Press Release

     29 July 2004
Families reunited via migration history website

Eddie Silverman and Gerald Silver, long lost cousins living on opposite
sides of the globe, found each other after 27 years via the award winning
Moving Here website.  Eddie, a retired cabbie who grew up in London’s East
End, posted his childhood reminiscences on www.movinghere.org.uk, which
traces 200 years of migration to England through personal stories of
migration and images of Caribbean, Jewish, South Asian and Irish
communities.  When Gerald, a doctor from Queensland, found his cousin’s
entry he could not believe his luck.

Eddie’s tale of the family taxi business and 1930s London life is just one
of 400 personal accounts available to read on the Moving Here website.  The
site, which celebrates its first birthday on Friday 30 July, also holds
over 200,000 fantastic historical images which can be viewed free of
charge.  Since its launch Moving Here has had over 1 million visitors, many
of whom have been inspired to add experiences and photographs of their own.

Gerald, who has now exchanged several letters with Eddie, said: “How
fortunate to have seen Eddie’s entry on the Moving Here website.  We have
caught up with decades of lost time and as I have been trying to make up a
family tree he has filled gaps in my memory.”

Helen Wood, Project Manager, said: “One year on, Moving Here has produced
some fantastic success stories.  Eddie’s wonderful story of a childhood at
the Mile End Gate, which you can view on the website, was given the perfect
ending when his cousin Gerald found him after all this time.  The website
has been a great way for people from all over the world to get connected to
old friends, family members and their own heritage.”

Led by The National Archives in Kew, West London, 30 museums, libraries and
archives contributed photographs, newspapers, documents, sound recordings
and video to this unique resource for people to access free of charge.

Notes to Editors:

· For images or interviews relating to Eddie and Gerald’s story or
for more information on Moving Here please contact Lucy Fulton at The
National Archives Tel 020 8392 5237 Email
[log in to unmask]
· Eddie Silverman’s story appeared on the Moving Here website as part
of a joint project with Jewish Care’s Michael Sobell Community Centre.

· Moving Here was named best history website by Internet magazine in
December 2003

· The National Archives, Kew, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk has one of
the largest archival collections in the world, spanning 1000 years of
British history, from Domesday Book to newly released government papers.
The free museum and research rooms in Kew are open to the public 6 days a
week.  For more information about The National Archives please contact the
press office on 020 8392 5277 or email [log in to unmask]

The Moving Here partner organisations are: Birmingham City Archives; Black
Cultural Archives; Bradford Heritage Unit; British Library;  Croydon Museum
& Heritage Service;   Hackney Museum;   Haringey Museum and Archive Service
(incorporating Bruce Castle Museum);  Hull City Archives;   Imperial War
Museum;  Jewish Museum, London;   Lancashire Record Office;   Leeds Museums
& Galleries;   Liverpool Record Office;   London Metropolitan Archives;
London School of Economics;   Luton Museum Service;   Manchester Central
Library;   Manchester Jewish Museum; Museum of London;   The National
Archives;   National Maritime Museum;   North West Film Archive;
Oxfordshire Museums;   Public Record Office of Northern Ireland;   Royal
Geographical Society; Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives;
Victoria & Albert Museum;   Walsall Local History Centre;   Wandsworth
Museum and Local History Service;   West Yorkshire Archive Service