Archives & Libraries

Lincolnshire has a rich archival store. Don't overlook any of these. The Lincolnshire Archives are located at:

The Archives also publish an historical gazetteer and a CD-ROM detailing many of the indexes and sources available for research.

Because traditional Lincolnshire has been split in recent years by political boundary reorganisation, the North East portion was once part of a separate political entity (Humberside) and had its own Record Office and Archive. That RO and Archive were in Grimsby and continue to operate as the NE Lincolnshire Archive. The nearby Grimsby Library have the GRO Index (formerly St. Catherine's) of Civil Registration from 1837. The Archive location is:

The Lincolnshire Library has many services, including a web page devoted to Family History services.

The North Lincolnshire Library also has a wealth of Family History records and archives, particularly for surrounding parishes:

The Spalding Library has local parish census returns and other records. Don't forget to check their archive of Spalding area newspapers (The Spalding Standard 1912-1916; The Spalding Guardian; Holbeach, Long Sutton & Sutton Bridge Advertiser 1881 - present):

Access the British Library Public Catalogue to search for historical reference material.

Many Lincolnshire records and UK-wide information is stored at the Public Record Office. There is an online index for searching at the National Archives.

• Estate Duty Office Indexes to Death Duty Registers 1796 to 1903.
• Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths at Sea 1854 to 1890.
• Index to Divorce and Matrimonial Causes 1858 to 1903.
• Registers of Names of Passport Applications 1851 to 1903.
• More to come...

Volunteers at your local Family History Centre Libraries are available to help you with your search.

The WorldGenWeb maintains Project Archives for public review.

Museums

Local museums can hold a surprising hoard of family history information, parish records, photographs, etc.:

In Grimsby, one should check these:

1. The Fishing Museum (actually the "National Fishing Heritage Centre") with many photographs and artifacts from that industry.
2. The Welholme Galleries, which started converting to a local history museum in 1999.
3. Telephone the Council at 01472 313131 to confirm dates and times open.

In the south of Lincolnshire, look into the resources at the Wisbech and Fenland Museum:

Hints for the new researcher

There are three kinds of Libraries in Lincolnshire:

1. County Libraries, funded and staffed by the Lincolnshire County Council.
2. Community Libraries, funded locally and often staffed entirely by volunteers.
3. Special Focus Libraries, funded locally, often with two or three professional staff and a group of volunteers. These may have an occupational focus, like Framework Knitters, Coal Miners or Fishermen, or they may be built around the collection of a particular mansion or militry entity. Some have a "regional" focus, like the Fens or the Wolds.

You should always ask or look to see if there is a Local Studies Section in any library that interests you.

The key to making your search more rewarding is planning. Here are some preparation ideas from Kath Heywood and myself:

• For most archives you will need 2 passport-sized photos with you for your ID (Reader Card or Reader Ticket) and something with a signature on it, like a cheque card or credit card or passport. A Reader Ticket may be good for several years.
• Some Archives are now using the CARN system (County Archives Research Network) for reader cards, but many do it the old-fashioned way. Once you have a CARN card, it can be used in any of the record offices that use CARN.
• Get an open clip-board and an A4 notepad and a couple of pencils. The Lincolnshire Archives now only allows a "reporters notebook" size of pad so that you don't "inadvertently" get any documents slipping between pages of your foolscap/A4 pad. Archives may only allow you a few sheets of loose paper for note-taking. Some Archives are now banning pens due to the marks left behind on precious originals.
• Some Archives forbid the use of digital cameras (or any use of flash). If you plan to photograph old records, get permission first and offer the Archives copies of all your images.
• Write up or print on loose paper as much as you can about the details you are seeking. Some people like to do the easy searches first, so they can get familiar with the archive holdings, others start with the hardest searches because they know their time is limited. But the key item is to organize your search on paper.
• Ring the search room in advance and book a fiche (or film) reader. People with reservations have first priority.
• In some facilities you may need to book a reading table as well, if you are going to be ordering documents from the stores.
• When you get to the Archives, you'll probably be told to put everything but the clipboard in a locker. That's why you need your search plan on the clipboard. But having your family binder(s) in the locker or in your car make it possible for you to confirm other findings.
• Mobile phones and buzzing pagers are almost as popular as people who smoke! Turn your ringers/buzzers off before entering the search room. Some archives (like the Lincoln Archive) ask that you put cellphones in the external storage lockers.
• Take plenty of change. It's a shame not to be able to make copies because you can't make change. (Note: many archives take cheques or credit cards, but not all.)
• Typically, few of the fiche readers are attached to printers. If you want to print anything out you have to buy tokens and use another machine.
• Many records are available in open, public access. If you need to look at specific documents not open to direct access, fill in a slip for them as soon as you arrive as they can take a while to be brought out for you. Some archived documents are NFP (Not for Production) bedcause of their fragile state.
• Don't get overwhelmed by all the material there. You may find things that "sidetrack" your research. Make notes of these and continue to use your pre-printed plan to pursue what you came for.
• Make sure that each page of your notes is headed with the document reference. When you get home, things may not be in the order you expected. And record "not found" experiences, too.
• The staff at the archives will appreciate your "Please, may I ..." and "Thank you" approach to doing business. Remember that in some facilities, a large percentage of the staff are volunteers.

• 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.