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 traditional museum, and photographs relating to history.
Additionally, there are libraries in the UK which repositories for many of use to genealogists: Library www.bl.uk/subjects/family-history, and the respective National Libraries of Scotland, https://digital.nls.uk/gallery/category/family-history Wales, www.library.wales/information-for/family-historians/help/ and Ireland www.nli.ie/en/intro/what-we-have.aspx. Their websites summarise their collections’ areas of focus, such as records of British people in India, kept at both the British Library and the National Library of Scotland.
I’d suggest you begin your quest for the best archive to visit by searching an online catalogue, and below are just a few examples to get you started.
The National Archives Discovery catalogue
The Scottish Archive Network is your passport to thousands of archive records
The joint catalogue at Catholic Heritage covers several major UK and European archives
These allow you to locate the records you’d like to see.
Discovery