November already! The past few months have been such a busy period in preparing for my final year on the university course. I have recently visited an archive in Birmingham for both genealogy research and to scope my dissertation project on the Temperance Movement in England. I have a couple of blogs appearing soon on this fascinating subject – sign up here for notifications in your inbox:
Visiting archives enables a first-hand primary source to be viewed which may not have been digitised or transcribed, such as handwritten documents, diaries, letters, periodicals and newspapers. It has been an exciting opportunity to delve into these documents and I already have a third visit booked!
When working in an archive, it is good practice to adhere to the archive’s terms of use including seeking permission of taking photographs or copies of documents and signing an agreement to only use for personal or educational purposes – so no photo’s here of the actual documents. Any documents that I use for the dissertation will be transcribed and, of course, fully referenced for future readers and students to locate in the future.
The next stage of my dissertation is to decide how to present the information in an informative and descriptive way, without the use of photos and pictures as it is an academic piece of work. Proofreading, final preparations and submission is in July next year, which does feel ages away but I’m sure it will creep up quickly!
#archives #ArchiveOfTheWeek #familyhistory #genealogy #Midlands #TemperanceMovement #genealogist