Contents
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National archives in the British Isles
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Other British and international archives
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Family history resources
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On-line resources for the historian and social scientist
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Digital archives
1. National archives in the British Isles
The National Archives was formed in 2003 out of the merger of the Public Record Office and the Royal
Commission on Historical Manuscripts (also known as the Historical Manuscripts Commission). It acts as the national archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom, and holds
the central archives of the UK government.
The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
and the National Archives of Scotland
(formerly the Scottish Record Office) act as national archives for Northern
Ireland and Scotland, respectively. Both contain records relating to the
functioning of UK government departments in their areas.
In the Republic of Ireland, the National
Archives of Ireland is the equivalent of the UK National Archives.
Significant national collections of archives and historical manuscripts
are also held at the British Library,
the National Library of Wales, the National
Library of Scotland and (for the Republic of Ireland) the National
Library of Ireland.
Although it did not collect archives, the former Royal
Commission on Historical Manuscripts (HMC) was an important source of
information about the location of British archives and about UK archival
repositories. The HMC's functions in this area will be continued by The National Archives. Major resources developed by the HMC, and now integrated into The National Archives' website, include:
- National
Register of Archives (NRA)
- A source of published and unpublished
lists of archival collections held in British repositories, and repositories'
annual reports. Copies of lists in the National Register of Archives (Scotland)
are also held.
- ARCHON
- A directory of archives, archival resources and organisations in England, Wales,
Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands
the Isle of Man and some overseas countries. ARCHON gives contact details for repositories, links
to their websites (where available) and links to information in the NRA
about collections. The ARCHON portal, another section of the ARCHON service, acts as a database of archival resources, projects and initiatives.
- Manorial
Documents Register
- Records the whereabouts of manorial documents
in England and Wales, excluding title deeds.
Links to the websites of many UK government departments (including
some national archival institutions) can be found via the Directgov website. It includes links to a number of other UK public sector bodies, including
universities and local authorities.
2. Other British and international archives
Outside of the main national repositories, archival repositories in the
UK tend to fall into the following major categories: local record offices
maintained by local authorities and serving a defined area; university
archives; archives of businesses and estates; and specialist archives of
charities, learned and professional societies and other institutions. Not all of these bodies have websites or make catalogues of their holdings available over the web. Users attempting to locate a repository, or to trace repositories
which hold material relevant to their research, may wish to start with
the National
Register of Archives and other services created by the former Royal Commission
on Historical Manuscripts (see Section 1, National archives
in the British Isles). Researchers who are attempting to trace the records
of a business may also wish to contact the Business
Archives Council and the Business
Archives Council of Scotland.
A number of websites provide
lists of links to British archival institutions. Many also give links
to archives outside the UK. Here are some of them:
A number of archival networking projects have created portals providing web access to the catalogues of UK archives, cutting across the divisions between individual repositories and sectors. The following list covers some of the major projects (but is not all inclusive):
3. Family history resources
NDAD receives many enquiries from people who are tracing the history of
their family. As an archive of UK government datasets (mostly generated
over the past few decades), NDAD is unlikely to hold open data which
is relevant to the pursuit of genealogy or ancestry. Datasets which
include data on living individuals are often subject to access restrictions,
while public documents on paper which have not been digitised (such as
certificates of birth, marriage and death) are not within the present scope
of NDAD's holdings. Consequently, this section is intended to highlight
those sources which are most commonly used by UK family historians, and
to indicate other institutions where such sources are held.
Births, marriages and deaths
Records of births, marriages and deaths are the most obvious source for
the genealogist. The civil registration of births, marriages and deaths
started in England and Wales in 1837, in Scotland in 1855 and in Ireland
in 1864. The central records of civil registration in England and Wales
are held at the Family
Records Centre which is maintained by The National Archives and the Office for National
Statistics. Equivalent records for Scotland are held at the General
Register Office for Scotland. Indexes to the Office's birth, marriage and death records can be searched via the ScotlandsPeople web
site. Registration records for Northern Ireland are held at the General
Register Office (Northern Ireland) and for the Republic of Ireland
at the General Register Office. Local registry offices maintained by local authorities
in the UK will also normally have copies of historical registration records
for their district.
