Customer Reviews

Genealogical Research in England's Public Record Office: A Guide for North Americans

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I ordered a copy of this book hoping to discover new information about the PRO that would help me plan my research there. This *very* slim volume barely skims the surface of the topic, and contains much out-of-date information, such as references to the Census Room and St. Catherine's House. At the very least a new edition is called for, and this one should be withdrawn. I think all researchers would be far better served by one of the publications directly from the PRO (such as Jane Cox's 'Never Been here Before?') or the excellent guide to UK research, with vast amounts of information on the PRO, by Mark Herber - 'Ancestral Trails'. Save your money for one of these. My copy of Ms Prowse Reid's volume will be in the mail back to amazon.com in the morning.

he Public Record Office in Kew, outside of London, is one of the richest genealogical repositories in the world, equivalent in many ways to our own National Archives. Its records reach all the way back to the Domesday Book of 1086 and forward to the vast accumulation of census records, probate documents, and emigration records that make it a natural magnet for anyone undertaking English or Welsh genealogical research. The purpose of this book is to help North Americans make the most effective use of its records. Significantly, it also identifies many of the most important PRO records available in large North American institutions such as the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa.

Among the topics covered in the book are emigration and immigration records; censuses; nonconformist church records; birth, death, and marriage records, and military, taxation, court, and Parliamentary records. Also included are logistical information about working at the PRO, a discussion regarding the organization of PRO records, and a list of aids for identifying the records--not to mention a comprehensive bibliography containing complete citations to every book mentioned in the text, and a subject index.

Highlights of the new 2nd edition include the creation of a new PRO research facility in central London called the Family Records Centre, featuring microfilm copies of census records and records of births, marriages, and deaths, etc.; the PRO's amazing progress in making its services and records available on the Internet; and the latest addresses, telephone numbers, and fax numbers for local record offices in England and Wales.