RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lincolnshire => Topic started by: hwilson90 on Saturday 02 July 11 00:50 BST (UK)
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This is absolutely ridiculous as I'm a student and spend a lot of time in the library but...
Can anyone explain what I need to do before heading to the archives? I've been putting it off as after reading their website I'm rather confused. So according to this http://zipapps.lincolnshire.gov.uk/eArchives/default.aspx I just have to email?
And do I just need to take the reference number for the record? When it says 'no copies of this document are available' can you still view it? If so could you photograph it?
I've put this in here as I was also wondering the best time to go? Morning/afternoon etc?
Thanks for any help :) For some reason I find this really confusing.
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I also found the information a bit confusing before my first visit. It states that new users can only check availability online but when I got there they said I could have booked. I ended up sending an email but the best thing might be to ring up, particularly if you have reference numbers of documents that you might want to view etc.
If you have a reader ticket from another archive, you can use it there. If not, you will need some ID with a signature - e.g. driving licence, bank card etc.
It was fairly quite last time I went and might be less busy now that the parish registers are available online.
If you drive, get there early for free parking at the archives. There are car parks nearby.
They seem to prefer you to use digital photography if you can, particularly as photocopies take up to four weeks to process and can be expensive. Having said that, photocopies are better.
Hope this helps,
David
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As the parish registers are now available on line, perhaps this makes a visit uneccessary?
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I don't understand why Lincs Archives seems so complicated. Perhaps I've been lucky as I've only used 2 archives, one in Barrow in Furness and one in Winchester, Hants where I went to look something up for a fellow Rootschatters. Each time, I just went to the archives and was shown how to find what I wanted and then left alone, with help on tap if I needed it. I know Barrow is fairly small, but Hampshire Archives in Winchester is enormous and there were dozens and dozens of people searching, using computers etc. but the staff still had time to help out as well as photocopying loads of documents for a student who was doing research on something.
They seem to prefer you to use digital photography if you can, particularly as photocopies take up to four weeks to process and can be expensive. Having said that, photocopies are better.
That's odd too, why would it take 4 weeks to process a photocopy, most modern microfiche readers have a photocopier attached and it can't possibly take 4 weeks for a member of staff to take a book to a photocopier if they want to do the photocopying themselves. I didn't take a photocopy at Winchester, but I did quite a few in Barrow, as I have at my local library, the cost was about 50p per copy.
Lizzie
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As the parish registers are now available on line, perhaps this makes a visit uneccessary?
But there is far more to the archives than just the parish registers.
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Some documents are more complicated to copy than others - e.g. some wills are bound into books. The first time that I went, I ordered two A3 pages of a marriage bond and allegation. Having been taken out of storage, it would seem like a simple task to print them on the day and that there would be a standard charge for an A3 or A4. It was nearly four weeks before I had been given a price, paid and received them.
The second time included wills and it was nearly five weeks before they arrived. The copies were very good but cost over £20 for a mixture of 10 A3 and A4.
I often use the National Library of Wales and have had documents comprising 50-100 pages within ten days at very reasonable prices.
Digital photography is OK if you simply want the information from a document but a photocopy gives a much better result.
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The second time included wills and it was nearly five weeks before they arrived.
I know five weeks doesn't seem much when your ancestor probably made the will at least 100 years ago, but I still don't know why it takes so long. If there is backlog then they need more staff. If I order wills from Cheshire, which I've done a few times on line, they are usuallly with me within a week.
Lizzie
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As the parish registers are now available on line, perhaps this makes a visit uneccessary?
But there is far more to the archives than just the parish registers.
I'm well aware of that Jen. I think the problems with a variety of websites are caused by false economy, the desire to save money by designing a website "In house" rather than paying for the expertise, though that doesn't always work as can be seen from a variety of government websites.
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Thanks for the help everyone :) Glad it's not just me!
Yes I do drive so that's fine.
I'm hoping to look at a few wills, not parish registers. Although if you're referring to the 'lincs to the past' site I find that ridiculously confusing also :-[ I swear I'm not normally like this.
Does anyone know if I need to request them in advance or if I can just turn up on the day? I will be ringing up tomorrow but it's nice to be prepared.
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You will need to book a table (at least).
