April 2008

The Federation of Family History Societies

Taken from the Report of the last AGM. In response to a questionnaire sent out to member societies last year asking what they considered to be the main benefits of belonging to the Federation the two most often cited were:- Insurance tailored to the particular needs of a FHS and the national voice that the federation has in the sphere of protecting and improving the archive facilities so essential to our research. There is no doubt that the Federation does have a voice that is listened to by the "powers-that-be". In recent times they have prevented the GRO's proposals to remove addresses and occupations from BM&D certificates, and ensured that mother's maiden name, spouses surname and age at death will appear in the new computerised indexes from the start of Civil Registration. Unfortunately they were powerless to prevent this years move of the Family Record Centre to Kew, because of the unarguable financial case. Nevertheless, they have a strong voice in the special advisory group set up to ensure the new facilities at Kew will meet researchers' needs effectively. The Fed's voice in the TNA's Online User Advisory Group not only ensures more source material is available online but also enables a say in the release of the 1911 census and to try to ensure that the fiasco of the 1901 release is not repeated.

British Library Newspaper Collection

The British Library, which holds the finest newspaper collection in the World, announced in March 2007 major plans to move it due to growing concerns about the fragility of the collection which is viewed and handled by more than 30,000 people a year. Fifteen percent of the collection cannot be used by readers because of it's poor condition, with a further nineteen percent at high risk which may soon have to be withdrawn from use. The British Library is acting to provide readers better access and to preserve this unique collection for future generations especially when many of the items held do not exist anywhere else. The move will be on a phased basis some time between 2009 and 2011 and will lead to the closure of Colindale by December 2012.

Coventry Family History Society

I have had a letter from the Coventry Family History Society. Apparently they have changed their venue and now have only a very small amount of storage space. For that reason they have withdrawn from the Journal exchange scheme. They will, however, be putting a selection of their articles on their website www.covfhs.org if you are interested in that area.