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

Sir George Grey Special Collections, AWNS-19360506-45-4

Do you have any family members who had/have wedding anniversaries, or died between 1934 and 1970? If so, have you checked The New Zealand Herald anniversaries and death notices 1939 – 1970 [microform] : index & transcriptions slips? You may just locate information that you have previously missed.

The names index was extracted from more than 22,000 handwritten transcriptions of death and anniversary notices. The second part of this resource contains the microfiched transcription slips.

The transcription slips contain the full text and date of the notice as it appeared in the newspaper. Usually the names of the people involved are included as well as a date and place. Sometimes there is even a reference to another source of information that may be followed up on later.

Often five or more people are named in an anniversary transcription slip. All of these names have been included in the index. There are over 100,000 individuals indexed, of which about 62,000 names are those of couples married. There may be more transcription slips connected to a marriage, for example when there is a notice for a couple’s silver wedding anniversary as well as one for their golden wedding anniversary.

The microfiche includes a guide on how to use the resource, including a key to abbreviations used in the transcriptions and the principles the compilers followed when putting the names of people in alphabetical order.

Have a look … You never know what (or who) you might find!

The 1995 edition of the index and transcription slips is held at the Central Auckland Research Centre; the South Auckland Research Centre and the West Auckland Research Centre hold a 2004 edition (updated with minor amendments).
Lynn (South Auckland Research Centre)

This week is Samoan language week and the theme for 2014 is Taofi mau i au measina: Hold fast to your treasures.

Here in the Central Auckland Research Centre, we do indeed hold fast to our treasures and what better motivation can you have to begin researching your Samoan family history research?

If you search our classic catalogue using the "call number" 3 SAM you will see have a large Samoan family history collection, consisting largely of microfilm - filled with information for the researcher.

Our resources for Samoa include what was formerly Western Samoa and also American Samoa.

The microfilms contain registers starting from around1852 and some going right up till 1993, with titles such as:

• Births within the district of the British Consulate at Samoa, 1852- 1915
• Delayed registrations of births for Western Samoa, 1948-1993
• Marriage licenses and certificates, 1900-1968
• Death certificates, 1900-1972

As well as births, deaths and marriages the records also cover wills and probates, genealogies and pedigrees, immigration records, and published family histories.

The records also cover Europeans as well as Samoans - and cover periods of German and British occupation, as well as New Zealand and American.

So please look at our catalogue - "call number" 3 SAM - to see what we have, or else pop in and see our friendly research librarians on the second floor of Central Library.

Happy hunting

Seonaid

New Zealand Historic BDMs are searchable online.

• Births that occurred at least 100 years ago
• Stillbirths that occurred at least 50 years ago
• Marriages and eventually Civil Unions that occurred 80 years ago
• Deaths that occurred at least 50 years ago or the deceased's date of birth was at least 80 years ago

• Vol 1 BDMs from the New Zealander 1845 -1866
• Vol 2 Thames Newspapers 1869-1909
• Vol 3 NZ Herald 1863 -1880
• Vol 4 Daily Southern Cross 1843 -1876
• Vol 5 Index of names of soldiers who died in WWI and whose pictures were published in the Auckland Weekly News.