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Listed below are some key resources for the whole of Britain. For information relating to specific countries, please select from the links on the left.

Key Resources

Ancestral trails: the complete guide to British genealogy and family history
This book by Mark Herber is a key work for researching your British ancestors.
Tracing your ancestors in the National Archives
This book by Amanda Bevan is an excellent guide to resources for family historians in the National Archives at Kew.

Gateways

Use our SLWA Family History Bookmarks to find websites for Britain recommended by the Family History Subject Specialists. Simply click on any heading of interest e.g. great.britain-gazetteers to see a list of websites relating to this topic. The larger the tag, the more websites appear on the list.

GENUKI: UK & Ireland Genealogy
This is the main genealogical gateway for the United Kingdom and includes information on England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Archives and Libraries

The National Archives
The National Archives, located in Kew in Surrey, is a vast repository of historical archives many of which are useful for family historians. The website includes:

• Research Guides
  A large collection of online guides which explain the collections of the National Archives and how to use them.
• DocumentsOnline
  Digitised material which can be downloaded from the website on a pay-per-view basis. Popular content includes:
  Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills 1384-1858
  World War I campaign medals
  World War I war diaries
  World War I POWs
  Royal Naval Seamen 1853-1923
  Domesday Book
• Catalogue
  10 million descriptions of documents held at the National Archives in Kew.
• A2A Access to Archives
  Search catalogue records for archives across England and Wales. Some agencies have very detailed records including personal names.
• Archon Directory
• Searchable listing of contact details for libraries, archives and museums throughout the United Kingdom. Some overseas repositories are also listed.

The British Library
The British Library has a collection of millions of books, journals, newspapers and more. Online content can be found in their:

• Online Gallery
  This includes the Crace Collection of Maps of London and Ordnance Survey drawings.
• Archival Sound Recordings
  Here you will find Accents and dialects as well as Oral history.

We have subscriptions to some of the newspapers held in the British Library. All of these eresources can be accessed within the State Library building and most can be accessed from home using your State Library card.  Please read the conditions of access by clicking on the links below:

• British Newspaper Archive
  This archive will eventually contain 40 million pages of newspapers from the British Library. You have the option of correcting the computer-generated text.
• 17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers
  Nearly one million pages of rare 17th and 18th Century material published in Britain and the colonies including pamphlets, broadsides and   newspapers.
• 19th Century British Library Newspapers
  Over two million pages from 19th Century newspaper titles held in the British Library. Newspapers were selected from all over Britain including Ireland, Scotland and Wales as well as England.
• British Newspapers 1600-1900
  Combined searching of the 17th & 18th Century Burney Collection and 19th Century British Library Newspapers.
• Times Digital Archive
  Complete digital edition of The Times of London 1785-2007.
• Gale NewsVault
  Combined searching of all the eresources listed above with the exception of the British Newspaper Archive.
  

Societies

Society of Genealogists
Federation of Family History Societies

Journals

The following journals are available in the Genealogy Centre on the 1st floor:
Ancestors: family history with the experts / The National Archives
BBC Who Do You Think You Are?
Family history monthly
Practical family history
Your family history

Statistics

A vision of Britain through time
This website has statistical information for Britain on various themes such as life and death, work and poverty, learning and language etc.
Histpop - the online historical population reports website
Statistical analysis of population reports for Britain.