National Library News July 1998 Vol. 30, no. 7-8

Savoir Faire: Words and Deeds in Government Documents

by Mary Bond,
Research and Information Services

Inquisitionem in officio rotulorum cancellariae Hiberniae asservatarum repertorium. Those who attended the "Savoir Faire" seminar on May 5 were privileged to learn that this daunting Latin phrase is the title of a Public Record Office publication held by the National Library which abstracts 16th- and 17th-century land ownership records of Ireland, including deeds, wills and leases. It was one of numerous sources described by Betty Deavy, former National Library of Canada Government and Law Specialist, in her talk on the riches of the Library's Great Britain official publications collection.

In her illustrated lecture, Betty Deavy demonstrated the value to Canadian studies of publications such as the Parliamentary Papers, the London Gazette, War Dead of the British Commonwealth and Empire, and the Calendar of the Assize Records for social, historical, political, economic and genealogical research. The last title, for example, provides the details of indictments in Sussex, Essex, Kent and Hertfordshire during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. Names of victims, criminals, jurors, and witnesses, and descriptions of the crimes and the punishments are recorded.

Members of the audience were able to peruse examples of richly illustrated publications produced by museums, galleries and the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, such as Early Victorian Portraits and York: Historic Buildings in the Central Area, A Photographic Record. Betty Deavy also noted several significant Web sites: for example, the sites of the Public Record Office and Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), which update the Library's print and microform collections.

Among those attending the seminar were staff of the National Library and the National Archives, some of Betty Deavy's former colleagues from the Library of Parliament, Carleton University and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, as well as genealogists and other researchers. Many of the publications noted in her talk are included in the Great Britain Official Publications: Collection Guide, compiled by Betty Deavy and published by the National Library in 1996.

The next Savoir Faire seminar will be given by researcher David Boll on August 18. His topic will be "The History of Japanese Gardens and Bonsai".