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I know facebook has it's down sides but it can also be a godsend if used wisely. Yesterday I had two amazing gold nugget successes on two very different challenges so I though I'd share my experiences.
I have been working my way though bags, boxes and albums of old photos and documents, mostly passed on to me from my father (long gone) and some concerning my mother (even longer gone). Amongst the albums were some holiday photos from the early 1970s. They were short trips involving my parents and my younger brother - the rest of us were older and no longer involved in family holidays. My father had carefully annotated most of them but there were three showing my parents outside a building that obviously used to be a railyway station. I asked my brother about it and he remembered it being in Yorkshire but couldn't remember anything else. So off to facebook and I found a group page about Yorkshire railways. I posted the pictures and asked if anyone recognised the place. I had an answer within 2 minutes and when I googled it I found a wonderful old Pathe news video about the station and the people who lived there. Fantastic!
The second 'find' was even more amazing! I had a very vague and fuzzy memory that after my Mum died when we were all quite young, my father (a very successful business man) had donated some money for a library building somewhere 'up north' and there was a plaque there dedicating the building to my mother. That was all I knew. But amongst the papers were some correspondence between my father, his accountant and The Shaftesbury Society (which at that time was a charity supporting people with physical and mental disabilities). The letter mentioned York Hose in Ossett and said that the wording of the plaque had been agreed and inviting my father to the opening ceremony for the new building. I tried googling York House and got a phone number but there was no response and the Shaftesbury Society no longer exists, having morphed into Livability. I sent them an email explaining my connection and asking if the plaque was still there but as yet have had no response. So off to facebook where I found a Friends of York House group page and sent them a similar message. I had a really quick response from someone who said it was indeed still there and within 24 hours they had sent me a photo of the plaque! I can't tell you how thrilled I was - it brought a tear to my eye and still does when I think about it. After 50 years with a vague and fuzzy memory I now have tangible proof that it was true - thanks to the wonders of Facebook.
HVG plaque at York House Ossett.jpg
So that's my facebook research story.
Anybody else tried using it as a research tool?
I have been working my way though bags, boxes and albums of old photos and documents, mostly passed on to me from my father (long gone) and some concerning my mother (even longer gone). Amongst the albums were some holiday photos from the early 1970s. They were short trips involving my parents and my younger brother - the rest of us were older and no longer involved in family holidays. My father had carefully annotated most of them but there were three showing my parents outside a building that obviously used to be a railyway station. I asked my brother about it and he remembered it being in Yorkshire but couldn't remember anything else. So off to facebook and I found a group page about Yorkshire railways. I posted the pictures and asked if anyone recognised the place. I had an answer within 2 minutes and when I googled it I found a wonderful old Pathe news video about the station and the people who lived there. Fantastic!
The second 'find' was even more amazing! I had a very vague and fuzzy memory that after my Mum died when we were all quite young, my father (a very successful business man) had donated some money for a library building somewhere 'up north' and there was a plaque there dedicating the building to my mother. That was all I knew. But amongst the papers were some correspondence between my father, his accountant and The Shaftesbury Society (which at that time was a charity supporting people with physical and mental disabilities). The letter mentioned York Hose in Ossett and said that the wording of the plaque had been agreed and inviting my father to the opening ceremony for the new building. I tried googling York House and got a phone number but there was no response and the Shaftesbury Society no longer exists, having morphed into Livability. I sent them an email explaining my connection and asking if the plaque was still there but as yet have had no response. So off to facebook where I found a Friends of York House group page and sent them a similar message. I had a really quick response from someone who said it was indeed still there and within 24 hours they had sent me a photo of the plaque! I can't tell you how thrilled I was - it brought a tear to my eye and still does when I think about it. After 50 years with a vague and fuzzy memory I now have tangible proof that it was true - thanks to the wonders of Facebook.
HVG plaque at York House Ossett.jpg
So that's my facebook research story.
Anybody else tried using it as a research tool?
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