In one of its first major international sales, RTE has sold one of its original commissions from Big Mountain Productions – ‘Genealogy Roadshow’, hosted by Derek Mooney – to PBS in the US.

A new version of the show, where a team of travelling experts piece together ordinary people’s family histories, will go on air in the US in September.

The show, in which a team of travelling experts piece together ordinary people’s family histories, will go on air in the US in September.

The company’s US agent Pat Quinn negotiated the deal with PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) in the US, making it the first international license for the format with a number of other territories also in negotiation.

RTE Commissioning Editor Ray McCarthy said it was RTE’s strategy to support and facilitate Irish companies in developing and exporting ideas that have international potential.

“It makes us particularly proud to have developed this format with Big Mountain,” he said. “It effectively blends historical detective stories with real emotional reaction from the participants, and has really struck a chord with our audience and we are confident it will do so in the US.”

Big Mountain Executive Producer Philip McGovern was overjoyed by the news and said the show hit a nerve as everybody wants answers to questions about their own histories to help make sense of their lives today.

Creator Jane Kelly said they had been developing shows with universal values to connect with audiences anywhere.

“We’re delighted to be the first to break into the US with an Irish format,” she added.

The format aired on RTE in summer 2011 and a second season is in production.

The US version will be produced by Krasnow Productions (‘The Weakest Link’, ‘Average Joe’) and will focus on participants from Nashville, Austin, Detroit and San Francisco.

Big Mountain Productions is run by husband-and-wife team Jane Kelly and Philip McGovern, former BBC/RTE executive producers whose credits include ‘The Tenements’, ‘Life in the Big House’, ‘Craftmaster’ and ‘Dúshlán – Living the Eviction’.

The Trump administration’s plan to slash budgets and staffing at the National Archives and Records Administration will hamper the agency’s ability to boost access to historical records and prepare for an expected surge in digital records, former Archives officials and experts said.

President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget proposal requests $414.7 million for NARA, which is nearly $60 million less than projected 2025 funding and $93 million less than projected 2024 spending.

The budget plan calls for 136 full-time employees at NARA, down from projected staffing levels next year. The agency’s budget justification says the cuts are “based on an organizational realignment to better align with program requirements and improve program efficiency and operational resilience.”

Colleen Shogan, the former Archivist of the United States, believes NARA’s budget is too small. In February, President Donald Trump terminated Shogan without citing a reason. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is currently the acting archivist.

The following was written by The (U.K.) National Archives:

Over 12 years ago, we launched this blog as a place where you can find out all the latest news and updates from The National Archives. In that time over 2,000 posts have been published by hundreds of our experts and collaborators. 

But at over a decade old, the blog is starting to look a bit tired. It is not the easiest thing to find on our website, and its design and limited features aren’t allowing us to tell our stories in the best way possible.

So with that, this will be the last post on this blog. Today we are launching our new Blogs at the National Archives, which you can find at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blogs. 

The Newberry Library, one of Chicago’s most venerable cultural institutions, honored Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonso Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, with the Newberry Library Award for his outstanding achievement in the humanities. 

Dr. Gates has been instrumental in research, documentation, and preserving the African American history and culture throughout his career. He is known for providing information on the quest for the history and genealogical research of African Americans, not only in the African continent but also in America, and beyond. He has been honored with dozens of awards, including the National Humanities Medal.

“One of the Newberry’s strongest assets is its collections of genealogy and local history,” said Astrida Orle Tantillo, President and Librarian of the Newberry. “Henry Louis Gates has a deep understanding of how important these collections are to people researching their family’s past. It was an honor to celebrate his accomplishments in that area, as well as his talents as a historian, and the power of an institution like the Newberry and the possibility of transformation that comes from digging deep to find your roots.”

Dr. Gates has written and edited dozens of books. His most recent work, The Black Box: Writing the Race (Penguin Press, 2024), is a discussion of the history of Black America through the work of Black authors. The book was listed as one of the “100 Best Books of the Year” by The New York Times Book Review. His most famous work, The Signifying Monkey, was an in-depth study on the concept of the black vernacular “signifying” in African American literature.

Dr. Gates has been hosting the popular PBS show Finding Your Roots since 2012. The series has led to the making of several vital documentaries about African Americans in the United States, as well as Africans and people of African ancestry in South America.

