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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland Resources => Topic started by: RootsChat on Sunday 18 May 03 09:35 BST (UK)
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This area of RootsChat aims to give you some of the main sources of information for research in Scotland. The links are intended to be for general information relating to whole of Scotland, or more than one county. Links and resources for research in individual counties can be found at the top of each Scottish county board page.
If you come across any websites or sources that have helped you and are of particular use to the Scottish researcher, then please post them on this board.
Thank you for all your contributions :)
Archives
From 1 April 2011, the General Register Office for Scotland merged with the National Archives of Scotland to become the National Records of Scotland (NRS). A new combined website will be available soon. Currently, the links are:
- National Archives of Scotland (NAS), a summary of what is available - www.nas.gov.uk/doingResearch/NASrecords.asp
- On-line searchable catalogue for NAS - www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue/
- General Records Office of Scotland (GROS) - www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/
Some other useful links:
- Scottish Record Offices and Archives - http://www.rootschat.com/links/01hq3/ (http://www.rootschat.com/links/01hq3/)
Birth, Marriages and Death Registrations
- ScotlandsPeople is the official pay to view site for BMDs and entries from the Old Parish Registers (OPRs). See below, Help Guides on RootsChat, for further information.
- Births Deaths and Marriages Exchange for Scotland - www.sctbdm.com/index.php
- Baptism, marriage, and burial records, that have been transcribed by volunteers from parish and non-conformist registers www.freereg.org.uk/ (Check coverage areas here www.freereg.org.uk/parishes/index.shtml).
Burial and Monumental Inscriptions (MIs)
There is always a lot of interest regarding burial information and whether any monumental (gravestone) inscriptions may be available for an ancestor.
- See here for some help notes from ScotlandsPeople regarding death information before the start of official registration in 1855, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/Content/Help/index.aspx?r=554&1353
- It is worth looking at individual local history societies' publication lists for details of booklets and CDs available to purchase directly from them (check their websites for further details of what is on offer).
- The Scottish Association of Family History Societies offers a good summary of burial/MIs information which is available by area/graveyard. Just use their search facility and search for ‘burials’ - http://www.safhs.org.uk/search.asp
- Please be aware that some sites make a charge for more detailed information and/or photographs, though basic information may be free. Some external sites (all have partial coverage of Scotland):
www.memento-mori.co.uk
www.findagraveinscotland.com
www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch - Always worth checking via a search engine to see what may be generally available for free on line as more information comes on line every year thanks to the efforts of volunteers.
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Census
- Original images for the 1841 - 1911 censuses are only available from the official pay to view site www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
There are other sources for transcripts of the censuses though (excluding the 1911 census):
- FreeCen http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ has now excellent coverage of the earlier censuses. Check here for updates www.freecen.org.uk/statistics.html with coverage increasing all the time. These are transcripts compiled by volunteers.
- Coverage of certain areas/counties for 1841-61 available as transcripts - www.maxwellancestry.com/census/default.htm
- Ancestry have made available online the transcripts of the censuses for 1841 to 1901 (available only via subscription).
- Try your local library also as many will have local history reference sections which may have access to local census information or the Library Edition of Ancestry, with access to their transcripts.
Directories
- Scottish Post Office Directories - www.nls.uk/family-history/directories/post-office/
- Further directories available here - www.archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3Ascottishdirectories&sort=-publicdate&page=1
‘Family Search’ sites from the LDS
There are a number of sites, available to search and view for free, from the Latter-Day Saints, which are useful to search for births and marriage index entries for Scotland. Indexes before 1855 and the start of official registration are mainly from the Established Church of Scotland ( i.e. Presbyterian). Entries from 1855 are from the statutory registers. Records for Scotland tail off around 1874/5, when the Mormons stopped loading on Scottish data. Check each entry to make sure that it is an actual extract from official record. Some entries will be LDS member submitted, which in many cases need to be verified elsewhere.
