Saturday, November 22, 2008

Genea Games - Grab the book...

Randy Seaver has a game on his blog tonight.

The rules:* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.* Turn to page 56.* Find the fifth sentence.* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your blog (or in a comment to his blog).

Here is my contribution from the 5th sentence on page 56 of the book closest to me on my bookshelf.

Most likely. this story was produced on a free lance basis for payment by the word.

Source, Brooke Kroeger, Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist. (Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited, 1994)

LINK

'It's Saturday night, let's have some genealogy fun', Randy Seaver, Genea-Musings, 22 November, 2008: http://www.geneamusings.com

Monday, November 17, 2008

Cabinet of Curiosities - 11th Edition

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
Dorothy Parker


Welcome to the November 2008 Edition of the Cabinet of Curiosities, the Carnival that celebrates the stories behind all the stuff in and around our lives, the collections we make of our stuff and the ways we display these to the world. Thank you to Tim Abbott for letting me guest edit this Edition and for assisting me.

A fitting start for this Edition is DancingPerfectlyFree’s take on the Museum of Modern Art’s ‘MoMA by Night’ in Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities.

Then Dorene Paul presents "Die Gartenlaube" at Sandusky History. It’s quite amazing how much history can be learned, starting just from the cover of one 1870 magazine.

Trip to Kanyakumari: Chapter 1: Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Kanyakumari and Thiruvalluvar Statue, Kanyakumari: Part 4 is posted at AdmirableIndia.com. Among the wonders there is the 133 feet tall stone sculpture of the Tamil poet and saint Tiruvalluvar, author of the Thirukkural.

PodBlack presents Women and Superstitions - Part Four posted at PodBlack Cat. She says, "My blogpost revolves around my Daruma doll, and how it contributes to an investigation of superstitious beliefs - particularly ones from Asian countries!"

From my own cupboard comes Not For Spying After All at CanadaGenealogy, or, Jane’s Your Aunt.

Greg Laden presents My Friend Curly and the President Elect posted at Greg Laden's Blog. Being an on again, off again philatelist myself, I appreciated this. And, it’s very true, isn’t it, our collections are thought to say a lot about us.

From Curious Expeditions comes The Curious Playboy, a closer look at the Vanderbilt Museum in Long Island, New York – “a museum of a museum” just as it was in 1922. Worth preserving.

And in contrast, the curiosity cabinet at The Grey Lodge is full of handmade curiosities – none are the ‘real thing’ but would you have known that?

Artist Nick from New Brunswick shows his fascination with the idea of the Cabinet de curiosités which “presents a multitude of rare or strange objects representing the three kingdoms: the animal, vegetable and mineral, in addition to human achievements” [translated from French] in his own work, shown in Presque finies.

And then there is Tiny Kitchen = Tiny Combo Units posted at Making This Home. This isn’t my usual kind of reading, but I love it! I’ve been waiting forever for the ‘kitchen of the future’ I was promised at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, but that’s passé (or maybe retro) now. Which kitchen objects will we be displaying on our collectors’ shelves in 20 years?

And to wrap up, Baltic Design in Here They Come points out some collectibles of the future from the latest graduates of the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherland, including one look at a very personalized back brace by Francesca Lanzavecchia and a very current style of Cabinet of Curiosities by Jon Stam.

The next edition of the Cabinet of Curiosities will be back with originator Timothy Abbott at Walking The Berkshires. Submissions for the next Cabinet of Curiosities can be made to him directly, or via the carnival submission form.

For a look at all the past Cabinet of Curiosities Carnivals, see here.

Not For Spying After All - Cabinet of Curiosities, Edition 11

Minetta Camera, "Made in Japan", beside a Canadian penny.
Private collection.


Here is yet another curiosity from my cupboards. I had always thought this was 'old' and meant to be something like a 'spy' camera, but I understand now it is likely from the 1960's and mainly manufactured as a fun item. (The 60's aren't olden times, as far as I am concerned. I remember them well!)

This tiny novelty camera, and others like it, used 17.5 mm film. During the 1930's, 35 mm was sometimes split for movie and news film for economy's sake, and later, still cameras were manufactured for the same split film. The negatives were 14x14mm. The submin.com website has more information on many of these 'subminature cameras'. This camera likely came with a case, but I have only the camera. So far I don't see any negatives that might have been from photographs taken with this. I suspect it was never used, but kept because it was 'cute'.

