Family history resources
All Nottingham City Libraries offer free access to the major family history resource - Findmypast.com (Formerly 1837 online.com). Findmypast contains a variety of family history sources, including the General Registrar Offices Indexes of Births, Marriages & Deaths (GRO Indexes) and Census records.
Where are the resources kept?
Most of our specialised family history resources are kept in the Central Library. The Local Studies Library on Floor 4 can help with your family history research in a number of ways. Whether you are a beginner or a more experienced researcher, you will find access to resources there.
In the Local Studies Library you will find:
A range of general books on family history for both loan and reference use;.
including books on how to get the best from specific types of records e.g. Parish Registers, military service records, occupational records.
Other printed sources of interest to family historians, including books on:
Peerages (e.g. Burke’s, Debrett’s.)
County histories (e.g. Victoria County History).
Historical Directories for different areas of the country such as Kelly’s and White’s.
Magazines such as “Family tree magazine”.
Humphery-Smith, C. “Phillimore’s atlas and index of parish registers”.
Johnson, K. “Genealogical research directory” (annual).
A dedicated computer in a quiet area of the department which has access to a number of electronic family history resources, including:
1881 Census on CDRoM
National Burial Index
Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919
Army Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945
Copies of Church of England Parish Registers for the whole of Nottinghamshire covering the period c.1538 to c.1980. (Not all dates are available for all parishes).
Some Roman Catholic and Nonconformist Registers are also available.
Census records: 1841 to 1901 on microfiche and/or CDRom.
Place and surname indexes for each Census are available to aid research.
Electoral Registers:Copies of Electoral Registers for Nottinghamshire covering 1882 to 2001/2
In addition, there are selected copies of Burgess and Citizens Rolls for Nottingham City.
Other resources:
Many of the Local Studies Library’s other resources e.g.newspapers, maps, photographs and historical directories are useful aids for family history research. Follow the links for more information
In the Arts Library on Floor 3 of the Central Library you will find:
- Back copies of national newspapers on microfilm.
Useful websites for family history research include:
We have prepared a separate page with useful family history web links.
Black Family History
The following Black Family History page gives information about sources of information for people tracing ancestors from Africa and the Caribbean.
FREE One2One Family History computer help sessions
These sessions are designed for people who have already started their family history research using traditional methods and who now wish to explore some of the numerous on-line sources available
Sessions are available at several Nottingham City Libraries and last for one hour each.
NOTE: Basic computer skills are essential for these sessions.
For further information and to book a session telephone 0115 915 2841
Listen to this websiteAccessibility
