FLHIG

Family and Local History
Indexing Group

Selected articles from the Newsletter

This article first appeared in SIGGNL 12   (May 1996)

A Very Big Index?
by Stephen Moore

Introduction

To mark the end of the millennium a project is being considered by a group of interested organisations in Nuneaton and Bedworth, Warwickshire.  The project, currently in a feasibility stage, is to produce the following: first,  a CD-ROM of the history of the area, containing text, photographs, maps, documents, to mention just a few possibilities; second, a large database, probably also on CD-ROM, of people, places and events associated with the area.

The Index

The Group and its members might be interested particularly in the latter element of the project.  Its purpose would be to enable people to search for a name, building, street, place or event to ascertain if any related records exist and to either provide appropriate details of those records or specify where these records can be found or accessed.

A trial database has been started using hypertext (the software used is Netscape)  to permit the relevant layers of searching to be carried out.  A draft proforma is being considered that could be used to index any record in any location:

Location

Type

Detail

CRO - County Record Office; Lib-Nu - Nuneaton Library; Lib-Be - Bedworth Library; Lib-Bu - Bulkington Library; P.A. - Personal Archive;  Npr  - Newspaper; Mus - Museum

Ph - Photograph; Ma - Map; Pl - Plan; Ar - Article; Do - Document; Ce - Census; Wi - Will; Vi - Video; Au - Audio; Po - Postcard

(Newspaper title);  (Date);  (Page);  (Census Year);  (CRO Ref No.);  (Personal Archive Owner);  (ISBN - publications);  (Library Dewey DC No.);  (Museum Detail)

Records that could be indexed include parish registers (baptisms, marriages and burials); cemetery records; memorial inscriptions; archives held by local historians, Warwickshire County Record Office, libraries and museums; newspapers, books, directories, etc.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been approached to see if specific downloading from the IGI or the 1881 Census would be possible or feasible.

Teams of indexers would be recruited from local family history and civic societies and voluntary groups such as Rotary Club, the Womens' Institute, British Legion, etc.  Training and quality control systems would be built into the project.

[contact details correct at time of original publication, 1996]

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