ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES

This page contains information about the location and use of Archives and Libraries for Gloucestershire-related family history research. Generally speaking, Archives (more commonly known as Record Offices) are repositories for original source material, such as Wills or Parish Registers, whereas the Local Studies Sections of Libraries are where you'd expect to find the Census, and printed local source material, such as Trade Directories. If you're looking for assistance by post or email in Gloucestershire, the Gloucestershire Archives provides a Research Service. Note: the Record Office also provides access to resources for Local Studies, eg Census, Directories, Newspapers. If nothing less than a personal visit will suffice, more detailed information, and some useful comments based on our own experiences, are offered below.

RECORD OFFICES

The two major repositories for Gloucestershire source material are:

• Gloucestershire Archives (Gloucester Record Office)
  Clarence Row
  Alvin Street
  GLOUCESTER   GL1 3DW
• Bristol Record Office
  'B' Bond Warehouse
  Smeaton Road
  BRISTOL   BS1 6XN

There are about 30 parishes listed as Towns & Parishes in Gloucestershire, for which original records may be found elsewhere. These are usually on the county border, and were either formerly in Gloucestershire and now in an adjoining county, or have moved to Gloucestershire from an adjoining county. The associated Record Offices are:

• Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre
  Fir Tree Lane
  Rotherwas
  Hereford HR2 6LA
• Oxfordshire Record Office
  St Luke's Church
  Temple Road
  Cowley
  OXFORD   OX4 2HT
• Warwickshire County Record Office
  Priory Park
  Cape Road
  WARWICK   CV34 4JS
• Wiltshire & Swindon Archives
  Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre
  Cocklebury Road
  CHIPPENHAM   SN15 3QN
• Worcestershire Record Office
  County Hall
  Spetchley Road
  WORCESTER   WR5 2NP

Details of the appropriate repository are provided on individual parish pages under the Archives and Libraries section. See also the ARCHON (Archives On-Line) Information service for locations of other Record Offices throughout the country. Specific contents of the above Record Office Catalogues are searchable independently using the Access to Archives Database. This is a valuable resource - whilst the original records are not available online, some of the catalogue entries may be a revelation in their own right - for example there are lists of Parish Chest papers (Settlement, Removal, &c.) available at Bristol sufficiently informative to obviate the need to consult the original archive.

LIBRARIES

• Several Public Libraries in Gloucestershire have selections of reference material of interest to family historians, including copies of newspapers, and a selection of Crockford's Clerical Directories. Visit Gloucestershire Library Service webpage for more details. The Gloucestershire Collection of Local Studies reference material, formerly in the Gloucester Public Library moved in January 2006, and is now at the Gloucestershire Archives Office.
• See also Libraries in South Gloucestershire for information about libraries elsewhere in the county.

[The above information was transferred from the main GENUKI/Gloucestershire index page on 27 Aug 2003]

• Formed by a merger of the Public Record Office and the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, The National Archives (TNA) is the principal repository for English and Welsh records. You might like to start by browsing the titles of their 193 guides classified under 'family history'. TNA offer many, many useful Research Guides.

• The National Archives (TNA)'s Discovery system is now the key to finding their holdings - see also: TNA Discovery Help.

• TNA's Access to Archives (A2A) programme has been absorbed into Discovery (above).

• The National Register of Archives has now been absorbed into Discovery (above). It is/was an extensive searchable database (formerly run by the Royal Commision on Historical Manuscripts, now part of TNA) which contains information on the nature and location of manuscripts and historical records that relate to British history.

• Your Archives — NB this is now closed but remains available as a read-only resource — "The National Archives' online community of records users", a wiki that archive users can contribute to: "These pages are for you to contribute your knowledge of archival sources held by The National Archives and by other archives throughout the UK."

• The National Archives (TNA, Kew) have a worldwide list of archives. This links into the UK section.

• The L.D.S. (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) have now provided online search facilities for the I.G.I. (International Genealogical Index). As well as the general search facility, there is also a Custom Search page allowing more refined searches. Hugh Wallis has provided a search facility which greatly simplifies searching by batch number. See also Finding L.D.S. Batch Numbers.

• The FamilySearch site has a list of Family History Centres in England. These are provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

• In particular, the London Family History Centre has a useful web site.

