The following Resources are available in the Family History Centre, Lower Ground Floor, Springwood Library, Macquarie Road, Springwood NSW.
They are NOT available for loan but may be accessed for use within the Centre during the times a Society Volunteer is present, currently every Thursday 10:00am – 1:00pm.
The resources are grouped as follows:
Reference Books
The Society has accumulated significant resources over the years, by purchase and by gift from members. They are on open access in the Family History section at Springwood Library. As these are all reference books, they may not be borrowed from the library. Access to all reference material is available whether or not a Society Library volunteer is on duty or not, hence whenever the Library is open to the public, Society reference materials are available for perusal.
Over the past few years, the Society Reference materials have undergone significant reorganisation and are now found in the Library according to a new classification. This organisation is based on that used by the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG). Thus, all cemetery transcripts for each continent are grouped together, as are pioneer registers etc.
This listing of Society resources is purely to ascertain whether or not the Society does indeed possess a certain reference item or not, and does not indicate its location on the shelves.
Books are grouped according to their main content:
- Administration, Almanacs, Archives – some basic facts, Indexes, Newspapers
- Births Deaths Marriages, Cemetery Registers
- Census & Population, Computers, Convicts, Land Records
- General Reading, Guides, Government Dept Records, Photography
- Australian Regional Studies
- Family Histories, Pioneer Registers
- International – general, English Counties
- Military
- Shipping, Specialist Books
Exchange Magazines
Exchanged and purchased magazines are held in our Family History area at Springwood Library. Magazines may only be borrowed by members. See the volunteer on duty.
An index of the main articles in these magazines and journals are contained in a series of index books placed on the main desk in the Library. It is in 5 parts – all to 2003 (over 5000 entries) and from magazines dated from January 2004 to December 2006 (6000 entries). Part 3 indexes the main items and articles from 2007 and 2008, Part 4 has those from 2009 and 2010 and 2011-2012 are contained in Part 5.
The recently arrived magazines and journals are displayed at each monthly meeting for members to borrow.
Note – lack of space limits the long term storage of some magazines and journals. Only the last two years are held on the Library shelves. Many previous issues are held in the Societies Archive and are not held at the Springwood Library. Please request the issue required with the volunteer on duty and arrangements wil be made to retrieve it from the archive. Please allow a minimum of two days for this to occur. If you are interested in any issue no longer held, please contact the owner Society directly.
Australian
The Blue Mountains Family History Society holds some magazines of the following Australian Societies. Some Societies have ceased issuing paper copies and relying on the Internet whilst others now only email a Newsletter. These electronic issues are not available and are not Indexed.
- Armidale Family History Group inc.
- Bega Valley Genealogical Society inc.
- Blacktown & District Historical Society
- Blue Mountains Historical Society
- Blue Mountains Association of Cultural and Heritage Organisations (BMACHO)
- Botany Bay Family History Society
- Burwood & District Family History Group
- Caloundra Family History Research Inc.
- Camden Area Family History Society inc.
- Campbelltown Family History Society
- Canterbury Genealogy Discussion Group
- Cape Banks Family History Society
- Casino & District Family History Society
- Central Coast Family History Group inc.
- Central Queensland Family History Group inc.
- Coonamble Family History Group
- Cowra Family History Group
- Darling Downs Famiy History Group
- Dubbo & District Family History Society
- Family History Association of North Queensland
- Genealogical Society of Northern Territory
- Genealogical Society of Tasmania inc.
- Gold Coast & Albert Genealogical Society
- Goulburn District Family History Society
- HAGSOC inc. (Canberra ACT)
- Hawkesbury Family History Group
- Hurstville Family History Society
- Illawarra Family History Group
- Inverell & District Family History Group
- Ipswich Genealogical Society
- Kiama Ancestral Research Society
- Leeton Family History Society inc.
- Lithgow & District Family History Society
- Liverpool & District Family History Society
- Maitland Family History Circle inc.
- Manning-Wallamba Family History Society
- Nepean Family History Society
- Newcastle Family History Society
- Orange Family History Group
- Parramatta & District Family History Society
- Port Macquarie & District Family History Society
- Port Stephens Family History Society
- Queensland Family History Society
- Ryde Historical Society
- Shoalhaven Family History Society
- Society of Australian Genealogists
- South Australia Genealogy & Heraldry Group
- Swan Hill Genealogical & Historical Society inc.
- Tamworth & District Family History Group
- The Genealogical Society of Victoria
- The Royal Australian Historical Society
- Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society inc.
- Wendish Heritage Society
- Wyalong District Family History Group
- Wyong Family History group
- Young & District Family History Group
In addition our magazine, The Explorers’ Tree, is sent to:
- Blue Mountains City Council
- Blue Mountains City Council Library
- Centre for Community History – University of New South Wales
- National Library of Australia
- New South Wales Parliamentary Library
- Penrith City Library
- University of Sydney Library
Overseas
We have exchanged magzines with the following overseas societies and some copies of these are available. Many of these Societies have converted to electronic delivery and hence we no longer have them available or indexed.
- Cleveland, North Yorkshire & South Durham Family History Society
- Cornwall Family History Society
- Federation of Family History Societies
- G.R.Specialists Information Service
- London & North Middlesex Family History Society
- Ormskirk Family History Society
- Oxfordshire Family History Society
- Suffolk Family History Society
- The Society of Genealogists
- Ulster Historical Foundation
The Society holds some issues of overseas commercial publcations including Family Tree Magazine, Family Tree Monthly, Irish Roots etc., donated by members.
Microfiche & CDs
Microfiche reader and microfiche are no longer available for hire. Use is strictly limited to Springwood Library and Library hours.
All fiche and CDs have been moved into Springwood Library and are required for use when volunteers are on duty, namely from 10am to 1pm Thursdays, except over the Christmas January period.
The fiche are on open access on the lower book shelves that is, beneath the Society’s book collection. Fiche readers BMCC library’s fiche are also available any time the Library is open. Note – the Library fiche are also on open access but on the shelves opposite the Society’s collection.
The Society’s CDs have been loaded on the the Society’s 2 computers and are available when the volunteers are on duty. They cannot be hired out due to copyright laws.