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A newly-released archive from the British Film Institute documents the changing face of London in the early 1920s through evocative sepia-tinged images. Familiar landmarks like Big Ben, Tower Bridge and St Paul's are all in there, and even the Olympic stadium from the 1908 Games.
The British Film Institute say the six image archives will allow people to 'check out the street markets on a Sunday and wander down crazy little alleys, past pot-bellied pubs, inns of court and the buildings that Dickens knew.'
Converting old analog VHS home movies to digital and storing them on your computer's hard drive or on CD or DVD disks or even in the cloud is surprisingly easy. All you need is your computer, an adapter that costs less than $100, one simple cable and some free time.
Donald Bell of C|Net has recorded a video that shows the process. You can watch it at http://goo.gl/RKS7K.
FamilySearch.org is adding new functionality to the web site to make your genealogy research easier and more rewarding. Additions include easier access to the source box and the International Genealogical Index (IGI) is now complete. Earlier statements by some users that the IGI had been removed have proven to be misleading. It was merely being changed and improved.
You can learn more in a FamilySearch Update video at http://youtu.be/FNwB6FAwmP4 or click on the image below.
The following announcement was written by the Nashville Public Library:
Nashville Public Library presents Discover NPL, a documentary providing an inside look at the hidden gems within the library. The first of a series launched Aug. 8 on Nashville's Metro 3 government channel.
The premiere show covers the Special Collections area, where viewers can learn about tracing genealogy. Nashville Public Library offers resources and staff assistance to patrons who wish to discover family roots within the Nashville Room. Visitors will find inhouse resources as the Ancestry Library Edition and a microforms collection which includes city directories for Nashville, cemetery records, newspapers and census records. In addition, the Civil Rights Room offers an impressive historical collection and the Civil Rights Oral History Project.
Why is it that all the athletes that lined up for the men's 100 meter final at the Beijing Olympics could trace their ancestry back to the trans-Atlantic slave trade? England's Channel 4 Television has a program that speculates on genealogy and the Olympics. The program is available online at http://www.channel4.com/programmes/michael-johnson-survival-of-the-fastest/4od.
Here is the description of the program, as written by the program's producers:
Have you ever wondered where your ancestors came from thousands of years ago? Do you have a burning genealogical question? Are you wondering if you may have inherited a specific medical condition?
Emmy award winning Production Company is looking for people to participate in a National Geographic Special. Please send a short description of yourself, what your question(s) are and a photograph. Include your age, race, and what you know already about your ancestry. If you have a genetic health issue you’d like to know more about, please include a line about that.
I had the tables turned on me when Nick Barratt asked to interview me on his and Laura Berry's Family History Show. Nick and I talked mostly about the future of genealogy, especially about DNA. The Family History Show is a monthly video podcast or 'vodcast' where Nick and Laura showcase the latest in genealogy and personal heritage.
Mark Levengood said he knew the American side of his family had a colorful history in Reading, Pennsylvania. Because of his celebrity status, Levengood has been chosen to participate in the Swedish television version of the NBC show Who Do You Think You Are? On Monday, during a videotaped visit to the Reading Public Library, Levengood said he learned exactly how colorful that history is - and then some.
Levengood discovered that his grandfather inherited money when his father (Levengood's great-grandfather) died in Reading. "He eventually got the money and two weeks later they found him dead down by the railroad tracks," Levengood said. "All the money was gone."
Yad Vashem has recorded and made available more than 540 online videos. Yad Vashem is the world’s largest stock of holocaust material and Israel’s official memorial to the Jewish victims of the genocide. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yad_Vashem for more information about Yad Vashem.
The Yad Vashem YouTube channel has a large number of eyewitness accounts of survivors who escaped the concentration camps. It also contains many disturbing photographs. It is a great resource for studying, teaching, and commemorating the Holocaust.
UK broadcaster UKTV has announced it has extended its relationship with online publisher brightsolid for a second series of Find My Past, commissioned for the UK’s highest rating history channel, Yesterday.
Find my Past, produced by Lion Television, will cover a broad range of famous historical events. Presented by Chris Hollins, the new series takes some of the best known moments from history and makes ordinary people stars of the show as they discover how their lineage links back to these defining historical occasions.
British Director Christopher Guest and Jim Piddock (who co-stars in both Best in Show and A Mighty Wind) are hard at work on a new television effort. It reportedly is an improvised genealogy comedy called Family Tree, and it follows the efforts of one man — in this case, Bridesmaids star Chris O’Dowd — as he attempts to track down his real family.
