Hello everybody, It's the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence this month and I've been enjoying the wonderful podcast on BBC Sounds entitled, The History of the United States in 100 Objects. If you've read any of my books, you'll know that I like to build up histories from the smallest of details,... Continue Reading →
Who Was The Daddy?: Snippet 4: Bastardy Records
Unwed mothers being brought before a court room and treated severely. Woodcut. Wellcome images, in the public domain, undated. Modern DNA techniques can now definitively solve questions of paternity, and can even resolve cases from several generations back in the past. But traditionally, there have been many other ways in which family historians could potentially... Continue Reading →
April Newsletter: Curious Cubicles and Redacted Registers
Hi everybody! Have you ever daydreamed about what daily life actually looked like for your ancestors? A little while ago, I started to think how odd it must have been for people in the past suddenly to be presented with hundreds of strange telephone 'cabinets' in the streets of their towns and cities, and even... Continue Reading →