Resources of Ingenium Library and Archives

On Monday, I visited Ingenium’s Library and Archives, which supports museum staff and the general public in researching the history of science, technology, agriculture, food, aviation, and space in Canada.

This was my first opportunity to visit the new facility, several quantum leaps up from their cramped quarters pre-pandemic. Both visits were to explore the CP Ships collection, much of which is available on Ancestry as of June this year. Find my blog posts here, here, and here.

Although Ancestry was able to digitize most of the collection a few items proved too large, notably the plan of the various decks and some posters.

In case you’re wondering, digitization by Ancestry took about seven months at an estimated cost in excess of $200,000 if done in-house. As it was interrupted by COVID the project took longer than normal. Now, Ancestry has exclusive access for five years, after which the collection will be released and made available on the Ingenium site.

Adele Torrance(right) and Sian Jones, two staff involved, explained some of the intricacies. Marcia Mordfield (not pictured) was also on the team. Sian found herself mentioned in a document for a 1966 voyage on the Empress of Canada when as a young child she bumped her head.

The Library and Archives have a vast collection of resource material, much of which is available through interlibrary loan. Check the Library catalog and the archives’ holdings at Archeion, or email for advice on whether they have a resource useful to you.

Ancestry Find a Grave Index Updates

The September update to Ancestry’s Find a Grave Index sees 156,761 additions to the Canadian collection and 334,413 to the UK and Ireland.

Title Sept 2024 Records
Global, Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current 20,990,441
UK and Ireland; 1300s-Current 20,774,635
Australia and New Zealand; 1800s-Current 11,809,409
Canada; 1600s-Current 10,656,554
Germany; 1600s-Current 3,408,652
Sweden; 1800s-Current 1,138,754
Italy; 1800s-Current 376,009
Norway; 1800s-Current 231,816
Brazil; 1800s-Current 201,506

Increased Security at 395 Wellington

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Public hearings on the ground floor at 395 Wellington in Ottawa mean increased airport-type security is in force.

Everyone must pass through the security checkpoint before researching on the upper floors. Aerosol items, alcohol, blades, and other weapons will not be allowed. It is unclear whether liquids will be restricted to 100 ml containers.

Read the announcement here.

This Week’s Online Genealogy Events

Choose from selected free online events in the next five days.
All times are ET except as noted. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed. Find out about many more, mainly US events, at Conference Keeper.

Tuesday, 24 September

2:30 pm: Family History Sprint: Q&A to Accelerate Your Brick Wall Research, by Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11548564

7 pm: Al and Genealogy: Trouble Ahead? by Thomass MacEntee for OGS Wellington County Branch.
wellington.ogs.on.ca

Wednesday, 25 September

2 pm: Buried in the Federal Records Center: Uncovering XC Pension Files, by Alec Ferretti for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/buried-in-the-federal-records-center-uncovering-xc-pension-files/

2:30 pm: Most Surnames come from Somewhere, by Howard Benbrook for the Guild of One-Name Studies.
https://one-name.org/surnamessomewhere/

Thursday, 26 September

6:30 pm: How to Be a Good Ancestor, by Karen Urbe for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11601508

Friday, 27 September

Webtember presentations from Legacy Family Tree Webinars.

10:15 am: Church Records in Archives, by Melissa Barker
11:30 am: Top 10 Tips for Working with the Old German Handwriting, by Katherine Schober
12:45 pm: Irish Landed Estates, by Natalie Bodle
2:00 pm: Reuniting Sisters Separated During WWII After 70 Years, by Nitay Elboym
3:30 pm: Finding Origins & Birth Families: Methods That Work, by Elizabeth Shown Mills

Saturday, 28 September

1:00 pm: The Early Buildings of Kingston, 1783-1830, by Jennifer McKendry for Kingston and District Branch, United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada. (UELAC).
http://www.uelac.org/Kingston-Branch

2 pm: Home Children and My Connection, by Dianna Fulton 
for OGS Niagara Peninsula Branch.
https://niagara.ogs.on.ca/events-2/

New Free to View on the British Newspaper Archive

Over one million new free-to-view pages have recently been added to the British Newspaper Archive. Over four million newspaper pages are now free.
Here are the British and Irish newspapers released.

Title Country Years Added
Blackburn Standard England 1883-1885
Emigrant and the Colonial Advocate England 1849
Exeter Flying Post England 1800-1804
Express (London) England 1869
Hammersmith Advertiser England 1861
Herapath’s Railway Journal England 1838-1802
Home News for India, China and the Colonies England 1847-1870, 1889-1896
Ipswich Journal England 1720-1721, 1724-1737, 1739-1800
Liverpool Albion England 1881-1882
London Mercury 1836 England 1837
Morning Herald (London) England 1808-1812, 1815-1830
Newcastle Courant England 1819
Nonconformist England 1841-1900
Northern Echo England 1870, 1872-1897, 1899-1900
Pall Mall Gazette England 1865-1902
Royal Cornwall Gazette England 1801-1896, 1898-1902
Sun (London) England 1873-1875
Surrey & Middlesex Standard England 1840
The Examiner England 1881
Worcester Journal England 1808-1816, 1818-1869, 1871-1887, 1889, 1891-1896, 1900
York Herald England 1801, 1803-1820, 1823-1896, 1899-1900
Cork Daily Herald Ireland 1858-1901
Dublin Weekly Nation Ireland 1842-1900
Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette Scotland 1857-1902
North British Agriculturist Scotland 1849-1893
Wrexham Advertiser Wales 1857-1900

An interesting addition is 16 titles from the Caribbean from 1771 to 1902.

