Changes to Trove Lists

The good, the bad and the ugly

Trove is one of my favourite sites for finding items related to my family history and for providing background to the life and times of these ancestors. It has a wonderful range of resources provided by the National Library of Australia in conjunction with a wide range of partners throughout Australia. This post from 2010 from the National Library of Australia provides some background to the early days of Trove. The site news page detailed developments from May 2009 until August 2016.

Since then, Trove has kept its users up to date with webinars and videos as new features were added. In 2019 I was pleased to contribute to surveys of Trove users about proposed changes to website structure and colours and in February 2020 we were given a glimpse of what was to be launched in June with the opportunity to provide some feedback.

The preview is now live for 4 days before the launch on June 26th. My comments in this post reflect my experience of the new interface from the point of view of a family historian with a teaching and librarianship background.

Interface

A new clean look is pleasing but with so much white space endless scrolling is needed on the screens I use.  I work on a 15" laptop and an iPad.

Text correction

Once the orange banner disappears from the new interface, text correction on the iPad will be easier. In the existing version of Trove editing text on a mobile device was very difficult.

Text correction on the laptop now has a very small window, starting more than half way down the full screen. The large green Edit text and the big black arrows take up a lot of space before one gets to the actual text. A thick black bar across the bottom limits this window space even further. At the most one can only see 7 or 8 lines of text.

The font is clear but one needs to scroll to get to the Download or Print buttons as the side bar icons start well down the page.

Lists

I have 43 saved lists in Trove, some public and some private. Some of my lists have over 300 items and the smallest list has only 2 items.  When I add a new item to a list I generally move it into date order within that list and add a note as to why I have saved it or copy in the text of the article or notice. 

Existing version of Lists

1. All items in a list are displayed on one page. 
2. Items are re-ordered by renumbering the item or using the arrows to move items up or down the page.
3. Any item in the list can be searched for by date, name or any other criteria by using Find on page (CTRL-F) in the web browser. I use this frequently to locate previously saved items within long lists when I want to get an image of the item.

New version of Lists

• Items in a list are spread over several pages with only 20 items per page.
  -- Only the items on a single page of a list can now be searched for within the list e.g. if I wished to find an article I had saved with the birth of a child in Quambi I would need to know on which page of the list that article appeared.
• Items are reordered by renumbering the item or using the cross hairs to drag to another position.  -- Given that the list is now spread over several pages it is not possible to use the cross hairs to alter position across the pages.



Space taken up by a single item that has many tags

• Thick green tags dominate items in a list where users have added many tags, they take up a lot of space further lengthening a list.
• Lists can now be filtered by type of information e.g. family notice, article etc. Items can be found within lists by date range - very useful. *****
• A new feature in lists is the ability to export a list. I was keen to try this but very disappointed to note that the csv of the exported list only contained a link to a thumbnail of the page not to the article itself. Removing the t at the end of the link in the csv only provided a slightly larger view of the page but does not provide a way into the page or article. The positive aspect of the csv is that it contained the notes I had made about each item.
• Another new feature is collaborative lists. This will be useful for family historians who are researching the same families or locations.

No doubt I will grow accustomed to some of the new ways of looking at things and hope that some drawbacks in the new interface will be improved over time. In the meantime I advise those who rely on searching their lists in Trove to act quickly before June 26th.

How I have preserved my ability to search within my Trove lists -a workaround

*** Evernote to the rescue! ***

Today I have visited each of  my 43 lists in the existing version of Trove and saved each list to Evernote.

In a web browser - Use the Evernote clipper and choose either Article or Simplified Article, choose the notebook and add any tags and remarks then Save clip.

On iPad Use the share option in the browser to Send to Evernote,  If you want the simplified view, this can be applied to the list from within the Evernote app.

Each list becomes a separate note but all the items in that list are preserved on one page.

A view of some of my Trove lists in Evernote

Within each note the items appear just as they appeared in Trove - see below. The note has a direct link to the list in Trove and each item within the list also retains its own individual link to the exact article saved. 

The Payne list - a single note in Evernote shows the individual items

View of the same 2 items in a simplified list

This is just a work around so that I can search within any individual list. It also has the added advantage of the powerful Evernote search. 

Evernote indexes every word within these notes so now a search for Quambi it will show me all instances of that word across all of my lists. This is very useful for a family historian.

If this would work for you, be quick, you will need to do this before the changeover to the new Trove on June 26th. I tried to send my lists to Evernote from the new version of Trove but only received error messages. Any private lists need to be made public to send to Evernote. Once my private lists were in Evernote I reset them to private in Trove.

I will continue to utilise lists in Trove but do hope that the export to csv function is improved to provide active links to individual articles. I would also like to see the ability for the user to decided how many items in a list display on a page so that once again we would be able to search within our lists.

What features of the new Trove interface please you?

