NRH

[Bryan]

I'm hoping to visit NRH in the fairly near future but having read the info on GROS am still not clear on what info they have there in what format. So if one of you regulars could clarify please.

Census - assume these are all available to search on PC as on the internet but charged only for pages printed out?

BMDs - again assume those already available on the internet can be searched on PC and copies printed, but what about newer ones not yet online? Are these online at NRH or is it down to searching printed indexes etc

thanks

[AnnieMack]

All of the BMD's are on right up to last year I think, fairly recent anyway. You can view them online but if the are within the closure period then you need to pay the full amount for a document as you can't have a pc print out of them. That's where good old pencil (no pens!) and paper come in handy. They ask that you don't use pens to avoid getting ink on the mircofiche so I am inclined to use pencil for any notes then I can't get muddled up ha ha!

There are not as many parameters that you can set when looking for a relative and it can be quite labour intensive workign your way through the records and you can often get side tracked by interesting snippets from things you read.

One piece of advice - be organised and have a 'focus' before you go as I felt I wasted my first visit by not being properly ready. I spent most of the next visit going over the same ground.

Oh and remember to have a break! Your eyes, brain and bladder will thank you for it!

Annie

[AndrewP]

Census - assume these are all available to search on PC

The census availability is the same as on ScotlandsPeople.
1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1891 and 1901 - indexed and images available.
1881 - indexed and transcriptions available (images should come at a later date).
If the images are not available or are illegible, you then have the option to view it on microfilm. If it is still not legible, you can request to see the original book.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Bryan]

Annie / Andrew

thanks for your replies - it's pretty much what I was hoping for.
Looking forward to filling a couple of major holes in my FT research

[Bryan]

well we had our trip to NRH - skipped out for the day while up visiting family. Thought I would put down a few points that may be of some interest.

1881 census
yes you can search it at NRH but the system is terrible - just pay and do it on line or buy the CDs

RCEs
found a couple that were mentioned on DCs we had already bought - one said pretty much that yes he was really dead the other had a little extra on the circumstances of the death (a factory accident). From this huge sample I would say check it out if you're there but don't expect too much.

No Image
there has been mention before of finding a BMD on the web site but getting "no image available" when you try to view it. On querying one of mine I got this response

"If an image from after 1855 is not online, there is a reason for this. It may be that the original is quite damaged therefore digitising it can worsen its condition or it may be so illegible that to put it online would be pointless as it would be unreadable.

In these circumstances, it is unlikely that images of this nature will ever go online as there are genuine reasons for them not to be there in the first place."

So looked up the death on fiche to find a perfect image certainly better than many of the images we've downloaded. So it's well worth a look if you are in this situation.


Would also echo the advice above about being organised and focused - thought we were but not enough. We did manage to find our dreaded McDonalds in 1901 and confirm their place of origin but overall (as usual) probably ended up with as many questions as answers.
Oh well there's always next time.

[DavidWW]

well we had our trip to NRH - skipped out for the day while up visiting family. Thought I would put down a few points that may be of some interest.

1881 census
yes you can search it at NRH but the system is terrible - just pay and do it on line or buy the CDs

RCEs
found a couple that were mentioned on DCs we had already bought - one said pretty much that yes he was really dead the other had a little extra on the circumstances of the death (a factory accident). From this huge sample I would say check it out if you're there but don't expect too much.

No Image
there has been mention before of finding a BMD on the web site but getting "no image available" when you try to view it. On querying one of mine I got this response

"If an image from after 1855 is not online, there is a reason for this. It may be that the original is quite damaged therefore digitising it can worsen its condition or it may be so illegible that to put it online would be pointless as it would be unreadable.

In these circumstances, it is unlikely that images of this nature will ever go online as there are genuine reasons for them not to be there in the first place."

So looked up the death on fiche to find a perfect image certainly better than many of the images we've downloaded. So it's well worth a look if you are in this situation.


Would also echo the advice above about being organised and focused - thought we were but not enough. We did manage to find our dreaded McDonalds in 1901 and confirm their place of origin but overall (as usual) probably ended up with as many questions as answers.
Oh well there's always next time.

Hi Bryan

Thanks for that feedback from a first time visitor to NRH, - a couple of very interesting points from your perspective ..........

David

[Bryan]

Hi David

it was certainly an enjoyable and productive visit and we will be looking to fit in another one sometime, but not sure when. We don't get north as often as I'd like and it's difficult to explain to the live relatives that we're going to abandon them for the joys of finding dead ones!

Next trip is likely south to the National Archives at Kew to dig out some war and coastguard records - must try harder to get organised.


Bryan

[SarahND]

No Image
there has been mention before of finding a BMD on the web site but getting "no image available" when you try to view it. ...
So looked up the death on fiche to find a perfect image certainly better than many of the images we've downloaded. So it's well worth a look if you are in this situation.

I had the same experience. "No image" on Scotland's People for a 1858 death, but a perfectly clear record at NRH. So, it is definitely worthwhile looking.
Sarah

[DavidWW]

No Image
there has been mention before of finding a BMD on the web site but getting "no image available" when you try to view it. ...
So looked up the death on fiche to find a perfect image certainly better than many of the images we've downloaded. So it's well worth a look if you are in this situation.

I had the same experience. "No image" on Scotland's People for a 1858 death, but a perfectly clear record at NRH. So, it is definitely worthwhile looking.
Sarah

There are two completely separate databases in effect, one in Dundee with ScotlandonLine, for ScotlandsPeople, and the other at DiGROS in New Register House at GROS/Edinburgh.

Obviously the former is derived from the latter !!

The problem arises from the frequency with which the SoL database is updated. At the moment any update is a major operation that could well require the site to go off-line for a significant period of time and/or require extensive additional facilities that would allow SoL to set up a new database on a different set of servers, then just switch over from one set of servers to the other (I like my confidence in such a "simple" switch ). I believe that something like this will be introduced in the near future.

At the moment there are frequent situations where images are not passed over to SoL from GROS because of quality problems. GROS has an ongoing programme of redigitisation of these images, but there are still some intractable problems such as the missing 1851 images (blue ink on blue paper!) which may take some time yet to solve.

As soon as suitable images are available they are added to the DIGROS system at NRH (and therefore also accessible at Park Circus etc...).

Updated data files can be made available at any time to SoL, but the problem is that SoL have, at present, no facility to add a small number of new/replacement images to their servers, and can only include them by means of reloading the complete image database (or index database if it's a question of a missing index entry or wrongly indexed entry), - hence the fact that such an exercise is only carried out once or twice a year.

In an ideal world this aspect would have been considered in advance, and addressed so that much more frequent updates of the ScotlandsPeople databases could be carried out in conjunction with new/replacement material becoming available on DIGROS, but in a way, I guess, ScotlandsPeople is a victim of its own success

Rest assured, though, that GROS and SoL, together with the UserGroup, are fully aware of the situation. The reality, however, is that there many more areas for improvement, upgrade etc., so that there has to be an agreed approach in terms of priorities, also taking into account the associated costs.

David