London Internship Week 4

I had a lovely past week working on a personal research project at the London Metropolitan Archives! It was good stuff! Tuesday was our two-year wedding anniversary, so we had a delicious dinner in Highbury at the Comedore, and then went on the London Eye. On Friday, Brian and I went to the National Archives and learned a little bit more about their facilities. We then went to the Kew Gardens, which we decided were the most beautiful gardens in the world. We also went to the Tate Modern, and we talked art. We also went to the Globe Theater, where we learned the history of theater in London. Then we went to the Foundling Museum, which wrapped up my week of research quite nicely!

London Internship Week 3

By my third week working at the Society of Genealogists, I felt like everything was going right for me. I knew everyone by name, I knew who I could ask for help if I had any questions, and I knew who told the best stories. My work week was quite similar to my second week: I was able to simultaneously work on two Crisp Collections, marriage licenses and apprenticeship indentures. I was a little worried that I would not finish the collections by the time I finished my internship, but I have high hopes that I will be able to at least finish the apprenticeship indentures.

            The collection of apprenticeship indentures gradually became more difficult to transcribe. First, after the first volume, the documents were ordered in alphabetical order by the name of the apprentice. This made it difficult to transcribe because each document was written at a different time; the formats were then different, and the information became more difficult to extract. I also noticed that the index had few mistakes in the extractions, which suggested to me that the index was created many years ago, because a lot of the documents are lower quality and have deteriorated over time. I would be able to make out maybe the first letter of a name, and I would have to use the index to find what I thought was the correct entry by the other information found in the document.

            Overall, I found that on an average day I was able to edit the images, create an index, and upload three volumes of apprenticeship indentures and two volumes of marriage licenses, as long as there were no issues with image quality.

            During my two days working with the resident genealogist, Else, I was able to create a few more Hints and Tips documents that will be put on the Society of Genealogists’ website when I arrive back from my week researching at the London Metropolitan Archives. First I created a tutorial on how to search FamilySearch in its new format. I created it in a way that it will not get outdated for a while, so the Society of Genealogists will be able to use it for some time. Second, I created a tutorial on how to get the best results from the IGI, which includes how to find the IGI on FamilySearch, how to use Batch Numbers, and how to find the original records. Lastly, I created a tutorial on how to download PCC Wills from the National Archives website. Else and I decided on the last two Hints and Tips that I will create: Writing a Genealogical Report, and Analyzing Your Research: The Big Picture.

            On Friday, a class group that took online classes from the Society of Genealogists came in for a graduation tour. They stopped by my station and I gave them a tour of what the volunteers do at the Society, because I was the only volunteer there that day! I showed them a digital record, my index, and how it all comes together. Tim was very impressed with the way I was able to tell the visitors all of the information.  

            Brian and I also had a great weekend. We first went to the Lion King on Friday! The next day, we went to Oxford on a bus aptly named ‘Oxford Tube.’ Oxford was a wonderful place. It felt much less modern than London, which I personally liked a lot more. We visited the Bodleian Library and went through an exhibit detailing the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. We visited a few places near Oxford University, such as Oxford Christ Church, and a few of the colleges. We were also able to take a tour in Oxford Castle, which was built around 960AD. On Sunday, we were able to go see an organ recital at Westminster Abbey. It was great that we didn’t have to pay to get in, and we were uplifted with beautiful organ music.

London Internship: Week 2

This week was productive at a price. I got a cold. I started feeling a sore throat Monday morning, but I didn’t think anything of it until that night, when it didn’t go away. By Tuesday, I was pretty miserable. I had a hard time concentrating, but apparently no one really noticed because I was still doing good work. Tim Lawrence, Head of Library Services, introduced me to a new record type held in the Crisp Collections, the apprenticeship indentures. There were sixteen volumes of apprenticeship indentures with about one-hundred images each volume that needed indexing. Tim first asked me to index from an index created in the 1930s, which was fine. It took quite a while because there was a lot of information that had to be indexed, including all names, age, place, occupation, year, volume, page number, and any extra information. By the end of the week, I had only indexed about twenty-five pages, and Tim decided that it would be better to index volume by volume from digital images of the original volumes. I happily obliged, because it gave me more paleographic practice, as the documents ranged from early 17^th century to late 19^th century, and the handwriting was different on every page.

            On Wednesday and Thursday I worked with Else Churchill again. I created two paleographic exercises: the first on creating an accurate abstract and transcription of a document, and the other on reading secretary hand (Please see Appendix for a copy of these exercises). It was a very rewarding experience to use the knowledge I have learned from my classes and work at Brigham Young University to create paleographic exercises from my own experience, rather than leaning on information given to me. I used images that Else had previously received copyright for as the basis for these exercises. They will go online by the end of my internship.

            On Friday, I had the opportunity to shadow one of Else’s part-time assistants, Vanessa, as she did a hard-copy service. Vanessa would receive letters from the mail from patrons that would ask a certain collection to be searched for a name and date, and she would send back a copy of the image. The types of records we searched that day were:

Vicar General Marriage License Allegations

Faculty Office Marriage License Allegations

Trinity House Petitions

Civil Service Evidence of age (boxes in Store A)

St Andrew Holborn (Banns and License section)

I was able to look up films, find the image on their roll, and then create a hard copy image from the microfilm. I realized that getting a good-looking image was quite difficult, but doable. Vanessa told me that with my help, the hard copies took half the amount of time it normally would. We then took the printed images and put them in envelopes and sent them in the mail. This was a very useful experience because it taught me about search services and how this skill can help me as a researcher.

