All About That Place

Online Catalogues have transformed access to historical records. Exploring these systems allows us to discover exactly what a repository holds, and how we may view material. However, finding the right document often requires more than a simple keyword search. This talk explores practical approaches to searching, interpreting, and making the most of online archive catalogues, helping you to uncover valuable sources that might otherwise remain hidden.

Kelly Cornwell is a professional genealogist and family history speaker, with over 25 years experience of researching family histories across the UK and Australia. She is a member of AGRA, and on the team of Pharos Tutors where she runs several courses, in addition to being an Advanced Programme Mentor.

Beginning with a wonderfully optimistic Victorian invention, this talk explores a contraption that promised health, vigour and fresh air, all without leaving the drawing room. Part exercise machine, part escapist fantasy, the Horse-Action Saddle offers a charming glimpse into a world where ingenuity, confidence and faint ridiculousness went hand in hand.

Margaret is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, an author, experienced researcher, speaker and genealogist who specialises in Women’s History and Sports History. She is the Chair of FHS of Cheshire, trustee of Devon FHS and the Family History Federation as well as a Few Forgotten Women Team member.

While original trust deeds are more often located in local archives, The National Archives holds an extensive collection of enrolled trust deeds. It has recently completed a project to catalogue two of the key series – C 54 and CHAR 12 – spanning the period 1735 – 1925. Drawing on examples reflecting the theme of work and play, this talk will explain how to search these records and showcase their rich potential as a source for family and local historians.

Dr Charlotte Smith is the principal records specialist for modern legal records at The National Archives. Previously she worked for many years in an academic law school. Her research focusses primarily on the legal history of Britain and its empire in the (very) long nineteenth century.

A brief introduction to the resources that will help you identify schools, teachers and pupils as you add more details to a one place study or family history focussing on what was work for some and the best days of their lives for others.

Valerie Brenton is a professional genealogist, author and volunteer researcher at Dorset History Centre supporting their Friday Afternoon Family History Surgery. She is a MSc alumnus of the University of Strathclyde and member of AGRA, APG and RQG.

The Three Cups Inn Stockbridge Hampshire. An Inn that is a Village in its own right within a Town, a nexus that anchors human stories in a place for 2000 years. It's a history written in Ale and Conversation, Food and Sleep, Travelers and Locals. Spiced with Religious Uproar, the Boots of Soldiers, Corrupt Politicians, Thieves and Robbers, Vindictive Policemen, Strangers and Neighbours, and Comradeship and Communal Joy. All of life passed through for a hundred generations.

MD of Time Detectives, a Research Company for Broadcast Media and Private Commissions, including "DNA Journey", "Celebrity Help! My House is Haunted!" Regional TV, Radio, and Newspapers.

In 1914 the Comtesse Marie de Seyssel d'Aix began a diary through the German occupation of Vielsalm, her son seized as a hostage and her château overrun. Around her stretched a vast web of aristocratic cousins across Europe — on both sides of the war — yet she faced the occupation almost alone. Written day by day, transcribed by her grandson, and rediscovered through a Belgian local history journal, her diary is a study in isolation, endurance, and a family network that appears mostly as the absent and the mourned.

Julian Sproule MRHS is an independent historical researcher with an MA with Distinction from the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. His work spans the full social spectrum — from working-class women in industrial Dundee to European aristocratic networks — through archival collaborations in Belgium, Italy and France.

We hear all about how AI has transformed research, writing, transcriptions, photography, and so on. What we're missing is how these fancy tools have combined with a networked world to transform how we use stories to share and connect with each other as individuals and families. These are changes we never anticipated and rarely consider. There have been extensive discussions of AI in the context of social media, politics, and the media. This talk will step back further to consider ordinary family history storytelling. It has, in fact, created an extraordinary opportunity not only for developers of platforms and media types, but also for how we use them to collaborate in the work of family history. The AATP or "place" angle is historical. Just 50 years ago, newsletters were mailed, and meetings were held in conference rooms. Back then, our access to records depended on what was in our local libraries. Collaboration meant exchanging letters or conversations over tea. Appreciating this shift will help us appreciate how our storytelling effort will connect across generations to share history as well as lessons in empathy, resilience, and understanding.

Barbara is the ringleader at Projectkin.org, a free, platform-independent community of family historians hooked on stories. Through public posts, recordings, and interactive events, members encourage each other to explore their personal connections to history. Barbara is in California and came to genealogy from a career in technology startups.

Explore the social networks of two late-medieval York residents, the priest Sir Laurence Hall and merchant Christopher Conyers, and find out how their occupations resulted in different types of influence.

Anne-Marie is a PhD student at the University of Oxford where she studies the social networks of early-modern York, with a particular focus on recovering the connections of women.

Victorian Britain was a formative time of widespread changes in the education, registration and regulation of dentists. Many practitioners adapted to dentistry from other professions, and worked with considerable freedom.

George William Gregory was a Shrewsbury based dentist, living there from approximately 1876 to 1911. His troubled life was clearly portrayed by regular appearances in both local and national newspapers.

Content warning includes: domestic & occupational violence, attempted suicide and sexual abuse of a minor.

John Parkinson is a Qualified Genealogist (RQG) based in Mid Wales. He recently completed an MSc from the University of Strathclyde, and is undertaking a Diploma in the History of Medicine at the Society of Apothecaries. John's primary research interests lie in the historical lives of healthcare workers, especially dentists.

Drawing on the surviving records of St Audry’s Hospital in Suffolk, this talk explores the lives of former patients through their medical case notes and wider historical research. Moving beyond diagnoses and institutional records, it reconstructs the personal experiences, family circumstances, individuals who have often been reduced to statistics. By placing patients at the centre of the narrative, the talk highlights their humanity and demonstrates that their lives and experiences mattered. This presentation contains information taken from historical records, including medical documents relating to a real former patient. The material reflects the language, terminology, and descriptions used in historical sources and does not represent the views or language of myself. Some content may be distressing.

Julie Kathleen Johnson is a writer, professional genealogist, and PhD researcher in History at the University of Strathclyde. Her research focuses on marginalised people in Suffolk’s institutions, including workhouses and asylums. She is passionate about uncovering ordinary lives through archival records and making local history accessible to wider audiences.