Some of their main databases can be found here:
- IGI (International Genealogical Index) search screen - www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true
- New LDS search site which aims to combine a number of their databases - http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start
- Scottish IGI Batch Codes - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountryScotland.htm
- Useful database that lets you search IGI by middle name - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/ScotlandMiddleNamesIGI.htm
Help Guides on RootsChat
- Where to start with Scottish Research? - www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,24468.0.html
- Optimise Scotlands People searches - www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,43916.0.html
Other useful help guide:
- The University of Glasgow: 'Scottish Way of Birth and Death', A great introduction here to Scottish resources including an insight to the social and economic background of the times - www.gla.ac.uk/departments/scottishwayofbirthanddeath/introduction/
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History
There are many resources available online on this area. Below is just a selection:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scotland
- www.electricscotland.com/index.html
- www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/
- www.rcahms.gov.uk/
- www.ambaile.org.uk/
Images and Photograph Archives and Collections
- The Scottish Screen Archive is Scotland's national moving images collection. It preserves over 100 years of Scottish history on film and video. Searchable in a number of ways - http://ssa.nls.uk/index.cfm
- Scotland on Film, collection of clips from Scotland's historic film, television and radio archives - www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/scotlandonfilm/
- The Geograph Britain and Ireland project has a growing collection of photographs - www.geograph.org.uk
- Scran - part of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland - www.scran.ac.uk/
- The George Washington Wilson Collection of Photographs. Main index for the Collection for Scotland www.rootschat.com/links/0o7x/
Maps and Geography
- Map of Scottish counties - www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/
- Maps of Scottish parishes within counties - www.scotlandsfamily.com/parish-maps.htm
- National Library of Scotland collection - http://maps.nls.uk/towns/index.html and http://geo.nls.uk/os6inch/google.html
- Gazetteer for Scotland, a vast geographical encyclopaedia - www.scottish-places.info/
- ScotlandsPlaces allows users to search across different national databases using geographic locations, also useful for images of places and buildings - www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/
- Where's the path? A split screen map and arial view. Just put in place name on the left -
http://wheresthepath.googlepages.com/wheresthepath.htm
Mining
- Great resource for the research into Scottish mining and people - www.scottishmining.co.uk/index.html
- The Coal Mining History Resource Centre - https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121259/http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/site/home/index.html
- The Scottish Mining Museum - www.scottishminingmuseum.com
- Scotland's Shale Oil Industry - www.scottishshale.co.uk/index.html
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Newspapers
- A listing of current Scottish newspapers - http://scottishnewspapers.com/
- 19th Century Newspapers are available via a subscription to http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/ Many UK libraries have access to this database on site. Also, you can in many cases use your participating library’s reader’s card to access this database remotely (check with your local library for further details).
- The newly released British Newspaper Archive from the British Library Collection - www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
- A guide to Scottish Newspaper Indexes by the National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/collections/newspapers/indexes/index.cfm
Two of the main Scottish newspapers which are available online are:
- The Scotsman Archives is available via subscription (1817 - 1950 issues). As above, many Midlothian local libraries give on line access to this archive with a Midlothian libraries' reader’s card - http://archive.scotsman.com/
- The Glasgow Herald with issues ranging from 1800 - 1990. More issues continue to be added. The only problem is that you cannot search editions by key words, so you have to know what dates to check before starting a search. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC - simply add year for search to see what issues may be available (insert a year in 'Date' box).
- Check also at local reference libraries to see what newspaper archives they may hold and for what period.
Wills and Testaments
- ScotlandsPeople now have the front end access to Scottish Wills, currently up to 1925. Searching is free on ScotlandsPeople and you get enough info to be sure it's yours if you know what you are looking for.
- The National Archives of Scotland (NAS) in Edinburgh have digitised the wills and they can be viewed free online whilst visiting there and printed (check their site for current costs, but they are reasonable). For wills after 1925, see here www.nas.gov.uk/guides/wills.asp
Workhouses
- Workhouses in Scotland. Just click on the left tab for Workhouse Locations, and then Scottish Poorhouses/Almhouses - www.workhouses.org.uk