Follow Friday

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maps hanging on map cabinets

What a huge week it has been genealogy wise for me.  Lots of things to learn and discover.

 Saturday morning was spent at my Society taking part in a Library Assistant's workshop.  These are held a couple of times a year and are designed to help you be a better library assistant.  One of the mini talks/presentations was about the Map Room.  This is always a vastly underused resource at the QFHS Library.  I'm always amused at how I always learn something despite going into the library at least once a month on duty and having been a member for probably about thirty years now.
maps spread on table

We all practised getting maps out of the cabinets.  The cabinets can be a bit intimidating to newbies.  Once the door is open, I think people are petrified that all the maps are going to fall out if the door doesn't catch.  I've got the hang of it now but was amused to notice for the first time the little "buttons" or knobs on the outside of the map cabinets to hang the maps on. I'd never noticed them before - probably because they usually don't have maps hanging on them when I walk into the room.  So there you go.  I learned something.


Then I read Shelley Crawford's Twigs of Yore blog post this week.  I'm ashamed to say that I had never heard of the genealogy fairy before this.  Now I am wiser and very ready to say I believe in her.  
We don't want any more brickwalls than we have already, thank you very much!

Shelley wasn't the only one to mention the genealogy fairy this week.

Saadia Thompson Dwyer from Queensland State Archives answering questions

The lovely Saadia Thompson Dwyer from Queensland State Archives came to our library on Wednesday and delivered a talk.  She spoke about a particular brick wall in her research and how she prayed to the genealogy fairy to help with her case study on Loveday Finn.  The genealogy fairy delivered the photo she prayed for!  Love it!

If you haven't done so already, you should check out the Queensland State Archives blog.  They have some great stuff there including a whole bunch of stuff on World War 1.  

If you want to catch Saadia's talk about the fascinating Loveday Finn family history case study, you can do so at the Caboolture Library on 12 November or at Broadbeach Library on 30 October. By the way, isn't Loveday an unusal Christian name?

Last but not least I was really delighted to see the results of the labours of QFHS members in transcribing and preparing a database of signatures on three very important Women's Suffrage Petitions from 1894-1897.  You can search the petitions and see if one of your ancestors signed them here.

How was your family history week?

Comments

GeniAus said…
I had a beaut week too, thanks for asking.
September 12, 2014 at 4:53 PM
diane b said…
You have been busy! My family history only involves me writing my own history for my children and their children.
September 13, 2014 at 3:38 PM
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