Saturday, 30 August 2008
Doncaster Borough Charters 1194-1836 Family & Local History AlphabetDoncaster Archives is the place to find historic documents - such as minute books, maps, plans, deeds, files, registers, log books, ledgers, photographs and letters, virtually all of them unique and irreplaceable - relating to the Doncaster Metropolitan District. They range in date from 1194 to the present decade and include church registers and records, the archives of schools, colleges, local authorities, political parties, trade unions, voluntary societies, businesses and courts.
A general leaflet about the department is available from Doncaster Archives on request.
Using archives to study local history can be a valuable means of making general historical themes more relevant to pupils by helping them to relate to large-scale issues through examples drawn from their own locality.
Teachers have also drawn on the resources of Doncaster Archives for documents to use in the 'A' Level course in English Language.
Teachers making use of the archives have found sources to use relating to subjects such as:
In these webpages we cannot convey the full scope of records which may be available for a specific place. Doncaster Archives has a wide range of sources which are common to virtually all parts of the area. We can mention briefly three kinds of records which are found to be particularly useful.
There are the records of over eighty long-established parishes in the area from Hatfield to Mexborough and Campsall to Tickhill. The parish registers contain unique information about the people who have lived there over many centuries. The value of parish registers for studying family history is well-known. However, parish records often contain much more than the registers. They sometimes include information about how communities governed themselves and provided for their old, poor and ill through the 'poor law' in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The records of around 150 schools from the mid-nineteenth century onwards are to be found at Doncaster Archives. They generally include log books which in some cases can give an picture not only of school life but of the community in which they were situated. There may also be admission registers and HMI reports and, in a very few cases, examples of pupils' work and photographs.
Maps are invaluable for discovering how a locality has changed over time. Various editions of the Ordnance Survey are available from 1854 to the 1940s for most parts of the area on six-inch and 25-inch scales. Earlier but far less detailed maps include the OS one-inch scale of 1841 and of Jeffreys' Yorkshire map of 1772. There are also others, from the early eighteenth century onwards, made for specific purposes, such as estate, enclosure and tithe maps, which often give the names of landowners and tenants.
Doncaster Archives is not able to undertake work on your behalf but we are able to:
Two things are very important to bear in mind before deciding to make use of archives in the classroom. One is that it is best to discover what documents are available before finally settling on a subject. The simple reason for this is that, for a number of causes, there may be little or no documentation to be found on one subject, while for another there may be more than enough.
The other is to recognise that preparing projects from archives can be time-consuming. It may be more rewarding than taking your information at second-hand from a book, but assembling your own resources will not be the work of an afternoon, or a single day.
Doncaster Archives is located at King Edward Road, Balby, Doncaster, DN4 0NA. Telephone (01302) 859811.
Opening times are Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 12.45 and 14.00 to 16.45. The Archives is closed at weekends and on public holidays.
