Who Do You Think You Are? Encyclopedia of Genealogy (8 page)

3.
Document references will be contained in the archive's catalogue index

4.
Many archive catalogues are available to search online, although some are still only in paper form

5.
Online catalogues are available either via the particular repository's website, or as amalgamated catalogues of documents from local and national archives

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In a similar vein, the National Library of Wales has a full catalogue which can be found on its website www.llgc.org.uk through the ‘Search the Catalogue' heading. Here books, periodicals, newspapers, maps, graphics, electronic publications and digitized records can be searched by keyword.

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The National Archives of Ireland's search engine is organized in a slightly different manner, allowing you to search in one go the 19 databases comprised mainly of government departmental records. This is accessed from www.nationalarchives.ie/search but does not cover the entirety of the repository's collections.

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The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland does not have a complete online catalogue either. There is a limited online index available from www.proni.gov.uk by following the Search the Archives link, where a Geographical Index locates parishes, Poor Law Unions and counties on a map, a Prominent Persons Index finds references for documents relating to individuals, a Presbyterian Church Index and a Church of Ireland Index lists those church records that have been microfilmed, and a Subject Index describes the types of records held at the PRONI.

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The Society of Genealogists, which charges admission for non-members, has its own catalogue known as SOGCAT available from its website www.sog.org.uk/sogcat/access. Here you can search an alphabetical index by parish name, surname or subject to see if they hold copies of the parish registers you are looking for, or records of a particular pedigree you are hoping to find.

Once you have scoured the online catalogues and indexes for all the archives you plan to visit, and have made lists of all the documents that sound useful to your studies, why not see if it is possible to order those
documents in advance of your visit? Most of the websites mentioned have clear instructions on how to do this either online or over the phone if they offer an advanced ordering facility. Your next step is to brave your first visit to the archives …

… work in an archive

1.
Only use pencil and a spiral-bound note pad to make notes

2.
Don't eat or drink in the reading room

3.
Handle documents as little as possible

4.
Respect your fellow researchers: turn mobile phones off and work quietly

5.
Laptops and digital cameras are usually allowed, but check with the archivist first

Because the material they hold is unique and irreplaceable, there are rules and regulations that you will have to follow during your visit. Actually, these rules are there to help you make the most of your research trip, as well as protect the documents for other users.

Document preservation and conservation is an important part of archival work, and to ensure that documents are not damaged you will find that archives impose strict rules on what you can bring into the reading rooms with you, plus guidelines on document handling techniques. In general, the golden rule of archives is that you must work with pencils only – biros and pens are forbidden due to the potential harm they can cause to original material. Similarly, erasers and pencil sharpeners should not be used or placed near documents, as they can cause damage. There is usually a no eating or drinking rule in place for similar reasons, and this extends to cough sweets and chewing gum.

If you are unsure about how you should be handling an item, or you feel it is delicate, please ask an archivist to assist you. Most archives have a store of foam wedges, supports and weights to help set the document out in a way that carries a minimum risk of harm. Try to limit your own contact with the item; for example, if reading a line of text, do not run your finger along the document, as grease from your skin can cause damage. Instead, place a piece of white paper under the line of text to help you keep your place. If you are having difficulty reading faded text, ultraviolet lamps can often help pick out lost words. Similarly, maps and plans are often covered under clear protective sheets, and you should always ask before you attempt to trace a document.

The amount of material you can bring into the reading rooms will also be limited. Apart from banning pens, erasers and pencil sharpeners, it is likely that you will be asked to leave the majority of your research notes in a locker outside the reading room area, and bring in only spiral-bound note pads or sheets of paper stapled together; and what you can bring in will be probably searched on the way in and the way out. This is to prevent document theft; sadly, many items ‘go missing' each year.

Finally, you should, wherever possible, respect your fellow researchers and work in silence. If you do need to confer with a friend or colleague, try to talk quietly and leave the reading room to do so. Mobile phones should be turned off or left in silent mode – there's nothing more annoying than having your concentration disturbed by
someone's phone ringing! Most archives allow you to bring your laptop into the reading room, but you should also set them up so that they are silent when turned on. Digital cameras are also largely welcomed these days, though you need to obtain clearance first from the archivist if you want to take photos, as there could be copyright implications and not all cameras are ‘document friendly'.

Here are a few tips to help you avoid common mistakes, and make the most of the material at your disposal.

Visiting archives can sometimes be more physically demanding than you might think. The increase in the amount of material that has been digitalized and made available online is gradually changing the process of archival research, but you may still need to spend a proportion of your time on your feet or lifting heavy books and large documents. If you are not very robust you might want to consider taking a friend or relative along to help you out. Many documents are also stored as duplicate copies on microfilm or microfiche, which some people find difficult to read for long periods of time if they have poor eyesight. Many archives are aware of the difficulties faced by elderly visitors or those with special needs to cater for, and have invested in specially designed computers for people with poor eyesight.

