Local studies and family history

All Herefordshire libraries have resources about their own area and the county as a whole. The major local studies collection is held in the reference section of Hereford Library.

Books

Libraries have local studies books for loan as well as a reference collection for use in the library.

At Hereford not all of the older reference books are yet on the computer catalogue. There is a card catalogue of these books, and also a place and personal name index to locate information within books.

Subjects covered within the local collection include history and archaeology, geology and natural history, cider, Hereford cattle, the cathedral and churches, and the lives of local people. The library has full sets of the Transactions of the Woolhope Club for loan or use in the library. Among the special collections within local studies the largest is the Pilley Collection, which includes many books of local interest not otherwise available.

Newspapers

Hereford has a complete file of the two main county newspapers, the Hereford Times and Hereford Journal, starting in 1770.Some years are on microfilm, others in hard copy bound volumes.

Hereford also has microfilm of some other county papers and a full run of the Ross Gazette. Local papers for Leominster, Ledbury and Kington are held on film at the local libraries.

Maps

Hereford Library has maps of the county dating back to the 16th century. Detailed plans of the city illustrate change and expansion in Hereford over the last 400 years.

There are historical Ordnance Survey sheets from one inch to the mile up to 25 inches to the mile. The first one inch map was published in 1831. Larger scale sheets were not issued until the 1880s.

Photographs and Illustrations

Images of Herefordshire are available from a large collection of historic photographs and other illustrations.

Of note is the Alfred Watkins (1855-1935) Collection of photographs. Watkins was a pioneer photographer who combined this interest with a love of history, archaeology and the Herefordshire landscape.These all came together in his theories on ley lines as set out in the book " The Old Straight Track" (1925). The library also holds the archives of the Old Straight Track Club which Watkins founded.

As well as prints and engravings there are albums of drawings and water colours, mostly of churches and other local landmarks.

Family History

The Library Edition of Ancestry is available free of charge on public computers in all of our libraries, giving access to census returns, registration indexes and many other records.

Hereford Library has a range of additional resources to support family history research:

• Census returns on microfilm covering Herefordshire from 1841-1901
• Historical electoral registers and poll books
• County and city directories for Herefordshire in the 19th and 20th centuries
• Transcriptions of monumental inscriptions
• International Genealogical Index for Herefordshire and neighbouring counties
• Local newspapers from 1770 to the present
• Complete file of the Journal of the Herefordshire Family History Society.

Microfilm readers

If you wish to use microfilm it is advisable to book in advance to use the reader/printers at Hereford or the readers at Leominster, Ledbury and Kington. Please ring the appropriate library to avoid a wasted journey.