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Authors: Nick Barratt
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of:
⢠Accounts written by third parties after the event
⢠History books
⢠Stories passed down within families over the years
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Locating this evidence to build a family tree, learn more about these relatives and support the stories that are passed down through generations are the core tasks of a genealogist, so itâs time to focus on what material you are going to use to achieve these goals, and where to find it. Roughly speaking, there are two main types of record youâll encounter during your work â primary sources and secondary sources.
Primary sources come in many shapes and forms, such as contemporary documents that survive from the period, or even oral accounts that are told to you by people who were present at an event. Of most use are officially created sources, such as birth, marriage and death certificates, as their creation and content have been governed and directed by legally binding requirements. These can be more reliable as evidence than personal documents like diaries, which are open to artistic licence and subjective opinion. Official sources are only as reliable as the people filling them in, however, and it is not uncommon for ancestors to âforgetâ important details, or deliberately provide misleading information. The lesson here is never to take anything at face value.
Secondary sources are accounts written retrospectively by people who were not present, but may have had access to primary material, and as such can be subject to errors. Examples are history books written about a major event, such as the Boer War or life in a workhouse. While secondary sources will play a part in your research, you should always endeavour to locate primary evidence to back up your suspicions and findings. Stories passed down through the generations also fall into the secondary source category, unless the story-teller was actually present at the event.
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SUMMARY
The archival pyramid:
National and specialist collections
Municipal or county archives (area administrative records)
Local studies centres (general material)
----
Your initial investigations within your family will have already generated both primary evidence, in the form of documents, photos and letters found around the house, and secondary material from relatives in the form of anecdotes told to them by their ancestors. The next task is to find additional primary and secondary material to extend your family tree. Once this is done, you can then proceed to a wider search for information that will place your relatives in their historical context. It is time to turn to record offices, libraries and museums.
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Where to Look for Evidence: Archives, Record Offices, Libraries and Museums
What is an Archive?
The majority of primary material will be housed in record offices, libraries and museums, scattered across Britain â or, if your ancestors came from overseas, all around the world. Many people loosely refer to these institutions as âarchivesâ. Although this isnât the place for academic debate, in technical terms an archive is actually a collection of documents, manuscripts or other primary evidence, although the term is more often used to describe the building or institution in which the collection is housed. It is in this context that the word âarchiveâ will be used in this book.
For those of you who have never been to an archive before, it can be a daunting experience, but one well worth undertaking. Each archive is unique, will hold a different variety of records, and will have its own way of collecting, storing, cataloguing and indexing its records. Bearing in mind that information about your ancestors could turn up anywhere, the first step of your research strategy should be to work out which archives are going to be of most use to you first. The following notes should help you do this, but donât forget that you will probably need to visit more than one archive over the
⢠Accounts written by third parties after the event
⢠History books
⢠Stories passed down within families over the years
----
Locating this evidence to build a family tree, learn more about these relatives and support the stories that are passed down through generations are the core tasks of a genealogist, so itâs time to focus on what material you are going to use to achieve these goals, and where to find it. Roughly speaking, there are two main types of record youâll encounter during your work â primary sources and secondary sources.
Primary sources come in many shapes and forms, such as contemporary documents that survive from the period, or even oral accounts that are told to you by people who were present at an event. Of most use are officially created sources, such as birth, marriage and death certificates, as their creation and content have been governed and directed by legally binding requirements. These can be more reliable as evidence than personal documents like diaries, which are open to artistic licence and subjective opinion. Official sources are only as reliable as the people filling them in, however, and it is not uncommon for ancestors to âforgetâ important details, or deliberately provide misleading information. The lesson here is never to take anything at face value.
Secondary sources are accounts written retrospectively by people who were not present, but may have had access to primary material, and as such can be subject to errors. Examples are history books written about a major event, such as the Boer War or life in a workhouse. While secondary sources will play a part in your research, you should always endeavour to locate primary evidence to back up your suspicions and findings. Stories passed down through the generations also fall into the secondary source category, unless the story-teller was actually present at the event.
----
SUMMARY
The archival pyramid:
National and specialist collections
Municipal or county archives (area administrative records)
Local studies centres (general material)
----
Your initial investigations within your family will have already generated both primary evidence, in the form of documents, photos and letters found around the house, and secondary material from relatives in the form of anecdotes told to them by their ancestors. The next task is to find additional primary and secondary material to extend your family tree. Once this is done, you can then proceed to a wider search for information that will place your relatives in their historical context. It is time to turn to record offices, libraries and museums.
----
Where to Look for Evidence: Archives, Record Offices, Libraries and Museums
What is an Archive?
The majority of primary material will be housed in record offices, libraries and museums, scattered across Britain â or, if your ancestors came from overseas, all around the world. Many people loosely refer to these institutions as âarchivesâ. Although this isnât the place for academic debate, in technical terms an archive is actually a collection of documents, manuscripts or other primary evidence, although the term is more often used to describe the building or institution in which the collection is housed. It is in this context that the word âarchiveâ will be used in this book.
For those of you who have never been to an archive before, it can be a daunting experience, but one well worth undertaking. Each archive is unique, will hold a different variety of records, and will have its own way of collecting, storing, cataloguing and indexing its records. Bearing in mind that information about your ancestors could turn up anywhere, the first step of your research strategy should be to work out which archives are going to be of most use to you first. The following notes should help you do this, but donât forget that you will probably need to visit more than one archive over the
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