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

Talking of Tarlee - Sheaf tossing

This article appeared in 1947 with the reporter and John McInerney reminiscing about the Tarlee picnics of days gone by. Like so many Trove articles it opens up more lines of enquiry so Tarlee sheaf tossing led me to the history of a mill in Gawler and an Italian musician who composed “The Cat’s Polka” and “The Canary Waltz.”

But first the sheaf tossing.  In the picture above you see sheafs of wheat being tossed by pitchfork from cart up to the man responsible for building the haystack. (1)

Tarlee Sheaf Tossing

OUR esteemed old Riverton friend John Mclnerney confirms what Mr. Herb. Gray suggested about the origin of sheaf-tossing. 'Yes, it was my late brother Jim who first suggested a prize for sheaf-tossing at the Tarlee picnic more than 50 years ago. The method was to place a bar about as high as a load of hay, and competitors had to pitch the sheaf over this; the distance it went after was the deciding factor, As Mr. Gray stated, the sheaves were just as they came off the binder, and didn't stand very many throws. However, a plentiful supply was on hand and fresh ones were used. About 22 entries were received for the initial contest.

Reaper-binder-harvester with sheaf carrier
Museums Victoria - https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/774148

'Bowling at a single stump was also on the bill for the first time; and this is a popular event at picnic sports today. Another novelty was a polo race. Competitors lined up on hacks armed with a polo mallet, and had to thump a ball about 15 chains or so to the winning post. Swimming contests, too, were decided in a large pool close by in the Gilbert. 'For two or three years Phil Roberts ran here as a boy, but the committee insisted that he should in future run in the men's class.  Mr. Joe Denton, of Farrells Plat, was another good sport, and Mr. Bevan. 'A splendid luncheon was provided by the ladies— turkey and ham in plenty—with a help-yourself supply of pickles. I believe that the luncheon for 1/ was an attraction in itself. Setaro's Canary String Band supplied the music for the day and night, Really, in those days, the Tarlee picnic was spoken of as the Onkaparinga of the North.
'The railway was opened to Tarlee on July 1, 1869. Before this wheat was carted with bullock teams to Duffield's mill at Gawler. Fancy strolling beside a team of bullocks for such a distance. (2)

This article led me on more explorations. What was Setaro’s Canary String band and what was Duffield’s mill in Gawler?

Setaro’s Canary String Band

From May of 1889 advertisements for Signor Francesco Setaro’s band started to appear in newspapers. Hundreds of events from then on, referred to this popular band which provided music of a great variety from opera to popular tunes.

Yearly socials of literary societies, church groups of various denominations, fetes, picnics, banquets and sports occasions were all enhanced with music provided by this band. Sometimes it was intermittent music between other recitals or dance music provided at the end of an evening function. 

The band name with canary added in came about as recognition of  one of several popular pieces he composed - The Canary Waltz.

The background story is revealed in his obituary published in 1926. He had arrived in Adelaide at age 20 to play in a jubilee concert. He was already an accomplished musician who had been performing since he was 12. Slightly different details are provided in the various obituaries published by the newspapers, but at age 59 his illustrious career had come to and end. He was recognised as a generous citizen willing to contribute his talent and teaching skills to the citizens of South Australia. (3)

Duffield’s Gawler Mill

This photo shows the mill in 1882.
https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+47835

I then explored references to  the Gawler Mill and found through Trove that as early as 1862 additions to the mill were being made to cater for the quantity of wheat being delivered there.

The addition to Mr. Duffield's mill is fast progressing, and already overlooks the old building. When completed I should think it will be one of the largest mills in the colony, if not the largest of any. An immense amount of new wheat is being brought into the town, most of which at present finds its way to Duffield's mill; the mill and premises are literally crowded with wheat. (4)

Fire was always a hazard for the mill. Disaster struck not just once, but at least three times. In June of 1867 the newspapers reported the complete destruction of the mill wherein the shafts and mill wheels were damaged beyond repair by the intensity of the heat.(5)

In September of 1867 the new foundation stone was laid and building of the new mill was expected to be completed by the end of 1868. (6) Work proceeded apace with the new mill officially opened in July of 1868. (7)

The new mill however was short-lived and in December of 1868 the residents of Gawler were awoken to cries of “Fire, fire” once more. Yet again Duffield’s mill was destroyed and out of action. An inquest was quickly established to determine whether there had been foul play. (8) By August of 1869 the rebuilding of the mill was almost complete. In 1876 another conflagration consumed the mill and all it contained. (9)

Once again the mill was rebuilt and reopened in February of 1877. It continued to trade under a variety of guises including producing compressed fodder during the Boer War. In April 1927 after years of standing idle the old mill was once again consumed by fire. (10)

IN 1928 the death knell was sounded for the Victoria Mill as it was known. It was demolished to make way for railway yards. Its chequered history was recalled in the 1928 article 1928 'THE LAST OF THE OLD VICTORIA MILL.'