The information I found most interesting is that these tiny cameras were sometimes prizes in vending machines. There's a photo of a set of prizes with a camera in the submin.com Introduction section.

Aha! I bet this was won at the Pacific National Exhibition (the PNE) and Playland in Vancouver. My brother and I went every year, with our parents, till we were teenagers when we were finally allowed to go with a group of friends.

I don't recall its provenance particularly, but to tell you the truth, my photography has always been poor. My kids say 'mum cuts heads off'. I remember my very first camera, and my pink 110; that's it. The 'children' probably think it's fitting that nowadays I mainly stick to photographing gravestones and plaques. I do love photographs, and researching them, but I don't pretend to be any kind of photographer.

In case you're interested, there's a link below with a bit about the PNE's history. Playland was originally separate, so perhaps that's why it isn't mentioned, although to us they were pretty well seen as the same. Playland has a longer season, that's all.

Playland's 1958 Wooden Roller Coaster, designed by Carl Phare and Walker LeRoy, still has over half a million thrillseeking riders each year. And there are still lots of games to play...wonder if there are any cameras as prizes?



PNE history, The History Group: http://www.thehistorygroup.com/pne.asp

Saturday, November 15, 2008

"Canada Remembers the Arrival of American Loyalists in 1783" by Elizabeth Lapointe, Everton's, Nov/Dec 2008

Last night, I was excited to see Everton's Genealogical Helper in my mailbox. (November/December 2008)

This is now my favourite genealogy magazine - I like the format (and now I get the digital edition as well as the paper one) and I really appreciate that Everton's tries to cover the whole world of genealogy, not just one or two geographical areas.

But I was really excited this time, because I knew that in this issue there'd be an article by someone I know - Elizabeth Lapointe's "Canada Remembers the Arrival of American Loyalists in 1783."

If you think you may have North American Loyalist connections, and many in North America do, be sure to read this. Elizabeth discusses the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada, of course, which is the only Canadian lineage society, and she mentions all the most relevant sources for research in libraries, museums and archives, and on the web.

In the 225 years since their arrival, Loyalists and their descendants have often been instrumental in Canadian politics, education, religion, and in arts and community building. If you're interested in Canada, even if you don't have Loyalist connections, you'll find this an interesting read.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Canada's First Chief Herald, Robert Watt, Honoured

Tonight in New York City, U.S.A., British Columbian Robert Douglas Watt, LVO, FRHSC, will be awarded the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society's Medal for Heraldic Achievement.

This will be a gala affair - black tie - at the Racquet and Tennis Club on Park Avenue.

Robert Watt was Canada's first Chief Herald from 1998 when the Canadian Heraldic Authority was first created until his recent retirement. He grew up in West Vancouver, and before his appointment as Chief Herald, he had worked at both the Vancouver Archives and the Vancouver Museum. He is now Canadian Rideau Herald Emeritus.

"Canada’s First Chief Herald Oversaw the Creation of a National Heraldic System", College of Arms Foundation Inc.: http://www.coaf.us/events.html

The Canadian Heraldic Authority: http://www.gg.ca/heraldry/cha/index_e.asp

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Ancestry.ca and Family Search Announce Agreement - But Where is LAC?

November 11, 2008: Ancestry.ca and FamilySearch Announce Agreement to Digitize and Index Existing Canadian Censuses

[The following is from a press release dated 10 November 2008.]

Ancestry.ca announced a joint initiative with FamilySearch International to improve online access to a comprehensive collection of Canadian censuses. As part of the agreement, FamilySearch will digitize and index Canadian census records that Ancestry.ca has acquired. These digitized and indexed records will then be made available to Ancestry.ca members on the company's Web site, and the indexes will be available for free to the public at FamilySearch.org. The images will be free to qualified FamilySearch members and all FamilySearch family history centers.

FamilySearch will deliver images and indexes to Ancestry.ca for censuses from 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1916, to launch online in 2009. In return, Ancestry.ca will provide indexes to FamilySearch for the 1891 and 1901 censuses.

[Please note: Qualified FamilySearch members include indexers who submit 900 names in 90 days and receive 90 days of free image access. The validation system that will enable FamilySearch to authenticate qualified FamilySearch members will be implemented in 2009.]


