Six themed images: a line of coloured hats; a DNA helix; a journal; the exterior of the Victoria and Albert Museum; book Tunnel 29; and an Ishihashi slide to test for colour blindness

Autumn/Winter 2021 at The Parchment Rustler

Six themed images: a line of coloured hats; a DNA helix; a journal; the exterior of the Victoria and Albert Museum; book Tunnel 29; and an Ishihashi slide to test for colour blindness
Just a little hint of some of the themes I have in the pipeline for you here at The Parchment Rustler over autumn/winter 2021. Image credits: Ishihashi slide c/o Wellcome Collection, CC-BY 4.0; Tunnel 29 photo and Six Hats image (C) Sophie Kay.

You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet of late here at The Parchment Rustler – at least in terms of new articles coming out (believe me, the behind-the-scenes stuff never stops).… Read the rest

Front cover of Simon Smith's book The British Census

Review: The British Census

Ah, the census – a classic game of ancestral hide-and-seek: pages upon pages of names, ages, occupations, places of birth…sometimes illegible, sometimes containing little (or big) white lies to confuse us. Anyone who has researched their family history in the British Isles through the 19th and 20th centuries will know the wonder, joy and frustration of trying to hunt down ancestors within census records.… Read the rest

In Search of the Real ‘Blitz Spirit’

Few now survive who lived through World War II. Those remaining today can provide valuable accounts of their experiences, but such memories largely involve wartime childhood. As family historians, how can we connect with the range of experiences of adult civilians of the time?

Luckily, a remarkable collection of diaries in the UK’s Mass Observation Archive (MOA) allows us to step into the hearts and minds of the Blitzers.… Read the rest

Review: Burning the Books

Cover design for Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden, "A History of Knowledge Under Attack."

We now find ourselves well into autumn here in the UK; the weather is starting to turn and colder, darker nights beckon – the perfect time to be curled up in front of the fire, reading a good book. With this in mind, today’s post makes a slight departure from my usual “research methods” postings, but is highly relevant to the worlds of genealogy and history.… Read the rest