Archive for the “Indexes” Category

An announcement from World Vital Records:

World Vital Records is announcing the addition of the largest number of records to be released in a single day since the site launched in 2006.

To commemorate this milestone, for the first time World Vital Records is offering FREE PUBLIC ACCESS to its entire online collection beginning August 11 through August 13, 2009. This is a perfect opportunity to participate in this incredible promotion.

This is a great opportunity to have a look around at the Australian content in this site, mostly, but not only, provided by Archive CD Books Australia.

Just click on the link below!

I am an occasional indexer for FamilySearch, about which I have written before. There is an enormous number of projects to be indexed from all over the world. You can see the current list here.

One of the projects currently available for indexing is the Sydney Cemetery Inscriptions, a collection of index cards for cemeteries including Rookwood, the largest cemetery in Sydney and probably Australia. Name, age, date of death and cemetery name is the minimum information that I have so far seen, although there is capacity for birth date,  parents’ names and spouse’s name.

FamilySearch indexing is the easiest to use indexing software I’ve ever seen. The screen is split between a digital image of the document being indexed and the form to be filled in. Many fields give a list of common names, placenames, etc, which help enormously if the entry is hard to read. There is a lot of help available, on the screen and on the website. The biggest advantage is that each batch is indexed twice, with a third person to adjudicate if there are any discrepancies, so you do not have the pressure of getting it perfect.

A batch consists of a variable number of entries to be indexed, depending on the document. These cemetery batches only have 12 or 15 cards to a batch that I have seen so far, so you can whip through one quickly. I used to index Irish Civil Registration indexes and they had 375 names to a page!

The sooner we get this indexed the sooner it will be available to all of us. For more information or to sign up click here.

The Public Record Office of Victoria has announced the release of  two online indexes -

Wills and Probate 1841-1925

Outwards Passengers 1887-1896

Here is the announcement in their rEsearch 32 – News from Access Services at Public Record Office Victoria:

NEW PROBATE AND SHIPPING INDEXES LAUNCHED
2008 has seen volunteers at PROV achieve major milestones through their work on indexing PROV records.

Volunteers from the Genealogical Society of Utah and the Victorian Association of Family History Organisations have completed the initial stage of a new index to probates in Victoria. The index’s first stage, covering the period 1841-1925, allows researchers to search for the first time 214,000 probates held in PROV’s collection by family name, place, occupation and date.

For assistance in researching wills and probates, refer to: PROVguide 70 Wills and Probate Records; PROVguide 29 Wills and Probate Records 1841-1925; and PROVguide 68 Wills and Probate Records from 1926. These are available online and in hard copy in PROV reading rooms.

PROV volunteers have also completed another instalment of the outwards immigration index. The latest instalment of 290,000 departures covers the period 1887 – 1896, was launched at the volunteers’ end of year celebrations on 16 December.

The new instalment of the immigration index and the new probate index can be accessed online at: < http//access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/PROVguides/PROVguide023/PROVguide023.jsp