In addition to his endowed professorship, Dr. Gates is the director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard, where he has taught for more than three decades. He was previously on the faculty at Duke University, Cornell University, and Yale University. He was the chair of the Pulitzer Prize board at one point.

Dr. Gates was born in West Virginia. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University. He also earned a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England.

Tulsa officials not only named a victim in their massacre investigation for the first time, but also put a face to the story thanks to DNA. 

George Melvin Gillespie, who was buried in a simple wooden casket more than a century ago, now anchors a new push to find the truth and justice.  Officials also identified more massacre victims. 

“We have five individuals at Oaklawn Cemetery that were victims of multiple gunshot wounds, and another that was a victim of one gunshot wound  What this tells us is that we’re in the right place, and we’re getting closer and closer to the truth,” Mayor Monroe Nichols said at yesterday’s press conference.

More burials identified at Oaklawn in Massacre investigation.

Research and DNA testing identified the remains marked Burial 180 as George Melvin Gillespie, a middle-aged Black man born in 1881. He was buried in a simple wooden casket and did not show any trauma to his body. Officials don’t know what killed him, but said he could still be a victim. 

They know for certain that the first identified case didn’t show trauma, either “This is the first time we’ve been able to put a face to a name. This is groundbreaking, and we’re just so incredibly thankful for his family for their involvement in this work,” Nichols said.

Records show Gillispie was last seen alive in December 1920 in Payne County, Oklahoma. His wife remarried in 1924 and said he was deceased. 

His descendants in Oklahoma City have been notified of the discovery.

The city is now working with Gillispie’s family to determine what to do with his remains. That could include a new reburial or memorialization.

New massacre victim identified through records 

Officials also confirmed James Goings [Goins, or Gowens] as a victim of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Officials have not yet identified his burial location, but archives of the Veterans Administration contain a letter written soon after the massacre. The letter says James Goings was killed during the massacre. A second letter from his sister in the 1930s verified the date of death as June 1, 1921.

A 1921 letter identifies U.S. Army veteran James Goings as killed “in the recent disturbances”—a clear reference to the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Two letters confirm U.S. Army veteran James Goings was killed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, offering new evidence in the investigation.

The city is asking anyone with ties to the Goings, Goins, or Gowens surnames to reach out to the city’s genealogy team. They are particularly seeking relatives with connections to Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Second Tulsa massacre victim identified through research 

“These individuals were not just buried—they were discarded. “Yet every piece of evidence recovered brings us closer to the truth, to dignity, and to justice,” said Dr. Kary Stackelbeck. She is Oklahoma’s state archaeologist and is leading the city’s search for mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race

Massacre.Stackelbeck is leading the archaeological team at Oak Lawn Cemetery.

Researchers there are cataloging burials and supervising excavations. They are also working closely with forensic anthropologists to dig up and analyze remains believed to be massacre victims.

Researchers and experts working with the city also confirmed four additional victims based on death certificates, Red Cross reports and probate records:

• John White, who died from gunshot wounds on June 1, 1921 and was buried at Oaklawn Cemetery, according to a 1925 death certificate.

• Ella Houston, also known as Ella Morris or Morrison, was listed in a Red Cross report as a massacre casualty. 

Her death certificate cites septicemia from a miscarriage.

• James Miller, also known as Joe or Joseph, was identified as a massacre victim in a 1921 probate record.  His birth name was James Askew.

The following is a press release written by the (U.S.) National Archives and Records Administration: 