Walter Duffield the owner of the Gawler and several other mills is profiled here in The Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Trove a true treasure of stories of the past.

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1. ‘Building a stack of cereal hay’ http://pir.sa.gov.au/aghistory/photo photoID 306946

2. 1947 'Out Among The People', Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), 9 October, p. 43. , viewed 11 February  2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93226029

3. 1926 'OBITUARY.', The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), 18 January, p. 11. , viewed 20 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64327151

4.1862 'GAWLER.', The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 - 1889), 31 January, p. 3. , viewed 11 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31807106

5. 1867 'GREAT FIRE AT GAWLER.—DESTRUCTION OF MR. DUFFIELD'S MILL.', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), 28 June, p. 7. , viewed 11 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39178794

6. 1867 'THE NEW VICTORIA FLOUR MILLS, GAWLER.', The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA : 1867 - 1922), 21 September, p. 3. (LATE EDITION.), viewed 11 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207672514

7. 1868 'THE VICTORIA MILLS GAWLER.', Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), 18 July, p. 9. , viewed 11 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158932347

8. 1868 'DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT GAWLER.', Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), 19 December, p. 6. , viewed 11 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158934811

9. 1876 'LOCAL TELEGRAMS.', The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 - 1889), 28 January, p. 5. , viewed 11 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31964777

10. 1927 'GENERAL NEWS.', The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), 26 April, p. 10. , viewed 11 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54092726

11. 1928 'THE LAST OF THE OLD VICTORIA MILL.', Bunyip (Gawler, SA : 1863 - 1954), 6 April, p. 11. , viewed 11 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96672759

Talking of Tarlee - The Institute

The power of a book club.

Three men wanted more books to read, others followed their lead.

In 1888 in Tarlee, in the mid-north of South Australia, an institute was established and subscribers paid for the privilege of reading. Money was raised to erect a building to house books, provide reading and other public space. The Public Library Board offered affiliation and supplied books to local institutes as well as purchases being made by the local community.

The Institute was used as a polling booth, a room was let to a bank, and a multitude of community functions were held. Each year the exhibits for the local show were housed in the building.
In 1905 the Tarlee institute incurred the displeasure of the Public Library Board by their disposal of 44 dilapidated volumes.(1)  After this incident, regulations were changed to allow for more local decision making.

Fundraising efforts towards completion of the building continued as exemplified by this short article where participants enjoyed several competitions. These included nail-driving and potato lifting for the women and potato peeling and bun-eating for the men.

1905 fund raising function

By 1906 further money had been raised to complete the building as originally planned. This account of the 1906 reopening appeared in the local paper, The Kapunda Herald. (2)

TARLEE INSTITUTE.

Thirty-five years ago three men - Messrs. P Hogan, Prescott, and G. Walker started a book-club in Tarlee. Others asked to be allowed to join, so an institute was formed. In 1888 portion of the commodious hall depicted in our illustration was built with the support of the Wooroora Agricultural Society, who gave a free grant of land. This year the building was completed, and a re-opening ceremony was performed by the Hon. J. J. Duncan. Great praise is due to the president (Mr. J. F. Godfrey). the vice-president (Mr. J. Mclnerney), the secretary (Mr. K. Noack), the treasurer (Mr. J, O. Taylor), and the committee (Messrs. J. Bond. I Jacobs, W. Pickering, M. McCarthv. E. Willis, R, H. Clarke, and F. Fleming) for the determined effort which was made first to reduce the debt on the old building, and then to raise money for the completion of the original design. The trustees are Messrs. McInerney (chairman), R. H. Clark,. J.G. Kelly, J. Bond, and J. F. Godfrey. The Institute Hall is used every year for the local show.

Two years later the same paper published an article on the Institutes of the Lower North in which they compared the buildings and services offered by the institutes in six towns of the region.

The text below the picture reads:

TARLEE INSTITUTE

This Institute grew out of a book-club started some 38 years ago. The building was completed to its present state in 1906. The agricultural show grounds adjoin the Institute land, and the building itself is used for the display of goods. (3)

Throughout the years this humble building became the centre of a wide variety of activities for its community. In more recent years extra rooms and facilities have been added to the side of the  building.

A 1954 article in Trove captures the opening of  the supper room built on to the side of the Institute.

Tarlee Celebrates
IT WAS a great event for the little hamlet of Tarlee, always busy with to-and-fro traffic; on Saturday when district residents congregated in numbers to see Mr. Quirke, MP, open the new supper room attached to the institute, and the Minister for Defence (Sir Philip McBride) unveil a World War II. honor roll. Mr. Melrose, MLC, came across from Kadlunga, Mintaro. They were Introduced by Mr. A. L. Molineux, chairman of the war memorial committee since its formation in 1946, and Councillor (now chairman) of Riverton District Council for 29 years and opposed only once. Mr Molineux explained that £1.000 had been raised promptly toward the extension. District people subscribed £300 for a bio-box for cinema shows. The CWA (Mrs. Clayton Dunn is president now) raised £437 toward the hall. (4)

Meetings for local committees, fetes, dances, farewell socials, concerts, debates,  family celebrations, CWA meetings, election campaigns, polling booth: these are just a few of the types of functions held in  the Institute which sprung from the humble beginnings of a book club.

