Heritage et AL

Auckland Council Libraries provides free access to a variety of online family history resources, including genealogy websites such as Ancestry, Findmypast, The Genealogist and MyHeritage. Recently, Ancestry launched the 1921 Census for England and Wales   (this includes the Isle of Mann and the Channel Islands). This census is a significant resource for us family history librarians and fellow researchers. The modern census was taken every 10 years from 1841 onwards, and grouped families together, provided names, addresses and other useful genealogical information. The later census records are particularly valuable as they progressively asked more questions that are relevant to family historians. These records are subject to the 100-year privacy laws and are only released one hundred years after the census was taken. Findmypast originally won the tender for the 1921 Census , first publishing it on their website in 2022, after they had completed conservation/preservation work on the...

After four years of the most horrific warfare the modern world has ever known, the First World War's end was in sight. More than 10 million soldiers were killed and around the same amount of civilians. Of the number killed, 18,000 New Zealanders had been lost on the battlefields and at sea. In a population of just over a million people, the loss of 18,000 meant that no family was left untouched. The public waiting their turn at the inhalation chamber, Health Department's Buildings, Auckland. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, AWNS-19181114-36-3. There was a feeling of anticipation tempered with feelings of loss, for our people returning home. A cruel twist of fate meant that any celebration was curtailed, as influenza swept through the world killing upwards of 50 million people. More than the war itself. In a couple of short months approximately 9000 (over 2000 are known to be Māori) New Zealanders succumbed to the influenza and the associated secondary infections...

Ancestry.com have just added the New Zealand Cemetery Records, 1800-2007, to their website and to mark the occasion next week is New Zealand Cemeteries Heritage Week at Auckland Libraries.  The week involves a series of talks, seminars and ‘How-Tos’  by speakers from such places as the New Zealand Society of Genealogists , the Royal New Zealand Naval Museum , Ancestry.com and Auckland Libraries. All the talks will take place at the Whare Wānanga on the second floor of the Central Library.  Ref: Henry Winkelmann,  Showing views of St Stephens Chapel and cemetery at Judges Bay, 4 April 1916, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1-W563.