Original press release quoted here as posted at: http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/home/home.jsf?pname=homeTab


Please see my previous posting, 10 November, 2008, Library & Archives Canada - What kind of partnership. Now it appears that LAC is a third party partner with FamilySearch...a wallflower as it were. Why is LAC now dealing direct with Ancestry and not with FamilySearch? And, of course, I have lots of other questions.
http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2008/11/library-archives-canada-and-ancestry.html

Lest We Forget - 11 November, 2008


Veterans' Memorials, Mountain View Cemetery,
Vancouver British Columbia. October 2008

Lest We Forget

Mountain View Cemetery, military burials information: http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/nonmarketoperations/mountainview/military/index.htm

Monday, November 10, 2008

Oh, Baby! 7th Edition - Smile For The Camera Carnival



7th Edition - Smile For The Camera
So many baby photos, which to choose? Some are truly orphaned now,
and unlikely to be identified, but here's a favourite though.
Mum with her Drummond twin cousins, born 1917, Balcarres, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Photo believed taken in 1918.
Sure hope Mum was holding on tightly.

Library & Archives Canada and Ancestry - what kind of partnership?

Library & Archives Canada today announced a "collaborative partnership" with Ancestry.ca. This announcement sounds much the same as previous announcements, although I believe the word 'collaborative' is new.

What does this partnership entail? What benefits are LAC and Canadian taxpayers and genealogists receiving from this relationship? And at what cost in money, time and autonomy?

LAC has, of course, already a relationship with Ancestry (The Generations Network). Canadian records have been digitized and indexed by Ancestry recently. Some, like the World War I attestation papers which Ancestry just released on its site, had been digitized and indexed long ago and are already available free at LAC's website. Others, like the 1891 Canadian census records, remain available only at Ancestry, for a price.

Canada has a long history now of free web access to records, and of strong volunteer participation from groups and individuals with particular experience and knowledge in digitizing and indexing Canadian materials. Are we losing this?

The news release does say that "All of the digitized records will eventually be available free of charge to users of the LAC website". That's good but how long really is eventually? And will other groups be assisted then to index those records.

And, who, or what, is deciding which Canadian records are worth digitizing?

I have asked several times to see the details of agreements between LAC and Ancestry, but so far have been denied that information. In principle, I am not against LAC having any commercial relationships, however, Canadian genealogical volunteer organizations have been apparently passed over, at least for now, in favour of this company. Why?

What policies and decisions have guided this partnership?

I have been told today by Doug Rimmer of LAC, that the Canadian open access historic censuses will all be digitized within 3 years and made available with a nominal index, both at Ancestry and at LAC's website. These are not the only records being made available to Ancestry, however.

And it will be up to LAC's own priorities when indexes and images are made available at LAC, "depending on all of the other material that is being digitized and put online. "

"This agreement meets LAC's goals of free access, non-exclusivity and value to the taxpayer. It is a non-cash agreement in which we are both sharing digital resources but neither of us is paying the other for work that is done. LAC will retain full ownership of its original records (in microfilm and any other format). This agreement will not prevent LAC from continuing to work with other genealogical partners. "

This sounds like a good deal for Ancestry. I don't necessarily think it is a good deal for Canadian researchers. But then, I still don't have the details...

Library and Archives Canada Partners with Ancestry.ca
Partnership allows unprecedented online access to Canadian historical records:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/whats-new/013-362-e.html

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Politics and Our Ancestors! Carnival of Genealogy Roundup, 59th Edition

The 59th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, "Politics and Our Ancestors! " is up now at the Creative Gene blog. Lots of interesting articles this issue - Janet Iles at her blog, Janet the Researcher, for instance, reports on an early Canadian election in 1832. No privacy policies then!

And, if you had relatives in British Columbia, Canada in the early 1950's, be sure to have a look at my submission. (You might find a name you recognize, from an unconventional source.)

Carnival of Genealogy, 59th Edition: http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2008/11/carnival-of-genealogy-59th-edition.html

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The 1914-1918 Vigil Begins Tonight

The 1914-1918 Vigil begins today, 4 November 2008.

Each evening, beginning at 5 pm, and ending at sunrise on 11 November 2008, the names of Canada’s 68,000 World War I dead will appear at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, at Canada House in Trafalgar Square, London, England and also at selected Canadian cities, although none in British Columbia.

The illuminations can be viewed on-line, however, in real time.

