5 articles

The world of 1926 looked very different from what we know today. Internet speeds mean we can video chat and send files in seconds, AI increasingly powers technology, and there’s talk of another mission to the Moon. We could go on. Innovation keeps evolving. The year 2026 would have seemed like a far-flung prospect for those who lived a hundred years ago, even though many would have already experienced great change. The 1920s were an age of flappers, fancy, and economic uncertainty.…

We've released three new record collections this week. Two cover monumental inscriptions for Germany and Czechia, and the third will help you delve deeper into the 1921 Census. Plus, peruse every edition of Jackie, the go-to magazine for teenage girls for three decades. Czechia, Commonwealth War Graves and Monumental Inscriptions: Explore this collection to learn more about your military ancestors buried in the Czech Republic. Did your ancestor serve bravely as a trooper in the Royal Armoured Corps or as a…

What will life be like a century from now? We ask this question today, and it’s long perturbed our ancestors too. Our newspaper archive is full of predictions for the future – some hugely off-piste, and others scarily true.But in 1925, one man was making the headlines for his 2025 prophecies… Who was he, and did any of his predictions come true?Professor Archibald Montgomery Low was born in 1888 and became an engineer, research physicist, inventor and author of over 40 books over…

Whether you’re after some old-timey names for your newborn, or you’re just curious about historical trends, we looked to civil birth records and census records to find the most popular names throughout the ages.  Did your ancestors follow the trends when naming their children? Read on to find out.  Remember, royal baby names often set the trends for everyone else, and they’re easy to spot if you know the royal family tree.Take a look at your family tree and…

Welcome to the fifth in our series of blogs about how to understand and interpret your old family photos. In this series, Jayne Shrimpton, internationally recognised dress historian, portrait specialist, photo detective and regular contributor to Family Tree, Your Family History and Family History Monthly magazines, dates and analyses different types of photographs and helps you to add context to your old family pictures.Having learned in the previous blog how photograph compositions and studio settings changed over the years,…