In this lesson, you can learn 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: for instance, consider court documents, rental rolls for tenants, electoral registers, and school records.
☙ 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 other catalogues such as the UK's National Archives' cover the country as a whole - check out their guide to 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 occupation, for example shipbuilding, you should investigate what relevant archives exist.
☙ Contact the archive(s) you plan to visit if you're not sure what records will help you. Archive staff are well-versed in the records they hold 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 planned visit. Some archives 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 may also be unavailable, but staff can check this for you.
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