If you want to know the history of your town or village or see what
it looked like a hundred years ago, your library is a good place to
start.
All branch libraries in Northumberland have reference and lending
collections containing core local studies titles, plus stock
relevant to their area. Larger libraries have developed strengths
in particular area of local studies, for example, shipbuilding at
Blyth and family history at Hexham.
Newspapers
Libraries have local newspapers on microfilm from as early as
1855. Click
here for a full listing of what current and historical newspapers
are available in Northumberland Libraries
Maps
The County
Reference Library at Morpeth has the largest collection of maps
including 25 inch
Ordnance Survey Maps for the county dating from 1860s.
Other main libraries generally hold maps for their immediate
surrounding area. Northumberland Collections Service at Woodhorn
also has an extensive collection of Ordnance Survey maps from the
1st to provisional editions. Follow this link to their web pages.
Family History
There are 5 main branches in Northumberland
who have a wide range of resources to support genealogist with
their research: Alnwick, Berwick, Blyth, Morpeth, and
Hexham Libraries
Census Records on microfilm, microfiche and CD
ROM covering Northumberland from 1841 - 1901
GRO Index 1837 - 1900 (General Register
Office Index of Births, Marriages & Deaths) on microfiche at
Morpeth Library
Historical Electoral Registers: Blyth Library
holds Blyth area electoral registers May 1929 to Oct 1940, and Oct
1945 to current register.
Hexham Library holds South
Northumberland/Hexham Constituency electoral registers for
1832-1900; thereafter at 5 yearly intervals until 1950 on
microfilm; 1990+ alternate years (paper).
Parish Registers are not available in libraries. They are kept
by the Northumberland Collections Service and can be
accessed through their facilities at Woodhorn Museum.
Ancestry Library Editionis now
available FREE on computers in Northumberland Libraries. Trace your
family tree using Northumberland Libraries' latest "we pay so you
don't have to" website. Ancestry Library Edition is a special
version of the well known Ancestry.com subscription site made
available free on computers in Northumberland Libraries. It's
simple to use - just type in your ancestors' name and any
additional detail such as when or where they were born, when they
were married or when they died and within seconds
Ancestry comes up with answers.
- Ancestry Library Edition includes:
- Census Records 1841 - 1901 for England & Wales
(transcriptions and original images)
- Scottish Census Records 1841 - 1901
- Birth, Marriages & Death Index from 1837 to the
present
- British Phonebooks 1880 - 1984
- London & Home Counties Phonebooks 1880 -1984
- Extensive USA and Canadian records
- Easy to use search facility
Access to the 1911 census is
only available through the official web site at
http://www.1911census.co.uk/.
This is a pay to view service. As of March 2009 census returns for
the north of England and Scotland are not yet available on this
site.
