Canadian Expeditionary Force Service Files digitisation update

Library and Archives Canada has announced that it has now digitised 491,373 of 640,000 Canadian Expeditionary Force Service Files, available in its Personnel Records of the First World War project site at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/personnel-records.aspx. The latest box digitised is Box 8363 (of 10686), with the last name included being Robertson.

For more on CEF records please visit www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/personnel-records.aspx.

(With thanks to LAC at https://thediscoverblog.com/2017/09/15/digitization-of-the-canadian-expeditionary-force-personnel-service-files-update-of-september-2017/)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

1921 Canadian Census online at LAC

The 1921 Canadian Census has been made freely available online at the Library and Archives Canada website (www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng).

From the site:

About the Census of Canada 1921 database

If you have ever been keen to research genealogy, a simple search in the 1921 Census database will give you access to a vast amount of historical information, including the following:

Dwelling, house
Family, household or institution
Name of each person in the dwelling, including:
relationship to the head of the household
gender
marital status
age
country of birth and nationality
religion
language
race
literacy level and education
profession, occupation and employment status

Visit the Library and Archives Canada website and start your 1921 Census database search today!

To search the database visit www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/Pages/2017/1921-Census-Canada.aspx.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Irish censuses transcription errors

There's an interesting article at http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/genealogy/irish-census-names-translated-into-gibberish-by-canadian-institute about transcription errors made during the digitisation and indexing of the Irish 1901 and 1911 censuses (available at www.genealogy.nationalarchives.ie), a project carried out by Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca) on behalf of the National Archives of Ireland (www.nationalarchives.ie), from 2006-2010.

The principle problems arose from the fact that many of the Canadian staff employed were unfamiliar both with Irish names and the old style of handwriting in Ireland known as seanchló, resulting in names such as Ua Conchubhair or Ní Conchubhair being instead rendered as Na Concubaip or Ni Concubsip.

As ever, in any database, there will be transcription errors for many reasons. In the 1901 census, for example, my wife's great grandfather is indexed as Thomas Prendergast Kilonerry, rather than Thomas Prendergast, because he wrote his townland of origin beside his signature at the bottom of the page, which the indexer mistook for a surname. Where possible, it is useful to try to browse a record collection as well as search through it by keyword - you may recognise names that an indexer has mistaken or indeed omitted.

Despite the problems that emerge, however, imagine the world of genealogy without such searchable databases?!

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Canadian Photographic Albums of Settlement 1892-1917

The following collection has been released on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) which may be of possible interest to those with Candian connections:

Canada, Photographic Albums of Settlement, 1892-1917
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=9212

About Canada, Photographic Albums of Settlement, 1892-1917

This collection consists of photographic albums compiled within the Department of the Interior in the period from 1892 to 1917, then maintained in the Immigration Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources from 1936 to 1939. The albums contain photographs primarily taken by photographers John Woodruff and Horatio N. Topley, who were either employed by or on contract to the Department of the Interior, and who undertook a number of journeys in the period from 1903-1914 to complete the photographs in the albums. Included are views relating to agriculture, railroads, ports, cities, and immigration in virtually every province and territory in Canada (excluding Newfoundland).

The photographs have not been indexed but images are available for browsing. At the beginning of each album, you will find a table of contents with a brief description of each photograph and the photograph number. Use these tables to help you browse to the photograph of interest.

The collection is sourced from Library and Archives Canada - Photographic Albums of Canadian Settlement. 47 albums. Department of the Interior Fonds. R190-0-3-E.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

New Canadian based Home Children organisations guide

Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca) has added a new guide to its website detailing the various sending and receiving organisations both in the UK and Canada involved with the movement of British Home Children from 1869-1932.

The guide includes background information about the respective organisations and and details on where to research them, including at Library and Archives Canada, Other Institutions, Research Online, and Research in Published Sources.

To access the guide visit www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/home-children-1869-1930/home-children-guide/Pages/guide-organizations-receiving-homes.aspx

(With thanks to the LAC blog at http://thediscoverblog.com/2015/12/10/home-children-a-guide-to-sending-organizations-and-receiving-homes/)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Canadian War of 1812 database launched

Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca) has launched a new database on resources concerning the War of 1812, with records on Canadian participants in the conflict, a two and a half year conflict which involved forces from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and which was considered by many in the United States to be its second war of independence.

A list of the records contained in the database is available at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/war-of-1812/Pages/introduction.aspx, whilst the database itself can be searched at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/war-of-1812/Pages/search.aspx.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Canadian Expeditionary Force service files digitisation update

Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca) has announced an update on its project to digitise its service files for the Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers who served in the First World War. many of the soldiers were recent immigrants from Britain and Ireland, my grandmother's cousin Robert Currie amongst them.

