Friday 15 July 2016

National Family History Month 2016 & Other News - Genealogy Notes 9 - 16 Jul 2016

With only two weeks to go till August and the start of National Family History Month 2016, I have been working mostly on NFHM tasks. Approving events for the web calendar takes time and as of today, there are 95 events in VIC; 32 in QLD; 31 in NSW; TAS 22; WA 20; Online 4; ACT 3; SA 2 and NT O. That makes a total of 209 events across Australia and no doubt more will be added in the next two weeks.

Launch arrangements in Perth are progressing and I've started finalising my 18 talks during August. Fortunately there are no new talks so it is more a matter of updating and amending existing talks for audiences that have not heard them before. I will be travelling to Perth, home for a few days then off to Auckland for the Auckland Family History Expo and then back home for some presentations at various venues on the Sunshine Coast. A full list of talks and where is on the Events page of my website.

I will be putting the details of how to enter the NFHM prizes giveaway up at the end of July. Entries for the giveaway open on 1 August but n the mean time, you can check out the prizes for both individuals and societies on the NFHM Sponsors page. Only 24 societies took advantage of the early bird prize for putting events up before 30 June. Their prize will be winging its way to them next week.

A year ago I had just broken my right elbow while overseas which required surgery back home. It meant that I missed the launch in Adelaide but I still managed to keep NFHM going during August, including my presentations. Looking back I wonder how I did it with only one arm and post surgery rehab. Touching my wooden desk, I'm hoping for a less dramatic NFHM 2016.

What a difference a year makes
Thanks to Helen Smith for capturing this photo the day after my fall.
It's a wet and surprisingly cold weekend here so the plan is to do some of my own family history. I have been working on a Momento photobook trying to tell a person's story using just photos. There are just so many different templates, colours and looks but the quality of some of my photos are not good. But they are the only ones I have so it is more a question of how to use them to best advantage. This is where I wish I hadn't failed art classes at high school!

Not being involved in any blog challenges at the moment has meant that I have not been writing up family stories, no pressure to meet certain time frames. I'm definitely one of those people who need a theme and challenge to follow. Even Trove Tuesday seems to fly past before I notice. Once NFHM is over and I have recovered I will be looking for an ongoing blog challenge to focus on telling more of the family stories.

There's the usual mountain of catch up reading to do but that usually leads to the laptop to look at new URLs or new resources online. Or I list them down on a to do list and never get back to them. The internet has certainly changed how we do research. My two recent visits to the archives has reminded me of just how much is not online and ideally we should spend equal time there too. But on cold wet days, the laptop and the internet win! Until next time, happy researching.




1 comment:

  1. No idea how you gave that talk after your accident. Glad it's all behind you and hope the NFHM is successful again

    ReplyDelete