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1. 1905 'PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD.', The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), 19 August, p. 4. , viewed 03 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55820856

2. 1906 'TARLEE INSTITUTE.', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 2 November, p. 1. (Kapunda Herald Illustrated Supplement), viewed 03 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108379385

3. 1908 'Institutes of the Lower North.', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 13 November, p. 3. (Kapunda Herald Illustrated Supplement), viewed 03 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132367197

4.  1954 'Out among the People', Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), 20 May, p. 51. , viewed 03 Feb 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93914430

Talking of Tarlee - Beach Picnic photos

Remember that seaside picnic, the one in 1918 of course. Here it is - Talking Tarlee - Beach Picnic

Further searching in Trove revealed this wonderful collage of photos from that day.(1) The very faint text underneath the picture reads:

MIDLAND RESIDENTS VISIT THE SEASIDE.

Last week special seaside trains were run from Midland towns to the seaside, carrying a large number of excursionists to Glenelg and the Semaphore, from Hamley Bridge, Stockport, Tarlee, Riverton, Saddleworth. Burra, and Freeling.
The six top pictures show groups of the excursionists at Glenelg, and the seven bottom ones scenes at the Semaphore.   Krischock, photos

Even though the grainy nature of the picture makes it difficult to distinguish individuals it does provide clues about life in 1918 and the day out. On Thursday February 21st the day of the trip the forecast was for cool and cloudy (2), and the temperature in the shade only reached 72.9 degrees Fahrenheit, 22.7 Celsius. (3). It was quite a cool day for a trip to the beach.

• The women are in long dresses with younger ones in light coloured dresses with dark stockings. 
• Men are sporting coats and ties and almost everyone has a hat on. 
• Wooden and canvas deck chairs are scattered across the sand. 
• In the top right hand corner there is a horse and cart in the background, perhaps supplying refreshments or rides.
• I can see at least one person reading a book.
• The jetty on the far left, second photo down looks as if it was a popular spot for promenading and viewing the sights. 
• In the centre and to the right there is a large tent, perhaps providing some entertainment on the day. 
• A few lucky children are barefoot and digging in the sand. 
• A picnic rug is spread out on the ground and I see a gent apparently cutting up some food.

There does not appear to be any rain or strong wind to spoil the day and given the low temperature all would have been comfortable enough in the clothes of the day. Lucky it was not a scorching hot day. I wonder if the gents would then have removed their coats.

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1. 1918 'A SUMMER OUTING.', Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), 2 March, p. 26. , viewed 24 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87548623

2. 1918 'THE WEATHER MAP', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), 21 February, p. 7. , viewed 24 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5599005

3. 1918 'THE WEATHER MAP', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), 22 February, p. 10. , viewed 24 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5599374

This post first appeared on https://librarycurrants.blogspot.com

Talking Tarlee - Beach picnic

The weather was hot.

Harvest was over.

Time for some fun.

A visit to the beach.

In 1918 motorised transport was still a luxury, but train travel was available through the mid-north region of South Australia. The Midland District Committee met in Tarlee to plan such an outing for their local communities.

A meeting of the committee of the Midlands Beach Picnic was held at Tarlee —that town being geographically the nearest for all concerned. Representatives from Hamley Bridge, Stockport, Linwood, Giles Corner, Tarlee, Riverton, Rhynie, Marrabel, Saddleworth, Auburn, Steelton, and Waterloo were present. Dr. Glynn occupied the chair. The hon. secretary of the picnic committee (Mr. J. Oswald Tayler, Tarlee,) submitted information relating to the last outing, and said the feeling regarding a continuance of the picnics was unanimous and enthusiastic. In view of the fact that 1,200 persons availed themselves of the opportunity to have a trip to the seaside last March, it was felt that no risk would be run in arranging a similar day this year. It was decided to carry on the fixture, and the date chosen was Thursday, February 21, the rendezvous to be Glenelg. A movement has begun to proclaim that date a close holiday for banks, stores, and all business places possible throughout the towns and communities participating in the picnic, and it is hoped no obstacle will occur to prevent this being accomplished. (1)

Much excitement ensued as tickets were purchased for the day out and food and drinks prepared. A large crowd was expected and tickets on the trains sold out quickly.

Glenelg Guardian (2)

MONSTER BEACH PICNIC.
The Midland beach picnic at Glenelg to-day promises to be a great success. About 2,000 tickets have been sold. At Riverton every available ticket was sold, .and the railway-stationmaster has had to apply for more. Clare, Auburn, and Watervale are also booking for these excursion trains. A launch has been chartered for sea trips. On Saturday a similar excursion train is to be run from Burra. (3)

Reports of the train journey and number of passengers appeared in several papers. It was a long day out for those with small children, a 6.45 am departure from the train station meant a very early start by horse and buggy to reach the town. By the time the trains arrived home at about 11 pm that night, weary beach goers then faced the long trip back home.

