Lincolnshire Archives

[hwilson90]

This is absolutely ridiculous as I'm a student and spend a lot of time in the library but...

Can anyone explain what I need to do before heading to the archives? I've been putting it off as after reading their website I'm rather confused. So according to this http://zipapps.lincolnshire.gov.uk/eArchives/default.aspx I just have to email?

And do I just need to take the reference number for the record? When it says 'no copies of this document are available' can you still view it? If so could you photograph it?

I've put this in here as I was also wondering the best time to go? Morning/afternoon etc?

Thanks for any help For some reason I find this really confusing.

[dcbnwh]

I also found the information a bit confusing before my first visit. It states that new users can only check availability online but when I got there they said I could have booked. I ended up sending an email but the best thing might be to ring up, particularly if you have reference numbers of documents that you might want to view etc.

If you have a reader ticket from another archive, you can use it there. If not, you will need some ID with a signature - e.g. driving licence, bank card etc.

It was fairly quite last time I went and might be less busy now that the parish registers are available online.
If you drive, get there early for free parking at the archives. There are car parks nearby.

They seem to prefer you to use digital photography if you can, particularly as photocopies take up to four weeks to process and can be expensive. Having said that, photocopies are better.

Hope this helps,
David

[Redroger]

As the parish registers are now available on line, perhaps this makes a visit uneccessary?

[LizzieW]

I don't understand why Lincs Archives seems so complicated.  Perhaps I've been lucky as I've only used 2 archives, one in Barrow in Furness and one in Winchester, Hants where I went to look something up for a fellow Rootschatters.  Each time, I just went to the archives and was shown how to find what I wanted and then left alone, with help on tap if I needed it.  I know Barrow is fairly small, but Hampshire Archives in Winchester is enormous and there were dozens and dozens of people searching, using computers etc. but the staff still had time to help out as well as photocopying loads of documents for a student who was doing research on something.

They seem to prefer you to use digital photography if you can, particularly as photocopies take up to four weeks to process and can be expensive. Having said that, photocopies are better.

That's odd too, why would it take 4 weeks to process a photocopy, most modern microfiche readers have a photocopier attached and it can't possibly take 4 weeks for a member of staff to take a book to a photocopier if they want to do the photocopying themselves.  I didn't take a photocopy at Winchester, but I did quite a few in Barrow, as I have at my local library, the cost was about 50p per copy.

Lizzie

[JenB]

As the parish registers are now available on line, perhaps this makes a visit uneccessary?

But there is far more to the archives than just the parish registers.

[dcbnwh]

Some documents are more complicated to copy than others - e.g. some wills are bound into books. The first time that I went, I ordered two A3 pages of a marriage bond and allegation. Having been taken out of storage, it would seem like a simple task to print them on the day and that there would be a standard charge for an A3 or A4. It was nearly four weeks before I had been given a price, paid and received them.
The second time included wills and it was nearly five weeks before they arrived. The copies were very good but cost over £20 for a mixture of 10 A3 and A4.

I often use the National Library of Wales and have had documents comprising 50-100 pages within ten days at very reasonable prices.

Digital photography is OK if you simply want the information from a document but a photocopy gives a much better result.

[LizzieW]

The second time included wills and it was nearly five weeks before they arrived.

I know five weeks doesn't seem much when your ancestor probably made the will at least 100 years ago, but I still don't know why it takes so long.  If there is  backlog then they need more staff.  If I order wills from Cheshire, which I've done a few times on line, they are usuallly with me within a week.

Lizzie

[Redroger]

As the parish registers are now available on line, perhaps this makes a visit uneccessary?

But there is far more to the archives than just the parish registers.

I'm well aware of that Jen. I think the problems with a variety of websites are caused by false economy, the desire to save money by designing a website "In house" rather than paying for the expertise, though that doesn't always work as can be seen from a variety of government websites.

[hwilson90]

Thanks for the help everyone Glad it's not just me!

Yes I do drive so that's fine.

I'm hoping to look at a few wills, not parish registers. Although if you're referring to the 'lincs to the past' site I find that ridiculously confusing also I swear I'm not normally like this.

Does anyone know if I need to request them in advance or if I can just turn up on the day? I will be ringing up tomorrow but it's nice to be prepared.