NSW State Records

On Thursday (April 22, 2010) I paid my first visit to the Western Sydney Reading Room of the NSW State Records. It's a great place with very helpful staff.

I'd already spent many hours combing the online databases of the Archives (www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/indexes-online) but there is so much more available if you make the effort to go in. The reading room is a quiet place with researchers clad in blue plastic gloves bent over precious documents or searching through miles and miles of microfilm.

I came armed with some printouts from the Register of Firms index. The research assistant took me through the process of ordering up the actual registers - they arrived in minutes from the stacks - and, donning my blue gloves, I gingerly turned the pages to those indicated on my lists.

Disappointingly the actual registers did not yield that much more information than the indexes themselves however there is something wonderful about leafing through these large books and seeing your ancestors name in perfect cursive script.

I did find a few fabulous treats.

In the probate files I discovered the Last Will and Testament of Arthur Isaac Davis (pictured), my great grandfather. Arthur was the first member of his family to become a professional - he was a conveyancer. Music was an important part of Davis family life and in his will Arthur specifically bequeaths his piano, gramophone and records and music books to his daughter, Elwyn Lilian. His wife, of course, gets the house.

I also found my 2nd great grandfather Myer Rothbaum's application for naturalization, which contained specific reference to when and on which boat he arrived in the colony. This is useful because I cannot find any record of him in the shipping lists.

I have a lot more work to do in the State Records - and in PROV in Victoria too - but my first experience at NSW State Records was certainly pleasant and rewarding.