
Russian Spy ballons, breakthrough ‘Eureka’ moments and shocking ordeals
Public libraries, librarians and local history groups and more have helped people navigate the world of Trove for over a decade. They have helped their local communities discover Trove, go further in their Trove journey and put on some amazing webinars, workshops and presentations every year.
As we head into the New Year we had the opportunity to sit down with some of these groups to discuss these events and learn more about how they and their communities use Trove.
Alison Packer is Team Leader, Library Local History Services of Barossa Council Public Library Services, a Trove Partner in South Australia and did a series of workshops with the very fun title of “Get Your Trove On!” alongside colleagues this year.
Victoria Green is Technical Services Librarian, at Trove Partner Campspe Library which has ten branches and services all of Campaspe Shire and Moama and did a talk on using Trove this August (Family History Month) and October (History Month).
Tracey Treloar is a part of her local Encounter Bay Family History Group and as part of the ever amazing South Australia History Festival she held a workshop called Using Trove to Discover Local History at Trove Partner The Victor Harbor Library.
Rochelle: Firstly, how did your event go?
Alison: Get Your Trove On! was presented during SA History Festival in 2022. It was in a presentation style giving an overview and live examples. Our audience included regular library users as well as some travelling from Adelaide. Local History Team member Tessa devised the great catchy title!
Victoria: While we only had a small group attend this year, they were very enthusiastic and the talk went very well.
Tracey: Our event was attended by about 20 people, (a fairly full house for our space) who enjoyed hearing about some interesting or fun stories I had unearthed in Trove. They also Improved their knowledge of using Trove with helpful tips and information that I provided during the presentation.
Rochelle: Is this the first 'how to use Trove' event your library or you did? Are you planning to do more?
Victoria: I usually run a series of Family History talks during August (Family History Month) or October (History Month), although Covid and the 2022 flood meant we had missed running the sessions for the last 3 years. We expect to continue running session annually, with Trove being one of the topics offered. I also have a pdf of the powerpoint presentation available on the Campaspe Library homepage.
Alison: Yes, this was our first event focussing on Trove but in August we repeated our event for Family History month, this time in a smaller workshop style. Participants were encouraged to bring along their own device and, following the presentation, engaged in personal searches, guided and encouraged by our staff. We are looking forward to an upcoming session in February.
Tracey: Each year I usually do some sort of presentation on using Trove for our family history group members. This is usually also open to the general public.
Rochelle: And finally, do you have a Trove tip? or favourite Trove story?
Tracey: As a family history researcher, my favourite tips are usually to do with searching for names. Spelling is always a tricky one, as are the inclusion of not of middle names, and the use of initials. I usually recommend using wildcards and the tilde symbol in conjunction with various letter groups, particularly with names starting with mc/mac/m’ . I also recommend using the NOT or without the words e.g. if looking for a name like Calock you may want to remove all references to “clock”.
With our event above, there were quite a few fun stories which I linked to events we are experiencing today. E.g. after the Russian Weather/spy Balloon shooting in the USA earlier this year, I found There was the discovery of a possible Russian spy balloon near Victor Harbor / Goolwa in 1960.
Alison: Our Local History Team is small with lots of enthusiasm and we enjoy passing on our love of Trove and all the many ways it can add to your family story. Recently, Trove provided that breakthrough ‘Eureka’ moment, with a death notice from 1926 unravelling a longstanding family conundrum.
Victoria: Favourite Trove tip would be the phrase search (using quotation marks) and near search (using the tilde).
Favourite Trove story. My great grandfather died in 1091 when my grandfather was only 2 months old. When searching for a death notice I uncovered court reports of his widow, left destitute with 4 children under 5 years old, applying to the courts for relief. Appearing before a bench of three magistrates, my great grandmother was given ten shillings from the poor box, and her children were committed to the state with the recommendation they be handed back to their mother. A shocking ordeal for a young widow.