Guest contributor: Marie Hickey

Children's charity Barnado's has launched a new family history service, offering people the chance to access records of the thousands of children cared for by the organisation since the early 1870s.

An initial search to determine whether your forbear was a Barnado's child costs 15 pounds, with additional charges of twenty to eighty-five pounds to acquire copies of documents or photographs.

A full history package (where available) includes contextual information, a handwritten admission history, a handwritten ledger of correspondence with family and friends, employment records, a photograph of them and of their Barnado's home.

For further information visit the Who do you think you are? magazine website at
http://www.bbcwhodoyouthinkyouare.com/news.php

1911 Census onlinehttp://www.1911census.co.uk/

Great news, the census is now complete - all remaining records have been added. These include Guernsey, Isle of Man, the Islands of Alderney, Jersey and Sark and also troops stationed in overseas military bases, and crew serving on Royal Navy ships.

Guest contributor : Marie Hickey

With the advent of the internet, the amount of resources coming available to family historians is increasing at a rapid pace. Below are some websites and television programmes which may be of interest.

http://www.ancestry.com/ 
Many board of Guardians records for the Poor Law Unions of Hampstead, Lambeth, Holborn, Islington, Paddington, Westminster, Poplar, St Marylebone, St Pancras, Southwark, Stepney and Wandsworth. The images have not been name indexed; some collections are individually indexed but do not indicate this so check the early images for one.
Obituary [death notices] collections for various countries, including New Zealand and Australia.
Large collection of French and German records.
Crockford's clerical directory 1932.

http://www.theoriginalrecord.com/
Contains a variety of records. Search of the index is free but fee charged to view and download screen images.

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI)http://www.proni.gov.uk/ have added a name search database of pre 1858 wills.

National Library of Scotland http://www.nls.uk/ - Ordnance Survey maps (1843-1923, Scotland, and 1945-47, England and Wales), including the six inch to one mile series now available to view online.

1911 census http://www.1911census.co.uk/ - all English counties now covered; Wales and military abroad still to come.

http://www.deceasedonline.com/ - a newly available online database of over 400,000 entries and hopes to cover the UK and Republic of Ireland. Currently includes some London cemeteries, Angus Council area, Kent and Sussex crematoria and Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/new-zealand-in-the-south-african-boer-war/database - gives surname, first name, address, next of kin and ship embarked on.

Huntingdon Library and Archive centre is due to open at its new premises on 11 June 2009.

Check out  :
- courses offered on http://www.pharostutors.com/. A fee is charged but may prove to be well worth the cost.
- Larkrise to Candleford UKTV (10 part series, started mid May)
- Who do you think you are? on UKTV and Prime

Last but not least, we now have an almost complete set of Ancestors magazine (PRO/TNA) bound and available on the shelves in the Auckland Research Centre.

Guest contributor: Frances Devaney

Many people when using Ancestry get stuck on the major collections - the UK census collection, military records etc and forget that some of the smaller resources can provide rich untapped seams for the family historian. It's always a good idea to go browsing and see what's new and explore some of the lesser known collections on this fantastic resource.

I was enthralled when browsing through Ancestry.com recently to find two resources of which I had been previously unaware. Fife, Scotland, Cupar Library Newspaper Index Cards, 1833-1987 and Perth, Scotland Newspaper Index Cards, 1809-1990. Both can be found under the births, deaths and marriages Scotland section.

The first contains a collection of index cards referencing articles and announcements found in several Fife area newspapers from 1833-1987. I was delighted to locate information pertaining to various family members who resided in the area ranging from birth notices to their involvement in the local dramatic society.

This Perth database is similar in that it contains a collection of index cards referencing articles and announcements found in several Perth area newspapers from 1890-1990 (with a gap in coverage from 1890-1920). Although it is recorded as being only up to 1990 I have found reference to family members up to 2006. Most of the cards reference births, deaths, retrials, golden and diamond wedding anniversaries, or personal tragedies.

And finally a reminder that anyone, member or non-member,  can access Ancestry from any of our 17 Auckland City Library sites.