Ok, here goes: STEP 1 Make sure that your cookies and javascript are on. Many the time I've wondered why I'm not getting anywhere with PRO and LDS sites, only to realise the cookies are off (I've just discovered that with javascript on, a nosey so-and-so can get through my firewall to read what's in my clipboard ... but I digress ...). STEP 2 Go to: http://www.pro.gov.uk/catalogues/a2a.htm [You can get the occasional warning message that you need to start from the main site, not a later bookmark] STEP 3 Press the highlighted hyperlink 'A2A(Access to Archives)' STEP 4 Press 'Search A2A' in the top menu bar, or the highlighted hyperlink 'search these catalogues'. They both get you to the same place. You should now be on the main search page at: http://www.a2a.pro.gov.uk/search/index.asp STEP 5 (a) The easiest thing to do is to put a search term in the KEYWORD box and press 'Search'. But if you want to limit your hits: (b) [optional] Select from LOCATION OF ARCHIVES: either Cumbria Record Office and Local Studies Library, Whithaven or Cumbria Record Office, Carlisle Headquarters (c) [optional] Select 'North West' (d) [optional] put in some dates. Frankly, this doesn't work too well. EXAMPLE: Put in STEEL into the Keyword box and Cumbria-Whitehaven into location. RESULT: you get 3 catalogues. STEP 6 press the hits beneath each archive description. The first catalogue has 5 hits - in other words, 5 mentions of Steel. Press this one. As you can see, all the hits are for the Whitehaven Hematite Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. Go back. The second catalogue has one hit. This is a Quaker record: Pardshaw Monthly Meeting Deeds and Schedules FILE - Bond in £200 of Richard Radcliffe of Cockermouth merchant to Isaac Fearon, John Benson, and John Peile, to secure performance of an arbitration award by Thomas Steel and Henry Fisher concerning the conveyance of land adjoining the Quaker Meeting House in Cockermouth and the trusteeship of it. - ref. YDFCF 1/101 - date: 1761 That is as much information as you can get from the entry. You can then apply to Whitehaven to get a copy of the whole document. STEP 7 You may want to see your hit in relation to the whole catalogue. In that case, press 'Table of Contents for this Catalogue' or 'Show the whole catalogue' at the top. If you do the former, and scroll down to YDFCF 1/101, you'll see a repeat of the entry above. But this time there are some other entries (without STEEL) that put the problem of the Cockermouth Burial Ground in perspective. That's, then, the main way of using A2A. Simply enter simple search terms like a SURNAME, a TOWN or a PARISH. You can get lots of scraps of info that can fill in details or suggest leads - but, remember, these are only CATALOGUE entries. Just like using the IGI, you need to go back to the source to find out the details. Remember, too, that not all names in a document will have been abstracted by the person who compiled the catalogue - just the main ones. That is the Standard Search. Ther's also an 'Extended Search' and a 'Special Interest' search. Maybe I'll post about those too later. Chris chris@dickinson.uk.net

Hi Chris, I have tried to access both the URLs but all I get is that little hour glass that just keeps on tumbling. Being very much a senior / newbie at both genealogy and computers, I am not sure if my javascript or cookies are on or not. Is it possible that is why I seem to be unable to access? If this is considered off topic for this list, my apologies. Perhaps you could direct me to a list that would explain how to determine if cookies or javascript is on/off. I have Windows XP, OE 6, Internet Explorer with hi-speed cable. Roy Mississauga-Canada