Title Country Years Added
Antigua Observer Antigua 1848, 1870-1902
Antigua Standard Antigua 1883-1890
Barbados Agricultural Reporter Barbados 1845, 1870-1888, 1895-1902
Barbados Herald Barbados 1879-1896
Dominica Dial Dominica 1883-1890
Dominica Guardian Dominica 1893-1902
Official Gazette of British Guiana Guyana 1893-1902
Budget (Jamaica) Jamaica 1877-1883, 1886-1888
Colonial Standard and Jamaica Despatch Jamaica 1858, 1864-1895
Morning Journal (Kingston) Jamaica 1838-1840, 1858, 1864-1875
Voice of St. Lucia Saint Lucia 1885-1902
Saint Christopher Advertiser and Weekly Intelligencer St Kitts and Nevis 1839-1840, 1855, 1869-1888, 1897-1902
St. Christopher Gazette St Kitts and Nevis 1771, 1837, 1839-1840, 1848, 1871-1888
St. Kitts Daily Express St Kitts and Nevis 1884, 1886
Trinidad Chronicle Trinidad & Tobago 1864-1885
Mirror (Trinidad & Tobago) Trinidad and Tobago 1898-1902

To complete the inventory, there’s New Zealand’s Lyttelton Times from 1851 to 1902.

Read the BNA blog post.

New and Overlooked at FamilySearch

Are you taking advantage of FamilySearch updates? Indexed records are continually added; 115 collections have been updated in the past month.

You can learn about them by visiting familysearch.org, clicking Search, then Records, and BROWSE ALL COLLECTIONS. By default, the table that appears is sorted by Collection Title. Click on Last Updated to sort and find the most recent additions.

The US saw 14 additions, Italy 12, and Brazil 7. Three additional titles for Italy are browse-only. Canada saw no additions, two for Wales and once each for the UK and Ireland.

For the UK, its Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, now with 56,065 records. For Wales Merionethshire, Parish Registers 1538-1912 now has 146,135 records. Ireland’s Catholic Parish Registers, 1740-1900 tops the list with 6,855,603 records.

Central and South America are well represented, likely reflecting the number of adherents to the LDS Church.

 

The Wales Women’s Peace Petition

The National Library of Wales has launched a new website with names of over 240,000 of the 390,296 women who signed the historic petition demanding world peace in 1923.

Volunteers have now transcribed names on the crowdsourced project. 50,000 signatures have been verified and added to the new website, where users can search for names, houses, streets, and places. This gives people a user-friendly way of finding relatives and places of interest. The woman’s signature can be seen using the link to the original image.

The three top counties with entries are Ceredigion, Gwynedd, Conwy.

The transcription process is ongoing, and new people are being recruited to help complete the project.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Scrambled Maps
Drag the tiles into the correct order to restore the map of a different city of the world each day. 

A Structured Daily Routine
I asked ChatGPT for the elements of a daily routine to maintain optimal physical, mental, and overall well-being.

Activity Time Estimate Notes
Sleep 7 to 9 hours
Crucial for recovery, cognitive function, and emotional balance
Exercise/Physical Activity 30 to 60 minutes
Mix of cardio, strength, and flexibility exercises
Mindfulness/Meditation 10 to 20 minutes
Meditation, deep breathing, or gratitude journaling
Healthy Meals 1.5 to 2 hours
Time for meal preparation and mindful eating
Hydration Ongoing throughout the day
Aim for about 8 glasses of water daily
Personal Hygiene 30 to 45 minutes
Includes showering, grooming, and skincare
Housework 30 to 60 minutes
Tidying, cleaning, and other household tasks
Garden Maintenance 15 to 30 minutes
Watering plants, weeding, pruning, and general care
Shopping for Essentials 10 to 20 minutes
Proportional time for weekly shopping
Commute 1.5 hours
Travel time to and from work or activities
Personal Growth/Learning 30 to 60 minutes
Reading, learning new skills, or engaging in hobbies
Work/Productivity 6 to 8 hours
Focused work periods using productivity techniques like Pomodoro
Breaks/Movement 5 to 10 minutes each hour
Stretching and movement during work breaks
Social Connection 30 to 60 minutes
Engaging with family, friends, or colleagues
Outdoor Time/Nature 20 to 30 minutes
Fresh air and sunlight for stress reduction
Reflection/Journaling 10 to 15 minutes
Reflect on the day, express gratitude, set intentions
Relaxation/Unwinding 30 to 60 minutes
Calming activities before bed to promote relaxation

What’s missing? Childcare? Other?