NBCUniversal International Television is shopping the project to various pay services like HBO, Showtime, and even Netflix.
The following announcement was written by the folks at the Finding Your Roots television program on PBS:
What does it mean to be Latino? This Sunday, the season finale of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the PBS TV series that explores race and identity through the genealogy of some of America’s best-known personalities, seeks to answer that question. Through the family histories of actors Michelle Rodriguez and Adrian Grenier, and Linda Chavez, an author, syndicated newspaper columnist and political analyst for FOX News, viewers will discover that Latino identity emerged from the tangled histories of European, Native-American and African peoples.
The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com Inc.:
PROVO, Utah, May 13, 2012 -- Ancestry.com Inc., the world's largest online family history resource, today commented on NBC's decision not to renew the Who Do You Think You Are? television series for a fourth season.
"We want to thank NBC for their support of this terrific series, which over the last three years has inspired many viewers to follow their passion to learn more about who they are and where they come from," said Tim Sullivan, President and CEO of Ancestry.com. "We have a great partnership with the show's producers, Is or Isn't Entertainment and Shed Media, and we look forward to exploring other avenues of distribution."
Jason Sudeikis was the celebrity guest on last Friday's U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? A long-standing member of Saturday Night Live, Sudeikis has branched out to star in several movies. He was raised in Overland Park, Kansas, and was led to believe that his grandfather on his father's side died when his dad was only 2 years old.
He started out at his parents' home looking at pictures of his grandmother and trying to find out about his father's father which has always been a mystery. He soon discovered the reason his parents had never discussed the grandfather: he was an alcoholic and he died homeless.
Sudeikis also found out that his great-grandfather led a double life. It seemed he was married to two different women at the same time, one in Chicago and one in Connecticut.
The very popular U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? draws millions of viewers on Friday evenings. If you happen to miss an episode or would like to watch one a second time, you can find them available for download free of charge for a week or two on NBC.com and on Hulu.com. However, if you missed a bunch of episodes or you want an older episode, such as one from last year, you still have options even after the programs have disappeared from both NBC.com and Hulu.com.
The U.S. version of the popular Who Do You Think You Are? television program will feature Rashida Jones this week. She is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter and occasional singer. She played Louisa Fenn on Boston Public and Karen Filippelli on The Office as well as roles in the films I Love You, Man, Our Idiot Brother and The Social Network. Jones also stars on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation as Ann Perkins.
Jones was born in Los Angeles, the younger daughter of media mogul, producer and musician Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton. Her father's ancestry is mostly African-American, as well as European, ancestry. Her mother's ancestry is Ashkenazi Jewish, and Jones attended Hebrew school.
Every week, Henry Louis Gates produces the show Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr. on PBS. The renowned Harvard professor has helped a number of celebrities make fascinating discoveries into their family genealogy. This past week, he took on the ancestry of actor Samuel L. Jackson, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Brown University President Ruth Simmons.
The New York Times Magazine has a story about one of the guests, Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson, who is 63, has appeared in more than 100 films since 1972 as well as a number of Broadway plays. You can read more about Samuel L. Jackson and his appearance on Finding Your Roots at http://goo.gl/O6MDJ.
This week's U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? will feature Rob Lowe as the celebrity guest. The Parks & Rec actor examines his family tree and uncovers big surprises. You can obtain an an early look at his ancestry with the two attached videos.
I missed Friday evening's broadcast of Who Do You Think You Are? due to the fact I was still installing and configuring my new satellite dish in the motor home. Luckily, I was able to watch the program later on Hulu.com at http://goo.gl/ITtTJ. Best of all, the online version had very few commercials.
In this week's program, Edie Falco wanted to trace her roots to learn about her mother's side of the family. Edie's great-grandfather George took his mother's name Megrath, not his father's name Brown. Edie's family believed his family was from Wales. Edie first found that the 1920 census lists George as 43 years old at the time and his birthplace was Wisconsin with his father listed as born in England. There was no connection to Wales.
Edie went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to find George's baptismal record. In Milwaukee, she found the record and his father's name was Charles Childs Brown and he was married to a woman named Kate. George was two years old when his parents were divorced. Apparently, Kate took her maiden name again and George was raised with that name, which he used the rest of his life. Kate later became a nun. Further searches found that Kate was born at sea, the daughter of Dorothy and Ralph Kindley, a master mariner from England.
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