When visiting The National Archives (TNA) at Kew, there are many opportunities to take a break. Aside from the cafeteria and bookstore in the building, the nearby Kew Retail Park, with Marks and Spencer and Boots, provides a convenient spot for a quick break to pick up essentials.

While Kew is best known for its world-famous gardens, there’s more to discover. The Kew Society offers a walking tour leaflet, which you can download. On the second page, you’ll find a simple map highlighting the 4 km route and various points of interest.

The Thames Path meanders by the river, through or skirting Kew Green, eventually arriving at Kew Village, home to several small, independent shops. Check it out during your next visit to TNA.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

The Expropriation of LeBreton Flats (1962)
A LAC blog post by Ariane Gauthier with numerous photos.

Greek rhetorical tricks keep audiences spellbound

Air Quality Stripes

Ingenium – Guided Tours
There are only a few days left, Friday through Sunday to 1 September, to take a 75-minute guided tour of various aspects of museum work, telling the stories of some artifacts not normally seen by visitors. Tours at 1865 St. Laurent Blvd cost $12.

Wearables generally underestimate step counts

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Brenda Turner, gail benjafield, Lolly, Maureen, Maureen Amey, Teresa, Unknown.

Ancestry recently updated databases related to death and burial records across various countries.

The “England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2023” is updated to 7,433,702 records from 7,166,817 records in January. The “Scotland and Northern Ireland, Death Index, 1989-2023” now has 934,558 records, up from 916,681. Both use data compiled from funeral directors’ records and obituaries.

The “Find a Grave® Index” databases have been updated from July. Canada now has 10,570,369, up from 10,499,793.  Other updates are for Brazil, Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Ireland, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

Finally, the “UK, Royal Mail Pension and Gratuity Records, 1860-1970” now has 278,726 records, updated from 147,020 when the collection first appeared in January.

 ‘Money begets money’ is an old adage, as valid today as ever. A new study published in PLOS One, Slaveholder ancestry and current net worth of members of the United States Congress, shows the correlation.

After adjustment for age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education, legislators whose ancestors enslaved 16 or more individuals had a $3.93 million (95% confidence interval 2.39–5.46) higher net worth than legislators whose ancestors were not slave owners.

It should go without saying that members of Congress do not bear personal responsibility for the actions of their ancestors,

Global Genealogy has been very quiet of late. Rick and Sandra were missed at the OGS conference in Toronto and have made no recent (re)publication announcements. That’s until Wednesday.

Global has reissued the four-volume set of A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to Canada Before Confederation. Originally published between 1986 and 2005, it contains extensive data on thousands of individuals and families who migrated to Canada before 1867.

For the first time, Global Genealogy makes it available for download in a searchable PDF format.

The original publications may be found in the reference collections of many libraries, including four branches of the Ottawa Public Library.

There are currently 3,979 items in Collection Search identified as Co-Lab-only contributions, a jump from 3,893 last month! Owing to a change in format an overall completion figure is not available for some challenges.

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

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

Mary Ann Shadd Cary remains 48% 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 is now 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 competitive.

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

If so, organize the tiles on this Scrambled City map of the City of London. It’s surprising how challenging it is  — education through gamification.

Not into London? Then, make your own puzzle.

From MyHeritage DNA — Our Super DNA Sale is on, and this isn’t any old DNA sale — it’s a rare opportunity to stock up on MyHeritage DNA kits for the lowest price this year and even get a headstart on your holiday shopping!

https://www.myheritage.com/dna

So far this month, five new digital microfilms have been added to the Heritage collection.

The Halifax passenger list, film T-14814, for March and April 1928 arrivals, is only 660 images. It includes voyages from Antwerp, Belfast, Bordeaux, Bremen, Copenhagen, Cherbourg, Danzig, Hamburg, Liverpool, and Southampton.

Ancestry’s Canada , Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 collection, which is name indexed, appears to cover the same arrivals.