Ancestor Approved Award





A couple of days ago I received a comment from blogger Geniaus that was for an "Ancestor Approved Award". Recipients of the award are required to:



Write 10 surprising, humbling, or enlightening aspects of their research;

Pass the Award on to 10 other researchers whose family history blogs are doing their ancestors proud.

The Moonee Valley Family and Local History Blog was created a couple of years ago after completing the SLV Web 2.0 Training. The blog is part of the new social media that works alongside more traditional resources that are associated with local and family history. Many of our enquiries are from our Ask a Librarian portal, people visiting the library and often requests from overseas. The following are some of the events, activities and queries that the Moonee Valley Library Service has presented over the last twelve months.




  1. The Sam Merrifield Library hosted the touring exhibition 'Independent Type Books and Writing in Victoria' in February/March. Our focus on was on local author Hugh Anderson and publisher of the Red Rooster Publishing established in Ascot Vale in the 1970's.


  2. The Travelling Treasures from the State Library of Victoria was shown at the Sam Merrifield Library alongside our own treasures the Thomson family records of Moonee Ponds. These records were a great surprise from a family member who donated them to the library a couple of years. They document the family's social and working life in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Some of the items include seven invitations to the official functions celebrating the opening of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, dated 1901, a booklet celebrating the Centenary of Melbourne, 1835-1934, one League & Association football fixture 1936, a bookmark celebrating Empire Day 24th May, 1953, two pamphlets to be used in thanksgiving services for the blessing of peace after the Great War of 1914-18 and photographs of the Thomson family.


  3. The exhibition 'Forgotten Faces: Chinese & the Law from the Public Records Office of Victoria was shown at the Sam Merrifield Library from July to August, 2010.


  4. For a number of years the Moonee Valley Library Service has been presenting a session on digital storytelling. Once again this was a happy accident when the presenter Hisham Attia approached the library about this project. The event has proved very popular and has become a regular feature in Family History Week. Last year Hisham presented the workshop at our Flemington Library branch. He uses digital techniques to tell personal and family stories and introduces these concepts to encourage you to tell your own story using digital technologies.


  5. Burke & Wills 150th anniversary expedition. For this anniversary the library assisted with a children's art competition.


  6. The ever popular Ann Dixon who is a collector and expert on vintage costume visited the Ascot Vale library branch to celebrate the Spring Racing Carnival. The presentation and talk was about clothing fashion worn during the Melbourne Cup, from the 19th the 21st century. The emphasis was on hats with examples from her extensive collection.



  7. The Moonee Valley Council has developed a new website with some new features.


  8. A couple of months ago Cory Greenwood re-designed the blog with a new presentation for easier access to information.


  9. Enquires about family history over the last twelve months have included requests from Manchester, England about their ancestors who moved to Moonee Ponds in 1917, histories of local homes, schools and hotels.


  10. The library service co-presented with the Essendon Historical Society a Writers Panel; "Criminal Intent" books on crime, whether fiction or non-fiction in the historic Moonee Ponds Courthouse.

The following are my 10 blog nominations, hope they fit into the criteria.

Heritage Victoria
Family Matters
Tiger’s Mouth
Empire Called and I Answered
Museum Victoria Discovery Centre
GenealogyWise
UnlockthePast
Family Research English, Scottish and Irish Genealogy
Geneabloggers
Carol Baxter


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