            That weekend Brian and I had the opportunity to go the Tower of London and learn all about the history of that place! I especially liked going into all the old churches and learning about the history of the Beefeaters.

London Internship: Week 1

Dear Readers,

Cheers from London! Here is a highlight from what we did our first week:

Brian and I arrived at Twyford House early Friday (28 June) not before getting a little lost and wet from the rain. Ian, our host, tried to meet us at Arsenal Station but we accidentally took different ways down the street and missed each other completely. We arrived to Twyford House before him, but when he got back he treated us to a traditional English breakfast. We talked about what we were doing here and about the living situation.

            We got back to our flat and I was incredibly exhausted. We traveled for twenty-four hours, who wouldn’t be? After taking a short nap Brian and I decided it would be better to try to get out of the house and experience Highbury, rather than be tired and grumpy all day. We went out and visited a few of the local churches. I have never seen such old churches before; most of them had small cemeteries within the grounds and we snapped a few pictures. There was a spirit there that I have felt when doing family history research. These people, although known in life, were almost completely lost through time and wear.

            Saturday Brian and I learned the bus route to the Society of Genealogists. It’s not too far from our flat; it only took about thirty minutes. We were too nervous to venture out any further into the city, so we walked back from the Society to our flat. The route passes through Angel, so we were able to get things we needed like phones and food.

            Later that evening I was feeling a bit more adventurous and I wanted Brian to experience some history. I took him to St Paul’s Cathedral. I’ll admit I don’t know much modern London history, but the story of St Paul’s I do know. As you probably know, St Paul’s survived the continuous bombings on London during WWII. It became a symbol of English spirit and their will to never give up. Brian and I were shocked by how this massive building didn’t get touched. There was a choir singing on the steps of the cathedral when we first arrived, and it was awe-inspiring. I stayed there and soaked up the history and the feeling of peace I had there. They rang the bells. It sounded like the cathedral was dancing.

            Sunday Brian and I went to church at the Hoe Street chapel. Everyone was very nice there. Everyone was hoping we were new in the ward so I could help everyone with their family history, but... I told them I would be back. Definitely.

            After an eventful first weekend, it was finally time to officially start my internship. I arrived way too early (which will end up being the norm from here on out). I was let in and I met Tim Lawrence, the head of library services. He was really excited to have me on board at the Society. He took me on a tour of the entire library, as well as teaching me their reference system and online catalog, which was interesting. There were so many books! There was a floor of indexes and copies of original documents for each county, a floor for county histories and textbooks, and a floor holding all of their original images and archival materials that could not be bound or needed extra care. Tim and I enjoyed talking about British history and he basically quizzed me on my genealogical knowledge, which I aced with flying colors. My favorite part of the tour of the library was when we went to the Lower Library which held the archived original images. Tim pulled out a book about three feet long, two feet wide, and six inches deep. It was the biggest book I had ever seen! He opened it up and I said “oh those are land indentures!” He seemed surprised I knew about that record type; he didn’t know I worked with them extensively for over a year.

            I was able to meet many of the volunteers and paid staff that day as well. Everyone there is really nice and wants to be there. We push each other to do our best work, and we all have a passion for genealogy. It is a great work environment and I am very proud to be one of them.

            After the tour I went straight to business. I was introduced to my work station in the Lower Library, where I would do my scanning, editing, indexing, and uploading. I was taught how to edit the images and create new indexes, and I started my first volume of Crisp Marriage Licenses that day. I’m an art minor, so editing the images was easy for me. Creating the index didn’t give me too much trouble; the handwriting was straight forward. I didn’t get to uploading the image that day.

            First thing Tuesday Tim taught me how to upload the index and images. It took a while for it to work the first time, but I made myself a tutorial that I go through to make sure I don’t miss any steps. The whole process of enhancing the images, creating an accurate index, and then uploading both to the Society of Genealogist’s members page took a little getting used to, but when it was all said and done I have been able to go through the steps quickly. By Friday, I was able to upload three volumes, which each contain about one-hundred documents.          My first week, I was able to upload five volumes of Crisp Marriage Licenses.

            On Wednesday I went up to the Upper Library to work with Else Churchill, the genealogist of Society of Genealogists. We decided that doing research wasn’t the best choice for me, because she actually didn’t do a lot of research on the job; she usually writes and gives lectures, grades papers, and deals with correspondence. I was able to write comments for two blogs; the first dealt with black sheep in our family history, the second dealt with the importance of Societies. After that, I read through some legislation that has much genealogical significance these days. A new act is proposed, which would make the personal information found in genealogical records be somewhat harder to get to, including civil registration documents in the UK. I was able to read and decipher the legal language and create a proposal that Else will use in a community forum to hopefully add an exception for genealogy when it comes to personal information.

            Overall, I had a very hectic, stressful, exciting, and overall great first week. On the weekend, Brian and I went to the British Museum and saw all the amazing antiquities there. We also went to the National Portrait Gallery and I taught Brian all about the history of Britain’s kings and queens. I love that history is all around me, and I can be Brian’s personal tour guide (he admits I give better tours than the professionals).