The archive has now digitised some 217,062 of 640,000 files, with more work ongoing. The archive is essentially doing them in alphabetical order.

For more information, visit the archive's dedicated blog at http://thediscoverblog.com/2015/11/16/digitization-of-the-canadian-expeditionary-force-personnel-service-files-update-of-november-2015/.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Immigrants to Canada, Porters and Domestics, 1899–1949

Library and Archives Canada have been busy, with yet another database released that may be of interest to those with emigrant ancestors.

The Immigrants to Canada, Porters and Domestics, 1899–1949 dataset is sourced from the Central Registry Files series of the Immigration Branch (RG76 BIA) at the archive, amongst other sources, and contains 8600 names.

The dataset is accessible at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/porters-domestics-1899-1949/Pages/search.aspx

(With thanks to the LAC blog)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Canadian naturalisation database extended

The Canadian national archive, Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca), has updated its naturalisations database. From the archive's blog:

Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the online database Naturalization Records, 1915-1951. The nominal index has been extended with the addition of more than 68,000 names and now covers the years from 1915 to 1944, inclusively. Work is ongoing to extend the nominal index to 1951, and volunteers are welcome to help. Those interested should write to Cdn-Nat-Coord@jgs-montreal.org.

For further details visit http://thediscoverblog.com/2015/11/04/naturalization-records-1915-1951-database-2015-update/. The database itself is accessible at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/citizenship-naturalization-records/naturalized-records-1915-1951/Pages/introduction.aspx

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Canada, WWII Service Files of War Dead, 1939-1947

A collection released a couple of weeks back by Ancestry's Canadian wing may be of interest to those in the UK with Canadian connections.

Entitled Canada, WWII Service Files of War Dead, 1939-1947, it is available at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=9145 via a Worldwide subscription, and carries the following description on the site:

Canada entered the Second World War on 10 September 1939. More than a million Canadians served in the armed forces, representing about 10 percent of the entire population. Around 45,000 lost their lives.

This collection contains case files of nearly 45,000 Canadian military personnel killed in the Second World War. Over 29,000 of the case files have been indexed and can be searched using the provided search fields. Images for the remaining case files may be browsed, and will be indexed in a later update to this collection.

The files include attestation papers, death certificates, and photos of the soldiers. Information found on the documents varies, but can include a wide variety of details, such as:

soldier's name
date and place of birth
address
religion
marital status
names and birthdates of children
military service
physical description
education
occupational history
parents’ names
next of kin and address

Some records are in French. Use the arrow keys to make sure you see all the pages related to your ancestor.

The source is Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx)

Sherman tank as a war memorial, North York, Toronto

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Canadian First World War army service records update

Library and Archives Canada has announced a further update to its Soldiers of the First World War: 1914–1918 database at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/canadian-expeditionary-force.aspx. There are now 155,110 of 640,000 files available, just under a quarter, with more to come soon.

For more on the news visit the archive's blog at http://thediscoverblog.com/2015/05/15/digitization-of-the-canadian-expeditionary-force-personnel-service-files-update-of-may-2015/.

Chris

The latest British GENES podcast is available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/podcasts.html. For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

New version of Canadian Directories database released by LAC

Library and Archives Canada has released a new version of its Canadian Directories database at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/directories-collection/Pages/search.aspx. The site contains directories for the Ontario cities of Hamilton, Kingston and London and for the counties of Southwestern Ontario.

For more on the announcement, visit the archive's dedicated blog at http://thediscoverblog.com/2015/01/29/canadian-directories-online/

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.

Canadian Expeditionary Force records digitisation project update

Library and Archives Canada has posted an update on the progress of its digitisation project to provide free access to its First World War service records for those who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. 76,330 files are now online via its Soldiers of the First World War 1914-1918 website, with 5000 new file additions expected every fortnight.

The full story is at http://thediscoverblog.com/2014/10/16/current-status-of-the-digitization-of-the-canadian-expeditionary-force-personnel-service-files/

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And please consider purchasing the great new version of Caledonia by The Libations at 79p via www.caledonia2014.com - all profits go to help fund Scottish foodbanks

More on the UK's archives - international comparison

Yesterday I wrote a blog post comparing the provisions of the three national archives of the United Kingdom (as presently constituted) - the National Archives at Kew, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast, and the National Records of Scotland at Edinburgh. The blog post, available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/comparing-uks-three-national-archives.html, was designed to flag up how far behind the National Records of Scotland is falling in terms of providing an acceptable user service, in comparison to its sister sites. Several people have responded with their own experiences - thanks to those who have, and please do keep them coming!

