[PW] how do I hire a British wombat?

[Bill Davis]

I suggested to you once that you write to the PBS show "History 
Detectives," to see if they could take an interest. I don't know if you 
ever followed up.   BBC radio has a show, "Making History," which tries to 
answer listeners' historical queries.   Perhaps a query to them would get 
someone interested on that "side of the pond."   Here's their website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/making_history_form.shtml

Bill Davis


At 04:22 PM 5/10/2008, you wrote:

>I am very serious about this.  Since I have been working on an
>up-date for the Grove Encyclopaedia of Art entry about the late great
>poster artist Ethel Reed, I am determined to find out her correct
>date of death and there seems to be no way to do it on line.  (No she
>didn't die in New Jersey in 1910, although many other people seemed
>to...)  I reach a total dead end after finding her and her infant son
>on the 1901 British census; and after numerous e-mails to the British
>Archives and to assorted journalist friends of mine, I have come to
>the conclusion that I need somebody who can actually go and examine
>whatever records exist.  Sooo, while I am not exceedingly wealthy, is
>there anyone on-list who has access to the British Archives and/or to
>British city directories from the early 1900s, and who might be
>willing to help solve this mystery once and for all?  I can't pay the
>big bucks, but to finally get an answer, I am willing to pay for
>somebody's time.  If you have access or know somebody who does,
>please contact me off-list.  I absolutely hate it when I can't find
>an answer to a research query!!!  >:-o
>
>Donna L. Halper, Journalism Dept. Emerson College Boston MA
>friendly but frustrated media historian
>