Archives Masterclass
BEFORE YOUR VISIT
Which archive?
Before you even decide which archive you want to visit, identify an archive relevant to your research goals. Use information that’s easily available on the internet to learn what records are available, and where.
It’s a good idea to keep an open mind about exactly where you will find documents that will help build your family tree. While you may be familiar with archives that are organised and run by national and local government, there are many others in private, corporate, educational, military, religious, or charitable hands. Heritage sites such as museums may also double as the repository for associated archive materials – which can include objects, moving images, and sound files as well as books and manuscripts. One location where this is the case is the Black Watch Regimental Museum in Perth, which, as well as being a traditional museum, holds papers and photographs relating to the regiment’s history.
Additionally, there are four national libraries in the UK which serve as repositories for many documents of use to genealogists: the British Library , and the respective National Libraries of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland . Their websites summarise their collections’ areas of focus, such as records of British people in India, kept
