Now&Then 40 - October 2009

• Online news
• Christmas and New Year Opening Hours
• Satisfaction Survey 2009
• Flickr update
• State Records on YouTube
• Are you on Twitter?
• Probate packets recalled by the Supreme Court
• Archives Outside - Blog update
• Purchasing Microfilms or Microfiche
• Who do you think you are? Series 2
• Spotlight on Ancestry.com at SRNSW
• Exhibition
• Upcoming talks and tours

Online news

The latest additions to online indexes and resources on our website include:

1. *NEW* Archives in Brief (AIB) 119 – How to find probate and deceased estates

Ever wondered whether your ancestor had a probate or a deceased estate file? Archives in Brief 119 provides handy guidelines to track down a probate and deceased estate file including step by step instructions.

*NEW* Archives in Brief (AIB) 120 – Gold mining

Goldmining can be a challenging field of research. The series listed in this Archives in Brief may assist you with this research.

 2. New Subject Guide – Guide to NSW State archives relating to Responsible Government 

We are currently in the process of making the useful Guide to Responsible Government accessible via the website. It will be located via the Guides and Finding Aids webpage under Subject Guides. We will keep you posted on its development!

3. Crime and punishment gallery

More crime abounds at State Records with a new addition to the Digital Gallery called "Crime and Punishment." Convicts and former convicts were not the only ones to be caught up in the scandals, crimes and corruption of the past. The 60 kilometres of NSW State archives include many records about others who found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Of these records, some of the most useful and informative are the gaol photographs. The practice of photographing prisoners for inclusion in the description books commenced late in the nineteenth century and continued into the twentieth century. In addition to the image of the prisoner these records generally provide information on the person's native place; year of birth; details of arrival in the colony; trade or occupation, religion, degree of education and a physical description as well as where and when the trial took place.

• View examples of these records at Crime and Punishment on the Digital Gallery

Christmas and New Year Opening Hours

Christmas is creeping up on us! Here are our opening/closing hours:

Friday 25 December (Christmas Day) - CLOSED
Saturday 26 December (Boxing Day) - CLOSED
Monday 28 December - CLOSED
Tuesday 29 December - OPEN
Wednesday 30 December - OPEN
Thursday 31 December - OPEN
Friday 1 January (New Years Day) - CLOSED
Saturday 2 January - CLOSED

Satisfaction Survey 2009

During October we are conducting a satisfaction survey to help us plan and improve our services. We are keen to receive your comments and criticisms and suggestions on our services and facilities. You will be able to complete the short survey questionnaire online or you can complete a printed copy when you visit the reading rooms.

Respondents will also have the chance of winning a copy of the Old Register One to Nine on DVD. The DVD priced at $125.00 includes information on land transactions, shipping agreements, bills of sale and other contracts made in the colony from 1794 to 1824.

Flickr update

Have you discovered the new Galleries feature on Flickr? It builds on the ability to 'fave' other people's photos by allowing you "to curate up to 18 public photos or videos of your fellow members into one place." We have had three of our photos added to other Flickr Galleries, one of them being "Dogs In The Archives".

We created our first gallery of "Snow In The Archives - Brrrr!" A collection of wintry, snowy, chilly themed images from archives, libraries and museums around the world.

Additions to our photostream include:

• maps and plans some of which are beautiful plans of school buildings and hotels. 
• a series of 'soldier settlement images' which show the clearing of land, construction of houses, crops and farming activities on soldier settlements established following World War 1.

Also, check out the interesting commentary on this image of an "[Unidentified] Weather Station"
Please add your own comment if you can help!

We now have 908 items viewed over 37,000 times. Not sure if we'll make the 1000 by the end of the year but we'll try. If you don't have a Flickr account you can still browse these photos, many of which are also available on Photo Investigator.

State Records on YouTube

The theme for History Week this year was "Scandals, Crime and Corruption: A wild journey through the dark shadows of our past." In keeping with this criminal theme we put together an entertaining video about the criminal underworld of Sydney in the 1840s. The video features extracts from the journal "Registry of Flash Men" narrated by its writer ‘William Augustus Miles’ (aka Fabian LoSchiavo).

You can watch the YouTube video here.

The "Registry of Flash Men" journal was an official surveillance record by William Augustus Miles who was Superintendent, then Commissioner, of Sydney Police in New South Wales from July 1840 to July 1848. Miles held the belief that much crime was caused by the contamination of innocent people, and that most of the crime in Sydney was the result of former convicts mixing with free immigrants. He believed that the criminal class required constant surveillance by the police.

