Resources
Mailing lists | Newsgroups | IRC chat | Events | Organisations | Further reading
If you send an e-mail to a mailing list, everyone in that list receives it.
Rootsweb <http://www.rootsweb.com/~maillist/> hosts many themed genealogical mailing lists.
For example, to subscribe to the Caribbean List – a discussion list run by the soc.genealogy.west-indies newsgroup for anyone with a genealogical or historical interest in the West Indies and the Caribbean – send an e-mail to: <CARIBBEAN-L-request@rootsweb.com>
Or to <CARIBBEAN-D-request@rootsweb.com> for the digest. (In digest mode you will receive one large e-mail every week or so with all the messages sent that week to the Caribbean List instead of an individual e-mail every time someone submits a message to the list.)
Type just the word 'subscribe' (without the quotation marks) as the subject and in the body of the e-mail. Do not include any other words. Do not include signature lines.
A list of UK mailing lists
http://members.aol.com/gfsjohnf/gen_mail_country-unk.html
Newsgroups are 'bulletin boards' where people can post messages and replies to ongoing 'threads'.
A list of Usenet newsgroups relating to genealogy
http://members.aol.com/johnf14246/gen_use.html
soc.genealogy.jewish
A moderated (i.e. monitored) Jewish genealogy group.
soc.genealogy.uk+ireland
alt.genealogy
General genealogy topics. Gatewayed with the ALT-GENEALOGY mailing list.
soc.genealogy.african
Gatewayed with the GEN-AFRICAN mailing list.
soc.genealogy.britain
Gatewayed with the GENBRIT mailing list.
soc.genealogy.surnames.britain
Gatewayed with the SURNAMES-BRITAIN mailing list.
soc.genealogy.west-indies
Gatewayed with the CARIBBEAN mailing list.
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a way of conversing with people of like mind in real time. You will need some IRC software to take part. The IIGS (International Internet Genealogical Society) has an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) service with a regular UK meeting on Tuesdays at 9pm UK time. The details are:
Server: irc.IIGS.org or irc.rootsweb.com
Port: 6667 or 7000.
Channel: #IIGS-UKgen
Family History Fairs
http://www.3w.co.uk/familyhistoryfairs/
Achievements
http://www.achievements.co.uk/
79-82 Northgate
Canterbury
Kent CT1 1BA
Tel: 01227 462 618
Fax: 01227 76617
E-mail: achievements@achievements.co.uk
British Isles Family History Service Centre
185 Penns Lane
Sutton Coldfield
Birmingham B76 1JU
Tel: 0121 384 2028
Run by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), which has also compiled the International Genealogical Index <http://www.familysearch.org>
The College of Arms
The Officer in Waiting
Queen Victoria Street
London EC4V 4BT
Tel: 020 7236 9612
The College of Arms was established by Richard III. The Heralds are the monarch's representatives in the field of heraldry, regulating the use of existing coats of arms and allowing grants of new armorial bearings to those who cannot prove a right to use arms through inheritance.
Family Records Centre
http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/frc/default.htm
1 Myddelton Street
London EC1R 1UW
Tel: 020 8392 5300
Fax: 020 8392 5307
Textphone: 020 8392 5308
Certificate enquiries
Tel: 020 7233 9233
Textphone: 0151 471 4530
E-mail: certificate.services@ons.gov.uk
Federation of Family History Societies
http://www.ffhs.org.uk/
Administrator: Mrs P Saul
c/o The Benson Room
Birmingham and Midland Institute
Margaret Street
Birmingham B3 3BS
Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies
http://www.ihgs.ac.uk/
79-82 Northgate
Canterbury
Kent CT1 1BA
Tel: 01227 768 664
Fax: 01227 765 617
E-mail: ihgs@ihgs.ac.uk
London Metropolitan Archives
40 Northampton Road
London EC1R 0HB
Tel: 020 7332 3820
Public Record Office
http://www.pro.gov.uk/
Ruskin Avenue
Kew
Richmond
Surrey TW9 4DU
Tel: 020 8876 3444
Fax: 020 8878 8905
Society of Genealogists
http://www.sog.org.uk/
The Library
14 Charterhouse Buildings
Goswell Road
London EC1M 7BA
Tel: 020 7250 0291 (library)
020 7251 8799 (membership enquiries)
Books
List of Suggested Books
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/bk/
Oxford Companion to Local and Family History, edited by David Hey (Oxford University Press, 1998, £12.99).
With over 2000 entries, this 'Companion' provides detailed summaries of the latest knowledge in such fields as social, urban, agricultural, legal, family, and ecclesiastical history. Covering a broad canvas, from prehistory to the present day, and taking in the whole of the British Isles, the 'Companion' paints a picture of rural and urban life.
Tracing Your West Indian Ancestors by Guy Grannum (Public Records Office, 1995, £8.95) http://www.pro.gov.uk/bookshop/tracewia.htm
'No other book does the job that this one does' Journal of the Society of Archivists. Brings together for the first time the wide variety of records available in the Public Record Office for the study of British West Indian ancestry.
Jamaican Ancestry: How to find out more by Madeleine E Mitchell (Heritage Books [US], 1998, $20) http://users.pullman.com/mitchelm/MyBook.htm
Making Use of the Census by Susan Lumas (Public Records Office, 3rd ed. 1997, £5.99)
'A book which should be compulsory reading for every reader' Family Tree Magazine. A fully updated edition of the ever-popular guide to 19th-century census returns. It describes how to use the Family Records Centre census rooms, explains the Public Records Office referencing system and provides complete lists of registration districts and street indexes available. Fully illustrated with plans, diagrams and examples of the documents, new researchers will find the tips on how to avoid some common problems most useful when researching these most heavily used records in the Public Record Office.
Magazines
Family Tree Magazine
61 Great Whyte
Ramsey
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire PE17 1HI
Tel: 01487 814 050 (8.30am-4.30pm, Mon-Fri)
E-mail: family-tree-magazine@mcmail.com
Family History Monthly
45 St Mary's Road
Ealing
London W5 5RQ
First steps | Records before 1837
Tracing an ancestor who was an immigrant | Using the internet
Case study | Resources