Blyth Agriculturist (4)

Our trips to the beach are easy and uncomplicated compared to the effort required by our ancestors. We hope they enjoyed the train trip with their friends and neighbours.

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1. 1918 'RIVERTON.', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 25 January, p. 3. , viewed 23 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108279615 
2. 1918 'Advertising', Glenelg Guardian (SA : 1914 - 1936), 7 February, p. 1. , viewed 23 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214714823
3. 1918 'GENERAL NEWS.', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), 21 February, p. 4. , viewed 23 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5599018
4. 1918 'Advertising', Blyth Agriculturist (SA : 1908 - 1954), 1 March, p. 3. , viewed 23 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215156229

Find of the day – Trove Tuesday

Trove turns up treasure again. How could I have previously missed this tome published on the occasion of the South Australian Centenary in 1936? Trove has links to the libraries which hold the book but also has the whole book digitised and available for searching.

This work records the history of local areas, towns and the formation of the councils and corporations in South Australia that governed them. It is extensively illustrated with mayors, former mayors and the current councillors of 1935-36. Biographies of the mayors and councillors cover birth location and year, education, memberships of organisations and  sometimes family circumstances and residence are mentioned.

Former councillors are also listed under each local government area often with the exact years each person served. The search function led me directly to three mentions of relatives who had served on local councils in the first 100 years of South Australia’s white settlement and expansion. Now I'm off to search for those other surnames in my ancestral families.

Hosking, P & Universal Publicity Company. 1936, The Official civic record of South Australia : centenary year, 1936 Universal Publicity Company, Adelaide viewed 12 July 2016 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-11350397

Fun with OCR–Trove Tuesday

Hatch, match and dispatch

Time for a little light entertainment - Correction time! The Trove digitised newspaper zone provides wonderful detail about past lives and times for family historians. It also provides plenty of entertainment through the OCR (optical character recognition) rendition of those pages. The image above is the best one I’ve come across this week, no comments about the substitute of bums for births! It has now been corrected to Births.

Common OCR renditions for son of that I have seen include: sod of, sob of, eon of, soil of – all of which could be applicable at some stage of life no doubt.
Then there was the son-in-law listed as the scam-in-law.

Weddings too provide fertile ground for much mirth.

• wedding breakfast and deception
• the bride's trowelling dress
• the bridegroom's bother
• wedding hell

Death and In Memoriam notices
the borrowing widow for sorrowing widow
the sodden death in this case not referring to an intoxicated person

Miscellaneous mischievousness
on arrival at Sort Adelaide – well I guess they did get ‘sorted’ before leaving the Port.
Where else could you find advertisements for Rustless Corsets?
What have you seen while searching Trove to cause a smile?

Serious stuff – Some search hints

Funeral notices – There are times when names are not indexed from Funeral notices. This may be for several reasons but I have often found the Funeral Notices buried within an Advertisements page. Sometimes there may be no separate heading and they do not appear in the Family Notices section of some newspapers.

It is often possible to find a funeral notice by scanning the rest of the pages in the paper where the death notice was located. If the death notice was published several days or a week after the death it is worth looking for the funeral notices in the papers just a day or two after the death.

Wages – this one came from a tweet this week by David Coombe

How much did my ancestor earn?
Try https://t.co/EpQGU77T7b & apply state, decade filters. #TroveTip #familyhistory 

— davids colonial news (@coombeidau) June 5, 2016

I wondered what a "thorough servant" could be.
Here's one definition found in The cottagers of Glenburnie: a tale for the farmer's ingle-nook By Elizabeth Hamilton, chapter entitled  Receipt for making a thorough servant. Thoughts on Methodism

 "to do everything in its proper time; to keep everything to its proper use; and to put everything in its proper place"

I think my family history endeavours could benefit from the application of those principles.

Thanks to the visionaries at the NLA who developed and continue to enhance Trove. OCR is amazing technology but all users can help improve Trove. Search on, text correct and many will benefit.

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2016/06/fun-with-ocrtrove-tuesday.html

Keeping up with Trove newspapers

In order to keep abreast of newly digitised newspapers on Trove, I use a feed reader to deliver the latest titles. One can select from a variety of RSS feeds to keep up to date. Two popular feed readers that can be used on both computers and mobile devices are Feedly and Inoreader.

Videos on how to use feed readers

• How to start using Feedly by Richard Byrne from Free tech for teachers.
• Introduction to Inoreader
• Using Inoreader to follow blogs by Jill Ball

Add your choice from these feeds to your favourite reader to keep up to date.

• Newly added titles - the feed link is http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rss/titles
• Newly added issues for any title - the feed link is http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rss/issues

If you click on these links on a mobile device you will need to choose to open in a feed reader or news app. 

Individual states

Feeds are also available for individual states if you are particularly interested in a local area. Recent new additions to South Australian newspapers that have come to my notice through Feedly since the upgrade to Trove 7 in February include:

Frearson's Monthly Illustrated Adelaide News (SA : 1880 - 1884) added on 2016-04-22
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon. From 1880-10-01 to 1880-12-31

Harp and Southern Cross (Adelaide, SA : 1873 - 1875) added on 2016-04-21
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1873-12-05 to 1873-12-26

The Irish Harp and Farmers' Herald (Adelaide, SA : 1869 - 1873) added on 2016-04-20
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1871-01-07 to 1871-12-30

The Illustrated Adelaide News (SA : 1875 - 1880) added on 2016-04-20
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1877-01-01 to 1877-12-31

The Pictorial Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1885 - 1895) added on 2016-04-20
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1891-01-01 to 1891-12-31

Eyre's Peninsula Tribune (Cowell, SA : 1910 - 1950) added on 2016-03-07
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1911-03-10 to 1912-12-20

The Areas' Express (Booyoolee, SA : 1877 - 1948) added on 2016-02-26
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1919-01-10 to 1920-12-31

Thanks to the Trove team at the NLA for providing this valuable service.

Here's a snippet from The Irish Harp and Farmer's Herald of 1871 for #TroveTuesday, enjoy!

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com.au/

Trove Teetulpa exhibition

Building with Trove

The importance of Trove as a community resource vital to Australia cannot be over emphasised. The development of this valuable resource by The National Library has made historically important information in a wide variety of formats available to all. The Trove API facilitates the development of  innovative programs. One such adaptation is the code for developing an exhibition of Trove materials.

My great grandparents were married at Teetulpa in northern South Australia  in 1887. While investigating what life on the goldfields may have been like for them in the 1880s, I unearthed many interesting reports, books and images in Trove and compiled my findings into four separate lists.

Recently Tim Sherratt shared code to make a D-I-Y exhibition from Trove lists. This is an ideal way to display content in a range of lists from Trove, particularly those lists with visual elements. This was my first venture onto github.com and although I have limited coding experience Tim’s excellent instructions were simple enough for this retiree to follow. His original version of an exhibition is Forecasters: An assortment of weather prophets. He has written more about the process here.

Here’s my Teetulpa Goldfields exhibition.

These interesting exhibitions have been created using Tim's code. I’m sure there are plenty of others out there as yet unseen by me.

• The Chinese in NSW: A history in pictures to 1940 by Kate Bagnall. This is a wonderful collection of resources compiled to complement Celestial Empires at the NLA.
• Explore Canberra in Trove a snapshot of the 1950s, 60s and 70s by Catriona Bryce. An interesting look back at the national capital through the years.
• Queen’s Hall at the State Library of Victoria by Katie Flack. Great views of the Queen’s Hall throughout the years.
• A tour of the Southern Highlands by Catriona Bryce. Love some of the fashions displayed here.
• French Stuff: Un assortiment de ressources issues de la bibliothèque nationale d'Australie by Antoine Courtin.

Thanks Tim for sharing the code and providing the inspiration. Now is the time for the government to #fundTrove and provide for its ongoing and future development in order to ensure the viability of this resource-rich national treasure.

My New Year in Trove

In the spirit of contributing, volunteering and not without a sense of personal satisfaction, I have been text correcting digitised newspapers in Trove since my retirement from paid work. These papers provide an important window into the history of our country, its people and places. It is interesting to read of past times and extra entertainment is provided  through some very hilarious interpretations of text rendered by the OCR process.

Some months I may correct many lines and other months very little. The beauty is that it is always there and in a spare moment one can make a difference. Correcting the OCR text makes changes in the overall database and so improves the search.

Trove provides simple, clear instructions in the Help Centre. Anyone can create a user profile to correct text and comment on articles. I started by correcting birth, marriage and death notices for my family history research then I found wedding and obituary articles. I simply had to correct these, amongst many others is this quite detailed report of my parents’ wedding.

Soon I was lured into regional newspapers in the area where I had spent my early years. Many of the people and places mentioned in articles were known to me. The advantage of correcting a local newspaper, is that one is likely to have quite an extensive background knowledge, so text correcting is easier when dealing with the familiar.

Other correctors choose a theme or particular interest. Trove put some questions to its top text correctors to find out what they correct and why, Read their responses on the Trove blog. When a user is logged in, Trove keeps track of how many lines of text are corrected. Here’s a screen clipping of the Hall o’ fame ranking as at 28 December 2015. That was the day I hit 1200th in the list. I’m wondering how far I can creep up that list in 2016 or indeed can I stay in the top 1200 as others continue their corrections. That’s my New Year challenge, I’ll check back December. 

