New online, more than 100 maps of Great Britain and the wider world added to the Signet Library map collection (1580ss–1950s).

This fine collection of 494 maps, comprises the main sheet maps held by the Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet, Parliament Square Edinburgh. The greater part of the collection – 402 items – relate geographically to Scotland, and date from the late 16th century through to the mid-20th century. Of these, there are 91 county or district maps, 47 plans of towns, with a focus on Edinburgh, 23 estate plans (including 6 in manuscript), 16 coastal charts, and a remaining 9 maps which relate to the whole of Scotland. There are also two Ordnance Survey One-Inch to the mile series of Scotland, the 2nd edition with coloured parishes and a third outline edition (1903-1912).

Non-Scottish maps include 32 maps of England, Wales and Ireland, 20 Ordnance Survey One-Inch Old Series maps, and 43 international maps.

For Canada there’s

• Signet.b.03(1) – Map of Central Canada showing transportation and commercial development / (prepared by Natural Resources Intelligence Service, Dept. of the Interior).
• Signet.b.03(2) – Map of the Dominion of Canada, exclusive of northern regions, indicating main natural resources / prepared by National Development Bureau.
• Signet.b.03(3) – Map of the southern portion of the Dominion of Canada indicating vegetation and forest cover… / (prepared by the Natural Resources Intelligence Service).
• Signet.b.03(4) – Map of the Dominion of Canada, exclusive of northern regions, indicating vegetation and forest cover… / [prepared by] National Development Bureau.
• Signet.b.03(5) – Southern Alberta. Scale 1:792,000…Map showing disposition of lands / [prepared by the] Natural Resources Intelligence Service…
• Signet.b.03(6) – Northern Alberta. Scale 1:792,000…Map showing disposition of lands / [prepared by the] Natural Resources Intelligence Service…
• Signet.b.03(7) – Southern British Columbia showing disposition of lands within the railway belt.
• Signet.b.03(8) – Manitoba. Scale 1:792,000 … map showing disposition of lands / [prepared by the] Natural Resources Intelligence Service …
• Signet.b.03(9) – Map of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta showing the number of vacant quarter sections in each township / prepared by the Natural Resources Intelligence Service.
• Signet.b.03(10) – Map of Nova Scotia indicating natural resources, motor roads and transportation routes … / prepared by the Natural Resources Intelligence Service … 1924.
• Signet.b.03(11) – Saskatchewan. Scale 1:792,000 … Map showing disposition of lands / [prepared by the] Natural Resources Intelligence Service …
• Signet.b.03(12) – Saskatchewan. Scale 1:792,000 … Map showing disposition of lands / [prepared by] Natural Resources Intelligence Service …

Choose from these selected free online events. All times are Eastern Time (ET), unless otherwise noted. Registration is assumed to be required in advance—check the links so you’re not disappointed. For more events, mainly in the U.S., visit Conference Keeper.

Looking ahead
Monday 12 May at 7 pm: “The Old Woman Went Along”: Elderly migration in the 1800s, by Dianne Brydon for Bruce County Genealogical Society.
https://bit.ly/2025-05-12-DianneBrydon-BCGS

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

AI turns old photos into ‘motion pictures’

From the BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cq5wx27gne1o
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1k4y98vykro

There are a variety of apps and websites to be found where you can do the same thing with your photos. Here’s advice from ChatGPT https://chatgpt.com/share/6814e5d5-8338-8012-848f-4bae43fbf8ed

Eating in the UK in the Fifties.

Findmypast Weekly Update

Additions this week are Commonwealth War Grave Commission records: 2,474 images and transcriptions for Germany, 2,178 for Cyprus, and 1,561 for Greece.

The 55,867 newspaper pages added this week, none for Est Anglia, including six new titles and 32 existing publications that have been updated.

New titles
Hunts Guardian from 1871-1872 and 1874-1884
Leeds Daily News from 1889 and 1898
Lytham Times from 1870, 1880-1888, 1900-1909, 1920-1929 and 1932-1949
Norwood Press and Dulwich Advertiser from 1918-1929
Oldham Chronicle from 1873 and 1897
South Durham Herald from 1883-1891

