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Researching Your Local History


It has become clear to me from a growing number of e-mails that many visitors to my UK Local and Family History web site wish to do their own local history research but are unclear about how to proceed. This article aims to put to rest some of those nagging doubts and queries that we all share when starting out on a new venture. I am an amateur historian with no formal training, just the experience of giving it a go. This feature is based upon that experience.

Whether you are researching the history of a particular building, a group of buildings, street or village, your first step should be to pay the area a visit and have a good look around. Observe the area around it. What does what you see have to say about it? Is it rural, industrialised, urban? Is it closed in or does it contain large open spaces? Look at doors and windows? What do these features say about the building/s? Take a notebook with you and note down everything that you observe. Sketch details if necessary and if you have a camera, take photographs so that you can refer back to them at a later date.

Now that you have done the initial footwork, the time has arrived to look into the history of your chosen site. A local library would be a good starting point. Go through every local history book that you can find and look up anything of relevance to the area you are researching. Again take as many notes as you need to but this time, note the source as well. You should note the book title, the author, the publisher, the year of publication, chapter and page numbers and anything else that points back to the exact source of your information.

If you have a local studies library or record office (your council or the Yellow Pages should tell you where to find them), then pay that a visit too. The office staff are usually very helpful, depending upon how busy they are at that moment, and can point you in the right direction for books and documents relating to your area of research. They will generally be more open to you if you can show that you have done some advanced preparation. Your notes, maps, drawings, etc. will help them understand what you are trying to achieve.

One of the joys of local history research is the fact that anyone can do it - records, some dating back several hundred years, are publicly available to any serious researcher. An enquiry at your nearest local records office can guide you further as to the kinds of records they hold and how to use them in your research.

Title deeds, maps, trade directories, wills, leases and property development plans are just some of the records that may be of use in your research. Again your local records office will be best placed to advise you as to which sources they have available and how they can be used.

Don't forget that many areas have local history groups and preservation societies that may be interested in what you are doing and be of help to you. They can be of invaluable support and prevent you from taking a wrong turn or repeating research that has already been done. Your local library or council should be able to tell you what societies exist in your area and how to contact them.

Finally comes the task of writing and possibly publishing everything that you have learnt. This can be a long and arduous task. There are any number of ways of publishing your work. You may just be doing it for your own interest in which case you can write it up in any way that pleases you. Alternatively, you may wish to approach your local library or town hall with regards to displaying your research in the form of a temporary exhibition. You can publish the work in the form of a self-published booklet or if you are confident you can accomplish it, you could approach a local studies publisher. Or, like myself, you may see the World Wide Web as a cheap and efficient way to share your work. The choice is yours and will depend on your motives, your dedication and the resources available to you.

The first thing when writing up any kind of a history is do not publish other work that you have read outright unless you have the express written consent of the original author. That would certainly be a breach of copyright regardless of whether the work was amateur or professional. If you do feel the need to copy a section, make sure you clearly state where it has come from. While this is usually deemed acceptable, do not do it too often - ultimately the work should be your own. Having said that, there is nothing to stop you rewriting what you have found and putting it into your own words - this is commonly done when beginning any kind of research simply because a researcher needs to find out what is already known. Only when you have exhausted that avenue will you have a basis to begin researching further for yourself.

At the end of your work, include a list of acknowledgements and resources. Another reader may wish to pick up on a thread that you have left and it helps them to know where your research came from.

One other point I have been asked about is the matter of copyright. First of all, so long as you have not copied somebody else's work out wholesale, then any work you have accomplished can be made copyright to you. If you want to start a group to research the area, then there is nothing to stop you although you should first check whether such a group already exists. You are free to open a bank account in your groups name and finance it how you see fit. You do not have to register such a group with any authority although it would make sense to get yourself known to like-minded groups in your area.

Finally, don't forget that the internet has many history sites including a lot of local ones in the UK - it may be worth visiting these to get a broader picture of what is going on in your locality. Use a good search engine such as www.yahoo.co.uk or www.lycos.co.uk to help you find and access these sites, or visit the links page of this site for a broad range of useful resources.

I know from my own experience that it can seem a bit daunting for a newcomer to take on any kind of research when faced with the wide array of records, books and research groups there are about - don't be put off. All sorts of people get involved and most are only too willing to help guide you along.

Good luck with your own research.

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