiterASIAN 2014: A Festival of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian Writing

The LiterASIAN 2014: A Festival of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian Writing begins October 9 to 12 at the Richmond Library and Cultural Centre, British Columbia, and it will feature the following authors

• Fred Wah

• Louise Bak

• Tom Cho

• Corinna Chong

• Doretta Lau

• Edwin Lee

• Serena Leung

• Kim Fu

• Souvankham Thammavongsa

• Yasuko Nguyen Thanh

• Elsie Sze 

• and Lily Chow. 

There will be author readings, book launches and book signings, a special poetry reading evening with open mike, book fair, outreach event at Richmond Library and Cultural Centre, British Columbia and our second annual celebration dinner fundraiser at the Pink Pearl Restaurant.

LiterASIAN: a Festival of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian Writing is a community-building initiative by the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop and Ricepaper Magazine. 

To see the full program, go to http://www.asiancanadianwriters.ca/

Newly Reopened Museum and Archives

The newly renovated Lennox & Addington County Museum and Archives located in Napanee, near Kingston, Ontario has just reopened, and I hear that it is just wonderful. 

The expansion consists of a new addition featuring a large research room, archival storage, and display areas.

The museum and archives is a research library and extensive local archives documenting county history, as well as genealogical files for those who want to find their personal connection to the past. 

For example, the Genealogical Research Collections contain published and unpublished genealogies, published genealogical reference works, micrographic sources, card indices and family files. 

For historical background, there are municipal papers from the County of Lennox and Addington, the old Town of Napanee, villages of Newburgh and Bath, and townships within the County. 

The museum holds the Napanee Standard, Napanee Express, Napanee Beaver, The Heritage and other local newspapers. The archives has over 700 reels of microfilm, and over 10,000 original images. 

The museum and archives will be open from Monday - Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm, but they will be closed on holidays. They are open 3rd Tuesday of the month until 8 pm for "Tuesday Nights at the Museum" 

Their website is http://www.lennox-addington.on.ca/must-see/l-a-museum-archives.html 

Their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lennox-and-Addington-County-Museum-and-Archives/158030467740667