John Reid of the Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections blog, has now taken the same criteria that I used in my comparison to reflect on Canada's national archive provision in Ottawa, at the Library and Archives Canada facility. It's an interesting read, available at http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/how-does-lac-rate.html. I amended my post this morning to add one final category - is it enjoyable to visit? - which is not included in John's assessment, though I think I can guess the result! Canada's facility, which I visited a couple of years ago, has been under quite an assault of its own in recent times, and at the archive conference hosted by CAIS in Dundee that I attended in April 2013 there was much solidarity shown between British archivists and that from the Canadian archive sector.

I'd be interested to know how national archives elsewhere in the world compare - New Zealand, Australia, the Republic of Ireland, Europe, the United States? What makes for best practice from a genealogical user's point of view, what really doesn't work, and what innovations can be made that you think might improve the picture at your national archive, whether here in the UK or elsewhere around the world?

Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa

Search room at LAC

(With thanks to John)

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And FindmyPast - please reinstate the original Scottish census citations on your new site.

Library and Archives Canada podcast - Between the Sheets

The latest podcast from Library and Archives Canada is entitled Between the Sheets, and looks at the archives sheet music collection. To access the podcast, visit the archive's blog at http://thediscoverblog.com/2014/07/09/library-and-archives-canada-releases-twelfth-podcast-episode-between-the-sheets/.

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And FindmyPast - please reinstate the original Scottish census citations on your new site.

United Empire Loyalists records guide at LAC

Library and Archives Canada has uploaded a blog post detailing its records holdings on United Empire Loyalists - essentially those colonists who fought on the British side during the American Revolutionary War, and who were forced to flee to several Canadian provinces after the Americans' victory.

The LAC guide is accessible at http://thediscoverblog.com/2014/05/08/the-united-empire-loyalists-finding-their-records/ - further records are also held in provincial archives in Canada.

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians. And for those wishing to take Scottish ancestral research a bit further, my next Pharos course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Records, commences May 14th 2014.

Library and Archives Canada changes code of conduct

Elizabeth Lapointe has just written about a recent change to the previously draconian and Orwellian code of conduct imposed by Library and Archive Canada (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca) last year, which I previously reported on in March 2013 (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/orwellian-library-and-archives-canada.html).

It seems that the institution has recently backed down from its previous requirements, which had imposed several major restrictions on the staff's ability to express an opinion and on any “teaching, speaking at conferences, and other personal engagements", which was apparently high risk and dangerous, and able to lead to conflicts with staff members' duties, including their "duty of loyalty".

For the full story visit http://genealogycanada.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/lacs-new-code-of-conduct-nouveau-code.html or the Canadian Association of University Teachers' site at www.caut.ca/news/2014/03/25/lac-s-new-code-of-conduct.

(With thanks to Elizabeth and the CAUT)

Chris

Time to find your inner Irish...! All the best online Irish genealogy resources can be found through my book Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet - in print and ebook formats. "Very useful, makes me wish I was Irish!" - Saint Patrick, patron saint.

Daniel Carron steps down from Library and Archives Canada

Wow.

Daniel Carron has just announced that he is leaving his post as head of Library and Archives Canada - here's his official announcement:

I am informing you of my decision to leave Library and Archives Canada as of today. Over the last four years, we have made a lot of progress in modernizing our institution. I am very proud of the accomplishments and conscious of the work yet to be done. The challenges remain vast and fascinating. I now believe it is time for someone else to take on and build the necessary support to continue to make the institution increasingly responsive to the digital environment. I would like to thank all of those who have largely contributed to the progress made and encourage you to continue this collaboration

Readers of this blog and others will know just how much of a crisis the Canadian archive sector has been undergoing in recent months - at an archive conference I went to in Dundee two weeks ago, attended by many delegates from Canada, the sense of despair and frustration was palpable.

Will this change things in Canada? Watch this space - but I can only assume a few bottles of champagne may be drunk tonight. To archivists in Canada, savour the moment, and hopefully this marks a turning point!

The official announcement can be read in full and bilingually at http://clagov.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/daniel-caron/

(With thanks to Penny Holt)

UPDATE: And here's why he went! See www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/head-of-library-and-archives-resigns-after-billing-taxpayers-for-spanish-lessons-207605161.html

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers, starts May 15th - see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/scotland-1750-1850-beyond-oprs-starts.html. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Orwellian Library and Archives Canada?