Happy Juneteenth! On June 19, 1865, U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3, which informed the people of Texas that all slaves were now free. This day has come to be known as Juneteenth. In celebration of this historic advancement of human freedom, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 will be on display at the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C. from Thursday, June 19, to Sunday, June 22, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET. General Order No. 3, June 19, 1865. NAID: 182778372 Lesser-Known Stories of Early America On Monday, June 23, at 6 p.m. CT, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock, AR, will welcome Catherine Adams, Ph.D., for a conversation about her book, "Love of Freedom: Black Women in Colonial and Revolutionary New England.” This event is one of two public programs being held in conjunction with the Arkansas Civic Education Institute, an annual week-long professional development opportunity for 4th-12th grade teachers, and will be the first in the Clinton Presidential Center Commemorates America 250 series. To attend the event in-person, register online for your free tickets. The program will be available on the Clinton Presidential Center YouTube channel the following day. First Ladies Workshop Calling all Iowa teachers! Join the Hoover Presidential Foundation in West Branch, IA, on Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 24, for a free two-day Professional Development program, and receive license renewal credit for attending BOTH days. Bridget Nash, Hoover Presidential Library Education Specialist, and Elizabeth Amato, Teaching American History Scholar, will guide you on a deep dive into the lives and roles of the First Ladies.  This program will be conducted as a discussion, utilizing primary source documents as the only readings. Attendees are encouraged to read all the documents in advance and come ready with questions. Register online to attend Day 1, covering the position of First Lady, and Day 2, with a focus on Lou Henry Hoover. “Ain’t No Daylight in Vietnam” Exhibit at LBJ Presidential Library NOW OPEN: “Ain’t No Daylight in Vietnam: March 1968” is on on display at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, TX, offering a nuanced perspective on the Vietnam war through the use of the accounts, letters, and photographs of service members, civilians, and medical personnel who lived through it. The exhibit will remain on display until Sunday, August 10, 2025. The LBJ Library is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT.

In 2023, 23andMe experienced a data breach that resulted in millions of customers' genetic data being exposed. The attack exposed around 14,000 user accounts and enabled the theft of data on roughly 6.9 million individuals who were listed as relatives on the website.

The stolen data included: 

- Names 
- Birthdays 
- Location 
- Profile pictures 
- Race 
- Health records 
- Ethnicity 
- Family trees 

The investigation into the breach was initiated in June 2024 by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC). One year later, in June 2025, the investigation ended, and the ICO and OPC issued a £2.31 million ($3.13 million) fine against 23andMe for the "severely harmful breach." 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki described the breach as an "online crime of significant proportions".

The ICO also highlighted that there were flaws in 23andMe's security during the time of the breach. There were no security measures in place for multifactor authentication (MFA) or password restrictions. Additionally, 23andMe did not take measures to prevent raw genetic data from being downloaded or accessed, and there were "insufficient systems in place to monitor, detect, or respond to cyber threats against its customers' personal information."

John Edwards, head of the ICO, stated: 

The company was also criticized for its delayed acknowledgement of the breach. The breach took place between April and May 2023, but it wasn't discovered until October 2023, when an employee of 23andMe noticed the stolen data being sold on Reddit.

As the new and improved Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center (in Wenatchee, Washington) takes shape, the genealogy library inside the building’s Annex is in search of its next home.

Run by a group of volunteers from the Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society, or WAGS, they lend their expertise to help people research family history or genealogy. The group recently put out an urgent call on social media for help finding a new space.

“They are going through a huge construction project,” WAGS Board Vice President Kari Strain said about the museum. “So we have been asked to find a new location.”

Inside the Annex, the library fills 1,400 square feet with bookshelves full of local history.

“We do get people outside the area who send us notes and want to know, ‘When did my parents live here? What was their address? I know they were here in 1933,’ and we look them up in the directory and we can find their addresses,” WAGS librarian Diane Gundersen said. “Sometimes we find the name of the orchard they owned or something like that and then that gives that person another avenue to research.”

The library holds items like Wenatchee World and Wenatchee Daily World obituaries dating back to the 1890s and city directories from as early as the 1930s. There are also school yearbooks, phone books and materials from other counties and countries — all for people to use to track down family history.

“The dream is to maintain similar service, but recognizing we may have limited options and we’ll have to be flexible at what is available,” Strain said.

The genealogy library has been in the Annex since 1979. Along with the research materials for people to use when tracking down family history, WAGS offers monthly programs for members and nonmembers. During the move, the events will be a partnership between WAGS and the Wenatchee Public Library, where the group can use a conference room to continue hosting programs, presentations and workshops.

“That’s one piece of the puzzle taken off, but we would love to keep a public access space so we could keep the library open,” Strain said. “And digitizing is another huge piece of the work that we do, and so we need workspace for volunteers to come in and archive those records.”

Strain said it’s not yet known if the move will be temporary or permanent, but the library will be spending at least a year or two in another location. The group needs to leave by the end of the year, though for the next six months they are still open at the museum and ready to help.

“If you’re looking into your family history and you’ve run into a roadblock, come visit us,” Gundersen said.

