April 9-12, 2013 will be the 96th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which is often described as key turning point in shaping Canada as a nation. To commemorate this milestone, here is a brief list of key genealogical and historical resources for those interested in learning more about Saskatchewan’s involvement in War World I.

Vimy Ridge Memorial image attributed to etnobofin (http://www.flickr.com/photos/etnobofin/5022513982/)

Battle of Vimy Ridge

* Ted Barris. Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9-12, 1917. Toronto, ON: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2007.

* Peter Barton. Vimy Ridge and Arras: the Spring 1917 Offensive in Panoramas. Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press, 2010.

* Pierre Burton. Vimy. [Toronto, ON]: Anchor Canada, 2001.

* Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Vimy: Vimy Ridge 90. Toronto, ON: Morningstar Entertainment, c2007.

* Michael Krawchuk. The Battle of Vimy Ridge: Wall of Fire. Calgary, AB: Detselig Enterprises, c2009.

Note: for more library books and DVDs pertaining to the Battle of Vimy Ridge, click on this link.

Saskatchewan's Participation in World War I

* Bill Barry, Doug Chisholm and Beth Parsons. Age Shall Not Weary Them: Saskatchewan Remember Its War Dead. Regina, SK: People Places Pub., 2005.

* James Pitsula. For All We Have and Are: Regina and the Experience of the Great War. Winnipeg, MB: University of Manitoba Press, c2008.

Genealogical Resources

* Soldiers of the First World War Database: Maintained by Library and Archives Canada, this database holds the personnel records for the 600,000 Canadians who enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the First World War.

* Kenneth Cox. A Call to the Colours: Tracing your Canadian Military Ancestors. Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press, c2011.

* Norman Holding. World War I Army Ancestry. Plymouth, England: Federation of Family History Societies, c1997.

* Neil Storey. Military Photographs & How to Date Them. Newbury, England: Countryside Books, 2009.

Recommended Websites

* Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial: a website dedicated to commemorating Saskatchewan's war dead.

* Canadian War Museum's "The Battle of Vimy Ridge": site examines not only the battle but also discusses the artwork on the Vimy Ridge memorial in France.

Irish Genealogy Resources

With St. Patrick's Day less than 2 days away, now is a good time to provide a quick round-up of some genealogical resources to help you re-connect with your Irish roots:

Handbooks and Manuals

* Adolph, Anthony. Tracing Your Irish Family History. Richmond Hill, ON: Firefly Books, 2009.

* Elliott, David R. Researching your Irish Ancestors at Home and Abroad. Toronto, ON: Dundurn, c2012.

* Grenham, John. Tracing Your Irish Ancestors: the Complete Guide. Baltimore, Md. : Genealogical Pub. Co., c2006.

* Mitchell, Brian. Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy. Baltimore, MD: Clearfield, c2008.

* MacLysaght, Edward. Irish Families, Their Names, Arms and Origins. London, UK: Hodges, 1957.

Births, Marriages and Deaths

* FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) - FREE; website offers Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958; Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881; Ireland, Marriages, 1619-1898; and Ireland, Deaths, 1864-1870. The site also offers 8 online courses on Irish genealogy.

* Irish Family History Foundation (http://www.irish-roots.ie/) – $ Subscription site; website contains Birth, Death, Marriage as well as Gravestone records

Census Records

* The National Archives of Ireland (http://nationalarchives.ie) – FREE; website offers the fully digitized 1901 & 1911 Irish census records

* Origins Network (www.origins.net) - $ Subscription site; website offers the Griffiths' Valuation tax census as well as the 1851 and 1901 Dublin City censuses.

Maps

* Mitchell, Brian. A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co., c2002.

Passenger Lists

* Ancestry Library Edition (ALE) - FREE with a valid Regina Public Library card and only available on Regina Public Library computers at all branches; the largest genealogy website in the world provides access to passenger arrivals for major American and Canadian seaports including New York, Boston, Halifax and Quebec City. The site also offers American and Canadian census records.

* Punch, Terrence M. Erin's Sons: Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada, 1761-1853. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co., c2008.

* _____. Erin's Sons. Vol. 2: Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada, 1761-1853. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co., c2009.

* _____. Erin's Sons. Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada, 1751-1858. Volume III. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc. 2009.

