Monday, April 8, 2013

New/Updated Canadian Websites, Blogs, Facebook, and Newspaper Articles – 08 April 2013

I have come across the following Canadian websites, blogs, Facebook, and newspaper articles this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too –

Websites

Marianne Perry www.marianneperry.ca Family history was the fuel that pushed Marianne to write a novel called The Inheritance. She said she had always wanted to write “ about family dynamics and genealogical research helped me develop realistic characters confronting relevant issues in an authentic setting for my book”. Her family was from Palermo, Sicily, and they came to Canada in the early 1900s.

Blog

Marianne Perry Blog www.marianneperry.ca/blog Marianne also has a blog where she talks about genealogy, and travel.

Facebook - Video – You Tube

There is an interview on YouTube with the Chief Operating Officer Yuval Ben-Galim of MyHeritage which was conducted be James Tanner at RootsTech 2013.
http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2013/04/i-got-so-busy-at-rootstech-2013-that-i.html They discuss the new programs that MyHeritage has announced at RootsTeck 2013.

Newspaper Articles

Photography project preserves Prairie relics, religious history http://cupwire.ca/articles/54877 Canadian University Press reports that people are putting more than a 1,000 rural Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox Churches in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba online.

Led by history professor John-Paul Himka, historian Frances Swyripa and ethnographer Natalie Kononenko, the project has been named Sanctuary.

City eyeing new heritage preservation areas www.royalcityrecord.com/City+eyeing+heritage+preservation+areas/8187396/story.html The City of New Westminster is thinking about turning parts of the old city into heritage conservation areas.

The area being considered are the Bent Court (uptown), Ash/Gloucester (Brow of the Hill), Wood Street (Queensborough) and Manitoba/Peele Street (Queen's Park) neighbourhoods.

Bayview Secondary presents first history symposium: Richmond Hill students' research projects on display www.yorkregion.com/community-story/2519013-bayview-secondary-presents-first-history-symposium
Last Thursday, Grade 12 International Baccalaureate (IB) students at Bayview Secondary School held their first-ever history symposium to display their months-long research projects on Canadian history.

Canada to Lead the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/03/05/holocaust-canada-alliance_n_2811138.html The newspaper reports that Canada is the Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
As the Chair, Canada is committed to an ambitious campaign to raise Holocaust awareness and fight anti-semitism at home and abroad. Canada will host a major IHRA conference in October in Toronto.

A Brief History of Canada and the Holocaust
www.cic.gc.ca/english/multiculturalism/holocaust.asp?utm_source=slash-holocaust&utm_medium=short-url&utm_campaign=generic
Pictures and Story of the Week

The Library and Archives Canada says that the earliest Scots began arriving to Canada as early as the early seventeenth century. Sir William Alexander obtained permission from King James I to establish a Scottish settlement in 1622 named New Scotland or Nova Scotia.

As the third-largest ethnic group in Canada, there is a website called Clans And Scottish Societies Of Canada at http://www.cassoc.ca.

There are over 30 clans, societies, and festivals in Canada, and they list the members, and the events that are being held each year.

And the Herald Scotland newspaper reported that 8000 ran through Central Park in New York as US and Canada mark Tartan Day (April 6th). The story is in the Herald Scotland at www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/8000-run-through-central-park-as-us-canada-mark-tartan-day.1365271285

One of the places in Canada that I always check for my Scottish ancestors is Electric Scotland at http://www.electricscotland.com. There is everything Scottish at this site from history, tartans, clans and families, and much, much more.

Look for more articles next Monday April 15th.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Canadian Newspaper Articles Every Monday

Don’t forget to check my blog every Monday morning for my New/Updated Canadian Websites, Blogs, and Newspaper Articles.

This week Marianne Perry, a writer from Canada who has written a book about her grandparents from Sicily has a new website and blog, MyHeritage is interviewed at RootsTech 2013, five newspaper articles, including the news that Canada is the Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and will host a conference this fall in Toronto.

So don’t miss the New/Updated Websites, Blogs, and Newspaper Articles blog on Monday, April 8th.

It has been a regular blog every Monday since April 23, 2012.

Elizabeth

B.C. Government Salutes Heritage Projects



Government funding will support a heritage project in Quesnel and surrounding area, said Pat Bell, MLA Prince George-MacKenzie, on behalf of the Minister for Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Bill Bennett.

