Genealogy Blog / Latest News
Welcome to the YFH Genealogy Blog...an eclectic mix of news, views, information, random thoughts, advice, tips, wishes and periodic rants together with anything else we feel might be important for researching in Yorkshire!
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City of York Archives & Manchester Central Library
Posted: 01/08/11
The newsletter of the Society of Antiquaries of London, issue 260 (due to go out 15 August but details available on their website at http://www.sal.org.uk/salon/#section14), states, that in relation to recent initial Heritage Lottery Funding and Support, two archive projects will benefit...York: Gateway to History, which will unite and conserve York’s city archives on the top floor of York Central Library, and to the Archives+ project, which aims to bring together the largest and most important archives from different parts of Manchester into one Manchester Central Library repository.
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Sheffield Archives
Posted: 29/07/11
Sheffield City Archives is due to re-open on Monday 5 September after a major upgrade to its archive strongroom. For more information relating to temporary closure visit http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/libraries/archives-and-local-studies
This information came to us via the News link of the Federation of Family History Societies!
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Huddersfield & District Family History Society
Posted: 09/11/10
Huddersfield & District Family History Society is moving:
As of 23 November 2010 their new address will be:
33a Green’s End Rd, Meltham, Holmfirth, HD9 5NW.
Telephone number remains the same 01484 859229 and the 'Root Cellar' opening hours also remain the same.
See their website for further details: www.hdfhs.org.uk
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A Life Without Work
Posted: 19/10/10
The following has recently been issued by Richard Taylor, Archives & Local History Development Manager, Communities & Neighbourhoods, City of York Council, 18 Back Swinegate, York, YO1 8ZD.
BBC2 will be transmitting a two part documentary under the above title at 9:00pm on Fridays 22nd October and 29th October. The documentary marks the centenary of Seebohm Rowntree's 1910 study of unemployment in York.
This, like his better-known 1901 study on poverty, directly influenced the social policies of the 1910-1914 Liberal/Labour coalition government and laid the foundations for the Welfare State. Given the current debate over the size of the State, the transmission date in the week of the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement is not a coincidence - the programme is made by BBC Current Affairs.
The first programme, which is the more archive-heavy, concentrates on the BBC's attempts to trace the descendants of the unemployed York families featured in the original survey. The second programme features the stories of people looking for work in York 100 years on, drawing parallels and contrasts with the situation 100 years before.
The BBC originally made contact with our friends at the York & District Family History Society for assistance in tracking down the families' descendants, as it turned out that Rowntree had used pseudonyms in the published study. This led onto the BBC using the city archives, in particular the Medical Officer of Health archives, to track down one of the families through the child vaccination and slum clearance archives we hold.
The unexpected outcome was that one of the families concerned turned out to be the great-grandparents of York actor Mark Addy ("The Full Monty", "Robin Hood", and those ubiquitous Tesco ads with Fay Ripley). So, "Who Do You Think You Are" in reverse - they started with a real historical story and uncovered a celebrity as a result!
It was obvious to us that the BBC were surprised by the amount of information about the lives of ordinary people in a Victorian/Edwardian city archive, and as a result they did a lot more filming and interviewing in the archives than originally intended. How much of this makes it through to the transmitted version we shall see!
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Sheffield Archives
Posted: 22/09/10
The following announcement has been released by Sheffield Archives:
11 Oct 2010 – Sheffield Archives will be closed from Monday, 11 Oct until late summer 2011.
11 Oct 2010 – Archives fiche and film and catalogues / finding aids (but not the card index) will be transferred to the Local Studies Library.18 Oct 2010 – Archives fiche and film service will reopen at Local Studies.
4 Jan 2011 – Limited Archives document issue service will be made available at the Local Studies Library.Points to note:
- There will be no document issue service at all between 11 Oct 2010 and 4 Jan 2011 (but see below re transcribing projects).
- All of our events / workshops / lectures / displays etc. will continue as normal at a variety of venues (other than an introductory session to Archives which was scheduled for 13October. This event has been cancelled.)
- We will continue to produce the Newsletter throughout the closed period.
- We will continue to answer emails and telephones.
We are working on plans to allow transcribing / indexing projects to transfer to the Local Studies Library. There will be at least one week however (beginning 11 Oct) when no service will be available to customers. This is to allow staff time to arrange the transfer and set up of the fiche and film service at Local Studies (in addition to removing the Archive collections). We hope that transcribing projects will be transferred at the same time as the fiche and film.