* _____. Erin's Sons. Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada to 1863. Volume IV. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2010.

Other Useful Websites

* Find My Past (Irish version; http://www.findmypast.ie) - $ Subscription site; website offers a mixture of Irish records including census, passenger lists and directories. Click on this link for a full list of their records.

* Ireland Gen Web (http://irelandgenweb.com) – FREE; a local resource index page for Ireland research broken down by county

A couple of weeks ago, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) announced the launch of two new online tools to help researchers use its immigration records:

* Immigration Records Headings - transcriptions of headings of different forms used to record the names of immigrants arriving in Canada between 1865 and 1935

* Immigration Records Indexes - links to different databases and websites offering nominal indexes or digitized images of immigration records

LAC also offers a new version of the Canadian Naturalization 1915-1951 Database. During the period of 1915 and 1951, the Government of Canada published the lists of names of those naturalized subjects in the annual reports of the Secretary of State (Sessional Papers) and in the Canada Gazette. This database, produced by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal, is now searchable by name and by date.

Finally, while helping a patron decipher some abbreviations on a Canadian military record, we discover that LAC has already published a very helpful guide on this topic, List of Abbreviations Used in Military Service Files.

To help tide you over while the Prairie History Room is hard at work developing our fall programming, we would like to recommend this new series of online genealogy classes...

The FamilySearch Family History Library is now making its popular classes available at FamilySearch.org, where anyone anywhere in the world can access them for FREE at a time that is convenient for them. The classes are ones that have been offered on-site in Salt Lake City for years. To access the website, click on the hyperlink above or on the image itself. Once you get to the site, scroll down as the image indicates and then click on the link for Free Online Classes.

There are currently 23 Family History Library online classes that available to you, ranging in topics from European research to United States military records. The classes vary in length from 6 to 58 minutes, with most lasting about 25 minutes. The format of the class varies, ranging from videos to PowerPoint slides.

Happy learning!

Having trouble keeping pace with our blog? Simple solution is to subscribe to our XML feed. What is that?

XML or RSS feeds automatically inform readers of when your favorite blog has been updated without you having to check back on the blog on a regular basis. Still unsure? Check out this simple video called RSS in Plain English that explains what they are and how easy it is to subscribe to a website or blog.

Intrigued? Then click on the following image located on the right hand side of this blog to subscribe. Your feeds can then be sent to a RSS reader such as Google Reader or Bloglines.

Or if you like, you can also receive the RSS feed via your email account through a simple service as FeedMyInbox. (Note: you will need to use the blog's actual url http://www.reginalibrary.ca/blogs/index.php?blog=7 to use this service).

May's Note: For those of you who were not able to attend our Online Genealogical Resources workshop last month, here is a link to the presentation hosted on Slideshare.net, whereby you can then download and print off the powerpoint. For those wishing to get a copy of the powerpoint as a PDF file instead, please email me.

Prairie History Room has published 4 new research guides for you to use:

* Aboriginal and Metis Genealogy

* American Census Records

* Canadian Military Records

* Western Land Records

To locate more research guides, please click on the following link or hit the button "Research Guides" on the top navigational bar of this blog. Enjoy!

For those who missed last month's session on Digitizing Your Photos, the presentation is available as an online tutorial on the Prairie History Room's Research Guides page. The tutorial covers the various stages of your scanning project, including picking out which photos to scan, the resolution you will need to scan your photos at, how to do basic image manipulation (e.g. cropping and changing the image's brightness), and some basic preservation methods to safeguard your family photos. We even included a bibliography of additional resources for you. Enjoy!

Dick Eastman who writes and publishes the Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, recently posted an article that discusses the dark side of genealogy research and lists a number of scam artists posing as legitimate genealogy research companies. To read the full article, click here. If you wish to distribute the information, please refer to the copyright section of his website.

One of our savvy genealogy researchers has asked me to pass this information on to those who are having difficulty researching their Germans ancestors. Only too happy to comply...

The American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Regina and District Chapter have monthly meetings every 1st Wednesday of the month at at 7:30 p.m. at the Seniors Centre on Winnipeg St. Aside from their monthly meetings, the chapter also has a small library and can help researchers who require genealogical assistance. For more information about their service, contact Alvin Knoll, chair of the chapter, either by phone (306) 352-5114 or email.