I have just had a productive week in Preston using the Harris Library and Lancashire Records Office. The Harris Library is a wonderful source for Preston aswell as having Parish Records for most Lancashire Parishes. The Records Office was easy to use - no waiting for readers and it was AIR CONDITIONED. I 'm looking forward to another visit in October. Gina Mair Plymouth ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Lancaster" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2001 10:41 AM Subject: Re: Fiche > Hi, Martin, > > You mention the Harris Library and fiche. I think this item about fiche falls into > the group that is often dismissed by the comment 'Oh, everyone knows about that'. > > The Harris Library has had some superb support from locals and ALL the census films, > 1841 - 1891, have been indexed by surname for the Preston area. These indexes are > available in book form on the open shelves in the Library. Not much good for me, says > you Martin, from Down Under. However, surname indexes to many of the Censuses for > several of the Lancashire towns are available on microfiche from the Lancashire > Family History & Heraldry Society (LFH&HS). Details of this Society are on its > web-site > www.lancashire-fhhs.org.uk > These are only surname indexes. For each Piece of the Census, they tell you what > surnames are recorded and on which folios they occur (a folio is a leaf of the book > comprising two pages, front and back). They do not normally tell you forenames or any > other information. For the full information you use the reference to find the entry > on the Census. > > The Census were originally supplied to Libraries on microfilm, but the 1891 Census > was also available on microfiche. Some of the earlier Censuses are now available in > that form as well. These film or fiche copies are photographic copies of the original > enumerators' booklet showing all the vagaries of the original, surnames in the same > household with different spellings, etc. I understand it is possible to obtain access > to these film copies through your local Mormon Family History Centre. > > The LFH&HS page also lists its other publications on fiche. These include copies of > various baptism, marriage and burial registers and of monumental inscriptions. These > copies are usually in some sort of tabular form to enable manipulation on a computer. > They are not usually precise word for word transcripts as the one I quoted the other > day from the Catholic Record Society for John WILKINSON. Remember, if the event is a > key event in your family, then try to see a copy of the original Register to check > the transcription. Many of these LFH&HS fiche have been prepared from filmed copies > of the Registers, but for some the work has been done from the original Register with > the co-operation of the Church concerned. > > ______________________________