In this lesson, find out how to identify
which record office, archive or library you need to visit in order to move your
research forward. If you missed Lesson 1, you can catch up here.
☙ Do your homework by
reading background material on the place and time your ancestors lived in, and
find out what types of records they may have generated: consider court documents, rental rolls for tenants, electoral registers, and school records, for instance.
☙ Use the websites of
archives in your ancestors’ city, county or country to learn what kinds of
records they hold, and what information those contain. Specific subject guides are often available
to download and study.
☙ Search online
catalogues. Some apply just to
individual archives and are found on their websites, while others such as The
National Archives’ cover the country as a whole – check out their guide for mining the catalogues.
☙ Be aware that as well
as official government records, archives are held by charitable, religious,
business, private, and academic organisations.
If you know that your ancestor worked in a specific profession, for example shipbuilding
or medicine, you should consider investigating what relevant archives exist.
☙ Contact the archive(s)
you plan to visit if you’re not sure what records will help you. Staff have an excellent working knowledge of
their resources and can advise you on how to get the most out of them.
☙ Make sure that the documents
you want to see will be available at the time of your visit. Some are stored off-site and require advance
notice to be produced for searching – you should see indicators of this in
catalogue entries. Records undergoing
conservation might also be out of circulation, but staff will be able to check
this for you.
The next mini-class will focus on practical
preparations to make for your research trip.
If you've a question about this lesson, just
post it in the comments below.
If you've a question about this lesson, just
post it in the comments below.
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