THE MARSDEN ARCHIVE

All material which I collect or which is sent to me by other Marsden researchers is added to the Marsden Archive. The archive consists of three principal components:

• A series of databases for major sources such as general registration, parish registers and census
• A series of wordprocessor documents for minor sources such as extracts from local histories and miscellaneous lists
• Photocopied and printed material

The long term goals are to migrate the photocopied and original material into machine-readable form, to migrate the wordprocessor documents onto database and to consolidate the databases. This last goal is the most difficult since the content of the sources differs considerably between documents. An all-embracing database may be out of the question but it is hoped that an index database may at least be established to lead the researcher from known names, places and dates into documents where individuals matching the search criteria are listed.

The archive began as a totally unstructured collection of papers, photographs and computer files but gradually, a shape is emerging and a cataloguing method has been constructed to enable items to be found (relatively) easily and to permit simple and unambiguous reference to a specific source. The general structure adopted is controlled by a number of document prefixes as follows:

The document type is supplemented by a County (UK only) or Country code which locates the source geographically. Some sources are, by their nature, non-specific and will be indicated as "MIS" in this part. The final part is a serial number which uniquely identifies the source. We can therefore have items such as:

• NP/YKS/01 - A newspaper published in Yorkshire
• IM/USA/01 - A document relating to immigration into the USA
• MIS123 - A miscellaneous item as yet uncatalogued

The archive listing has not yet been fully compiled. As this is completed, hyperlinks will be inserted leading to respective index pages and, in time, to specific documents as these are added to the web pages. As a beginning, a few sources have been included to establish the structure.

The Archive is only as good as the information deposited. I am always collecting new material but there are many sources which I am simply unable to find the time to deal with. Anyone wishing to become involved in extracting data for the archive should contact me. They will be guaranteed a very warm welcome.