Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Royal Tour - Canada, 1939

Specially for those leaving Rootstech 2013 with one of my CanadaGenealogy postcards showing King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mum) in Manitoba, Canada in 1939. 

Yes, the tour was to enlist support in the war to come, but since this was the first time a reigning monarch had visited, it was an event of great interest to many Canadians, as it was with Canada's Prime Minister Mackenzie King who travelled with the royal couple during their trip to Canada and to the United States, the first time ever that a reigning monarch had visited the U.S.

Here are a few links which may interest you.


The Royal Visit, ONFB,1939 (film, 90 min.) National Film Board of Canada: http://www.nfb.ca/film/royal_visit/

The Story of the Canadian Royal Train of 1939, timeline,ThemeTrains.com: http://www.themetrains.com/royal-train-timeline.htm

Their Majesties in Canada: The 1939 Royal Tour, radio clips, etc. CBC Digital Archives: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/society/the-monarchy/their-majesties-in-canada-the-1939-royal-tour/topic---their-majesties-in-canada-the-1939-royal-tour.html  

Behind the Diary [of William Lyon McKenzie King], Politics, Themes, and Events from King's Life -
The Royal Tour of 1939 [archived pages at Library and Archives Canada]: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/king/023011-1070.06-e.html

 The British Royal Visit [to the USA], June 7-12, 1939, text, photos and film, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum: http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/aboutfdr/royalvisit.html

The Travelling Genealogist – and her Gadgets – Rootstech Day 1

Day 1 of Rootstech 2013 I attended “The Genealogist's Gadget Bag – International Panel”.

Since I like gadgets and know the moderator, Jill Ball, and met her in person this week (albeit on-line during Monday's With Myrt - see the video here), I was very interested in attending.

Panelists were A. C. Ivory, Marie Dougan, and Heather Wilkinson Rojo (bloggers all). While I wouldn't have called this an international panel (an Australian, a Scot, and 2 USians), it was fun to 'see' their bags, and hear how alike they are in their choices of personal portable 'stuff'.

An Ipad with appropriate apps seemed the top choice, although when it came down to 'one item' only, Jill voted for her Samsung Galaxy 3 phone because she fnds it so versatile. She also showed her anti-theft 'safe' bag, Marie Dougan wants her Sat Nav, and A. C. Ivory carries a car charger which can also be plugged in anywhere for power. Sometimes, especially when researching for clients, we need extra security for electronic files, so password protected and encrypted flash drives were on Marie's list. Many sensible, low cost and low tech items were considered important too from Marie's paper and pencil for archival trips to 'a friend' for Heather's cemetery trips.

In the future they wanted to see –

- an app to convert 16th, 17th century writing to text (FamilySearch is working on that!)

- gadgets that don't need chargers, sticks, etc.

- a device that combines the best qualities of both the Android and Ipod

- and a portable Internet connection, small enough for a backpack (There is such a thing already, but I don't think these work seamlessly in the Australian outback or the wilds of British Columbia either, as we would like.)

What's in my own gadget bag this trip?? 

My Android phone (which I don't think I ever want to be without, with a # of useful apps, including the Rootstech 2013 app, along with a hookup to Dropbox, one of my very faves), my digital camera, half a dozen flash drives, and Minnie, my netbook (named for a great Auntie) -and all their assorted gear, chargers, power cords, batteries, etc. (I'll be happy to do without those someday.) Oh, yes, and a few safety pins, some 'scotch' tape, a couple of plastic envelopes to hold conference papers, a nifty little red notebook that fits in my pocket or purse, and a tiny folding umbrella, the essential gadget in my opinion, along with my phone – good for rain, snow and sunshine, all of which we've seen in Salt Lake City this week!








Saturday, March 23, 2013

RootsTech - Day 2 – couldbeanywherehistory.com – Creating Virtual Towns

Here at Rootstech 2013, we're certainly seeing and experiencing all the variety of Utah's weather – when we aren't inside, that is, listening in sessions, asking questions, hamming it up (ok – that's mostly thegeneabloggers) or having a look at all that's new in genealogy in the Expo hall.

I have been tweeting, at least as long as my phone battery has held out, but I'll catch up with blog posts over the next few days. On Twitter, follow the #rootstech hashtag.

Daily Rootstech 2013 sends a survey asking for our 'favorite' [spelling] session of the day. Today, hands down, that was “Creating Virtual New England Community Archives”. Thank you, David Allan Lambert!

His website, which he's been working on over the last 7 years, is focused on Stoughton, Massachusetts, USA: http://www.stoughtonhistory.com 

I liked his introductory story of his early interest in his own house and the town, and his later 'adoption' of Stoughton history as a personal project. (I've never been to Stoughton, and as far as I know, have no relatives from there, although I am somewhat familiar with the 1920s execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for murder, and I see information on the site about Sacco's time in Stoughton and residents' reaction to the case.)

Attendance was low for this session; perhaps 'New England' in the title put people off? But the talk's description was pretty clear – and this session was full of ideas useful to anyone, or any group, looking at building a location based historical/genealogical website. 

Since I already have one of those, I had been looking forward to hearing David Lambert – and I wasn't disappointed. 

In fact, I've already thought of 2 or 3 ways to adapt some of his suggestions to my existing projects, for example, using Find A Grave to construct virtual cemeteries, of veterans, perhaps.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Beta Sigma Phi - Greater Vancouver BC lookups

For those who've asked after reading my post, Beta Sigma Phi Children's Party Vancouver 1953, I do have a (mixed) collection of Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Beta Sigma Phi materials from the 1950s to the 1980s, including some member rosters, a scrapbook, newspaper clippings, a few photographs and the history book, Golden Reflections - A Member's Impressions of the History of Beta Sigma Phi in Vancouver (50th Anniversary Edition) by D. L. Hatton.  I''m willing to do lookups.

Some BC archives have had chapter records donated. Search MemoryBC for these: http://memorybc.ca/ 




CanadaGenealogy at RootsTech 2013


Here I am in Salt Lake City! How the city has changed since I was here last, but the Library is very much the same.



So far, I've had a grand time. One of my many reasons for coming this year was to meet some of my on-line genealogy friends and colleagues. So far I've met quite a few - in one very funny case, right on-line. How Web 2.-3. is that!  (There are almost 80 geneabloggers attending this year. Perhaps we should now have geneablogger and geneawebmaster life lists as birders do?)

I had the pleasure and privilege of attending DearMyrtle's historic 'Mondays with Myrt' broadcast on Monday from the Family History Library. If you missed that, it's archived on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/DearMYRTLE 

And, of course, I've been in the Family History Library - so far pursuing a recently located criminal relative. And checking out an old will with lots of family info. (Thank you, Thomas Adams, ggggrandpa, innkeeper at Shipham, Somerset, England.) 

I spent much of yesterday in the Salt Lake City Cemetery taking photographs, etc. This is the first time I remember using my phone so extensively in a cemetery. A little girl asked 'what was I doing?' Yes, I did call home to my little girl once, but mostly I was looking at maps on the cemetery's site at http://www.slcgov.com/cemetery and individual grave details on www.namesinstone.com. And thinking I might upload some photos to www.BillionGraves.com too.  

Today it's a Library day again - and tonight is early registration for RootsTech 2013!  More later....