Introduction
 | This week's feature for #AncestryHour comes from Else Churchill, a familiar name to many of us as the genealogist at the 'Society of Genealogists' in London. Her article is packed with useful information and links for researchers out there, for whom, like myself, London is not easily accessible. It focuses on the information that is available online, how to find it, and where to go for further help and advice. |
Blog
The Society of Genealogists is the UK’s largest genealogical society and the National Family History Centre. On the centenary anniversary of the Society foundation in 1911 the Independent newspaper described the Society’s Library as “the world’s best genealogical library outside the USA”; an accolade that the Society works hard to live up to!
In addition to providing resources for anyone researching ancestors from the UK, Ireland and overseas, the Society is also an educational charity and hosts an extensive programme of events and courses. The Society actively seeks to represent and advocate on behalf of the UK’s genealogical community and of course publishes an esteemed, award winning series of genealogical guides which are available from the Society’s online bookshop or as e.books from Amazon. The Society’s journal the Genealogists Magazine is published and sent to members four times a year.
Home to the Society is the large four storey Charterhouse Buildings, off Goswell Road on the borders of the City of London and Clerkenwell and about a 5 minute walk from the Barbican underground station. It houses the Society’s extensive library of printed books, unpublished research notes and pedigrees compiled over the last century. Essentially the Society aims to help you build your family tree by asking where did your ancestors live? what did they do?, and has any research been done before on the family? Hence the library collects genealogical resources relating to the places where our ancestors lived and what they did in their lives and seeks to be a repository for published and unpublished genealogical research and reference material.
In addition to providing resources for anyone researching ancestors from the UK, Ireland and overseas, the Society is also an educational charity and hosts an extensive programme of events and courses. The Society actively seeks to represent and advocate on behalf of the UK’s genealogical community and of course publishes an esteemed, award winning series of genealogical guides which are available from the Society’s online bookshop or as e.books from Amazon. The Society’s journal the Genealogists Magazine is published and sent to members four times a year.
Home to the Society is the large four storey Charterhouse Buildings, off Goswell Road on the borders of the City of London and Clerkenwell and about a 5 minute walk from the Barbican underground station. It houses the Society’s extensive library of printed books, unpublished research notes and pedigrees compiled over the last century. Essentially the Society aims to help you build your family tree by asking where did your ancestors live? what did they do?, and has any research been done before on the family? Hence the library collects genealogical resources relating to the places where our ancestors lived and what they did in their lives and seeks to be a repository for published and unpublished genealogical research and reference material.
The Library is free to members who pay an annual subscription and to non-members on payment of a daily search fee. Information on the joining administration fee and annual subscription can be found by clicking on benefits of membership on any page of the website. Membership is discounted for those who live outside the UK .
The Society appreciates that not everyone can conveniently visit the Society’s building in London and would much prefer to access the library and collections online from home and that is becoming increasingly possible, but of course not everything in our library is our copyright or ours to publish online.
The Society appreciates that not everyone can conveniently visit the Society’s building in London and would much prefer to access the library and collections online from home and that is becoming increasingly possible, but of course not everything in our library is our copyright or ours to publish online.
The Society’s website www.sog.org.uk , which has undergone a major overhaul in recent years, is the first and most important place to find information and resources. The tabs at the top with drop down menus for each of the subject areas enable easy navigation round the content pages on the site.
The News pages http://www.sog.org.uk/news include regular blog updates about the Society of Genealogist’s activities and news about and for the genealogical community. This news is fed through RSS feeds out to the Society’s Twitter account @SoGgenealogist and to our Facebook page so there are plenty of opportunities to follow our latest news and comments through Social Media.
The Learn pages http://www.sog.org.uk/learn on the SoG website are a good way to get some free help and advice on researching your family history. The Record Guides includes several useful free information leaflets and in-depth record guides to the most commonly used genealogy records which can be downloaded as free PDFs. This includes an overview of how to Start Family history with the Society of Genealogists http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-two/ which lists general useful sources, websites and tips.
More in-depth record guides show how to find and use important genealogical sources such as:
Civil Registration Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-three/ , Census
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-four/ , Parish Registers
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-six/,
Nonconformist sources
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-seven/,
Wills
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-five/ , Criminal Records
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-7-criminal-records/ etc., with links to helpful websites .
There are also useful hints and tips pages
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/education-sub-page-for-testing-navigation/ which give advice on some of the common questions directed at the Society, such as how to find, or even become, a professional researcher, or how to read documents or surname searching at the Society of Genealogists (I’ll come back to this guide later).
More in-depth record guides show how to find and use important genealogical sources such as:
Civil Registration Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-three/ , Census
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-four/ , Parish Registers
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-six/,
Nonconformist sources
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-seven/,
Wills
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-five/ , Criminal Records
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/help-getting-started-with-genealogy/guide-7-criminal-records/ etc., with links to helpful websites .
There are also useful hints and tips pages
http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/education-sub-page-for-testing-navigation/ which give advice on some of the common questions directed at the Society, such as how to find, or even become, a professional researcher, or how to read documents or surname searching at the Society of Genealogists (I’ll come back to this guide later).