The names include members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Canadian Merchant Navy and the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Names are in no order or ranking, but you can search at the Vigil web site to see what time a name will appear. Choose your time zone on the site before searching.

1914-1918 Vigil Website

This memorial project, created by R.H. (Robert Holmes) Thomson and Martin Conboy, is supported by Veterans Affairs Canada and the Canadian National History Society, as well as by other donors.

It's a real shame that this project is not being featured in any British Columbia city, particularly as such a high percentage of British Columbians, like my great uncle, Bert, answered the call in World War I. Herbert George Saggers, along with too many other B.C. men, died overseas.

If this vigil is held another year, it seems to me that Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver would be the perfect place for a British Columbia event. Over 12,000 veterans rest in Mountain View, the second largest 'Field of Honour' in Canada.

Monday, November 03, 2008

11th Edition, Cabinet of Curiosities, Coming Soon

The 10th Edition of the Cabinet of Curiosities is up at Thomas MacEntee's blog, Destination: Austin Family. An emu egg and a fossil tooth are some of the wonders uncovered there. Surely the Queen approves!

The 11th Edition of the Cabinet of Curiosities is coming up in November – right here at CanadaGenealogy this time.

What will you be displaying and what will you tell us about it?

This is always a fun and informative carnival, created by Tim Abbott and usually hosted at his blog, Walking The Berkshires. During the 2008 Genea-Blogger Games, I asked for permission to host the carnival in November and Tim graciously agreed.

Submit your post by November 15th, 2008, using the Blog Carnival form.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Politics in the Family: Carnival of Genealogy - 59th Edition

Although I don't know that much about my ancestors' political views, I suspect they were often far more conservative than my own. My grandmother, born in 1884 in Manitoba, did tell me that she didn't remember much interest in women's suffrage, for instance, in her town, even though Manitoba was the first Canadian province to give women the vote. On the other hand, I heard from her that many of my Manitoba relatives (mostly Presbyterians) were interested in controlling or eliminating the availability of liquor, an interest which was at many times, almost synonymous with the campaign for women's suffrage.

Both my own parents were very interested in British Columbian and Canadian politics. My father was elected to the School Board in Vancouver, B.C. in the 1950's and he continued to work in civic and provincial politics for many years. I went to School Board meetings as a little girl apparently (sadly I don't remember) but political 'discussions' were frequent at our dinner table (especially when I was in my teens and then at university!) and I can remember attending and even helping at many teas and meetings.

Many have found British Columbia politics to be entertaining, puzzling, intriguing, and often annoying, but most will agree we've at least had colourful politicians right from the start in 1858 - 150 years ago.

My parents, originally 'young Liberals', became supporters of the British Columbia Social Credit League in British Columbia, I believe, in 1951 or '52. In 1952, William Andrew Cecil Bennett, formerly a Progressive Conservative, a Coalitionist (Liberal-Conservative) and an Independent, became the leader of the Social Credit League and the Premier of our province, a position he held continuously till 1972.

Many former Liberals and Conservatives joined the party in the early 1950's. Whatever else one may say about him, W.A.C. Bennett (known often by both supporters and detractors as 'Wacky' Bennett) forged a very British Columbian political party in both style and content.

Some time ago I found a Social Credit Women's Auxiliary Cookbook [c. 1954] and indexed the names of recipe contributors from Mrs. William Aberhart and Mrs. Robert Accand to Mrs. M. B. Wright and Mrs. Alex Yuchym. Mrs. Aberhart (Jessie Flatt) was the wife of the founder of Social Credit in Alberta, Canada, but many of the names are of 'ordinary people' from British Columbia. You may notice that Buda Brown, who I've mentioned before, doesn't have a recipe in the cookbook. I believe she and her husband, who had been a Coalitionist and was defeated in 1952, may not have joined the party till 1954 or 1955. Otherwise, I'm sure she'd have contributed one - perhaps a bread recipe since her husband was an owner of Wild Rose Mills in Vancouver and she apparently was known for her bread baking.

Have a look at my index, posted on Rootsweb, to see if any of your British Columbia family members are listed.

Surnames A - L: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/can-british-columbia/2005-04/1112756714

Surnames M - Y: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/can-british-columbia/2005-04/1112757110

Buda Brown: Women and the Vote in British Columbia, 1956: http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2008/10/buda-brown-women-and-vote-in-british.html