For approximately 10 years, the Central Auckland Research Centre has run a fortnightly family history lunchtime series lectures from February through to November at Central Library.

They are a diverse range of lectures, covering many subjects related to family and/or local history, New Zealand and world history.

These popular talks are well-attended, but typically there are always people who are unable to make them largely due to geographic distance. I've frequently had calls and emails from people all over New Zealand and overseas - from as far away as the UK asking if we were going to be able to make the presentations available online.

This year, we have been able to record some of our lunchtime talks as part of a pilot study.

We were able to record most of the New Zealand Cemeteries Heritage Week events held at Central Library, and those proved very popular. We do captioning which means transcribing the whole presentation, to make each one accessible for the hearing-impaired.

Online now, is "The records of the English parish church" with Viv Parker.

Vivienne Parker, researcher & speaker, member of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists a former editor of The NZ Genealogist and the GRINZ Yearbook, and the compiler of Forty years on: The development of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists.

"The records of English parish churches recount the day-to-day running of the parish, including not only baptisms, marriages and burials but also a wealth of information about our ancestors. Their findings also uncover the roles of the vestry and church wardens, who held the responsibility for raising funds, appointing people to various jobs, maintaining roads and bridges in the parish, the care of the elderly, dealing with miscreants and illegitimacies, as well as ensuring the removal of those who had no right to remain in the parish."

About 40 people attended this lecture that Viv did for us on Wednesday, 4 March.

Viv is a member of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists and frequently runs workshops and tutorials out at their centre in Panmure.

She is also a regular speaker for Auckland Libraries and helps out with other events such as the Karen Kalopulu Family History Lock-In (28 August this year) and the Sunday Family History Club sessions (next one on June 21) that are held around three times a year.

I hope you enjoy watching  "The records of the English parish church" with Viv Parker.


Happy hunting

Seonaid

Our 10th annual Karen Kalopulu Family History Lock-In was a success again.

Forty-four guests, five staff and six volunteers from the New Zealand Society of Genealogists attended on Friday, 29 August to be locked in to the Central Auckland Research Centre from 8pm till 8am the next morning.

We had the pre-lock-in tour of the Research Centre, followed by a seminar "Getting it right first time".

Ancestry, Findmypast and ScotlandsPeople provided spot prizes for the evening.

Barbara won a 12-month World Heritage subscription to Ancestry, and Margaret, Joanne and Kim each won a one-month sub to Findmypast's World collection.

We started out with our usual traditional group photo.

We had two people who had attended all ten Lock-Ins.

Geraldene O'Reilly, our Irish expert from the NZSG who has been assisting since the very first Lock-In since the 2005!

Geraldene was one - our Irish expert, volunteering from the New Zealand Society of Genealogists. She'd assisted at all ten of our Lock-Ins, bless her!

Family history is about bringing families together - often long forgotten family members that you discover during the process of your family history research.

Family history can also lead you to discover living relatives who are either researching their family tree also, or are interested in your research.

Lauren & Julie (laughing) say: We are just here for a night out. No, really, Lauren is researching her granddad's family in India while I am trying to trace my father's family in England.

Some families also research together - whether by collaboration across distance, or getting together in person.

We often have mother/daughter, aunt/niece, father/son, sisters etc turn up at the lock-in to research.

Aslikia is looking for her paternal side of the family, her 2x great-grandfather who was an interpreter to the British consul in Fiji. Everything thing she has read has referred to him as the son of a Fijian woman but this one book mentions an American father. She is trying to find out if the latter is true.

Jan Gow QSM FSG assisting a guest with ScotlandsPeople

This year we are celebrating a decade of lock-ins from when the idea first came to the then Family History Librarian, Karen Kalopulu.

Back in 2004 Karen Kalopulu proposed the idea to library management saying that, although the ‘concept is new to libraries in New Zealand’ there are ‘many libraries in United States of America which have strong family history collections hold[ing] very successful lock-ins’.

Since Karen sadly passed away in 2009, the lock-ins have continued under the leadership of Family History Librarian Seonaid Lewis.

Family historians and aspiring family historians start arriving during the afternoon of the last Friday of August, working overnight on their family histories and helping other people with theirs, until leaving at 8am the next day.

The lock-ins have been a collaboration between Auckland Libraries and the New Zealand Society of Genealogists (NZSG), who have supported this venture right from the very beginning with their volunteers contributing to the expert knowledge available on the night. The event has proven to be great fun, we have all learnt so much from each other and have made some good friends along the way.

There are a handful of customers and NZSG volunteers who were at that first lock-in and are still coming today.

The inaugural Lock-in group, 2005.

Geraldene O’Reilly, the NZSG president of the Irish Interest group, has attended every single one of the lock-ins, helping many a fledgling search their Irish ancestry.

Geraldene O'Reilly busy at work.

The format Karen started has carried on, with a few unavoidable tweaks along the way.

Before the evening kicks off at 8pm there are the options of a tour of the Central Auckland Research by Seonaid and then a seminar on some subject, whether it’s Scottish family history or, as it is this year, beginning your New Zealand family history.

The night begins with Seonaid leading a 'meet and greet' and then the library staff  NZSG volunteers share their areas of specialty.

A happy researcher!

We then hit the computers, Microfilm readers and books and the momentum continues. Flagging souls help themselves to coffee and snacks in the library atrium and we are all revived with pizza at midnight.

Some succumb to a nap, in a cosy nook but it is amazing, with kindred family historians around and lots to share and learn, how the buzz keeps you going.

There have been many eureka moments:

I finally found something that could possibly lead to more information on my maternal grandmother's birth - the first really good lead in 25 years!

Came away with some exciting information it was certainly well worth it.
Can't wait till the next one.

I got so much information on the night that I am going flat out working out what I need to do next.

I managed to stay awake all night much to my surprise - the time seemed to go so fast.  I found a really good skeleton in my mother's side of the family so was very happy.

As Karen said in her proposal, back in 2004, ‘a family history lock-in is an opportunity to promote the Auckland City Library and it’s family history collection in an innovative way and provide a platform for Auckland City Libraries to work collaboratively with the New Zealand Society of Genealogists on a venture that both organisations are passionate and enthusiastic about.’

We are looking forward to more great research and sharing in August 2014. To register for this year's event, click here for more information.

Bridget

Months of planning and family history month is here tomorrow!

• Auckland Libraries family history eResources;
• Beginners guide to Ancestry;
• Beginners guide to FindMyPast; 
• Beginning your family history;
• Brick walls: tips and tricks to help solve your family history puzzle; 
• British Newspaper Archive; 
• Captives of the Kaiser: Researching Prisoners of War during the First World War;
• Doing family history: a journey to Matakana; 
• Family history roadshow; 
• Hospital records; 
• Military: The use of the official histories; 
• Newspapers and magazines for family history; 
• Pacific Island resources;
• Passenger lists and immigration; 
• Poor law; 
• Probate and wills; 
• Question and answer sessions; 
• Researching First World War records; 
• Researching your Irish ancestry; 
• Searching for your family on the internet; 
• Whakapapa storytime; 
• Whakapapa for adults; 
• Whakapapa for rangatahi (children)