Most of the SoG’s education programme takes place on site but the Society does have a distance learning partnership with Pharos Tutors and information about the joint Family History Skills and Strategies Courses for intermediate level students can be found on the Learn pages of the website http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/distance-learning-courses/distance-learning-courses-family-history-skills-and-stratagies . An advanced online distance learning course starts in 2016. Educational events and courses can be booked online and publications can be ordered through the online bookshop.
Help and Advice
If you have hit a brick wall then the Society has various ways to help and advise members and non-members about their family history research. The website’s ‘Learn’ menu has direct links http://www.sog.org.uk/the-library/advice-service/ to show you how to get advice from Library volunteers & staff, either by personal consultations in the library on Saturday afternoon, or using the Advice Telephone Line +44 (0) 20 7490 8911 on Thursdays 6pm - 7.45 pm or Saturdays 11 am - 1pm and 2pm - 4 pm. Of course the Society happily answers questions via email directed genealogy@sog.org.uk.
Members of the Society of Genealogists also have the opportunity to Ask an Expert http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/ask-an-expert/ directly by enrolling on the SoG Members Roots Web email list. A question posted on the list appears as an email to any member who has subscribed, and the enquirer can draw upon the many years of collective knowledge and expertise of fellow members who can make suggestions and offer to help. You never know - you may even link in to someone who wrote a book on the subject. Many will be familiar with our member Experts who also offer the personal ‘one to one’ consultations at the ever popular Ask the Experts area of the Who Do You Think You Are? Live genealogy show in Birmingham.
If you have hit a brick wall then the Society has various ways to help and advise members and non-members about their family history research. The website’s ‘Learn’ menu has direct links http://www.sog.org.uk/the-library/advice-service/ to show you how to get advice from Library volunteers & staff, either by personal consultations in the library on Saturday afternoon, or using the Advice Telephone Line +44 (0) 20 7490 8911 on Thursdays 6pm - 7.45 pm or Saturdays 11 am - 1pm and 2pm - 4 pm. Of course the Society happily answers questions via email directed genealogy@sog.org.uk.
Members of the Society of Genealogists also have the opportunity to Ask an Expert http://www.sog.org.uk/learn/ask-an-expert/ directly by enrolling on the SoG Members Roots Web email list. A question posted on the list appears as an email to any member who has subscribed, and the enquirer can draw upon the many years of collective knowledge and expertise of fellow members who can make suggestions and offer to help. You never know - you may even link in to someone who wrote a book on the subject. Many will be familiar with our member Experts who also offer the personal ‘one to one’ consultations at the ever popular Ask the Experts area of the Who Do You Think You Are? Live genealogy show in Birmingham.
SoG Library
The Library pages http://www.sog.org.uk/the-library of the website include lots of information about the library. As well as information about visiting the building in London, its arrangement, floor guide, the opening hours, day search fees and directions etc., the library news highlights new accessions and collections acquired by the library and additions to the digitised online data. The Society’s Librarian, Tim Lawrence, frequently gives talks on using the library and its collections, and the PowerPoint Slides from his talks http://www.sog.org.uk/the-library/library-talks can also be found on the library pages with some interesting illustrations of sources that it contains.
The Society’s Library in Clerkenwell is housed over four floors. As many Americans don’t use the term ground floor the SoG calls it’s floors the Lower Library (basement level), Ground Floor, Middle Library (first floor level) and Upper Library (second floor level).
The Library pages http://www.sog.org.uk/the-library of the website include lots of information about the library. As well as information about visiting the building in London, its arrangement, floor guide, the opening hours, day search fees and directions etc., the library news highlights new accessions and collections acquired by the library and additions to the digitised online data. The Society’s Librarian, Tim Lawrence, frequently gives talks on using the library and its collections, and the PowerPoint Slides from his talks http://www.sog.org.uk/the-library/library-talks can also be found on the library pages with some interesting illustrations of sources that it contains.
The Society’s Library in Clerkenwell is housed over four floors. As many Americans don’t use the term ground floor the SoG calls it’s floors the Lower Library (basement level), Ground Floor, Middle Library (first floor level) and Upper Library (second floor level).
The reception where all visitors must sign in, along with the bookshop, cloakroom and common room (for refreshments) are to be found on the Ground Floor.
The main focus of the library is in the Lower Library which holds the computers suite with free onsite access to online genealogy data sites as well microforms and CDs. The unique manuscript, document, research notes and special collections are found here also and staff and volunteers will fetch these for you from the closed access areas.
The main reference enquiry and help desk is in the Middle Library where you will also find books on the open county shelves. These relate to the places in England, Wales and Scotland where your ancestors lived arranged by the older counties, as they were prior to 1974.
The Upper Library holds printed and bound family histories and pedigrees, books relating to education and apprenticeship, religions, professions trades and occupations, the armed services and the overseas shelves.
A floor guide can be downloaded on the library pages of the website:
http://www.sog.org.uk/uploads/Floor_guide_(Mar10)_2.pdf - where you will find visitor information, directions and information for preparing for a visit.
http://www.sog.org.uk/uploads/Floor_guide_(Mar10)_2.pdf - where you will find visitor information, directions and information for preparing for a visit.
