Looking for a photograph of your ancestor?
Were they mentioned in a newspaper cutting?
Want to know if we have a cannon ball from the civil war?
It is easy to find out – search our catalogue. From Summer 2007 to Summer 2008, almost singlehandedly, Chris Gosling catalogued over 2,500 items: documents, postcards, photographs, artefacts, newspaper cutting. By December 2010 there were over 4,200 items. In some cases an image is also available to view with the record.
To access our catalogue click on “Search the archives” in the Menu.
When searching remember that the system is designed for searching by keyword.
When using keywords but it is best to keep your phrase short. For example, if you wanted a historical picture of the Mace shop on the High Street, then “High Street”, “Crowhurst”, “Tompsett” would all work. “Crowhurst & Tompsett” might not find all the pictures, as some might be catalogued as “Crowhurst and Tompsett”. “Mace” would only find very modern pictures – after the shop became known as Mace. Try searching on only the surname rather than the full name if you are looking for a photograph or other archive material of a person.
If you are researching broad topics. You might find it helpful to use one of the History Group’s “standard” keywords, which will catch at least 99% of items within each topic. They are:
- Agriculture
- Buildings
- Carnivals
- Commerce
- Communication
- Education
- Farming
- Hopping
- Impact
- Leisure
- Maps
- Organisations
- People
- Photos
- Pubs
- Religion
- Roads
- Social order
- Sport
- Transport
- War