The State of Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries have launched a new web site – Seeking Michigan – a collection of unique historical digitized source documents, its first major project is the digitization of roughly 1 million death records covering the years 1897 through 1920. The following announcement was written by the Library of Michigan and the Archives of Michigan:
Poole and Art Deco
March 20, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Dorset, Poole
Ian Andrews examines the evidence and influence of the between-wars artistic movement in Poole.
Somerset Voices: Ivor Hancock (b.1934)
March 19, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Hancock, Somerset
Ivor Hancock, basket-maker, explains the craft of basket-making by undertaking the various processes during the recording. Ivor talks about the tools and shows how each one is used at the various stages of making a basket, he discusses the types of willow used and the different weaves in making baskets.
Beaminster then and now
March 18, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Beaminster, Dorset
The buildings of Beaminster have changed remarkably little, even if the coming of the internal combustion engine means that the streets look rather different. The old photos are from Beaminster Museum; Colin Varndell took the modern ones.
Tracing your ancestors: a case study featuring the Darwin family
March 17, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy, Podcast)
Tags: National Archives
This podcast from the National Archives features a step-by-step guide to tracing your ancestors, using the Darwin family as a case study. Gerry Toop introduces researchers to the most important genealogical sources available at The National Archives and elsewhere, including birth, marriage and death indexes, census returns, wills and death duty records, as well as some of the main websites for family history research.
Somerset Voices: Timothy Hamlin (b.1901)
March 16, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Martock, Norton-sub-Hamdon, Somerset
Timothy Hamlin was born at Norton-sub-Hamdon in 1901. He left school at the age of thirteen. In 1914 he became an office boy at the Ham Hill and Doulting Stone Company in Norton. He left the firm after about eighteen months to work for Sparrows of Martock, a firm of iron founders and wheelwrights, where his older brother, Charles, was already employed.
From baths to drill hall to cinema to theatre
March 15, 2009 at 4:00 am (History, Location)
Tags: Dorset, Lyme Regis
The current Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis has a long history despite its 1930s appearance. A series of three buildings on the same site has provided the town with a place of entertainment and instruction for 200 years.
The road to Blandford
March 14, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Compton Abbas, Dorset, Fontmell Magna, Iwerne Minster
Steve White and Clive Hannay look at how the villages of Compton Abbas, Fontmell Magna and Iwerne Minster have changed since Sir Frederick Treves visited them a hundred years ago.
Somerset Voices: Paul Green (b.1957)
March 13, 2009 at 4:00 am (Biography, History, Location)
Tags: Paul Green, West Pennard
Paul Green is a partner in the Green cheese-making business based in West Pennard. He runs two dairy farms with 150 cows on each, and his cousins run other farms in the area. All the milk is used in cheese-making.
He talks about the processes involved in cheese-making, contrasting today’s modern methods with those started by his grandmother in 1908. By 2003 Green cheese-making had become a worldwide business dealing with supermarkets in England and America. He talks about labour costs, profitability and expansion of the business in a very competitive environment.
Decay or restoration?
March 12, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Dorset
Guy Smith looks at the fate of some of Dorset’s remaining tithe barns.
