H is for History, Honours and Hours #AtoZChallenge

-

 

Welcome to Day 8 of the  #AtoZChallenge.  Don't know what the AtoZChallenge is? Find out more here.

My theme is about Family History Societies.  What they are, How they work, Who is in them, Why they exist. 

And which ones begin with H!

Family Organizations beginning with H (Family Search Wiki)

Societies beginning with H

AUSTRALIA
 
 
UK
 
 


H is for History

This point is twofold. Don't forget to look for Historical Societies or Local History rooms at your local library or the library service in the district where your ancestor lived will you.  I'm not going to list them here but I can tell you that I found enormous help from the Yass and District Historical Society when I was researching my convict ancestor, Samuel Taylor.

Also don't forget to record your own Society's history will you?  It can be very important for others to know how you came into being, what worked and didn't work for you and the challenges you faced. QFHS' history is here.

 

H is for Honours

Now you may think this photo is somewhat of an exaggeration but honestly, the effort some volunteers put into a family history society is truly stupendous. And should be recognised.  Perhaps there are other honours you want to consider.  AFFHO gives awards for Meritorious Service to Family History.  
 
QFHS gives awards to its members and also to those who write family history books.  You can read more about QFHS' Awards and Honours here.

 

H is for Hours

Hours and hours of volunteer work goes into transcribing, digitising, indexing and generally HELPING.  There's another H word!  How many hours is your Society open?  Is it enough?  What are your most popular days for people to visit? 

 

H is for Hat

Hopefully you are starting to understand that there are many hats to wear when volunteering for a Family History Society.  Some people wear several hats.  Whatever hat you wear, wear it with pride and a certain panache.  And if you need to, wear a Helmet ;)
 
How are you going with the challenge? Huffing and puffing? Haggard? Happy? Thank you for dropping by and reading my blog.  Comments and feedback are welcome.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Comments

Molly of Molly's Canopy said…
Thanks for the mention of history! The history sections of libraries -- and history books/resources in general -- are invaluable for putting our ancestors in context. Love the illustration, too -- it often feels like slashing with a sword to get to the bottom of some family history mysteries. https://mollyscanopy.com/
April 9, 2021 at 10:57 AM
GeniAus said…
I think the local history sections in many public libraries often reflect the enthusiasm of the staff. Some are top class, some are woeful.

One of the best is at Hawkesbury Library where librarian, Michelle Nichols, also runs the Family History Group mentioned in your post.

Have to add Hornsby Shire FHG. I set up their blog/website, https://hornsbysfhg.wordpress.com/ and Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/hornsbysfhg, when I lived down that way. It is another group that is supported by the local history staff at the public library.
April 9, 2021 at 4:48 PM
Jennifer Jones said…
Thanks for the link to the Heugenot Society. My partner has Heugenot ancestors which I'm about to begin research. The society will be a great place to start. I'm loving AtoZ this year, and especially enjoying other genie bloggers posts. Yours are a highlight also.
April 10, 2021 at 2:32 PM
Alex Daw said…
Dear Molly - glad you liked the picture and yes libraries can be a fantastic source of information.
Dear Jill - yes the quality can be variable :) And thank you for adding the Hawkesbury Library and the Hornsby group :)
Dear Jennifer - glad to be of service. It's been a challenge writing this A-Z. I'm glad to be hitting the mark !
April 11, 2021 at 10:32 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

31 Things to do in August for National Family History Month

-
Image
  Goodness me!  There's only a couple of weeks to go before it is August and National Family History Month. Here's a list of 31 things you can do to celebrate National Family History Month in Australia and New Zealand. Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart Andrew Redfern Join us for the Opening Ceremony with speakers Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and Andrew Redfern looking at the pros and cons of using Artificial Intelligence in researching your family history.  Please register and request the Zoom login details via this website's contact form, or Email jan@jansquire.com directly. Details will be sent 24 hours before the event. Check out the NFHM events calendar and book to attend an event. You can find the calendar here . Write a blog post with regard to the theme for NFHM - Secrets and Lies: using AI responsibly in family history research and handling sensitive material in research and publication. Read someone else's blog post and comment on it.  There's a great
Read more

NFHM Blogging Challenge - Week 1

-
Image
Week 1 – Sunday 7 August  August is National Family History Month in Australia and Australian Family and Local History bloggers thought it would be a great idea to have a - Blogging Challenge!  Everyone is welcome to join in, even if you don't live in Australia, we'd love to hear from you and hear your stories. Census Night in Australia is 9 August this year and so we decided that Census stories should be our first week's theme.    The State Library of Queensland Census and Muster Records Info guide tells us that:  " prior to 2001 it was Australian federal government policy to destroy all name-identified census returns for privacy reasons, and all returns between 1901 and 2001 have been destroyed." You will notice if you look at the Card Catalog of Ancestry that there are a few census returns outside this time frame, but that between say 1902 and 1980, you will be relying on electoral records.   Of course not everyone's ancestors were
Read more

Merry Month of May Movie Meme

-
Image
Lovely Genimate Pauleen Cass from Family History across the seas came up with this great meme. Wanna play along?  Here are the questions: What’s the earliest movie you can remember? My mother told me that the first movie I ever saw was A Hard Day's Night with the Beatles but the first I can remember is probably Fantasia. Where did you go to the movies (place or type of venue)? For the most part, when I remember movie going days I'm thinking of Canberra. There were a couple of places to go in the 70s - there was a pretty uninspiring cinema in the heart of town - the Civic - but it had all the big movies so I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang there and Sound of Music I think.  Our favourite cinema by far was the Center Cinema and I have blogged about it and other cinemas/drive-ins here. Did you buy movie programs? Um no?  Did they exist? Why was I not told?  Did you take in food and drink (and what did you like)? Yes.  I never tired of Fantales and reading all
Read more