We've had a sudden release of family history videos published to our website - packed full of loads of tips for this Tuesday!

New online:

Colleen Fitzpatrick: The "Unknown Child" of the Titanic - identified?

20 April 2015
Of the 328 bodies recovered by the salvage operation of the SS Titanic, just one was that of a child. His identity was unknown for nearly a century until 2002, when Dr. Alan Ruffman and Dr. Ryan Parr announced that they had identified the remains of the “Unknown Child”. But was this identification correct? Hear how we resolved the controversy so that the Unknown Child of the Titanic was unknown no longer.

Exploring Online Cenotaph with Victoria Passau

15 April 2015
New Zealanders have served this country in many international conflicts. Online Cenotaph, created by Auckland War Memorial Museum, aims to commemorate the stories of these veterans. This session showcases the new Online Cenotaph and discusses how family members and private researchers can contribute.

'The three uncles' The Cole brothers in the Great War with Tina Blackman

15 April 2015
An in-depth look at how the First World War affected one family where four brothers went to the Western Front and only one survived. In Tina Blackman's book, The three uncles: the Cole brothers in the Great War, readers will discover an extraordinary story that will resonate with many whose families were touched by the First World War.


Still to come: Colleen Fitzpatrick’s other two talks from 20 April:- CSI Roots and Adoption searches.

This will bring us to the end of our pilot programme of recording family history talks at this stage.

Family History Talks Online

See Auckland Libraries website for family history events, including the Auckland Family History Expo and other happenings during New Zealand Family History Month in August.

The wonderful people from the Auckland War Memorial Museum delivered an Artefact Digitisation Unit (ADU) to the Central Auckland Research Centre.

A what? I hear you say . . . .

Artefact Digitisation Unit (ADU) from Auckland War Memorial Museum

It is an awesome piece of technology that looks kind of like an ATM machine - a kiosk with a computer, touchscreen monitor and a camera.

With its connectivity to the internet, it has direct access to the new Online Cenotaph. 

People can use the ADU to search the Online Cenotaph direct from the Research Centre, and contribute information about the person they are researching - this includes the ability to photograph documents and objects to upload to a subjects record.

The Online Cenotaph itself has been completed re-designed and had been re-launched in January.

There are more than 140,000 service personnel listed, and alots of new content has been added:

• approximately 2,000 new images from Auckland Libraries’ Schmidt Collection of portraits
• direct links with servicemen’s sketches, poems and writing held in the Troopship magazines, which the Museum has now digitised
• around 2,000 additional records of New Zealand servicemen who served in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) – purchased for Online Cenotaph by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
• linking of of 437 records from the Māori Pioneer Battalion with a digital image of their signatures on the Pioneer Scroll, on display in the Scars I gallery
• digitising of the Mickle Album, including the 60 photographs of friends from Birkenhead who volunteered and left New Zealand to fight in WWI

3/4 portrait of Sapper Bertram Charles Robinson, Reg No 12074, of the New Zealand Engineers, No. 2 Field Company. Killed in action in France on 15 November 1916. (Photographer: Herman Schmidt, 1916). Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 31-R984. No known copyright

The 100th anniversary of the First World War has meant there has been a huge flurry of activity to make research resources available worldwide.

A large number of books have been reprinted, some have been revised and updated and a number have been newly written.

My Family History shelves are groaning with new resources, and I know that other non-fiction and reference collections throughout Auckland Libraries are similarly bulging with new books.

Here at Auckland Libraries we have created a webpage on our website devoted to the centenary commemorations, which includes links to a themed page or new and recommended reading list including selected family history titles. This is just a small sample of new items we have - we have many more resources on the shelves.

Additionally, we also have developed the Our Boys, Your Stories website, where we have curated digitised versions of our collection.

Have a look at the Resources page on the Our Boys website to see what has been developed to assist you! Particularly the "Our Boys, Our Families" research guide that has been developed to assist you with your research. Feel free to download the guide to your computer.

Anzac Day is the day that is a national day of remembrance for Australians and New Zealanders who died during armed conflict.

This is the fifth year that Auckland Libraries and the Kintalk blog have issued a Trans-Tasman Anzac Day Blog Challenge.

Do you have a story to share about an Anzac?

Stories we'd like to hear about could be about their service, or the way their sacrifice shaped or impacted on their family history. Maybe you want to blog from the perspective of those that were left behind?

Your story doesn't have to involve a serviceperson who lost their lives - during times of war, families had all sorts of experiences.

And you can write about those who also served in other wars, as all who served in Australia and New Zealand are now recognised as Anzacs.

Maybe you have written about your Anzac before, and have more research to add to the story?

To participate:

• See if your service person is included in the Our Boys website. If he/she is please create a free account and add your story or
• Write a blog post about an serviceman or woman and/or their family, and the impact war had on their family's story or
• Post a comment with the URL to your blog on the comments section of this post or
• If you don't have a blog then you can email us your story at kintalk@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz and we will share it for you
• Publish your post by 26 April 2015.

• the Auckland War Memorial Museum;
• the Australian War Memorial site
• Archives New Zealand Archway - Discover World War One
• Discovering Anzacs - the joint initiative between the National Archives of Australia and Archives New Zealand
• the National Archives of Australia or look further by 
• using the resources listed on Cora Num’s website.
• National Archives of Australia Facebook page about their Shellshocked Exhibition and some of the personal stories that they have collected might also be of interest.

