Talks, conferences and exhibitions updates from PRONI

An update on forthcoming events in Belfast at PRONI (www.proni.gov.uk):

Due to the demand, two additional Explore the Archives workshops have been added for 11th March and 22nd April - the first is now booked out, but there are spaces available on 22 April still. Here's the breakdown on the day:

Wednesday 22 April 2015 2.00pm - 4.30pm
Explore Archives Online, 2pm
Using the Documents (searching for, ordering and viewing original documents), 3pm
Using Ordnance Survey Maps, 4pm


Talks

YOUR FAMILY TREE - 10 week Talks Programme (11th Mar-13th May, 2015)

To help you start exploring your genealogy, PRONI will be running a ten-week lecture series, exploring some of the key archival sources you can use to trace your family history.

Starting on Wednesday 11th March 2015 at 1pm (and running every Wednesday until 13th May), the first talk will be based on ‘Getting Started’.

The program of talks looks like this:

11th March - Getting Started by Janet Hancock
18th March - Using Street Directories by Des McCabe
25th March - Church Records by Valerie Adams
1st April - World War One Ancestors by Ian Montgomery
8th April - Education Records by Valerie Adams
15th April - Board of Guardian Records by Janet Hancock
22nd April - Valuation Records by William McAfee
29th April - Landed Estate Records by Stephen Scarth
6th May - Courts, Prisons and Coroners records by Wesley Geddis
13th May - GRONI by Emma Elliott.

Contact PRONI to reserve a place.


Exhibitions

Londonderry Papers Exhibition at Comber Library
When: 2nd February to 27th Feburary
Where: Comber Library

The exhibition will focus on the ‘Ark’ club set up by Edith, Lady Londonderry in 1915 and immortalised in the Dodo Terrace at her gardens at Mountstewart.

Members of the Ark club read like a roll call of the great and the good in British and Irish society at the time. Members were given a nickname, based on an animal or a mythical creature. So, Winston Churchill became ‘Winston the Warlock’ and Charles, Lord Londonderry, became ‘Charlie the Cheetah’

For further details please contact Comber Library on Tel. 028 9187 2610.


Conferences

HALF-DAY CONFERENCE: ‘Seeking Refuge: Germany and Ireland in the 1930’s.’
When: 3 February – starting at 2pm
Where: PRONI

To mark Holocaust Memorial Day, PRONI will be hosting a half-day conference examining the impact of the rise of the Nazi regime on Jewish communities in Germany and Northern Ireland. Speakers will draw from papers held in PRONI and other archives, exploring stories of individuals and communities as well as considering the wider political context. In keeping with this year’s theme of ‘Keeping the Memory Alive’ the conference will consider how these stories can be uncovered and made accessible for future generations.

The contributors will include:

Dr Bethany Sinclair (DCAL)
One letter, one voice, multiple archives: the case of Leopold Pollak;

Linda McKenna (Down County Museum)
‘Finding Refuge: The Millisle Farm Story’ developing an on-line learning resource for schools;

Lorraine Bourke (PRONI)
Relations between the United Kingdom and Germany in the 1930s with a focus on the papers of Lord Londonderry.


Ulster Scots Connections - People, Place and Practice

PRONI is working in partnership with the Ministerial Advisory Group on Ulster Scots, the Ulster Scots Agency and the Ulster-Scots Community Network, to host a six week talks series commencing 20 May 2015. Lectures will alternate between PRONI and Corn Exchange at 1pm. Speakers will include: Cormac McSparron, Andrew Gault, Laura Spence, Frank Ferguson & Kathryn White. More details to follow shortly.

(With thanks to the PRONI Express newsletter)

Chris

For details on my range of genealogy guide books please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. To commission me for genealogical research, please visit my research site at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk.