Thursday, October 25, 2012

Queen Victoria's Journals

The Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has issued a very important announcement this morning, and it is about Queen Victoria's Dairy -

“At the age of 13, Queen Victoria became an avid journal writer when her mother gave her a diary to document an upcoming trip to Wales. Her last entry was written more than six decades later, on January 13, 1901, only nine days before her death.

This year, in honour of Queen Victoria’s birth (May 24, 1819) and the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, all 141 journal volumes (comprised of 43,765 pages) have been digitized and are now available through a courtesy subscription obtained by Library and Archives Canada (LAC), through The Royal Household, and with the assistance of ProQuest.

The project’s website says that “ As well as detailing household and family matters, the journals reflect affairs of state, describe meetings with statesmen and other eminent figures, and comment on the literature of the day. They represent a valuable primary source for scholars of nineteenth century British political and social history and for those working on gender and autobiographical writing.”

Not only have the diaries been digitized, they have been (and will continue to be) transcribed to allow for a keyword search. In fact, The Queen, as Head of State for Canada, did not leave us unmentioned. A keyword search for “canad*” (without the quotation marks) currently retrieves more than 150 results up to 1839!

As the project continues and more years are transcribed and become searchable, this resource will become more valuable.

To access the journals, use any of the public workstations located at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa or our Wi-Fi connection and visit the website Queen Victoria's Journals www.queenvictoriasjournals.org. You may browse the journals by date or search for keywords”.

The website for the LAC is www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx

The Waterdown East-Flamborough Heritage Society’s Book Fair and Seminar

The 22nd annual Book Fair and Seminar is being held Saturday, November 10th, 2012 from 9:30 am – 3:00 pm, with the Seminar beginning at 10: 30 am. at the Waterdown East-Flamborough Heritage Society. 

The seminar topic will be “The Importance of the Battle of Stoney Creek,” and the speaker will be James E. Elliott, author of “Strange Fatality: The Battle of Stoney Creek”.

Admission for the seminar is $5.00. Reservations will be taken up to November 5th. Fee is payable at the door.

For more information on the Book Sale, Seminar, and placing your reservation, you may contact them by phone at 905.540.5161. They are located at Fellowship Hall, St. James United Church, 306 Parkside Drive, Waterdown

The website is at www.wefhs.myhamilton.ca

Note: If you go on to their site, they have biographies of the Flamborough Nursing Sisters, C.E.F. Honour Roll for the Flamborough Area, Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Leper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, and Flamborough Home Children.

They also have the history about The Railway in Waterdown, Postcards of the area, "Let It Snow" (a very well done vignette), and the McGregor family and their impact on the Waterdown area.

They have vertical files, photographs and histories of numerous other local families in the Waterdown Flamborough area.