WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
One of the biggest genealogical gatherings in the world this year will be Who Do You Think You Are? Live at the National Hall, Olympia, in London on 26-28 February. The event has hundreds of exhibition stands representing family history societies, record repositories and commercial organisations. In addition, there are lectures, workshops and appearances from celebrities featured on the Who Do You Think You Are? television series. Two APGI members, Helen Kelly and Paul Gorry, will be present, giving advice on Irish research.
Tourism Ireland is one of the event’s sponsors on this occasion. Helen Kelly, APGI’s President, will be at the Tourism Ireland stand over the entire weekend. Three of Ireland’s record repositories will also have stands. The National Archives, the National Library of Ireland and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) will, as in former years, be on hand to advise about their holdings.
Paul Gorry of APGI will be on the National Archives stand along with Senior Archivists, Catriona Crowe and Aideen Ireland. Paul will also present a talk, ‘Irish Genealogy Meets the Twenty-First Century!’ in the Society of Genealogists Regional Workshop at 11am on the Sunday.
DIPLOMA IN FAMILY HISTORY (GENEALOGY)
The third Diploma in Family History course at Independent Colleges, Dublin,
begins on Tuesday 9 February and it will conclude on 4 May. It is run by
Independent Colleges in conjunction with APGI. The first such course began
in February 2009 and the second in October.
Lectures take place at Independent Colleges' premises in Dawson Street in
the centre of Dublin. Introductory visits to the National Library, the
National Archives and Dublin City Library & Archive are built into the
twelve week programme. While students will attend evening classes for three
hours once a week, the emphasis is on learning through practical application
between classes. Students must complete two assignments.
Two APGI members, Eileen Ó Dúill and Paul Gorry, are the course
co-ordinators. The other APGI members who are lecturing are Mary Beglan,
Robert Davison, Steven ffeary-Smyrl, Helen Kelly, Máire Mac Conghail and
Joan Sharkey. The Independent Colleges web site description of the course includes the following:
“This course is suitable for anyone beginning to explore family history
research, whether as a hobby or with a view to developing a career in the
field. The records and skills would also be applicable to those interested
in local or house history.”
ADOPTION AND YOUR FAMILY HISTORY
This months talk to Clare Roots Society takes on the tricky subject of adoption and takes place at the Ennis Civic Rooms on Thursday, Feb 18th at 8pm. Fiona Fitzimons will take participants through obtaining records for Irish children who were fostered prior to the Adoption Act in 1952.
Prior to the introduction of the 1952 act, fostering in legal terms, applied to all 'adoptions' arrangements in Ireland in which a child would be permanently raised by people other than the child's own birth parents.
In practical terms, there were two main types of fostering. Informal fostering was usually organised within the extended family network when parents could not rear the child because of personal circumstances. For the family historian, these arrangements can be very difficult to trace. This type of 'informal fostering' arrangement is beyond the scope of this paper, and will not be considered during this talk.
Fiona will explain the type of records that will contain relevant information on 'boarded out' or 'fostered' children prior to the introduction of the 1952 Act. Also, how the current legislation affects the rights of those seeking their natural families to access these records.
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