We're very pleased that everyone who has visited us has come prepared.
Next steps
It's clear that coronavirus is going to be with us for a while and things aren't returning to normal very quickly. We've been reviewing our opening hours and currently the plan is to keep the current opening hours for a little longer. These are:
Wednesday 10am-2pm
Thursday 10am-2pm
Friday 10am-2pm
This allows us to clear away at the end of each day, clean and prepare for the following day and also deal with some of the remote enquiries and requests for copies (which are increasing).
We will start providing access to the microfilm/fiche reader printer. A few of our sources, such as the Shrewsbury Cemetery records and some local newspapers are only available in this format. This will be bookable by one person for each session.
A number of researchers have also requested access to PCs for local and family history. We hope to allow booking of PCs soon - again a reduced number pre-booked for one session each day.
We're just working out a bookings system but hope to get this sorted soon.
Behind the scenes
We are missing taking part in the normal Heritage Open Days tours this year.
To give a little flavour of what goes on behind the scenes, we asked Kevin who is in charge of production of documents from the stores (as well as being our caretaker, driver and cleaner) to describe some of his day's work. Here he is testing fire alarms in our stores.
The Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society and Friends of Shropshire Archives have put together a series of online talks for their members. These will be available on zoom at 11am on the following dates:
15 September Flax Mill People – American Connections
20 September Recent Developer Funded Archaeology in Shropshire
17 November Bridgewater revisited: Cataloguing the Bridgewater collection.
15 December English Heritage Properties in Shropshire: an overview
19 January 20201 The History and Building of the Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, Shrewsbury
Invitations have been sent out to members of both societies, but if you'd like more information please email: sahsmembership@gmail.com
Image from St Chad's 1821 census ref P253/V/1/1/21
Generally, the 1841 census was the first national census to include names of all individuals. Counts of the population were taken since 1801. In a very few cases, the unofficial records compiled locally to create the headcounts have survived. These can be really useful where they contain information about individuals and Shropshire is lucky to have a few examples.
Indexes and images of some of the pre-1841 census returns are now available to view on our website for free. This is thanks to the work of a small team of volunteers working from home with images and spreadsheets. The first batch of census returns have now been uploaded to our website, more will be added as they are completed.
Find out more about the background and which census returns are viewable now on our blog.
If you'd like to get involved with remote volunteering, please email archives@shropshire.gov.uk