NARA Struggles
A perspective from south of the border, with parallels to the situation at LAC.

The AI Bubble
The following is my Ai-assisted summary of an article I Studied 200 Years’ Of Tech Cycles. This Is How They Relate To AI Hype, by Jing Hu posted behind a paywall on Medium

The article discusses the cyclical nature of technology hype and investment bubbles throughout history, drawing parallels between past events and the current AI boom. It examines several historical examples, including the Canal Mania of the early 1800s, the Railway Mania of the 1840s, the electric power competition between AC and DC systems, the automobile industry boom, and the dot-com bubble. These cases demonstrate how initial excitement and investment in new technologies often lead to speculative frenzies, followed by market crashes and industry consolidations.
The text explores the psychological factors driving tech hype, such as FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), herd mentality, and confirmation bias. It also delves into the financial aspects fueling these crazes, including speculative investing, low interest rates, and network effects. The article highlights key players in tech hype cycles, including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, media, early adopters, and even governments, each contributing to the amplification of trends and potential overvaluation of new technologies.
Finally, the article draws parallels between historical patterns and the current AI boom, suggesting that while AI has transformative potential, investors and enthusiasts should approach it with caution. It advises readers to expect a shakeout in the AI industry, be wary of inflated promises, think long-term about AI’s impact, and focus on products that provide genuine value and efficiency improvements. The text emphasizes that while AI will likely have a significant impact on the world, its true potential may unfold over decades rather than in the short term.

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Basil Adam, Brenda Turner, Charles Godwin, Christol James, gail benjafield, Glenn Wright, Jane Watt, Paul Jones, Peggy Homans Chapman, Sylvia Smith, Teresa, Unknown.

 

One-and-Me: DNA Drama

23andMe, once a leader in the consumer DNA testing space, is now struggling. CEO Anne Wojcicki is alone at the helm as all seven independent board members recently resigned. Wojcicki is looking to take the company private.

While the company’s core offering—its DNA test kits—gained attention for its insights into health risks and quirky traits, now the market has shifted. 23andMe’s Ancestry Service, priced at $149 US, offers a comprehensive ancestry breakdown and over 80 personalized reports, but the service is being downgraded. Access to ‘relatives in common’ (aka shared matches) and segment data were recently removed.

Ancestry and MyHeritage offer more affordable genetic genealogy alternatives. However, the company’s core offering may no longer sustain it through the turbulent times ahead as it searches for a revenue model to stem the losses.

This post draws on this article from CNN.

Findmypast Weekly Update

Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors
An additional 376,089 modern electoral registers and Companies House director records are from across Britain. The total collection has more than 124 million records from England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands.

Devon BMBs
A tranche of Devon parish record transcripts is added, all for 1924.
1,849 baptisms
481 marriages
2,566 burials.

Newspapers
This week, the Brighouse Echo for 1893, 1994-1995, 1997, and 1999 and the Alnwick Guardian and County Advertiser for 1889, 1910-1911 are new, with pre-1950 content.

Pre-1950 additions are to the Buxton Herald for 1893-1894, 1900, 1905; the Harrogate Advertiser and Weekly List of the Visitors for 1854, 1860, 1866, 1872; the Tiverton Gazette (Mid-Devon Gazette) for 1903; and the Caernarvon & Denbigh Herald for 1832-1833, 1835, 1838-1839, 1841-1842, 1845, 1922.

 

FamilySearch Labs Experimental Search Watch

As of Thursday, 19 September 2024, 261,233,084 results were available in the FamilySearch Labs Experimental Search. Here’s the geographic breakdown for the past 500 years.

There are several other regions, none with more than 8,000 results.

All additions for the past week have been for the USA, an increase of 63%.

As of Friday morning, the landing page for Labs at https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/ shows the message “There aren’t any experiments available to try right now. But we are always working on new features and looking for feedback. Come back soon to see what’s available.” The page was restored as previously, except one must now specify a search term. The stats about the total number of results and used to prepare the pie chart above are no longer available.

LAC Co-Lab Update for September

There are currently 3,989 items in Collection Search identified as Co-Lab-only contributions, up from 3,979 last month!

There has been essentially no progress on the challenges in the past month, although owing to a change in format, an overall completion figure is unavailable for some challenges. 

Games of the XXI Olympiad, Montréal 1976 remains 79.5% complete.

Treaty 9, with 27 images, remains 3.7% complete.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary remains 47% complete.

Expo67 remains 7% complete.

Summiting Mount Logan in 1925: Fred Lambart’s personal account of the treacherous climb and descent of the highest peak in Canada remains 13% complete.

Women in the War remains 1% complete.

Arthur Lismer’s Children’s Art Classes remains <1% complete.

John Freemont Smith, RG10, Volume number: 4079 remains 88% complete.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association is substantially complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 95% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 99% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities remains 0% complete.

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War remains 99% complete.

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 remains 95% complete.

Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner remains 99% complete.

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War remains 3% complete.

The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters is substantially complete.

Projects that remain 100% complete are no longer reported here.