Worldwide Genealogy - A Genealogical Collaboration

Back on 30 December 2013 English Genealogist,  Julie Goucher, announced a collaborative Project in which I was involved. 

Worldwide Genealogy - A Genealogical Collaboration was a collaborative blog on the Blogger platform to which a team of bloggers contributed posts on an allocated day. In the first year of publication there were  215 posts but this had dwindled to 3 in 2018 with the last post written by Helen Holshouser published on March 30. Life is busy and somehow the wheels fell off the project.

There is some wonderful content in the posts, some of the information may be outdated but some of the issues discussed are still pertinent. The good news is that the blog is still live on the internet and the posts may come up in search results. But I wonder if it will remain there. 

My first post in the Worldwide Genealogy Blog

As I own the copyright on my posts I am going to copy my contributions from that blog into this GeniAus blog. My blog is preserved on the Australian Web Archive at Trove so I know that my words will be available in the future. 

I'll post them with their original posting date and acknowledge that they were originally posted on the Worldwide Genealogy Blog. 

An enjoyable and educative experience

Always keen to learn something new I grabbed an opportunity to attend a workshop, Care of Collections, yesterday at Preservation Australia.

While the workshop was aimed at those working with collections in libraries and museums  I learnt so much to help me manage and preserve the files, documents and artefacts in my home collection.

The workshop led by Kay Soderlund was held in the studios of Preservation Australia in Annandale, an inner suburb of Sydney. The venue is close to the many buses that run along Parramatta Road and not far from Stanmore station. Indeed my fellow participants who came from Malaysia, Singleton, the Central Coast, and several Sydney suburbs all commented on the convenient location.

Kay Soderlund at Preservation Australia

Tools of the Trade

After a welcome cuppa and getting to know you session we all perched on high chairs around a work table to hear Kay’s presentation. We were given a 22 page handout which provided a structure for the day's workshop. Kay’s deep knowledge of her subject was evident as she spoke to us throughout the day, she had plenty of pictures for us to see and many materials for us to handle. As one who loves words I found some of the terms associated with the subject area fascinating. New words and acronyms in my vocabulary include foxing, red rot, EMC, IPM, fatty spew, blunder traps, frass and picric acid.

Tools of the trade

As it was a small group/workshop we were able to engage in much discussion and interrupt Kay whenever we had a question or comment. We were not deluged with chalk and talk, we learnt in an informal, interactive environment with welcome breaks for a delicious morning tea and lunch.

As the day  progressed I realised just how much stuff I have in my home collection, I got tips on looking after the few original artworks we have, great-great-grandfather’s shillelagh, Jesus (a large 19th century tapestry done by a family member), family bibles, documents, medals and a heirloom christening dress. Having attended this course I am now confident about selecting appropriate enclosures for my treasures. This course should be an essential element of the Professional Development program for anyone (paid or voluntary) involved in the care of local collections.

Of course this is going to cost me money as I am now drawing up a shopping list of items to purchase from Conservation Resources, the retail arm of Preservation Australia.

Thanks Kay and team for an enjoyable and educative experience.

Wednesday Preservation Group

Most Wednesdays finds me at Ku-ring-ai Historical Society where I work with fellow members on a range of tasks.

This poster that is part of a current display at the Society outlines our activities.

Family Archives

This is what Shauna is talking about in her presentation right now at Congress today.

Preserving Family Photographs: 1839 to the Present

I seem to repeat myself a lot but I believe that it's the early bird that catches the worm. This morning's catch was a fat and juicy one.

I awoke before the birds at 3:45 am to take part in the latest Legacy Family Tree Webinar " Preserving Family Photographs: 1839 to the Present" with Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective. The content of this webinar is relevant to anyone who is in possession of a family photo. Sometimes I do not take many notes in these webinars but today found me oohing and aahing while furiously writing notes.


Maureen's talk was well-structured and informative and supported by slides that summarised the content. As well as talking about Damage, Preservation and Conservation of various formats she covered Identification, Labelling, Sharing and Display of family photographs. For those who misssed the webinar it will be available until May 14, 2011 on the Legacy site.  

A few of the tips I noted were:

* Always wear cotton or non-latex gloves when handling photographs
* Never laminate photos
* Store photos in acid and lignin free containers ie Archival supplies
* Metal filing cabinets (without rust) are suitable for photo storage
* Scan your original photos at 600 dpi in tiff format at 100% scale
* Only edit copies of your original scanned images
* Use Glide (very fine) dental floss to remove photos from magnetic albums
* Always label photos on back using a very soft graphite pencil (old paper photos) or pen designed for the purpose


I suggest that you visit the Legacy site and listen to the presentation to pick up many more tips.

Maureen has written a book "Preserving Your Family Photographs" that is available from Amazon in the US. Unfortunately the latest edition is not available at Gould in Australia or my favourite online bookshop The Book Depository.

Recently I attended The Dropbox for Genealogists Webinar with Thomas MacEntee. Although this had less content then Maureen's paced session it was an informative and useful introduction to Dropbox that solved one or two issues that I had with the application. I have signed up for future webinars on Google Docs, Writing your family story and DNA. Sadly I'll be overseas for Maureen's next webinar  and won't be able to take part.

I am a great fan of these "free" webinars that give Australians opportunities to hear from internationally renowned speakers.  One has the option of purchasing a CD of the presentation after the event and, no doubt, many people do. There may also be available other material by the presenter that can be ordered from Legacy. I find that by watching the webinar on one computer and taking notes on another I am able to make meaningful notes and take part at no cost except for leaving a warm bed in the early morning hours.

How to Backup your Photos Online - Preserve Your Digital Memories Forever

Another of Amit's informative articles with relevance to genealogists from the Digital Inspiration Blog

How to Backup your Photos Online - Preserve Your Digital Memories Forever

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Family Matters » Blog Archive » The Digital Archivist: Digitizing Video Tapes

A reminder to take action before your old video tapes disintegrate. Thanks to Family Matters.

Family Matters » Blog Archive » The Digital Archivist: Digitizing Video Tapes

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digital_photographs_and_their_preservation.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Good advice on the management and preservation of digital photographs. Most relevant to genealogists.

digital_photographs_and_their_preservation.pdf (application/pdf Object)

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Preservation Calculator for Photo Storage

Preservation Calculator for Photo Storage

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