Family Tree Frog

Photo by  [Segle] - REFLEX IS BACK !  on  Foter.com  /  CC BY-NC-SA With thanks to Randy Seaver and Jill Ball for the meme - Pot Pourri - It has been a very productive month for me family history wise. Here is what I have been doing..... Study I completed another unit of my Diploma of Family History - Writing Family History on Wednesday night - the last day of January.  During January I had to write 3 x 250 word short stories and then one 750-1000 story. So that was quite a bit of work as you can imagine. And then because I am a sucker for punishment I enrolled in another unit - Families at War .   I have to complete 8 units altogether to finish the Diploma. I have completed: Intro to Family History Convict Ancestors The Photo Essay: an Introduction and Writing Family History So that's all my foundation units done. I have also completed Oral History .  So only two more units to complete after Families at War....

Chances are, if you are a family historian, you might also be a bit of a hoarder.  The first tooth, the first shoes, jewelry, retirement gifts, christening gowns, communion certificates, ration books, tapestries and home movies.  You name it. I've got it. Have I mentioned I live in a sub-tropical climate?   Being the keeper of family stories, I know that my aunt's home went up in flames in the early 60s and that my parents lost many of their wedding gifts.  They were living overseas at the time and much of their stuff was "in storage" at Hazel's place.  Australia is famous for its fires....and its floods.  Post-tropical cyclone Debbie made a bit of an impact on the Queensland coast recently in case you missed the news.   How do we protect our keepsakes and preserve them for future generations?   Shauna Hicks recently published for the Unlock the Past series a booklet called Y our Family History Archives: a brief introduction. You migh...

Donation Earlier this week one of my colleagues was doing the rounds of the library, getting us ready to open one morning when she noticed a box had been left at the front door.  Many people donate books they no longer need or want for us to add to the collection (if they are in pristine condition).  But this box was a whole different kettle of fish...... The box was duly dragged into the workroom and we all sighed over the contents. Someone's precious memories given....to us.  There was no note.  Why do I feel a bit like a baby had been left on the doorstep?   So - call me a hopeless case, but I am now sifting through it, trying to establish provenance and whether any items might be of interest to any particular collecting institution or at the least provide good material for blogging.   But the event has also reminded me that we as family historians do need to make plans for what happens to our stuff after we've gone.  I think the ...

We're just a bit excited because we've just discovered that Family Tree Frog has been selected for preservation in the Pandora - Australia's Web Archives. A big thank you to State Library of Queensland for recognising us. You can check out other Family History blogs that have been preserved here.    This resonates even more strongly with me as I am studying Digital Preservation at the moment. GSQ have a busy month ahead of them as they are re-locating their premises to Wishart.  The library will be closed from 3pm tomorrow and will remain closed during November. All the best with the move folks. Here's the calendar for the rest of the week.  Enjoy!