Scanning of Kirk Session Records

[sheilajim]

Hi All,

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I was searching the internet when I came across an announcement of the scanning of the Kirk Session Records. It said that by April 2007, 5 million pages would have been scanned. The entire project was to be completed by 2008, and that there were would be considerations to put them Online.

Wouldn't that be something I can hardly wait.

[scooter]

Hi Sheila,

Yes, this has been mentioned a few times in the past, most recently at: viewtopic.php?t=8217

You can browse the scanned images at the NAS in Edinburgh, I took my first look at them in 2005 when coverage was at a reasonable level, although I don't know what percentage has been digitised to date. Anyway, they were a fascinating read, even though I didn't come across anyone of interest to my research.

I'm sorry that San Clemente isn't just around the corner from Edinburgh for you

Scott

[AndrewP]

I would guess it would be about 4 or 5 years since I was last in General Register House (home of NAS). At that point, most of the Established Church of Scotland Kirk Session books had not been digitised. A few were available on microfilm. The rest, you got the original books to look through.

While the books made it feel so real, it had to be respected that many of these books were in the area of 150 to 300 years old. They were absolutely irreplaceable, so had to be handled with care and respect, for them to remain in good condition for future generations. Now they are being digitised, the original books are being vacuum sealed and placed in NAS's temperature and humidity controlled storage facility at Thomas Thomson House on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

All the best,

AndrewP

[DavidWW]

Hi All,

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I was searching the internet when I came across an announcement of the scanning of the Kirk Session Records. It said that by April 2007, 5 million pages would have been scanned. The entire project was to be completed by 2008, and that there were would be considerations to put them Online.

Wouldn't that be something I can hardly wait.

NAS holds or knows the location of kirk session records.

Most of those at NAS have been digitised, but a pilot indexing project has hit major problems, and it's likely to be a while, possibly several years, before the images come on line, initially the ScottishDocuments site, then ScotlandsPeople.

Contents? - you name it in terms of human fallibility, it in there, illegitimate wains, irregular marriages, inappropriate activities on the Sabbath Day such as whistling and much much more .....................

David

PS No change since I wrote the above.

For some reason I didn't include the fact that the digisited images can be viewed, free of charge, at General Register House.
dww

[sheilajim]

Hi All

Scott, I wish that NAS was just around the corner too. It would be fascinating to go through those records. Anne Panderson e-mailed me a few pages of one of them and it great reading.

I can imagine that it would be very difficult to index them. What would they be indexed under? By the year and town?

I wondered why I hadn't seen this subject mentioned earlier, but when I looked at the date it was posted, I realized that I was recovering from my eye operation at the time.

That was a great picture of the Kirk Session in the Gallery. I tried to save it to my computer and couldn't. I couldn't print it out either. Does anyone know why?

Regards

Sheila

[SarahND]

I can imagine that it would be very difficult to index them. What would they be indexed under? By the year and town?

That part would be easy, I would think, and I for one would be very happy to be able to look at them online with only the year and town in the search function! I assume they are trying to index them by name of person, which would be much more difficult. Wouldn't it be nice if they decided to put them up on the web for browsing before the full index was ready...!

Regards,
Sarah

[DavidWW]

I can imagine that it would be very difficult to index them. What would they be indexed under? By the year and town?

That part would be easy, I would think, and I for one would be very happy to be able to look at them online with only the year and town in the search function! I assume they are trying to index them by name of person, which would be much more difficult. Wouldn't it be nice if they decided to put them up on the web for browsing before the full index was ready...!

Regards,
Sarah

The original intention was to index every name that appears.

A pilot project on that basis, however, showed that, without a massive increase in the indexing effort available, the project would require 15+ years to complete

The project doesn't have any possibility of such a massive increase in resources, so considerable thought is now being given to just how to approach the situation.

It may be the case that there will be no name or event indexes at all, but a much simpler process of time and place, i.e. a very simple index on the basis of the church and time segments, i.e. images grouped together in batches covering a month, 3 months, or whatever, but will also require completion of another ongoing NAS indexing project that will allow the CoS churches that existed in a particular parish to be readily identified, - this project will result in an index a bit like the LDS multi-level index, i.e. you start with a place name, and this links you into its location, including parish, and all records that are known to exist for that parish, including their location, - these records including the sessional records (plus presbytery and synod records) of the Established Church of Scotland, - the CH2 and CH3 series of records as they are referenced by NAS (presbytery, synod and general assembly records have other reference numbers in the CH series).

"CH2" are "pure" ECoS records. "CH3" records are those Free Kirk and other dissenting records that came back into the Auld Kirk in the major 1929 union between the Established Church of Scotland and the United Free Church, - see http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7931 to understand just how various secession records may have ended up in the CH3 series.

Hmmmmm.... didnae intend to haver oan for sae lang

David

David

[SarahND]

Hi David,
Thanks for the explanation of what's going on. Although it would be wonderful to have an every name index, I suspect that most of us would rather just have a place and time index, than wait 15 years for anything at all...! Do you see this as a reality in the coming couple of years, or is it not a priority at NAS?

In the meantime, if I understand correctly, one can actually trawl through the images oneself at General Register House? If so, I will certainly come prepared to do so next time I'm over there-- sounds exciting!
Regards,
Sarah

[Russell]

Sarah!!! Don't you dare venture into the same room as the Kirk Session minutes. We would need to send out a rescue party to drag you out kicking and screaming After we allowed you three days of non-stop reading

If you see me heading the same direction please turn me round and point me towards home - and if they come on-line just send up sandwiches to my computer. It won't matter what the filling is ! I won't notice

Russell

[SarahND]

Sarah!!! Don't you dare venture into the same room as the Kirk Session minutes. We would need to send out a rescue party to drag you out kicking and screaming After we allowed you three days of non-stop reading

Who's talking?! I plan to bring a sleeping bag and some rescue rations and settle down for a month or two

If you see me heading the same direction please turn me round and point me towards home - and if they come on-line just send up sandwiches to my computer. It won't matter what the filling is ! I won't notice

What I'm worried about is the fate of the credit card if they start charging these things by the page... how do you decide when you really MUST stop reading
Sarah