You can view the complete manuscript and transcription here.

You can also subscribe to our State Records YouTube Channel here. Where you will find other videos on Family History and Conservation at State Records NSW.

Are you on Twitter?

We have been using this new media to make contact (or tweet) with other archives/libraries/museums and as a newsflash tool for additions to our website/blogs and general information about our archival holdings, reading rooms, events and activities. 

If you are unfamiliar with the tweet-o-sphere, Twitter allows you to 'tweet' answers to the question What Are You Doing? The catch is that you can only use 140 characters. People who follow your tweets are your "Tweeps" and you can become one of ours at by clicking here.

What about Facebook?

You can also find us on Facebook.

Probate packets recalled by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is continuing the recall of probate packets (100 boxes at a time) for re-listing. While the packets are with the Supreme Court they will be temporarily unavailable for access by members of the public. Currently Probate Packets Numbers 182476-192563 Box numbers 1241-1648 these numbers cover the period 2/8/1932-28/11/1933 (date probate was granted) are temporarily unavailable for access.

We will keep our website up to date with a list of the packets that are at the Supreme Court and not available.

Archives Outside - Blog update

The Archives Outside blog has been a great success. Created back in May it is a 'meeting place' for people who manage archival collections and researchers who wish to access them.

Our readership base is steadily growing and we have enjoyed receiving your comments and suggestions. There are plenty of posts to keep you busy and some new 'blog series' to boot.

Our most popular post to date is:

• Using shadows to date photographs.

Make sure to read the follow-up post, too:

• Using shadows to date photographs (part 2)

A Day in the life of a State archive

We had a lot of fun bringing you a blog series called "A Day in the Life of a State Archive". If you haven't read it yet you will find the first of the four part series here.

This is a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the procedures and policies we have in place to make State archives accessible in the reading room at Western Sydney. Written under the pseudonym "Ann Item", we follow the ‘life’ of Dame Nellie Melba’s Probate Packet; an archive [an item] which has been pre-ordered online by a researcher to be viewed in the reading room. Follow her adventures as she is retrieved, checked for damage, viewed and copied.

Can you date this photograph?

Our popular new series is called "Moments in Time..." a weekly series of posts in which we ask you to help us identify and/or date photographs in our collection.

Whether it be the when, what, or where, we hope to fill in some of the blanks in the image descriptions. Many photographs in our collection are undated or we have been unable to verify the location in the image. To be able to do so would be beneficial to those who use the records.

If you would like to keep up to date with what's happening on the blog you can subscribe via email  or RSS.

Purchasing Microfilms or Microfiche

Did you know that you can purchase microfilm reels and microfiche (microform)? This offer is open to individuals or groups/societies. To find out if records have been copied onto microform you can check the Archives in Brief leaflets, the short/subject guides and Archives Investigator. There is usually a range of microform numbers making up a record series (if copied). The cost is $50.00 per microfilm reel or $2.75 per microfiche. There are over 6000 microfilm reels of some of the key NSW State archives. In addition there are several thousand microfiche.
There is a microform order form online. This page also includes links to the microform contents of the Archives Resources Kit (ARK) microforms and lists of the microform copies of the convict records that are available for sale - but as mentioned this is only a selection of what can be purchased.

Please note that microform copies of the records of the former Aborigines Welfare Board are not available for purchase.

Who do you think you are? Series 2

The new series of Who Do You Think You Are? Commenced on SBS television on Sunday 27 September. This entertaining series again features well-known Australians who play detective as they go in search of their family history, revealing secrets and surprises from the past. Some of the records used are from our holdings. This series, while being very entertaining highlights how you can trace your family history using the archives. Celebrities in this series include Ron Barassi, Sigrid Thornton, Ben Mendelsohn, Maggie Beer, Christine Anu and John Butler.

To find out more visit the SBS Website.

Spotlight on Ancestry.com at SRNSW

We have recently made Ancestry.com available to access free of charge in both reading rooms. Six computers in each location are dedicated to the Ancestry online resources. This genealogy research tool provides readers with access to a wide range of resources for genealogical and historical research. With more than 1.5 billion names in over 4,000 databases, Ancestry includes military records; court, land and probate records; vital and church records; directories; passenger lists and more! Ancestry includes records from all over the world including Italy, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and of course Australia – just to name a few. Ancestry also includes UK censuses which cover England, Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

The collections are continuously expanding, with new content added every day.