The Quesnel and District Museum and Archives, plus the much-loved annual Billy Barker Days Festival, will benefit from $105,000 in B.C. government grants, for projects including -
  • To help fund the 40th annual celebration of the history of the Cariboo Gold Rush - Billy Barker Days, July 18 - 21, 2013 - $25,000.
  • To help preserve the archives at the Quesnel and District Museum - $5,000.
Mary Sjostrom, the mayor of Quesnel, says, "On behalf of Quesnel City Council and the Cariboo Regional District, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Minister Bennett and the Province of British Columbia for this generous donation. This contribution is significant in that the funds will assist in the safety and longevity of existing assets, historic preservation and the celebration of events and Quesnel is grateful to be recognized."

In their archives, they have a Reference Library and Research Files on families, oral history files, maps, and newspapers including The Advocate 1994-1998, Ashcroft Journal 1895-1906, The Cariboo Observer 1908-present, The Cariboo Sentinel 1865-1875, The Quesnel Advertiser / Northern Pictorial 1953-1960, The Quesnel Advisor 2002-2010, and The Quesnel Nugget 1980-1982.

To find out more about The Quesnel and District Museum and Archives, visit their website at www.quesnelmuseum.ca

For more information about Billy Barker Days, drop by
www.hellobc.com/servicefelisting/4556563/billy-barker-days-festival.aspx

To find out more about Barkerville, go to www.barkerville.ca

Saturday, April 6, 2013

April 6th - Tartan Day in Canada

 
The Maple Leaf Tartan was created in 1964 by David Weiser in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of Canada's confederation in 1967.

The colours represents the changing seasons of the maple leaf as the pattern incorporates “the green of the leaves' summer foliage, the gold which first appears in the early autumn, the red which appears with the coming of the first frost, and the brown tones of the fallen leaves. The design proved to be very popular throughout Canada”.

The Maple Leaf Tartan was made an official national symbol by ministerial declaration on March 9th, 2011.

Comox Valley Family History Research Group Presents All-Day Seminar


The Comox Valley Family History Research Group will hold its all-day seminar on Saturday April 20th, 2013 at the Florence Filberg Centre Conference Hall in Courtenay, Vancouver Island, BC.

The speakers will be Glenn Wright and Lesley Anderson, both from Ottawa.

Some topics to be covered will be They Came by Ship ... Finding Immigrant Ancestors Before 1865, and Getting Here From There – Immigration Records on Ancestry and Elsewhere 1865 – 1965.

The registration fee for CVFHRG members is $65.00; non-members $75.00. Registration cut-off is 15 April 2013

You may go to www.cvfamilyhistory.org/seminars.html

Friday, April 5, 2013

LAC Opens Displays in Two Cities in Canada


Library and Archives Canada continues to display the richness and diversity of its collections with the opening of two exhibitions, one in Saskatchewan at the Mendel Art Gallery, and the other in Quebec at the the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau.

In Saskatchewan, the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon is hosting the I Know You by Heart: Portrait Miniatures exhibition until June 2, 2013. The exhibition highlights the intimate, personal nature of portrait miniatures, and the reasons that such images are commissioned and created.

In Quebec, the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau is presenting the exhibition Double Take: Portraits of Intriguing Canadians until October 14, 2013. Discover portraits of Canadians who have left—and are still leaving—their mark on our country and our culture. .

By presenting exhibitions such as these, Library and Archives Canada is able to make original works of documentary heritage accessible in galleries, museums and other community venues to Canadians across the country.

You can listen to the podcast overview of the featured works and the stories behind them at  www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/podcasts/Pages/double-take.aspx

FamilySearch UPDATE: The Canada Wiki

I just heard from Lisa who is a consultant at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City for the work on the Canada Wiki pages, and she has asked for our assistance

She says that “We are starting to post tasks on the FamilySearch Wiki to help us get the Ontario pages ready for a major renovation. If anyone would like to do some wiki reading and editing on the project they can find tasks at www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:WikiProject_Ontario

This project is in the beginning stages, but we hope to make the FamiliySearch Wiki a valuable place to find resource and record help for Ontario genealogists. As we finish Ontario we will move on to complete the same tasks in other provinces of Canada”.

So if you can help in any way, you can email Lisa at mcbridelw@familysearch.org

If you are already helping to read, write or edit Canadian Wiki Project pages at FamilySearch, let me know, so that I and the readers of this blog can recognize your good work.