You will need a CARN card or some ID to get one.
General info http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/residents/archives/visiting/bookings/74117.article
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Thanks :) So the link suggests it may be wise to preorder documents.
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The second time included wills and it was nearly five weeks before they arrived.
I know five weeks doesn't seem much when your ancestor probably made the will at least 100 years ago, but I still don't know why it takes so long. If there is backlog then they need more staff. If I order wills from Cheshire, which I've done a few times on line, they are usuallly with me within a week.
Lizzie
Nice to know that the 5-6 week time period remains ::) I did try ticking the expediated copying box once fully prepared to pay the extra but it got ignored and I still had to wait about 6 weeks. Haven't ordered any for a while but it looks now pretty standard.
Mind you I ordered some Wills online from Bucks RO in February and had to wait about 6 weeks for them since they "lost" a number of orders that weekend and waited for people to chase, advising that it could take an extra 4 weeks to be completed due to staff workload. Thankfully they turned up 2.5 weeks after I chased which previously seems to have been the norm.
Nicola
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You will need to book a table (at least).
You will need a CARN card or some ID to get one.
General info http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/residents/archives/visiting/bookings/74117.article
When we visited Lincolnshire a couple or so years ago and I contacted Lincs Archives, I was more or less told there was no point visiting the archives as the staff would be too busy to help out, so I ordered the document I wanted and was told it would be 14 weeks. Fortunately, the one page (!) document arrived in about 8 weeks. So different from Barrow. I e-mailed them and they said just turn up, when I got there they were helping another newbie and then they showed me how to access the records. With Winchester, I didn't even bother contacting them. I just turned up showed them my CARN card which let me into the archives, went to the help desk from where a member of staff showed me how to use their filing system to access their hundreds of records, then she decided she might as well get out the documents I wanted so that next time I'll understand their system. I repeat, if Lincs can't cope with the public, or get out records to people in less tha 6 weeks, they should employ extra staff.
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Perhaps 6 weeks is now the expediated service? Your comment about Lincolnshire service Lizzie puts the new on line service in a new perspective, i.e. the online service is intended to reduce pressure at the archive freeing people to do additional work, nothing wrong with that except they seem to have set up the site "in house" to save a few £ no doubt, and in so doing may have defeated their objective.
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I would echo Redroger's comments, while I have no issue with things being done inhouse, it would have been better if they'd made the viewing window a bit larger ::)
I suspect, like so many public services, that now there is even less chance of more staff being employed but Lincs has been like this for some years.
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it would have been better if they'd made the viewing window a bit larger
You can do that yourself by repeatedly pressing Ctrl + :)
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You can do that yourself by repeatedly pressing Ctrl + :)
I hold my head in shame, an IT Pro who didn't read the instructions correctly ::) Well, not really in to Busman's holidays which is why I'm still using Windows XP at home and not the newest version of everything. ;D
Thanks for that.
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While saying I have mastered the site would be a massive overstatement I find I can now use it, and strangely it works better in IE9 at 400% magnification than in Firefox. I still can't get used to calling up Alford baptisms and finding half way tyhrough another totally unrelated parish appearing. Like other respondents to this thread I have no objection to in house per se, it is simply that in the Gaderene rush to "save" many organizations defeat their own objective by producing an inferior product.
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Hi any Kemp, Campe or Camps out there?
I am looking for any answers about my line. I have a Ralph Kemp 1637-1725, Cripplegate, son of Jeremie Campe or Jeremiah Camp b.1605 Crowle, Lincoln and married Joyce Burton in 1628. His father I believe is Jarman Camp 1573-1616 and married Alis Greenbanke in 1593 Crowle, Lincoln. My Kemp line changes with Ralph who lived in London to Camp or Campe and has become quite challenging. Firstly, is this possible to have spelling changes? Secondly, is it possible to go back any further and find how long the Kemps, Campes or Camps lived in Lincolnshire?
Robert
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It is by no means unusual for there to be spelling variations and specific variants, the further back one goes it will happen more often. Shakespeare spelled his own name three different ways in his own will. There was no standard spelling in Britian before the late 18th century with the introduction of the first dictionary, even then it took time to catch on, and it could be argued the process is still ongoing.