Northumberland parish registers digitisation

[Trevor Rix]

Does anyone have any information about the FamilySearch pilot project to digitise Northumberland parish registers which is being built and tested with the Northumberland Record Office who are seeking to develop their own income stream from parish registers without licensing one of the big companies?

See https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2353070 There are 61776 images so far but they cannot be viewed by the public from home. Here is the explanation https://tinyurl.com/y7f4j7dz

By what method will Northumberland Record Office derive an income from this project?

[smudwhisk]

Unless anyone has any info, I should be going to a local FHC on Saturday and will see if the volunteer (who tends to be knowledgeable on these things) has any information on what the "pilot" entails.

[Craclyn]

Some of the newly digitised records have been put onto a PC at Northumberland Archives which they refer to as “The Reading Room”. The registers on there can be browsed but there is no index on this machine, so it is best to use an alternative index first to narrow down your search. Browsing is free, but you have to fill in a copyright form and pay for a print. The quality of the images is better than on microfilm but this system is not particularly efficient for researchers as there is only one PC that runs it. They have mentioned plans to commercialise this but did not say much about when or how.

[Trevor Rix]

Do you know who digitised those registers? Are the digitised images complete for the whole of Northumberland for all time frames? Is there a download option as well as print?

[Craclyn]

I understand that the digitisation was done by a team from familysearch. I have no idea how complete the digitisation was, but at the moment there are just a few registers that have been put onto the system. There did not appear to be a download option last time I used it and you have to be physically sat at that specific PC to use it. It is not accessible from the other computers scattered around the room.

[Trevor Rix]

Thanks Craclyn. FamilySearch doing the digitisation agrees with my information, especially my chat last week at RootsTech London with the person in charge of digitising county record office archives. He said that FamilySearch do digitisation for Ancestry and Findmypast free of charge. And apart from those two companies, record offices are free to moneytise the images as they wish. Also FamilySearch work with those two companies to index the images.

[Gen List Lass]

There are now 2 PC's in the search room at the Northumberland Archives, to view these digitised records. More records are being uploaded as time goes on, according to the staff.

The quality is much better than on some of their old films, the other day I looked at a very sooty image on the film but on the pc, it was very clear.

No use unless you can pay a personal visit......

Gen in NBL UK

[andygmandrew]

I have viewed these images at the Mormon Family History Library in Edinburgh. They have:

Acklington
Allenton
Alnham
Alnmouth
Alnwick
Amble
Bamburgh
Beadnell
Beltingham
Benwell
Benwell, St. Aidan's Church
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Bywell-St. Andrew
Cambois
Chatton
Chevington
Chillingham
Choppington
Corbridge
Cresswell
Doddington
Earsdon
Eglingham
Ellingham
Elswick, St. Paul's Church
Elswick, St. Philip's Church
Embleton
Felton
Haltwhistle
Haydon
Hebburn (near Morpeth)
Hepple
Hexham
Howick
Humshaugh
Jesmond, St. George's Church
Knaresdale
Lambley
Long Benton
Longhirst
Long Houghton
Meldon
Morpeth
Nether Witton
Newbrough
Newcastle, St. Augustine's Church
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, All Saints Church
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Church Church
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, St. Andrew's Church
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, St. Ann's Church
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, St. John's Church
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, St. Luke's Church
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, St. Nicholas' Church
Newton-Hall
North Gosforth
North Sunderland
Ovingham, St. Oswin's Church
Prudhoe
Rennington
Seaton-Delaval
Shilbottle
Shiremoor
Slaley
St. John-Lee
Sugley
Tweedmouth
Tynemouth, Christ Church
Walker
Walker, St. Christopher's Mission Church
Warden

The coverage is not complete though, there are many gaps, presumably to be eventually filled.

[Tickettyboo]

There are now 2 PC's in the search room at the Northumberland Archives, to view these digitised records. More records are being uploaded as time goes on, according to the staff.

The quality is much better than on some of their old films, the other day I looked at a very sooty image on the film but on the pc, it was very clear.

No use unless you can pay a personal visit......

Gen in NBL UK

I have ordered a few copies of these digital images - it was £4.25 per copy for a parish marriage record so £6.75 cheaper than an official GRO cert and you get the original signatures which is really nice. The ones I have had are very clear indeed.
They still need to concentrate on the ordering system though, I had to complete a form, sign it (though thankfully they accept a digital signature) and email it to them. Then I had to phone and pay by card. Once I'd done that, the delivery via email was quite quick. I had the date and church so my request was straightforward, not sure if it would be more expensive if I only had a year and quarter and was unsure about which church.

So they are useful even if you can't visit in person - as long as you live in the UK that is, it could be quite costly to phone from another country. An online ordering and payment system would be much better and would probably generate a lot more income - but I have been mentioning that to them for years on and off :-)


Boo