Local Studies and Family History research
From SLNSW
Local Studies collections and Family History collections are often regarded as “two sides of the same coin”… every family had to come from somewhere, and it may just have been your area.
A major user group of Local Studies collections is the genealogy researcher who is looking for information on families or individuals that once lived in your district. Local Studies resources may help to fill in the gaps for these researchers with photographs, documents etc. In turn, such researchers often have valuable material and research which they may allow the library to copy. Family historians can be very helpful in providing additional research for Local Studies Collections.
Many family history resources and indexes are extremely useful as research tools for local history. The same research processes apply in both disciplines. With social or community history at their core, there is much common ground between Local Studies and family history.
Exercises
- Does your library house the local studies collection separately from the family history collection? Why or why not?
- How would you use the local studies collection to find out about a person or place they lived?
