Findmypast Weekly Update – briefly

Ireland, Dublin Port Employment records, 1862-1925
Years covered: 1862-1925
Records added: 1,635

The Jewish Year
Book
Years covered: 1895-1955
Records added: 425,089

Newspapers

225,300 pages added this week, with six new titles and sixteen updated publications. Featuring Suffolk to Scotland.

TheGenealogist Releases Early Court Record Collection with over 1,000,000 Names – briefly

The newly released titles include:

  • Calendar of Chancery Proceedings, Bills & Answers: 1625–1649
  • Calendar of Chancery Cases During Reign of Queen Elizabeth I 1558-1603
  • Exchequer Deponents: 1559–1695
  • List of Proceedings in the Court of Star Chamber 1485–1558
  • List of Proceedings in the Court of Requests 1509–1603
  • Courts of Requests for the City of London, Southwark, Palace Court &Tower Hamlets, 1831
  • Ducatus Lancastriae (Duchy of Lancaster) – Calendar to Pleadings: 1503–1603 

Find disputes, petitions and everyday conflicts that brought your ancestors before the courts. They typically record bills, answers, depositions and pleadings that can reveal relationships, occupations, property ownership and even personal disputes.

http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk

Findmypast Weekly Update – briefly

Britain, The Medical Registers


Year covered: 1859-1895
Records added: 393,288

London (and Provincial) Medical Directory


Years covered: 1847-1869
Records added: 511,311

Nine more newspaper titles now online

Bolton Guardian, Linlithgow Advertiser and Times Illustrated are among the latest publications to join our ever-growing newspaper collection.

O/T: World Meteorological Day 2026

What’s the weather going to be?
It’s one of the most asked questions.

We take it for granted that we can find the answer in a matter of seconds at the touch of a mobile phone screen or flick of the television switch.

But behind each forecast are millions of observations, crunched through thousands of processors in the extraordinary and unique global network coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

23 March is World Meteorological Day. Read more here.

Unsettled Settlers: Irish Catholics, Irish Catholicism, and British Loyalty in Upper Canada, 1819-1840

The 2026 edition of Beechwood Cemetery’s Annual Irish History Night is scheduled for Wednesday, 25 March at 6:30pm

Beechwood welcomes Dr. Laura Smith, who will present her acclaimed research: “Unsettled Settlers: Irish Catholics, Irish Catholicism, and British Loyalty in Upper Canada, 1819-1840.”

Dr. Smith’s work explores the complexities of loyalty, faith, and identity among Irish Catholic communities in early 19th-century Upper Canada. Her analysis sheds light on how these settlers balanced religious convictions with colonial expectations, shaping the cultural and political landscape of their new homeland.

Register here.

LAC Evaluation of Public Services: Online Access (2019–2020 to 2023–2024) – Briefly

Guidance for LAC, pointing to deficiencies as well as acknowledging achievements.

http://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/corporate/transparency/reports-publications/audits-evaluations/evaluation-public-services-online-access.html

Key Recommendations

  • Prioritize High-Value Content: Focus digitization and metadata efforts on materials the public actually wants to see.
  • Adopt Modern Systems: Replace the aging “MIKAN” archival system with one that supports AI-driven indexing and “Linked Data.”
  • Improve User Autonomy: Integrate help tools, tutorials, and simplified research guides directly into the search applications.

Findmypast Weekly Update – briefly

College of Preceptors, Student Registers and Diploma Examinations

Years covered: 1881-1931

Records added: 20,014

University of London School Register

Years covered: 1831-1890

Records added: 87,119

Breaking the Silence: The British Story of the HMT Rohna

When an ancestor dies in war, the family expects clarity. Yet, for the families of British personnel aboard the HMT Rohna, hit by a German glider bomb in November 1943, the truth was obscured by decades of official secrecy by US and British authorities.

Ann Good, a BIFHSGO member, discovered a lack of British representation in the trailers for the American documentary Rohna Classified. Her subsequent involvement helped shift the narrative. Working with a dedicated researcher in London who accessed and scanned critical documents from the British National Archives, Ann bridged the gap between official records and family memory.

Her research has provided closure for families who, for over eighty years, knew little of their ancestors’ fates. In one instance, Ann located the family of an survivor who remained entirely unaware of this chapter of their father’s life until provided with the archival copy of his eyewitness report.

Event Details

  • Documentary Viewing: Rohna Classified is available for online streaming starting March 23.
  • Q&A Panel: A live Zoom discussion will take place on March 26, 2026, at 12 noon ET / 5 pm GMT.
  • The Panel: Features members of the film team and three representatives from British Rohna families, specifically addressing the British perspective and information not included in the original film.

This event offers a rare insight into how archival research can dismantle military secrecy and provide long-overdue answers for descendants of the “forgotten” casualties of the Rohna.

Click here for more details and to register for the screening and panel.

LAC Departmental Plan 2026-2027

It appears as if user services are planned to take the major hit going forward. I’m only able to scan the newly tabled document while away.

Providing access to documentary heritage is bearing the brunt of cuts falling from a projected $95 million this year to $76 million in 2026-2027, $31  million (sic) the following year and $28 million in 2028-2029.

The new indicator “Amount of digital material newly available online through self-service access.” is projected to be 500,000 by 31 March 2027. Among those will be about 550 Killed in Action service records for Kores.

It’s unclear how the new indicator, of 500,000 images relates to the 10 million digitized images recorded last year.

It’s also unclear whether and to what extent LAC is harnessing AI. especially full text search, to facilitate access to existing and recently acquired datasets such as the 1940 National Registration.

These disproportionate cuts to services appear to represent a move toward hoarding the collection rather than access.