As the Records Show
Artful Searching
by Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot

The play on words in the title of this article is not about being clever but about including the collections of galleries in your research.

Paintings and early photographs of people have an obvious connection to family history; for some a very direct one if ancestors or collateral relations can be found. Illustrations of almost any subject may also provide interesting insights because they show how a place looked a long time ago, what people wore, or ate, or how they went about their work. Even art objects, sculpture, and porcelain for example, can have a connection to your research.

Galleries Online
Scotland is a good example. Scottish national galleries are online together in one website and within it is one online exhibit or collection containing images of paintings from different locations in the national group. It is organized according to themes, many of which are relevant to family historians.

I spent a pleasant hour browsing through the pictures. First I explored according to subject, looking at several sections: Art and Architecture, Costume, History, Objects, Occupations and Activities, People and Society. Within each I found several sub-themes. I also tried the search tool, which offers a basic and an advanced search. Asking for "boats" included scenes of Queensferry, St Monance in Fife and Wick in Caithness. Trying to think of a word that might present a social scene, also with a genealogical connection I tried "rent" and was presented with a painting which captured the distress faced by many. It is titled "Distraining for Rent" and depicts a family's despair as they face eviction because the rent cannot be paid.

People Aren't Only in Portraits
This may sound obvious but the point I am interested in is about the social history in art. Whatever the theme at the Scottish galleries site, there are paintings and photographs of people connected to it in some way. The same is true at other sites, regardless of subject; a lot of pictures include people and reveal something about them.

The opposite is true too; pictures gathered together as illustrations of people are full of other details that tell you something of the such things as landscape, buildings, household items, tools, and games.

Other Fascinating Presentations

• Collage (Guildhall Library)
  Collections of paintings, prints and photographs are in other places too, libraries being one example. A wonderful collection, also accessible online, is held by the Guildhall Library in London. Their online gallery is called Collage and it contains thousands of pictures: illustrations of London, other places in England, people, bridges, buildings, and a wonderful array of maps and plans. At the site I enjoyed an online exhibit about Tudor London and searched by place and by some of their suggested themes. The Search tool works easily and presents thumbnail pictures that can be enlarged twice, along with details of the artist, and date.
• National Portrait Gallery
  Still in London, this is where you find the National Portrait Gallery just behind the National Gallery which faces on the now traffic-free Trafalgar Square. It is a must-see attraction in London and its online presence is a must-view location online. There are more than 47,000 pictures available for viewing. That is overwhelming, so try the search tool or take a journey signposted by faces of history. The gallery site includes a portrait-based timeline and each of these is the entry point to viewing portraits of others of the same period. What you see is a people-based overview of British history.
• Everyday People, Everyday Lives (Wolverhampton Arts and Museums)
  Surfing brought me to Wolverhampton in the Midlands northwest of Birmingham. The galleries site presents art (paintings, early photographs, and objects) in a manner particularly interesting to local and family historians. One theme, the Wolverhampton Enquirer is fascinating. Pictures and objects are the basis for newspaper stories. These are fictional, written by present-day staff, and use modern language but they present issues and events of long ago in an easy to understand manner. It is an unusual approach to social history.

Conclusions
The location of a collection is only a partial clue to its contents. In the Scottish galleries website picture subjects are not always Scottish; the search for boats produced a scene of Dover harbor in England as well. This makes me think of using search engines to find images. I have tried it and usually get too many results, most of them not at all what I want, but I am prepared to experiment further. Google and All the Web are two examples of engines with separate searches for images; they do not turn up identical results so try both.

Most of the online galleries sell their images and make it clear that their terms and conditions with respect to reproduction must be followed. If you want to use the sites for more than a visit to a gallery, be sure to read and follow directions regarding use. A pictorial stroll around your family history is a pleasant change from the usual searching. I hope you find time to enjoy this.

Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot is an author, teacher, and lecturer specializing in English, Scottish, and Irish family history. She is the author of Your English Ancestry (2d ed., 1998) and Researching Scottish Ancestry (2003), and she is a contributor to several publications. Since 1996, she has been a study tour leader, course coordinator, and instructor for the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. She teaches online at MyFamily.com. Recently she served a two-year term as president of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Upcoming Events

Copyright 2005, MyFamily.com.

Access a printer-friendly version of this article, e-mail it to a friend, or submit your feedback.

Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree

It's time for this week's Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a Quick Tip. Please keep them coming so that we can keep this tradition going. You can send your tips to: ADNeditor@ancestry.com.

Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry publications, so if you do not want your tip included in a publication other than the Ancestry Daily News and Ancestry Weekly Digest, please state so clearly in your message.

Have a great day!
Juliana

CD Map Program
George Farrell

The "Trailer Life RV Campground Finder" is one of the very best nationwide travel map programs. It is on one CD that you can carry with your laptop. List price is $39.95, but I have seen it on sale on the web at under $16.00. It contains great detail including many cemeteries, churches, libraries, public and historical buildings, etc. You will spend more than that on paper maps, and you don't have to refold them. You can browse or search by full or partial address. Zoom in to see the details. Many of the features are named. It also shows and names things like railroads, streams, etc. If you point at a location with the mouse, the address pops up. Look at Chicago and see the Newberry Library. In Boston, the Granary Burying ground appears complete with little headstones. You can print the maps as well.

For traveling researchers: detailed location and information on campgrounds, trailer parks etc. Click on a red circle and full information is available in a drop down side bar. It has ratings, detailed directions, whether tent camping is permitted, prices, etc. There is a directory to nearby interesting places. If you need sleeping accommodations, many travel parks have low cost cabins, some with kitchens. A few cabins even include bathing and toilet facilities. Others have bathhouses close-by.

Not All Buried There
Dot Sale

Never presume where an unmarried relative has been buried. I did and he wasn't where I thought he would be. My Scottish ancestors are buried in a family plot in Toronto. My mother's cousin's mom and dad were there, as was his mom's unmarried sister, whose ashes he had interred there himself. I presumed that that would be where he would want to be.

After receiving a letter from his niece letting me know of his passing the previous month, I wrote back enquiring where he had been buried. In the meantime, I had changed all of my family records accordingly including where I thought he was now buried. Imagine my surprise when I received a quick reply informing me that he had been buried with his older sister and her husband in a different cemetery entirely. Hopefully, I'll learn not to jump the gun next time. I consoled myself that at least I had found out where his sister was buried.

Re-visiting Court Records
Miriam Dapra

In Sherry Irvine's column "Going Back for More--Reflections on Trafalgar Day," she reminded us that, if we set aside genealogy searches for months or years, we should revisit the Internet sites we've already searched, because new information is constantly being added.

I "accidentally" found a new way to search, also, after leaving research "dormant" for a long time, especially in regards to land records. I thought that I had already culled all the land records I could from the courthouse in the county where my paternal grandfather owned land. Now that my family is faced with a possible legal challenge from someone who claims he owns land that we always thought belonged to us, a new round of "courthouse searching" has uncovered some new and valuable information that would not have been found otherwise.

So, are you stuck on a land problem? Think of it in terms of proving in a court of law how the landowner obtained the land, and you may come up with a lot more information!

Access a printer-friendly version of this article, e-mail it to a friend, or submit your feedback.

Clipping of the Day
English Monarchs
The Ohio Repository (Canton, Ohio), 25 October 1838, page 1:

From the Norman Conquest to the ascension of Victoria, 770 years have elapsed, and thirty-five individuals have held the kingly office. All of those, with the exception of one individual, Oliver Cromwell, have been related to the Conqueror, either by lineal or collateral descent.--Out of the number, six have been murdered or died in prison, one was tried and executed, and another was banished.

Subscribers with access to the Historical Newspapers Collection can view this clipping.

Click here to subscribe to the Historical Newspapers Collection at Ancestry.com.

Fast Fact
Free Search--California Births, 1905-95
Vital records in California have been kept by the state registrar of vital statistics since July 1905. This database is an index to the birth records in California from 1905 through 1995. The database provides such valuable information as first, last, and middle names of those born; birth dates; gender; mother's name; father's name; and the birthplace.

This database is available here.

Click here to request birth certificate copies and obtain the necessary forms and current pricing information.

Product Spotlight

		Scottish Ancestry, Rev. 2d Ed., by Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) Normally this book retails for $19.95, but today you can buy it in the Shops@Ancestry.com for $15.95.
		Your Swedish Roots: A Step by Step Handbook by Per Clemensson and Kjell Andersson Normally this book retails for $24.95, but today you can buy it in the Shops@Ancestry.com for $19.95.

Thought for Today
Corrie Ten Boom

Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.