Updated titles
Banffshire Journal, 1948-1949
Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser, 1895, 1900-1901, 1904 and 1908
Bexhill-on-Sea Observer, 1995
Bridgnorth Journal, 1998
Brighton Gazette, 1914-1917
Buxton Herald, 1891 and 1948
Canterbury Journal, 1913-1919
Crystal Palace District Times & Advertiser, 1896
Cumberland and Westmorland Advertiser, and Penrith Literary Chronicle, 1882, 1884-1886 and 1897
Dudley & District Chronicle, 1994
Dundee Weekly News, 2002
Isle of Man Daily Times, 1964-1965
Kilkenny Moderator, 1904 and 1907
Leicester Chronicle, 1923
Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser, 1889-1896, 1899-1903, 1915-1919, 1926-1938, 1951 and 1953-1957
Lurgan Mail, 1985
Midland Counties Express, 1870, 1875, 1877, 1889 and 1899
Montgomery County Times and Shropshire and Mid-Wales Advertiser, 1920-1921
Perthshire Courier, 1927-1928
Prestatyn Weekly, 1938-1939
Sandwell Chronicle, 1994, 1998
Scarborough Mercury, 1856, 1874, 1878 and 1889
Scunthorpe Star, 1987
Shoreditch Observer, 1870-1875
Shoreham Herald, 1992
Tenbury Wells Advertiser, 1818, 1913 and 1915-1917
Trinidad Royal Gazette, 1900-1903
Waterford Standard, 1912-1917, 1919 and 1927
Whitehaven Advertiser and Cleator Moor and Egremont Observer 1891, 1910-1911 and 1913-1914
Whitehaven News, 1882, 1886-1888, 1902-1910, 1912 and 1915-1918
Wolverton Express, 1965
Workington Star, 1916, 1918

Bees, fish and plants show how climate change’s accelerating pace is disrupting nature in 2 key ways

Discounts

FamilyTreeDNA has a Mother’s Day sale.

So does AncestryDNA until 11 May

Until 7 May Legacy Family Tree Webinars is available for 50% off a full year of genealogy education .. just $25 US! https://familytreewebinars.com/

 

Thanks this week to Anonymous, Sue Lambeth, Teresa, Unknown.

 

Except for the Home Children collection, the following are new to MyHeritage since the latter part of April.

Collection	Images	Last Updated	Number of Records
Canada, Gravestones and Memorials (from CanadianHeadstones.com)	No	Apr 29 2025	2045406
Canada, World War I Personnel Files (from LAC)	Yes	Apr 28 2025	644751
Canada, Upper and Lower Canada, Land Bonds & Petitions, 1784 – 1853 (from LAC)	Yes	Apr 28 2025	188407
Canada Military Awards, 1916 – 1961 (from LAC)	Yes	Apr 25 2025	113450
Canada, Home Children Immigration Index, 1869 -1932 (from LAC)	No	Apr 22 2025	246528

This April, the mean temperature in Ottawa was 5.2C; the OFA prediction was 5.0C
SUCCESS

The May Day Archivist

On May Day morn with sky so blue,
The daffodils in tidy queue,
An archivist with keen insight—
Knows every wright from wronged by rite.

He lifts the lid of boxes brown,
Where secrets sleep in dusty gown.
A census here, a will in sight—
Each line transcribed both clear and wright.

The past steps out to join the day,
In uniform, or workhouse grey.
Their stories told with sheer delight—
Their scribes both birthday-born and wright.

Find a Grave Update

Ancestry updated its version of the Find a Grave® database on 25 April 2025. The table shows the current holdings, those from September 2024, and the change.

Title	Apr 2025 Records	Sept 2024 Records	Change
U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current	187,897,684	—	—
UK and Ireland, Find a Grave® Index, 1300s-Current	21,664,340	20,774,635	889,705
Global, Find a Grave® Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current	21,644,984	20,990,441	654,543
Australia and New Zealand, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current	12,153,495	11,809,409	344,086
Canada, Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current	11,310,556	10,656,554	654,002
Germany, Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current	4,071,331	3,408,652	662,679
Sweden, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current	1,146,124	1,138,754	7,370
Italy, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current	402,011	376,009	26,002
Norway, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current	237,858	231,816	6,042
Brazil, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current	206,115	201,506	4,609
Mexico, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current	86,588	—	—

Recent Ancestry UK Updates

The UK, British Army World War II Medal Cards, 1939-1945 was updated on 28 April to contain 834,078 records. The original data, from TNA WW2 C.S.20 Army Medal Cards (WO 460). Records include a link to the image, where available, some are redacted, on Forces War Records and Fold3.

A new collection on Ancestry as of 25 April 2025, from the Library of Birmingham, is Birmingham, England, Non-Conformist Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1825-2007. Baptism records are held up to 1932, marriages to 1958, and burials to 2007. The total is 137,890 records. Linked images are included.