For the period prior to the introduction of civil registration,
the main source of information on births, marriages and deaths is the registers
of baptisms, marriages and burials kept by local churches. Where these
are no longer held at the church, they will usually be deposited at the
local authority's record office (see Section 2, Other British
and international archives). Many Scottish parish registers for the
period 1553-1854 are held at the General
Register Office for Scotland (indexes can be searched via the ScotlandsPeople web
site), while the National
Library of Wales and the Public
Record Office of Northern Ireland hold deposited collections of parish
records for their areas. A number of registers of non-conformist (i.e.
non-Anglican) churches are held at The National Archives.
Probate
In England and Wales the state has been responsible for the proving of
wills since 1858, prior to which time probate functions were exercised
by church courts. The central repository for post-1858 wills and administrations
is the Principal Registry of the Family Division, First Avenue House, 42-49
High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP (see the website of the Court Service for information). Pre-1858
probate records will normally be found as part of deposited ecclesiastical
archives in local authority record offices (see Section 2, Other
British and international archives). However, wills which were proved
in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury are held at The
National Archives, and copies can be consulted at the Family
Records Centre. Probate records of the Prerogative Court of York are held at the Borthwick Institute of the University of York, while the National
Library of Wales has a substantial collection of wills proved in Wales.
In Scotland wills were proved in ecclesiastical courts until 1823 and thereafter
in sheriff's courts. Records of the Scottish probate system are kept at
the National Archives of Scotland. The SCAN project provides on-line access to indexes of Scottish wills covering 1500-1901. The granting
of probate by civil courts was introduced into Ireland in 1858, prior to
which time it had also been performed by the church. While many records
were destroyed by fire in Dublin in 1922, significant probate collections
are still held at the National
Archives of Ireland and the Public
Record Office of Northern Ireland.
The Census
A census of the population of England, Wales and Scotland has been conducted
at 10 year intervals since 1801, except 1941 when no census was held. Original
census returns enumerating individuals exist from 1841 onwards and are
subject to a closure period of 100 years. Copies of the available returns for England
and Wales can be consulted at the Family
Records Centre, while the 1901 Census Website provides on-line access to the 1901 census returns. Census returns for Scotland are available at the General
Register Office for Scotland. Indexes to the 1881-1901 Scottish census
returns are available via the ScotlandsPeople website. Many local record offices hold copies of census returns
relating to their area. The first official census in Ireland was held in
1821 and, as on the UK mainland, was repeated every 10 years thereafter.
Most pre-1901 returns were pulped during the First World War or destroyed
during the Irish civil war. Surviving 19th century returns can be consulted
at the Public Record Office of Northern
Ireland and the National
Archives of Ireland. Manuscript returns for the 1901 and 1911 censuses
have survived and are available for consultation at the National
Archives of Ireland.
International Genealogical Index (IGI)
An index listing dates and places of births, christenings and marriages
for millions of deceased people who lived in the period from the early
1500s to the early 1900s. The IGI has been compiled by the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (known as the Mormons) since 1969 using a variety
of sources from around the world. It is not comprehensive and only covers
those sources available to its compilers. The IGI and other genealogical
resources produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints can
be searched on-line via the Church's FamilySearch
Internet Genealogy Service.
Societies and associations
There are a number of family history societies and associations which can
offer advice and guidance to beginner genealogists. Among the larger UK
organisations are the Society of Genealogists,
the Guild of One-Name Studies and
the Federation of Family History Societies
(the latter provides links to the websites of its member organisations).
The UK and Ireland Genealogical Information
Service (GENUKI), run by volunteers in co-operation with the Federation
of Family History Societies and its member societies, provides a "virtual
reference library" of genealogical information relating to the UK and Ireland.
4. On-line resources for the historian and social scientist
A number of websites act as directories of sources for academics in these
areas. Some general directories, such as the Higher Education and Research Opportunities in the United Kingdom (HERO) portal, are relevant to both disciplines.
