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Introduction

People who are thinking about undertaking local history research should not underestimate the amount of local studies already in print. A quick survey of published material covering your village, town, county or region can save some of the time and effort you may have to spend in the archive. Imagine reading through a mass of closely written early 18th century volumes only to find out later that a transcript had been recently published complete with person, place and subject indexes. Discover what is already out there to begin with. Use published works (which will often provide you with footnoted references to documents) and build on them. You may ultimately wish to disagree with them - but they will usually help you in some way - so find them! This section is designed to help you to find published sources which may help you with your research.

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Journals

North-West Labour History, vol. 23, (1998-99).

We have an extensive collection of local history journals, newsletters and record society volumes which may assist you. Current journals and newsletters (for local and national/ international history) are kept on free standing racks opposite the staff desk in our library. Past issues, many of them bound, are held on the library open shelves. Two journals particular interest are The Local Historian and the Local History Magazine. Both of these publications contain articles of local historical studies as well as information on local history societies, reviews of local studies and news of local history events. Other journals can be usefully divided into three specific types.

The first type of journal refers to defined region, county or village/town place-name. Examples include:

The second type of journal is the Record Society volumes which can themselves be broken down into two types:

C. Richardson. ed., Minutes of the Chesterfield Canal Company, 1771-80, Derbyshire Record Society, 1996.

Edited transcripts

These volumes contain transcripts of original documents and usually provide a useful introductory and explanatory chapter. Such transcripts may be of our documents such as:

or are transcripts from documents kept in other archives or in private hands such as:

J. Chapman, & S. Seeliger, eds., A Guide to Enclosure in Hampshire, 1700-1900, (1997) Hampshire Record Series, Vol. XV.

Guide volumes

These volumes are not transcripts of documents but list types of documents (such as maps) or sources for specific subjects (such as enclosure) which again can help to save much time during your research. For example:

The third type of journal is the regular non-place specific history journals such as The Economic History Review or Past & Present. Local historians often ignore such journals but they frequently contain local or regional studies such as:

As well as these relatively clearly defined collections of history journals, local history journals and record society volumes, our library has a large collection of other published local history studies. These are to be found on the open shelves in our library listed under the appropriate county.

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Victoria County Histories

Our library has a full set of the Victoria County History (VCH) series. The VCHs have an international reputation as a work of reference for English local history. The series was begun in 1899 and was dedicated to Queen Victoria. Around three new volumes are published each year and will provide an encyclopaedic history of the counties ranging from the earliest times to the present. For each county there is, or is planned, a set of volumes which contain both `general' and `topographical' chapters. The general chapters refer to subject headings such as prehistory, ecclesiastical and economic history. The topographical chapters give a fully referenced account of each city, town, and village in the county based on original, often archival, research. It is well worth checking to see if a volume covers the area you are interested in. Further particulars of VCHs (such as which volumes are in print and which are in preparation) may be obtained from the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, Senate House, London, WC1E 7HU.