Jacqui Simkins wrote: > But having a pocket Latin-English dictionary in the research kit is > very useful because I soon discovered that archive staff rarely > know even basics!!!! On one occasion, it was a phrase used in an > archive's own calendars...and nobody, not even the head honcho, > knew what it meant. I was very surprised to learn earlier this week that Latin is no longer a requirement for archivists with the result that you've found - no one can help with the older Latin documents. I'm lucky with one of my local record offices in that there are *two* archivists, both in their late 20s, who both have Latin. > Family historians who didn't have to suffer study of Latin in > school may find one of the books such as "Latin for Family > Historians" of more help. There are several with similar titles - > a trawl on GenFair should come up with the goods!! Thanks for the tip. It could well be worth getting a copy of that for myself if the record office doesn't have a copy on their shelves already. -- Charani (UK)