For historians, the Association
for History and Computing maintains a "Links" section with links
to on-line resources for historians, as well as links to the websites
of academic institutes of history and related disciplines. The Institute
of Historical Research likewise hosts the History
On-Line service, a database of information about books and articles, UK university lecturers, UK current and past research, and evaluated links to websites and on-line resources for historians. History-related
links can also be found via the gateway pages of the Humanities
Bulletin Board (HUMBUL), which includes links to internet resources
for other humanities disciplines. The
History
Data Service (a service provider for the Arts
and Humanities Data Service: see Section 5, Digital
Archives) acts to preserve historical materials held in computer-readable
form, and provides access to the Great
Britain Historical Database Online, a database of British 19th and
20th century statistics. Users of NDAD with an interest in the recent history
of UK government may wish to consult the website of the Organisation
of Central Government Departments: A History 1964-1992. This includes
a database recording the history of departments, their ministers and related
statutory instruments over the period in question.
Social scientists are served by a variety of gateway sites and
internet resources. The Social
Science Information Gateway allows users to search a catalogue of internet
resources selected and described by librarians and subject specialists.
The Resource Guide for Social Sciences focuses on electronic resources provided by UK
higher education institutions, and funded by the Joint Information Systems
Committee (JISC) of the UK's Higher
Education Funding Councils, and by the Economic and Social Research Council
(ESRC). Bath
Information and Data Services (BIDS) hosts a number of bibliographic
databases relating to the social sciences and other disciplines, including
the International Bibliography
of the Social Sciences (IBSS) database supplied by the IBSS unit at
the British Library of Political and Economic Science. Another bibliographic
database, REGARD, has been developed
to hold information about ESRC
research awards, and publications and activities resulting from them. Outside
the UK, the website of the Social Sciences
Data Collection of the University of California, San Diego has extensive
listings of links to data archives and libraries, on-line catalogues of
data, sources of downloadable data and data distributors/vendors.
5. Digital archives and preservation initiatives
In addition to NDAD, several other UK services are involved in preserving
and/or making available electronic data. Here are links to some of them:
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Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS)
- A national service funded by JISC and the Arts and Humanities Research Board to collect, describe, and preserve the
electronic resources which result from research and teaching in the humanities.
The AHDS's website provides links to its service providers, who operate
separate data services for the fields of archaeology, history, literary,
linguistic and other textual studies, the visual arts and the performing
arts.
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Council of European
Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA)
- Provides links to the websites of data archives in a number of European
countries as well as links to data archives outside Europe. It provides
the ability to search an integrated data catalogue which is linked to the
catalogues of certain CESSDA archives.
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Economic and Social Data Service
- A new UK data service bringing together the expertise of the UK Data Archive (see below), MIMAS (see below), the Institute for Social and Economic Research and the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research.
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Edinburgh Data and Information Access (EDINA)
- A JISC-funded national datacentre based at Edinburgh University Data Library,
EDINA provides the UK higher education and research community with networked
access to a library of data, information and research resources.
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Manchester Information and Associated
Services (MIMAS)
- MIMAS (formerly known as MIDAS) is a JISC-supported national data centre run by Manchester
Computing at the University of Manchester. MIMAS provides the UK academic community with online access to socio-economic, spatial and scientific data, and to bibliographic and electronic journal data services.
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National Statistics website
- Provides on-line access to a range of official UK government statistics.
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UK Data Archive (University of Essex)
- Founded in 1967 and funded jointly by JISC, the ESRC and the University
of Essex, the UK Data Archive has an extensive collection of datasets and
related documentation in the social sciences and humanities. The Archive's
catalogues can be searched on-line via its website. Its NESSTAR service allows on-line access to a number of major datasets.
Links to data archives in Britain and in other countries can be found via
the websites of the Australian Social
Science Data Archive and the
Social
Sciences Data Collection of the University of California, San Diego.
Another useful resource is the list of Sources
of Data on the Internet maintained by the University of Edinburgh's
Data Library.
NDAD users may wish to consult the website of The National Archives
for information on its work in the area of electronic archives, including
NDAD. NDAD and The National Archives are members of the Digital Preservation Coalition, which has been established to promote the preservation of digital resources in the UK. The Coalition's website includes information about its activities and links to preservation resources. A comprehensive subject gateway of resources, projects and websites relating to digital preservation is maintained by the National Library of Australia's Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI) initiative.
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