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At The Archive we are delighted to welcome guest blogs from our users, which highlight a wealth of different research interests. This month, we are excited to feature a blog on researching queer history by Staffordshire researcher Rebecca Morris-Quinn.My name is Rebecca, I am a queer woman living in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. I’ve been interested in genealogy and history for many years, since I found out that I share a birthday with a great-great aunt, Olive (albeit over 100 years ago).…

The British Newspaper Archive, in partnership with the British Library, has been bringing history to life for over a decade through the pages of its extensive collection. We are now delighted to announce that the British Library will be extending this long-term partnership, and together we will continue to digitise more and more historic newspaper titles from across the United Kingdom and beyond.First launched in 2011, the British Newspaper Archive, working with the British Library, has so far digitised over 42…

Using newspapers for your Scottish genealogy researchDo you find yourself daunted at the prospect of researching your Scottish ancestors? Keep the heid! There exists a fantastic array of records that can get you further along in your family history research. The main problem, however, is access. Much of what exists has not been ditigised, and for those that have been, many are not indexed. It is overwhelming figuring out where to search and what records, if they were created,…

Anyone starting to research their Irish heritage has heard the story: ‘all of their records were destroyed in 1922’.  The destruction of the Four Courts on 30 June 1922, which housed the public records office, was a huge loss… but! with digitisation, Irish family history is getting easier by the day.  Sites like our sister site Findmypast are opening up new avenues of research by digitising a wide variety of sources, and many of their Irish collections are free!Newspapers are particularly…

Paul Roberts’ book is now available to purchase! Order your copy of History Maker here.How The British Newspaper Archive played a key role in the completion of a new book about my great-great-grandfather who had 30 grandsons serving King and CountryI found the picture by pure chance – on a village history website. It was of John Roberts, a man with a bushy beard and sideburns and wearing a bowler hat and a big smile. A caption below it was…

The British Newspaper Archive holds over 70,000 pages from Liverpool newspapers (and counting), making it an unrivalled resource when it comes to tracing the history of the city and its surrounding areas.Register to View Liverpool NewspapersOur clever search tools allow you to focus your search by looking at papers from Liverpool only and offer the ability to narrow by date, recent additions and more.To focus in on Liverpool titles only, while searching, use the place filter to select…

This week’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? took us down under and all over Australia. Craig Revel Horwood was able to learn how his ancestors on both sides of his family came to be in Australia and what activities occupied their days, from mining for gold to clog dancing.Convicts in the familyCraig’s family history journey began with his sister’s retelling of their great-great grandfather Moses Horwood being convicted of theft and transported to Australia.While…

Newspapers are an invaluable resource for researching your family history. Contained within their pages are tens of millions of reports, advertisements, and notices that can help you break down brick walls and tell richer stories about your ancestors. The Archive works with the British Library and publishers to bring you 300 years of newspapers from the UK and Ireland.  Get the most out of our historical newspapers with these hints and tips.What newspapers do we have?We add more than 100,000…

I started researching my family history over 20 years ago. I knew that my Grandmother and her sister had been left with guardians in Boston, Lincolnshire when they were very young. My Grandma died when I was young, but in later years my Granddad told me that her parents, my great-grandparents, had gone to Canada and had promised to call for their daughters when they were settled. They never did.As I started my research I soon discovered the names of…

Whether your ancestors were royalty or the servants of royalty, it can be just as satisfying and surprising to learn where you come from. Last night’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was no exception, when Ricky Tomlinson learned that he came from a hardworking line of carters in Liverpool.The New York of EuropeIn the 1800s, Liverpool was a major port city that depended on carters to transport goods from the docks into the city. As…