Families are urged to clean out their closets and dust off their treasured heirlooms, the Launceston Library wants to uncover their stories.
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August is National Family History Month and is being celebrated across the Library Tasmania network and Launceston Library is hosting a full day of family history activities.
One session dubbed the "antiques roadshow" event of the day, invites members of the public to bring in their family heirlooms and the stories behind them to share with the gathered audience.
This session will be hosted by Launceston Library manager Garry Conroy-Cooper said this particular event had already received strong expressions of interest and he hoped that it will be well attended.
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"Every family has these items, they have the history and the stories attached to them," he said.
Mr Conroy-Cooper said history had a way of capturing the imagination and sparking curiosity, particularly when it related to an individual.
The library has a large array of historical documents, a lot of them digitised, and serves as an entry point for people wishing to do research on their own family tree or a particular person or event in that history.
"It's a growing part of our business, but what we are here for, is to provide a plain English entry for people so they have somewhere to start," he said.
The library's staff and volunteers can help anyone who wants to get started on researching their family tree.
Mr Conroy-Cooper said August was a great month to start because it dovetailed into the national week.
The Launceston Library's open day will be held on August 14 and other sessions include: navigating newspapers on Trove, the city through ancestor's eyes and information on early Port Dalrymple musters.
State Library and Archives Service Manager Caroline Homer said the range of free events will promote the many family history resources available to Tasmanians interested in tracing their family history.
"Our free events cover a number of topics, from forensic family history, human evolution, migration and DNA testing, tracing the history of your house, to a guided tour of the Tasmanian Archives," Ms Homer said.
"This year we are celebrating an important milestone - we are about to reach one million names being listed on the Tasmanian Names Index, our very own genealogical search engine."
- The open day will be held from 10am and on the second floor of the library.
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