It is an interesting question made more so by the explosion of interest in family history and the disturbing if confusing news that Barnardos may be considering destroying its entire collection of old photographs of children who were in their care.
In the space of less than a decade the number of resources available online for the historian to crawl over has been immense.
It ranges from census material to parish records and on through wills, tax details and books long out of print most of which were beyond the hands of any but a few scholars.
Of course much has been lost, including many of the records of the Workhouses, hospital documents and sadly some parish records.
So for all that I can access there is much that I can’t.
And not for the first time I have pondered on how this could have happened.
In some cases it is of course just rotten bad luck, which allowed vital records to be stored in a building prone to water damage or to later enemy action in two world wars.
Then there is just that simple fact that today’s officials are not always aware of what the historian of the future will regard as important.
Who in the mid 19th century could predict that the salaries of cotton workers or the transit records of a railway company could be of any interest?
Then I suppose it is the sheer volume of information which before the digital age prompted frightening storage issues.
And all of this before we consider the question of confidentiality. As much I would want to read my great grandmother’s health records I do wonder if I would want my intimate information on show for all to see.
So I have welcomed the latest post from the archivist at the Together Trust which grapples with some of the practical issues surrounding the records of children who went through their care.*
For anyone wanting help from the Trust to track family members there is a rich source of information along with expert assistance from the archivist,.
These include reports and pictures of the children admitted into the care of the Trust like young John Kelly who found his ay in their care in 1885.
But out there it can still be bewildering charting your way through the official records hoping that material has not been lost or destroyed, that it is available to be searched and above all that it does not cost too much.
There are self help groups and the cost of accessing online records is getting cheaper and more is available. I have always been very pleased with ancestry.co and marvel at how much they have made available and will do so.
But some things remain locked away, others are restricted and some have just gone forever.
So in some ways I am less concerened with who owns the records, after all most are in the public domain even if they cost, but it is more the issue of who has the say in what survives which really is about the control of our past.
*Picture of You http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/picture-of-you.html#more
Picture; courtesy of the Together Trust, http://www.togethertrust.org.uk/
 |
| John Kelly September 1885 before being admitted into the care of the Trust |
It ranges from census material to parish records and on through wills, tax details and books long out of print most of which were beyond the hands of any but a few scholars.
Of course much has been lost, including many of the records of the Workhouses, hospital documents and sadly some parish records.
So for all that I can access there is much that I can’t.
And not for the first time I have pondered on how this could have happened.
In some cases it is of course just rotten bad luck, which allowed vital records to be stored in a building prone to water damage or to later enemy action in two world wars.
Then there is just that simple fact that today’s officials are not always aware of what the historian of the future will regard as important.
Who in the mid 19th century could predict that the salaries of cotton workers or the transit records of a railway company could be of any interest?
Then I suppose it is the sheer volume of information which before the digital age prompted frightening storage issues.
And all of this before we consider the question of confidentiality. As much I would want to read my great grandmother’s health records I do wonder if I would want my intimate information on show for all to see.
So I have welcomed the latest post from the archivist at the Together Trust which grapples with some of the practical issues surrounding the records of children who went through their care.*
 |
| John Kelly, Arpil 1886 |
These include reports and pictures of the children admitted into the care of the Trust like young John Kelly who found his ay in their care in 1885.
But out there it can still be bewildering charting your way through the official records hoping that material has not been lost or destroyed, that it is available to be searched and above all that it does not cost too much.
There are self help groups and the cost of accessing online records is getting cheaper and more is available. I have always been very pleased with ancestry.co and marvel at how much they have made available and will do so.
But some things remain locked away, others are restricted and some have just gone forever.
So in some ways I am less concerened with who owns the records, after all most are in the public domain even if they cost, but it is more the issue of who has the say in what survives which really is about the control of our past.
*Picture of You http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/picture-of-you.html#more
Picture; courtesy of the Together Trust, http://www.togethertrust.org.uk/
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