The British Association for Local History PO Box 6549, Somersal Herbert, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 5WH Tel: 01283 585947 Email: info@balh.co.uk A national charity that promotes local history and serves local historians. Publishes a magazine and quarterly journal and has a catalogue of publications.
Local History Magazine The Local History Press, 3 Devonshire Promenade, Lenton, Nottingham NG7 2DS Tel: 0115 970 6473 The website has advice on getting started in local history research, lists of local history groups and courses, and many useful links. The printed magazine, published six times a year, is available by postal subscription only.
Family History
Familia The UK and Ireland guide to genealogical resources in public libraries.
Family Records.gov.uk A portal site, provided by a consortium of national record offices and archives, that aims to give easy access to information and links to the main UK family history websites.
Family Records Centre 1 Myddelton Street, London EC1R 1UW Tel (general enquiries): 020 8392 5300 Fax: 020 8392 5307 Textphone: 020 8392 5308 Email: frc@nationalarchives.gov.uk Office for National Statistics: www.statistics.gov.uk Run jointly by the General Register Office (part of the Office for National Statistics) and The National Archives (formerly the Public Record Office). Among other material, the Family Records Centre holds indexes of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales since 1837, and censuses 1841-1901. The 1901 census can also be searched online at www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Family Search The genealogy site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons) with a database of over 600 million names.
Federation of Family History Societies PO Box 2425, Coventry CV5 6YX Email: info@ffhs.org.uk Online bookshop: www.ffhs.co.uk The website includes information on getting started in family history, details of societies around the UK and a link to the FFHS's pay-per-view website of databases in England and Wales.
Oral and Social History
The British Library National Sound Archive 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB Tel: 020 7412 7676 Email: nsa@bl.uk Has a huge variety of oral history collections, including the Millennium Memory Bank of interviews collected by BBC local radio stations during 1999.
The British Library Newspaper Library Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HE Tel: 020 7412 7353 Email: newspaper@bl.uk Has full collections of all national newspapers in Britain and Ireland, from the start of publication, plus many local and foreign language newspapers.
Imperial War Museum Sound Archive Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ Tel: 020 7416 5363 Fax: 020 7416 5379 Email: sound@iwm.org.uk Britain's leading audio collection relating to every aspect of conflicts from the Boer War onwards.
Mass-Observation Archive The Library, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QL Tel: 01273 678157 The Archive holds material about everyday life in Britain from 1937 to 1955, diaries and personal writing from 1937 to 1965, and some other small collections. In 1981 it began a new project to collect writing by ordinary people on particular themes.
Oral History Society c/o Department of History, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ Tel: 020 7412 7405 The website has advice on how to get started in recording oral history, details of training courses, and how to join. Members receive a twice-yearly journal and have access to a network of local groups.
Record Sources
The National Archives (TNA) Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU Tel: 020 8876 3444 Email: enquiry@nationalarchives.gov.uk The national archives of England and Wales (previously the Public Record Office and the Historical Manuscripts Commission). Its catalogue (over 9 million document references) is accessible online, along with much other useful information.
The National Archives of Ireland Bishop Street, Dublin 8, Ireland Tel: 00 353 1 407 2300 Fax: 00 353 1 407 2333 Email: mail@nationalarchives.ie
The National Archives of Scotland HM General Register House, 2 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH1 3YY Tel: 0131 535 1334 Fax: 0131 535 1328 Email: enquiries@nas.gov.uk
The National Library of Wales Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU Tel: 01970 632800 Fax: 01970 615709 Email: holi@llgc.org.uk
Vanessa has presented science and current affairs programmes for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for BBC Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.
Contact Making History
Send your comments and questions for future programmes to: Making History BBC Radio 4 PO Box 3096 Brighton BN1 1PL
Vanessa has presented science and current affairs programmes for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for BBC Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald. 