Helen Vail's blog 100 NZ WW1 Memorials 1914-2014 is a mine of information about WW1 memorials, and individuals that she has researched. Helen's goal is to personally visit and collate information from 100 New Zealand World War One Memorials throughout New Zealand by August 2014 to commemorate the 100 year Anniversary of the start of World War One and to honour those who paid the ultimate price.

Remember Ancestry, Findmypast and the Genealogist are all free to use with Auckland Libraries.
Blog away
Seonaid

This year's blog challenge is late - primarily due to the fact that in March I was attending the 2015 AFFHO Congress (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations) in Canberra (more about that in a later blog), and there was much I had to do to prepare before I left.

The 100th anniversary of the First World War has meant there has been a huge flurry of activity to make research resources available worldwide.

A large number of books have been reprinted, some have been revised and updated and a number have been newly written.

My Family History shelves are groaning with new resources, and I know that other non-fiction and reference collections throughout Auckland Libraries are similarly bulging with new books.

Here at Auckland Libraries we have created a webpage on our website devoted to the centenary commemorations, which includes links to a themed page or new and recommended reading list including selected family history titles. This is just a small sample of new items we have - we have many more resources on the shelves.

Additionally, we also have developed the Our Boys, Your Stories website, where we have curated digitised versions of our collection.

Have a look at the Resources page on the Our Boys website to see what has been developed to assist you! Particularly the "Our Boys, Our Families" research guide that has been developed to assist you with your research. Feel free to download the guide to your computer.

Anzac Day is the day that is a national day of remembrance for Australians and New Zealanders who died during armed conflict.

This is the fifth year that Auckland Libraries and the Kintalk blog have issued a Trans-Tasman Anzac Day Blog Challenge.

Do you have a story to share about an Anzac?

Stories we'd like to hear about could be about their service, or the way their sacrifice shaped or impacted on their family history. Maybe you want to blog from the perspective of those that were left behind?

Your story doesn't have to involve a serviceperson who lost their lives - during times of war, families had all sorts of experiences.

And you can write about those who also served in other wars, as all who served in Australia and New Zealand are now recognised as Anzacs.

Maybe you have written about your Anzac before, and have more research to add to the story?

To participate:

• See if your service person is included in the Our Boys website. If he/she is please create a free account and add your story or
• Write a blog post about an serviceman or woman and/or their family, and the impact war had on their family's story or
• Post a comment with the URL to your blog on the comments section of this post or
• If you don't have a blog then you can email us your story at kintalk@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz and we will share it for you
• Publish your post by 26 April 2015.

• the Auckland War Memorial Museum;
• the Australian War Memorial site
• Archives New Zealand Archway - Discover World War One
• Discovering Anzacs - the joint initiative between the National Archives of Australia and Archives New Zealand
• the National Archives of Australia or look further by 
• using the resources listed on Cora Num’s website.
• National Archives of Australia Facebook page about their Shellshocked Exhibition and some of the personal stories that they have collected might also be of interest.

Helen Vail's blog 100 NZ WW1 Memorials 1914-2014 is a mine of information about WW1 memorials, and individuals that she has researched. Helen's goal is to personally visit and collate information from 100 New Zealand World War One Memorials throughout New Zealand by August 2014 to commemorate the 100 year Anniversary of the start of World War One and to honour those who paid the ultimate price.


Remember Ancestry, Findmypast and the Genealogist are all free to use with Auckland Libraries.
Blog away
Seonaid

The Auckland Weekly News was filled not only with news and advertisements, but with an excellent assortment of photographs, and a service it offered during the war years was to publish a passport sized photograph of your wounded or killed family member. These photographs have all been indexed in to one easy-to-use volume, although its worth noting it does not included those photographs published in the Weekly News supplement.

2014 is a significant year, with August being the 100th anniversary of beginning of WWI.

Countries around the world are preparing to take part and contribute to commemorations. Many institutions have instigated projects to record memories and consolidate resources, particular online.

Have a look at what Heritage and Research at Auckland Libraries "Our boys, their families" has developed to assist you! Feel free to download to your computer.

ANZAC Day is the day that is a national day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealanders who died during armed conflict.

This is the fourth year that Auckland Libraries and the Kintalk blog have issued a Trans-Tasman ANZAC Day Blog Challenge.

Do you have a story to share about an ANZAC? 

Stories we'd like to hear about could be about their sacrifice, or the way it shaped or impacted on their family history. Maybe you want to blog from the perspective of those that were left behind?

Your story doesn't have to involve a serviceperson who lost their lives - during times of war, all sorts of loss unfortunately are experienced. 

And you can write about those who also served in other wars, as all who served in Australia and New Zealand are recognised as ANZACs.

Maybe you have written about your ANZAC before, and have more research to add to the story?

To participate:

• Write a blog post about an Australian or New Zealander serviceman or woman's family, and the impact war had on their family history
• Post a comment with the URL to your blog on the comments section of this post.
  Or if you don't have a blog then email us your story at kintalk@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
• Publish your post by 26 April 2015.