It might also be worth considering coming to an archive in old clothes. Many old documents are quite dirty, particularly ancient leather-bound tomes whose spines have decayed to an old, red powder that can make quite a mess on clean, white clothes! You should always wash your hands before and after visiting an archive, as you never know what old microbes you might have picked up from the documents during your visit.

‘It's not unusual to find variant spellings of the same word, particularly personal and place names, in a single piece of text.'

If you are fortunate enough to be able to trace the history of your family back before 1733, you may well encounter difficulties interpreting relevant material, as the language of official documents was Latin. So material such as manorial court rolls – a highly important source for a family historian – will need translating, as will any official record of deeds or land transfers that were enrolled in the central courts. The exception to this is the Interregnum period (1649–60), when the
Parliamentary regime decreed that all official documents should be written in English, and you will also find that some official documents were written in the English language before 1733.

Another potential problem will be that scribes tended to employ abbreviations when recording entries, so you will not necessarily be working from easily identifiable Latin words. Handwriting changed over the ages, and even if a document has been written in English it may be difficult to decipher. Official sources can be easier, as scribal technique – the way someone wrote a document – tended to change more slowly as writers adopted the handwriting of their predecessors. However, private hands varied widely, even within a relatively short period, often employing idiosyncratic shorthand techniques. Spellings also differed widely between authors, and it is not unusual to find variant spellings of the same word, particularly personal and place names, in a single piece of text. All of these problems can make interpreting documents difficult. However, there are ways to make documents seem less intimidating.

Most archives stock Latin dictionaries to help you translate key phrases, whilst there are similar publications to help you understand palaeography, which is the technical term used to describe the handwriting and abbreviations employed in the documents. Furthermore, there are specialist volumes written for family and local historians that provide translations and explanations of the formulae for the most commonly used documents that you will encounter. If you are still unsure, try selecting a similar document from the Interregnum period, which will be in English. Most documents follow standard patterns, with only the details of individuals and places altering. This will enable
you to decide where you should be looking in the document for key phrases, and assist with translation. In addition, some local history societies provide transcriptions and translations of important document series, with the added advantage that they are usually indexed. These too can be used to aid interpretation of difficult original material.

Many archives and institutions have created resources online to help you to teach yourself Latin and palaeography. One of the best, since it's linked to their own documents, is provided for free by The National Archives on their website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ palaeography, and there is a site where ancient Scottish handwriting can be demystified at www.scottishhandwriting.com.

Not everyone is familiar with the way documents are dated. Many dates are given in the form of a Regnal year – the year is described in relation to the date the monarch ascended the throne and the number of years for which they had reigned, rather than the familiar reference to the number of years since the birth of Christ. For example, 20 Henry VIII covers the period 22 April 1528 to 21 April 1529 – the twentieth year of his reign, which began on 22 April 1509. Similarly, a large proportion of legal documentation also incorporates a legal term date – Michaelmas, Hilary, Easter or Trinity – which signifies a particular part of the year in which business was conducted.

… be prepared for pitfalls

1.
Be aware that searching archives can be physically demanding and dirty work

2.
Older official records will be in Latin, and often abbreviated Latin at that

3.
Handwritten records can be hard to read and spellings can be erratic, especially of names

4.
Documents may be dated using Regnal years, legal terms and saints' days

5.
Before 1752, years started in March, not January

6.
Always bear in mind a document's original purpose and context

Furthermore, you may come across dates such as 28 February 1700/01, which refer to the old-style dating technique employed by the Church following the Julian calendar, which started the New Year on 25 March, rather than on 1 January as we do today. The practice was dropped in 1752, the same year that the Gregorian calendar was adopted. The best guide to the many and varied ways of writing dates is Cheney's
Handbook of Dates
, which provides tables giving Regnal years, Easter days and saints' days, which were also used as ways of giving a date.

When looking at the material you have selected, it is very tempting to jump straight in to identify references to your family hidden within the pages. Understandable though this is, given all the procedures you've had to go through to get to this stage, it would be a mistake to launch straight in without first checking what you are looking at, and why. Before you can usefully extract information from a document, you will need to understand why that document was created in the first place, how it would have been used, and what message it contained at the time
it was written. If you do not do this, then you may be taking the information it contains out of its historical context and therefore run the risk of misinterpreting it. After all, documents were not initially created for the purpose of helping family detectives locate their ancestors in the twenty-first century. The records might not easily lend themselves to modern research techniques – for example, indexes may not survive, or you may need to identify the property where people lived rather than the person themselves. For example, electoral lists are a great way of tracing people's movements, particularly in the twentieth century; however, they are rarely indexed by surname and so you need to work out their place of residence, for example from a certificate of birth, marriage or death.

Ask yourself why the document was created, and what information it was originally intended to provide. This will allow you to read it in its own context, and thereby understand why it is arranged the way it is. It may therefore be necessary to corroborate the source with one or more others before you can extract useful information from it. Most archives provide information leaflets about documents and why they were created, so set aside some time to read these useful articles so that you fully understand why you need to look at the documents. That way, you will come away with new names to add to your family tree, and a greater understanding of what they did to end up in an historical document.