Using Ancestry.com to research State archives

So, how can researchers use ancestry to search the NSW State archives? Well there are many resources on ancestry that relate to our records.

One example is the Unassisted Passenger Lists dating up to 1922. No date of arrival? No name of the ship? No problem! As many of you are aware there are no indexes which can be searched by surname for unassisted arrivals up to 1922. In the not so distant past researchers who had no date of arrival or name of a ship have been at their wits end trawling through reels of unassisted passenger lists searching for that elusive ancestor – it is now possible to search the NSW Unassisted Passenger Lists 1826-1922 by name and to view a digital scan of the original record on Ancestry. While Ancestry has made this search easier it does not change the fact that often the original list may have only recorded very limited information relating to each passenger - for example Mr & Mrs White and infant.

Also available on Ancestry.com are the following relevant databases:

• NSW & Tasmania Convict Pardons & Tickets of leave 1834-1859

• Convict muster rolls and related records, 1790-1849

• NSW & Tasmania settler & Convict lists, 1784-1834

• NSW Bounty Immigrant lists 1828-42

• Certificates of Naturalisation 1849-1903

• Sands Directory and MANY MORE!

Researchers can print from the Ancestry computers for a fee of $0.45 per page. Depending on the popularity of Ancestry in the reading rooms we may need to take bookings however at the present you do not have to book. You are welcome to come into our reading rooms and start searching, who knows where it will lead you!

Exhibition

The In Living Memory NSW tour has just opened at University Gallery, Newcastle and will be on display until 7 November 2009. The tour will visit another six New South Wales venues until late 2010, including Moruya, Bega, Wagga Wagga, Cootamundra, Dubbo and Broken Hill.

Check the exhibition webpage for venue details and updates.

In Living Memory is also still on display at State Records Gallery in The Rocks.

Exhibition Talks & Tours are available for small groups of 5-20 people, weekdays between 10 am and 4 pm.

In Living Memory exhibition
State Records Gallery
Sydney Records Centre
2 Globe Street (off George Street)
The Rocks
FREE ENTRY
9am - 5pm, Mon - Fri
10 am - 4pm, Sat
Closed public holidays

Enquiries & Exhibition Tour bookings (02) 8247 8660.

Upcoming talks and tours

Working Life in Windsor

Lindsay Allen will present a talk to the Hawkesbury Family History Group on Working life in Windsor
14 October 10:00am Windsor Library
Contact: Michelle Nicholls
Phone: 4560 4466

Lithgow and District Family History Society Seminar

Lindsay Allen will be presenting two talks as part of the Lithgow and District Family History Society Seminar. The morning talk will be on Immigration records and the afternoon talk will be on Divorce Records.
31 October Club Lithgow, Lithgow Street, Lithgow 9:00am – 4:30pm
Contact: Jan Saundercock
Contact email: harjan46@yahoo.com.au

‘Lost In….’ Seminar

Christine Yeats will be presenting at Society of Australian Genealogists Conference on the theme of ‘black sheep’ research.
Orange 7 & 8 Nov 9:00am-4:00pm
Contact: Society of Australian Genealogists
Phone: 9247 3953

Making the most of the Archives Resources Kit and An update on State Records' resources

Christine Yeats will present this talk at Griffith Library.
14 November 10:30am
Contact: Pam Young
Email: Pam.Young@griffith.nsw.gov.au 

Nepean Retired Men’s Club

Lindsay Allen will present “Murder Most Foul” featuring records of the criminal courts, police gazette, and gaol records.
18 November, Uniting Church Evans Street, Penrith 10:30am-12:00pm

Bega Valley Genealogical Society

Lindsay Allen will be presenting two talks.
21 November, Old Pambula Court House
Contact: Ursula Hunt (Secretary)
Email: i.u.hunt@acr.net.au 

What's held at the Sydney Records Centre

Christine Yeats will present this talk to the Burwood Family History Society
23 November 7:00pm
Burwood Central Library, 4 Marmaduke Street, Burwood.
Contact: Kath Florence
Phone: 9799 2107

State Records online and reading room resources and A selection of lesser known resources.

2 December 10:00am, Cessnock City Library
Contact: Rose-Marie Walters
Email: Rose-marie.Walters@cessnock.nsw.gov.au

For further information check the online events program or ring Lindsay Allen on (02) 9673 1788.