I have to stress that there are many ways to search the Society’s library and collections and there is no one single search that leads you to everything we may hold concerning the places, names and families you are researching.
The website page “Search Records" http://www.sog.org.uk/search-records guides an enquirer through the many pathways to finding information and provides several options for searching the various types and formats of materials in the library.
Start with Search Records Pages of the website, particularly using the Library Catalogue http://s10312uk.eos-intl.eu/S10312UK/OPAC/Index.aspx which lists most (but not all) of what we have in various media – books, CDs, microforms, maps etc but NOT the various manuscript archive collections.
The website page “Search Records" http://www.sog.org.uk/search-records guides an enquirer through the many pathways to finding information and provides several options for searching the various types and formats of materials in the library.
Start with Search Records Pages of the website, particularly using the Library Catalogue http://s10312uk.eos-intl.eu/S10312UK/OPAC/Index.aspx which lists most (but not all) of what we have in various media – books, CDs, microforms, maps etc but NOT the various manuscript archive collections.
There are various options for searches using the advanced search menu but most questions can probably be answered using the 'browse search' which defaults to subject search, such as a place or a surname, but you can also use the drop down menu to browse for author, title and publisher. While you can do more sophisticated searches using the advanced menu, the simple ‘browse by subject’ is an excellent place to see if the Society has a relevant printed family history or holds copies of the records for a place where your ancestors come from.
The Society holds transcripts, indexes and copies of records relating to most of the parishes in the counties of the United Kingdom. In addition to church registers and monumental inscriptions from churchyards and cemeteries, the library has an extensive local history source collection, many local directories, poll books and journals. The library’s military library is one of the best outside the National Army Museum. Many of the sources we hold for the British overseas supplement records in other archives like the Indian resources and collections which are second only to the British Library’s Oriental and India Collections. The Society collects and has indexed apprenticeship records, and has other extensive resources relating to occupations, trades and professions. The Society is home to the largest collection of family histories, many of which are unique, together with published pedigrees and biographical reference material.
The manuscript archives aren’t catalogued online but the website’s ‘Search Records’ page also has some quick look-up lists of surnames represented in the document manuscript collections of research notes and ephemeral family papers http://www.sog.org.uk/search-records/index-of-the-document-collection/,
the 7000 roll pedigrees in the archives
http://www.sog.org.uk/search-records/pedigrees/
and the members’ birth briefs
http://www.sog.org.uk/search-records/introduction-to-the-birth-brief-collection/.
If you can’t get to the library to view an item then the website has links to the Society’s paid search/copy service http://www.sog.org.uk/the-library/search-copy-service which explains how items in the library can be copied and sent.
the 7000 roll pedigrees in the archives
http://www.sog.org.uk/search-records/pedigrees/
and the members’ birth briefs
http://www.sog.org.uk/search-records/introduction-to-the-birth-brief-collection/.
If you can’t get to the library to view an item then the website has links to the Society’s paid search/copy service http://www.sog.org.uk/the-library/search-copy-service which explains how items in the library can be copied and sent.
The Society is piloting projects to digitise items in the library and manuscript collections, and make them available online to members through the website. Out of print and rare items like the extensive collection of late 18th and early 19th century poll books, are made available as PDF copies of books. Now they are online our members can work from home to index them and add value by making a database of all the names mentioned.
Many of what the Society calls its ‘Special Collections’ contain the research of a particular genealogist, who usually looked at lots of families. Often these families were connected by a common theme or interest. For example we recently took in the case papers relating to the families of many merchant mariners collected Dr Christopher Watts, the author of the Society’s book My Ancestor was a Merchant Seamen. The Society has also placed online, the research notes relating to Coastguards compiled by the late Eileen Stage. Our volunteers are currently working on staff records of late 19th and 20th century Customs Officers. Major collections and finding aids are added to the SoG Data Online - like the 7 million names in Boyd’s Marriage Index or the names and images of the 300 volumes of abstracts of wills formerly collected by the Bank of England.
The Society isn’t a place of national deposit and often, as a last resort, takes in records that no other archive wants. Hence we have taken in, digitised and indexed the hundreds of boxes containing Evidences of Age compiled by the Civil Service Commission relating to British Civil Servants applying for pensions or sitting the civil service examinations. We have looked after and made available online the records of the Teachers Registration Council. These larger data sets, with lots of names and images are also published in partnership with the British commercial genealogy website findypast.co.uk. Smaller more niche data sets, tend to remain only on the digitised data on the SoG’s own website.
All the SoG digitised data is made free to SoG members who can register and sign in to look at the indexed data and images on our website. Non-members can browse or make free searches in the online index to SoG data http://www.sog.org.uk/search-records/search-sog-data-online but must join the Society, and a become a member to view the full entries or view images and books.
A Link to the benefits of joining the Society can be found on any page of the website http://www.sog.org.uk/membership/
and it’s easy to join online at
https://www.sog.org.uk/shop/subscription
and it’s easy to join online at
https://www.sog.org.uk/shop/subscription
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