The genealogy library is open Tuesday through Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.The group can be contacted at info@wags-web.org. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, through its FamilySearch, partnered with the National Archives (AGN) to digitize over 760,000 images of genealogical records in a move to help preserve the Dominican Republic’s historical and genealogical heritage. The move will help more citizens and researchers have access to family history information.

AGN Director Roberto Cassá described the project as “of great importance for the Dominican people,” adding that the digitization of these archives will make it easier for the citizens to know their ancestry and their national and personal identity. FamilySearch representative Félix Díaz echoed the sentiments by pointing out the importance of genealogy, explaining that knowing your roots helps you know yourself better and strengthen your purpose and link with your ancestors.

The event, which was attended by representatives of AGN and FamilySearch, marked a new step in the preservation of the country’s documentary heritage.Through access to these archives, Dominicans will now be able to dig into their roots, promote historical research, and gain respect for their ancestors and have them connected with their past.

The pope and Madonna are actually related through their genealogy, and Madonna responds to the news on social media.

It’s not ‘Like a Prayer’ anymore. 

It was uncovered in a new New York Times article that offered an interactive experience by Henry Louis Gates Jr. along with American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami. The article showed the Pope Leo’s genealogy on both sides of his mother and father. The NYT also revealed in the piece that he has more recent Black ancestry. Gates’ co-writer and a New Orleans genealogist Jari C. Honora was the first to discover that the pope had a recent connection to Creoles.

Many other celebrities are tied to the pope, as the pop star and many other stars are tied to him through one of his Canadian ancestors, Louis Boucher de Grandpre. Louis was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, and he connects the pope to “a whole line of ‘Canadian-derived distant cousins’ including Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Hillary Clinton, Justin Bieber, Jack Kerouac, and the Pierre and Justin Trudeau.”

When Madonna heard about the pope’s family connection, she seemed pretty excited. After sharing an X/Twitter screen grab of the news, she posted a black and white photo of her and her father Silvio Ciccone on her Instagram Stories on Monday, June 16. Silvio is sitting on a chair in the photo, and Madonna is standing next to him with her arms up. “Silvio, We’re related to the Pope! Strike a pose!” the photo was captioned. 

Before her papal relative, Madonna also has a history with Catholicism. She grew up Catholic, with Veronica as her confirmation name, but now she “cultivates” her “spiritual practices.” Madonna has experimented with several different religions over the years, including Kabbalah, Judaism, and Sufism, but Catholicism has stuck with her as she’s used Catholic iconography throughout her career. She’s been credited with popularizing the cross as a stage decoration in pop music.

The 66-year-old has been called blasphemous, sacrilegious, and iconoclastic throughout her career for her use and depiction of Catholic imagery. In 1989, her song Like A Prayer was criticized by the Vatican for its burning crosses and sexy depictions of Jesus. The Pope at the time, John Paul II, even called for a boycott of her Blond Ambition tour.

In 2023, Madonna also took a swing at the Catholic Church on the cover of Vanity Fair when she posed as the Virgin Mary. She also posed as other figures throughout the entire issue including the 12 apostles. She also spoke about the reaction to Like a Prayer and the call for her tour to be boycotted, saying “I was shocked to see myself being attacked by the Church, because they couldn’t understand how much my work was trying to produce something good.”

She also sent a tweet to Pope Francis in 2015, writing “I’m a good Catholic. I swear! I mean I don’t Swear! Its [sic] been a few decades since my last confession. Would it be possible to meet up one day to discuss some important matters? “I’ve been excommunicated three times. It doesn’t seem fair. Sincerely, Madonna.” 

On May 8, American cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Now 69, he’s been dubbed Pope Leo and is the first American pope to hold the position. He succeeded Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at 88. He passed away due to a cerebral stroke that caused him to go into a coma and then a fatal heart failure.

Born Sept. 14, 1955, to Louis Marius Prevost and Mildred Martínez in Chicago, Pope Leo was raised in South Suburban Dolton (outside of Chicago) with his two brothers, Louis and John. His late mother and father were a librarian who worked in parish life and a school superintendent.

His father was of French and Italian descent, while his mother was of Spanish descent. After discovering the fact that the Pope’s family has a connection to Creoles on his father’s side, Pope Leo’s brother told the NYT that they never really discussed the topic and it “was never an issue.”