Tips for correctors

• Use the zoom function in your browser (CTRL+ or CMD+) rather than the Trove zoom function to enlarge the text to be edited as well as the newspaper article. The Trove zoom can then be used to further enhance the newspaper article.
• Have a second Trove tab open to check for similar names or difficult words. In the article below it was difficult to determine whether the name was Geue or Gene. A quick search in the other tab revealed that families of Geues were living in the local area at the time of this article. Similarly I searched for Weedhead and Weedbead before determining the other difficult to read name was Woodhead.  
• This Time-Date calendar lets one check the date on a specific day mentioned, so if an article mentions Monday 2? December 1849 where the ? is an unreadable character, the calendar helps determine the date was the 24th.
• Save every few lines corrected, better to have saved than lost through either a computer mishap or a connection glitch.
• Further guidelines by the top text correctors are provided here.

The OCR text uncorrected


The correction process Green - showing saved lines, Red - currently edited lines not yet saved

View completed text correction on the Text corrections tab of your User Profile. Good to see that the ruts not rats were to be filled!



Happy text correcting, hope to see you soon in the Hall o’ fame.

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-new-year-in-trove.html

Flickr the family photos to Trove

Here's another method to make those old family photos available to your siblings and cousins.

Sign up for Flickr to get 1 terabyte of free storage for your photos. Photos can be made public, viewable by anyone, or private so they are only seen by you or those to whom you send a guest pass. Usage permissions are set using Creative Commons licencing.  Upload can be automatic from mobile devices and computers or one can use the simple drag and drop interface if family photos are already organised into folders.

Once photos are added on the Choose Photos/Drag and drop screen, one can:

• edit titles
• add descriptions and tags 
• set viewing permissions
• add to an album or create an album.

Edit information on this screen before upload

Once this initial information is added to your satisfaction, photos are then uploaded and will appear in your photostream and in the album you created. Albums can contain both public and private pictures. I recommend making your uploads private until you are ready to share them. I do not advise adding to a group from this screen.

To add further details to the photos, choose Albums then Edit in Organizr. Choose an individual photo to add the date the original photo was taken. Exact dates, single years or approximate years can be added through the date tab shown on the Organizr screenshot below.

Editing options in the Organizr screen

Adding your pictures to the Trove group

Once you have added and edited all the relevant information head over to join Trove: Australia in pictures group on Flickr.

All images included in this group are also made searchable in Trove, a service hosted by the National Library of Australia but built on the collections of thousands of organisations and individuals!

Trove provides the instructions for adding your pictures. All pictures added to the group must be made public. It is worth noting the need for accurate tags and descriptions as these are used in the Trove search. To make the best use of this service, revisit titles, descriptions and tags before adding them to the group as any subsequent edits in Flickr after Trove has harvested your photos and data will only be visible in Flickr not Trove.

Here are some early photos I have added, seen here on a search result screen in Trove.

Photos searchable through Trove

I've added these records to my family lists in Trove. Here's the O'Dea list with the photos now visible.
Thanks to Flickr and Trove, my cousins now have another avenue to find their relatives.


This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/12/flickr-family-photos-to-trove.html

Trove Tuesday - a new life for lists

Evernote to the rescue

In the course of my family research I have compiled a number of surname lists in Trove and while these are very useful for revisiting events, there is no way in Trove to search within each list to locate either a person, date or event.

As I have created lists within Trove, I have corrected the OCR then copied the corrected text from the newspaper article into the Note field for each item on my list. This means I have the full text without needing to search for it again when I want to build a family timeline or write a blog post. At this stage there is no method of exporting lists from Trove so that they can be modified and searched.

Enter my good friend Evernote. Why did this not occur to me earlier? I've used the web clipper in many other contexts but never thought to use it for lists. Individual items in Trove can be saved in a variety of formats but for lists the only current option is pdf.
Using the web clipper I've chosen Simplified article and saved. Now my entire list is searchable and able to be edited in Evernote. If I update the list in Trove, I can simply repeat the process and delete the earlier note.

So when I search in Evernote for "bridget galvin"  her name is highlighted within the Galvin list. The link back to the list in Trove is active as are all the individual links embedded in the list. All the source citations are embedded too.

Similarly, I can search using a particular year, e.g 1907, if I want to locate all the events that were published in that year. Some lists I have on Trove are private. Now they are in Evernote, there is no need for me to log in to Trove again to retrieve information from those private lists.
Trove and Evernote, a great combination.

This post first appeared on https://librarycurrants.blogspot.com

In Thirroul - Trove Tuesday

This week we have had the delight of the birth of a new grandchild and attendant baby sitting duties for his elder brother in Thirroul, NSW. This beachside spot nestles below the escarpment at the very base of the Bulli Pass. The history of the surrounding coal mines, accidents therein, and strikes for better conditions are all well detailed in the newspaper collections in Trove but I came across this evocative description attributed to C.G.B. and published here in 1892.

1892 'Thirroul.', The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), 19 March, p. 639, viewed 12 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16218472
Tomorrow we return home and leave the new baby 'peaceful, through dreaming time with face serene'.

In Time and Place - Trove Tuesday

   

This week Alex Daw, Shauna Hicks and Fran Kitto have published their reviews of the successful History Queensland "In Time and Place" conference held in Brisbane. Looks as if I missed some excellent sessions but it was not the time and place for me to be there as we travelled southwards for grandparent duties while we await the birth of another grandchild. Luckily we have arrived in time and are now in place as resident babysitters.

With an emphasis at the above mentioned conference on Queensland local history, this article tweeted by @TroveAustralia last week caught my eye. In 1921 this article detailed the movement by the Historical Society of Queensland lobbying to have local history studies included in the school curriculum.

1921 'LOCAL HISTORY.', The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), 10 November, p. 6, viewed 6 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20502592

Thanks are due to the many historical societies across Australia who work towards preserving and sharing their local histories.

Lights on or off?

Lights on vehicles

This week while exploring some newspapers in Trove I came across an article which puzzled me. Why would vehicles be able to travel at night with no lights as indicated in this snippet from the Kapunda Herald? This was 1913, so think horse and buggy. I could not imagine why a vehicle would need to be exempt and indeed why on particular nights. On looking more closely I could see these exemptions were approximately one month apart and lasted for five nights.

A quick search for the "Lights on Vehicles Act"  explained it all. These were the nights leading up to and including full moon each month. The Act had been brought into force in 1872 in South Australia and reluctantly applied across country towns in the ensuing years.

The 1877 article below explains an ingenious monetary reward method for getting the law enforced. The newspapers report many court proceedings for infringement of this Act.

Love thy neighbour, but if you need money and he doesn't have a light here's a quick earner!

LIGHTS ON VEHICLES ACT.
Act 33 of 1876 extends the provisions of Act 16 of 1872 by making them apply to all main roads in the colony, and streets and cross roads within 50 miles of the city of Adelaide, and 10 miles of any corporate town. It was enacted that all vehicles while travelling on the roads or streets indicated, between half an hour after sun down and half an hour before sunrise (four nights immediately preceding the night of the full moon, and full moon night alone excepted, shall be provided with at least one proper lamp, which shall be kept burning. 

It is also enacted that any vehicle left or placed upon any such street or road after sunset and before sunrise shall be provided with a light on the side nearest the road. The penalty for a breach of the Act is a fine not exceeding 40s. half of which shall be paid to the person laying the information, and half to the Corporation or District Council within whose limits the offence may have been committed.

1877 'LIGHTS ON VEHICLES ACT.', Southern Argus (Port Elliot, SA : 1866 - 1954), 27 September, p. 4, viewed 8 September, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96887808 

This post first appeared on https://librarycurrants.blogspot.com

Killed by clothes - Trove Tuesday

Image courtesy Boston Public Library

Hidden Killers

The BBC TV program More Hidden Killers of the Victorian Age revealed fascinating discoveries of the era along with attendant dangers. Of particular interest to me was the invention of celluloid and the many products manufactured with this new compound.

The program revealed that ladies' celluloid hair combs would catch on fire. The celluloid cuffs worn by clerks so that they could write on them to do calculations were a danger near fire, as indeed were the long dresses enhanced with celluloid.

A quick Trove search indeed revealed that celluloid in clothes was a potential death trap. Here's a section of an aptly named article  "Killed by Clothes" detailing the dangers of clothing of 1903.

****************

1903 'KILLED BY CLOTHES.', The World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), 31 January, p. 18, viewed 30 December, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128456355

First cousin twice removed

On a more relevant note, this reminded me of a sad story found while searching Trove for ancestors and relations. In 1917 this poor woman, Mary Kitschke, a first cousin twice removed, i.e. first cousin of a grandfather was wearing a hessian apron while attending the clothes in the copper.

SAD BURNING FATALITY.

Canowie Belt, December 19.

Mrs. Anthony Kitschke, of Canowie Belt, was washing, and was wearing a hessian apron. Whilst she was at the copper the hessian ignited, and her other clothing caught fire. She tried to roll a table cover round herself, but this also caught fire.Except for a small portion about her shoulders, her clothing was all burnt off. She had no one near to aid her. When Mr.Kitschke came home shortly afterwards he found her on the verandah, terribly burnt. Strange as it may seem, after the burning she got water from the tank and put out the burning fragments lying about the verandah. A neighbor did what she could to relieve the poor sufferer, who lived for 48 hours and was conscious to the last. Possessed of a cheerful, generous disposition, she was highly respected by all.

A sad ending to life. I well remember my father and uncle fighting grass fires using dampened hessian bags. Old grain bags were put to many uses around the farm.

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2014/12/killed-by-clothes-trove-tuesday.html