Vote and have your say
Update: Poll now Closed. Thanks for Your Participation.
Here at State Records NSW we are looking at developing a digitisation strategy to cover the next 10 years. The aim is to select material to digitise and make available through our website (much like Sentenced beyond the Seas). One of the core selection criteria for this process is Access and this is where we need your help. We need you to tell us what you want!
If you’d like to participate please select up to 10 items you would like to see digitised from the survey below and click the “done” button to submit.
While we are aware that the survey will allow you to select more than 10 items only the first 10 items selected will be counted.
The survey will run until 1 October 2014 and we’ll publish the results once it’s done. Thanks for your assistance!
(NB For those of you wondering why some of your favourite series are missing they may be covered by one of the two other criteria we are using for selection; Preservation & Iconic e.g. Convict Indents are Iconic and are covered by that criteria. Please ask in the comments if you would like to clarify if something is covered.)
beachcomberaustralia says:
NRS4481 & RNCG1499 Government Printing Office (glass negatives) c.1870+
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes …
please!
pellethepoet says:
@beachcomberaustralia: Ha ha! I think Fiona included that option in the survey purely for our benefit, that is to say for the benefit of beachcomber, pellethepoet, quasymody & co.! :)
Lorna Jeffress says:
Digitization will provide an excellent research resource!
Michelle Kaplan says:
I’ll be very grateful for ANYTHING extra that becomes available that is accessible from home.
Fiona Sullivan says:
Thank you kindly but I can’t take credit for the compilation of the list lol. It has been rigorously compiled in-house by committee, actually a number of committees! Some of the GPO images have been used to great effect in our Anzac exhibition which is being launched by the Minister for Finance and Services today http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/wwi-allies-versus-aliens-in-nsw-20140911-10f0w9.html .
Hmmmm @beachcomberaustralia I wonder which series you voted for ;-)
Rosemary Roberts says:
I think this is a wonderful project. I wanted to select much more than 10 since I heard about the problems with vinegar syndrome for the old fiche reels. Even if they are not all online, I hope our most delicate records are all eventually digitised.
Fiona Sullivan says:
Thanks for voting Rosemary. State Records is fortunate that the microfilm reels used in our reading room are polyester based, a stable format that does not suffer from “vinegar syndrome” as the acetate based formats do. One of the major categories we are targeting with the Preservation criteria of the digitisation strategy are the acetate based films and negatives in the State archive collection which are vulnerable to deterioration.
Jill says:
Is there documentation about women’s employment after arrival in the colony eg if they went into domestic service and with whom. I’d love to see that digitised
Fiona Sullivan says:
@Jill this sort of information can be tricky to track down, sometimes it is simply not available and in other cases can be found in a range of places depending on time period. It may be in a Convict Indent, Assisted Shipping List, Census Record, Immigration Deposit Journal or Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence for example. This type of archive is covered quite well in the list of material being considered for digitisation.
Christine says:
Wonderful initiative. Thank you.
Diane Corne says:
I am very interested, also, in what women did when they arrived in the colony especially those women who arrived on the David Scott in 1834. My great grandmother (aged 10)came out with her parents and 12 siblings. Six of her siblings (my great grand aunts) were sponsored females.
I know who they married, but would love to know more about their occupations prior to marriage.
Susan says:
That was like when you were a kid and went to the lolly shop and were told that you could only have one lolly. Where do you start? I chose among other things land records, and school records. But would be grateful for anything that comes up, I’m sure I’ll find something relating to our families.
Richard McEvoy says:
I am one of the many who must read all you present, keep up the great work as I am still young and can’t wait to find more bits and pieces of family history.
Frank Ward says:
Please step on the gas with whatever dgitisation you undertake. Iam 91 and would like to learn more and see more phtos about the pre and post world war 1 (in which five of my forebears served in the armed forces) life in Australia.
Frances Ingram says:
Now, where does one begin? What a cornucopia of information; but I think the earlier records especially the Colonial Secretary’s data would be invaluable to researchers. Plus … everything else. ASAP!!
Carol Wood says:
I would have liked the “submit” button to have been a bit more prominent at the end of the survey as I am still not sure if my survey went through.