• The Guildhall Library, London.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/The_Parliamentary_Archives_(U.K.)National Collections

Bevan, Amanda, (Ed.). Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office (6th ed.), The National Archives. [ISBN 1903365341] 
["This is a new, revised edition of the best-selling guide. Now in its sixth edition, Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office continues to provide comprehensive guidance to all researchers, new or experienced, wishing to trace their forebears among the records of government or courts held at The National Archives. It leads the reader through the census and military service records, wills and lawsuits, court rolls and hearth taxes and all other records where our ancestors may have left their tracks. . . this new revised edition provides information on this and many other releases of records at the National Archives, including army, navy, merchant navy and immigration records. New information about how to access the records via the catalogue is also provided."]

• The National Archives (TNA) in Kew brings together the Public Records Office (PRO) and the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and is the principal repository for English and Welsh records. ( Note: most Scottish records are held in the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh, and Northern Ireland Records are held by The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) .)
• Now that the Access to Archives (A2A) project is no more, TNA's  Discovery catalogue covers holdings in many regional archives as well as the National Archives themselves - see their  Find an Archive page. (To search all these other archives use the "Held By" option in the catalogue's Advanced Searchfacility.)
•  
  • Copies of the National Archives' Research Guidesare now available online, as is their very useful catalogue.
  • Research Guides to Online Collectionsat the National Archives.
  • The National Archives' Looking for a Person?resource listing - "Each guide tells you where you can find, access and understand the relevant records".
  • Their Manorial Documents Registeridentifies the location of manorial documents.
  • Your Archives- "The National Archives' online community of records users", a wiki that archive users could contribute to - now closed.
  • The National Archives publishes a useful free enewslettergiving a "monthly round-up of news, blogs, offers and events ".
  • They also have a YouTube channel of videos providing tips on using the Discovery catalogue, visiting, etc.
• Quick animated guidesto using the National Archives.
• The British Library'scollections may be regarded as the world's finest; the range and effectiveness of the services it provides on the basis of these collections are without rival. Their web pages give access to their comprehensive online cataloguesincluding the British Library Public Catalogue, as well as providing full details of the library's services and facilities.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers a wide range of genealogical resources at its Family History Centers around the world.  For contact details,  click here and search for the centre nearest you.

Listings and Guides

• The National Archives' "gateway to archival resources, projects and initiatives in the UK and abroad" has been transferred to the UNESCO Archives Portal (archived copy).
• JISC's  Library Hub Discover provides a means of  searching resources in UK and Irish academic, national & specialist libraries - as of Jan 2020, it held  "42,377,775 records created from 106,728,673 records contributed by 144 institutions".
• The Archives Hubis a service run by MIMAS at Manchester Computing which provides free access to descriptions of archives held in the UK's universities and colleges. The descriptions can be searched in a number of ways and will form one part of the emerging UK National Archives Network.
• LDS Family History Centres.
• Culture 24, "Latest news, exhibition reviews, links, listings and education resources from thousands of UK museums, galleries, archives and libraries, all in one place".
• Details of 1600 Museums, Galleries and Historic Housesprovided by Britains Finest.
• UK250's listing of  UK museum websites (archived copy)
• Details of Maritime and Naval Museumsin Britain and Ireland provided by Dr Martin H. Evans and Dr Janet West. A Location Mapis also available.
• The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography- "The biab online database contains datasets covering publications from AD 1695 to the present day on archaeology and the historic environment, historic buildings, maritime and industrial archaeology, environmental history, and the conservation of material culture" - nearly 200,000 references, as of June 2007.
• Community Archives- set up on behalf of the National Council on Archives "to show the variety and quantity of community archives in the UK."
• UK Parliamentary Archives - FamilySearch guide.section.

Specialist Collections

• Society of Genealogists
• Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies,
• The Methodist Archives and Research Centreis part of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester.
• The Huguenot Libraryis located at University College, London
• The Royal Archives - subscription access via Find My Past.
• The The British Postal Musem and Archive(formerly Post Office Archives and Records Services) holds the records of the British Post Office from the 17th century to the present day.
• Institute for Historical Research
• India Office(archived copy): Family History Research.
• The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum.
• The Women's Library- "housing the most extensive collection of women's history in the UK".
• The National Gas Archive- "The NGA holds up to two kilometres of records covering the history and development of the UK gas industry. The records date from about 1812 to the present day and include many of the administrative, financial, legal, technical, property and personnel records of the industry."
• The National Army Museum.

Miscellaneous

• Association of Independent Libraries- details of member institutions and publications.