Crikey. It's all going a bit pear shaped in Ottawa, with the latest developments from Library and Archives Canada (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca). If you're not up to speed here's the last time I covered it on British GENES, from June last year - http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/canadian-archive-crisis.html.

Anybody who has been following the situation knows that morale has been plummeting in recent months at the facility. The latest development from LAC now is a new 23 page code of conduct that suggests that social media is a threat when used by archivists as it might undermine "a public servant’s duty of loyalty to the elected government", with acts such as blogging potentially leading to "disciplinary action". Staff are also encouraged to squeal about wrongdoers, and then it all gets apparently Orwellian: “teaching, speaking at conferences, and other personal engagements" is apparently high risk and dangerous, which can lead to conflicts with staff members' duties and their "duty of loyalty".

Now to be fair, I attended a talk at LAC itself last year and managed to briefly film those in attendance for this blog - so I do have some evidence of just how dangerous the Ottawa crowd are:

You can see the problem - dangerous! (Aye, a tough crowd!) The code of conduct is available at www.scribd.com/doc/130187655/LAC-Code-of-Conduct-Values-and-Ethics - have a good look at pages 9 and 17.

There's a quite a bit of commentary on this - John Reid at http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/muzzling-federal-librarians.html and Sue Carter Flinn at www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/libraries/controversial-library-and-archives-canada-code-of-conduct-names-teaching-as-high-risk-activity for starters. Also the National Post in Canada http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/03/15/library-and-archives-canada/.

And here's a comment I have just read from a British based archivist on Twitter: "#Library and #Archives Canada - currently proving itself 2be the biggest basket case in our profession @ present".

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. For my other genealogy books, please visit  http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html; whilst for my online Scottish based genealogy courses please visit the Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd site.

The Canadian archive crisis

Quite a few people here were a tad annoyed when the National Archives at Kew announced revised opening hours a good few months back, and closed the premises on Mondays. A few were miffed when the National Archives of Scotland merged with the General Register Office for Scotland, and closed West Register House in Edinburgh to the public. In the Republic of Ireland, plans to merge the National Library of Ireland with the National Archives of Ireland are causing equally massive ripples also.

But folks if you think we have problems, take a look at what is happening over the water in Canada.

Library and Archives Canada (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca) is the main archival agency for Canada, known to many on this side of the pond as the partner body with the National Archives of Ireland a couple of years past in making accessible online the digitised 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses. Due to government cuts the institution and others across the country are now undergoing a massive crisis - 21 LAC archivists out of 61 are to lose their jobs, opening hours reduced to 6 hours a day on weekdays only, interlibrary loans eliminated, no new archival purchases for 10 months (at least), 11 out of 13 territorial archive councils in the country expected to collapse through withdrawn funding within 6 months, and more. Much, much, much more. A summary is available at http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/06/07/LibraryCuts/.

To say that the country's archivists and librarians are furious would be an understatement - there exists a growing state of outright hostility now between the political overlords forcing through the changes, and those who actually know and give a damn about the nation's archival heritage and record. I've been monitoring the events from this side of the Atlantic for a couple of weeks now, in the main via John Reid's excellent Anglo-Celtic Connections blog. The following are some of John's more recent posts on the subject:

LAC Developments (2 June)
http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/lac-developments.html

The future of interlibrary loan in Canada (5 June)
http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/future-of-interlibrary-loan-in-canada.html

Archivists react to changes at LAC (9 June)
http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/archivists-react-to-changes-at-lac.html

For another perspective, read this post today from Christine Woodcock of the Scottish Genealogy Tips Tricks & Tidbits blog, entitled The Death of Library and Archives Canada and the Complacency of Canadian Genealogists - see http://scottishgenealogytipsntricks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/death-of-library-and-archives-canada.html

Our various national archives in the UK and in the Republic of Ireland have had to endure cuts, mergers and more, in tough times of austerity - but at least we still have them. The danger in Canada appears to be that what will remain after the process being unleashed at present will be barely fit for purpose or able to fulfil its remit in recording the nation's national record.

I'm not a hundred per cent sure what support can be shown from this side of the Atlantic, other than to say that from an outsider's point of view, this genealogist is fairly aghast at what he is reading about, and to wish Canada's archivists the best of luck in trying to reverse what appears to be nothing short of senseless archival armageddon.

UPDATE: A letter from Library and Archives Canada's head, Daniel Carron, is on John's site now at http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/daniel-caron-letter-in-canadas-history.html

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)