Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

The online library catalogue includes details of all items received since 1997. For the bulk of our collections we still rely on the card catalogue.

 

We also have an online image library – approx 35,000 images are available to search online at Picture Sheffield.

 

You are welcome to contact us at localstudies.library@sheffield.gov.uk  about  the material we hold and we will be happy to advise

 

 

At present, the archive catalogues and indexes are only available to visitors to Sheffield Archives.

 

However, a number of our catalogues are available to search online as part of the national Access to Archives (A2A) project. A2A is a strand of the national archive network for the United Kingdom and contains over 10 million records from archive repositories across England. For further details visit the A2A website.

 

The National Register of Archives contains information on the nature and location of archives that relate to British history.

 

The Archives Hub is a searchable database of archives collections held in UK Universities and Colleges

 

You are welcome to contact us at archives@sheffield.gov.uk  about  the archives we hold and we will be happy to advise

 

 

We can check our catalogues and indexes to advise you what information we hold, so you can decide whether it is worth your while visiting us.

 

If you are unable to visit, Local Studies Library staff can undertake limited searches in their holdings, up to a maximum of 30 minutes. For longer searches you may wish to take advantage of our research service

 

If you are unable to visit the Archive Service in person you may wish to take advantage of our research service.  For a fee of £10 for half an hour our experienced researchers will undertake work on your behalf.

 

Our researchers have access to a vast array of genealogical and other information – census returns, parish registers, indexes to births, marriages and deaths, family and estate records, Ordnance Survey maps, school records etc.  Whether you want to request a search of a 17th century baptism register or order a copy of a map from the early 20th century our research service should be able to help. 

 

 

 

 

It is important to use the correct terminology – this information relates to births (not baptisms), marriages and deaths (not burials).

 

We do not hold any civil certificates of births, marriages and deaths at Sheffield Archives or the Local Studies Library; these can only be issued by register offices, either the original issuing office or the General Register Office (GRO) at Southport, which holds registration records for all of England and Wales from September 1837 onwards. Certificates for the Sheffield area are held by the Sheffield Register Office  . See also the General Register Office for records for the whole of England and Wales.

 

We do hold the microfiche copies of the GRO indexes of births, marriages and deaths. This is the index you will need to search if you do not have a date of birth, marriage or death, or do not know where the event was registered.

 

The GRO indexes are also available on Ancestry.com (via www.ancestrylibrary.com on any Sheffield Libraries computer) which you can access and search for free at Sheffield Archives, Sheffield Local Studies Library and every library in Sheffield. (A large part of the index is also available free of charge online at FreeBMD)

 

A local register office will need you to give the person’s name and the year and quarter in order to issue a birth, marriage or death certificate. The GRO will need the name, year, quarter and volume/page reference.

 

Another way to search for details of a marriage is through entries in church records. A church marriage register entry gives the same information as a marriage certificate. Church registers for the Sheffield are area held at Sheffield Archives. You need to know which church a person married in, or be prepared to search several parishes.

 

If you wish to visit Sheffield Archives to view the GRO index and/or church records, please telephone or email in advance, as booking is advisable (0114 203 9395 or archives@sheffield.gov.uk . If you are not local to Sheffield, contact your local record office to see if they hold a copy of the GRO index or access it via the internet at Ancestry.com.

 

Copy baptism certificates from churches in the Anglican Diocese of Sheffield, which covers Sheffield and Rotherham, can be issued by Sheffield Archives, provided we can find the original entry in the church register of baptisms.

 

If you have the name of the church and date of your baptism we can issue a certificate for a fee of £12.

 

If you are not sure of the date, but know the church and that you were baptised as an infant, we will search the baptism for the two months after your date of birth.

 

If you do not know where or when you were baptised, you have two options: you could employ our research service to continue searching at a charge of £10 per half an hour or you can come and search the baptism registers yourself, free of charge. Once your baptism entry has been found, the charge of £12 applies for the copy certificate.

 

We do have to copy the baptismal entry faithfully, which could mean confirming addresses and names of godparents with you, should they be difficult to read in the original register. You should include a telephone number or email address in your correspondence in case we need to check these details, and remember to request your copy certificate in plenty of time for your wedding or confirmation.

 

Yes you may bring your laptop with you.  However we do need to point out that we can accept no responsibility for any loss or damage to your equipment or your files whilst they are on our premises and plugged into our power supplies.

 

As space is limited at Local Studies we advise you to email or call us before your visit so we can ensure there is space for you.

 

 

 

In general you don’t need to book a visit in advance, but see below. However, If you wish to use specific material, then enquire in advance to make sure it is available and in what format. You may need to book a microform reader to be able to access it. Occasionally specific materials may not be available due to wear and tear/conservation issues.

 

If you are unsure about what you may need to use, please contact us for further advice.

 

If you want to use a microfilm/fiche reader or People's Network computer, then booking is recommended. The number of machines is limited and not booking can mean disappointment – particularly if you are travelling to Sheffield from a distance.

 

 

 

You do not need a reader’s ticket to use the Local Studies Library.

 

To use Sheffield Archives you will need to register as a reader. You should bring 2 forms of identification with you – one of which should have your address printed on it (e.g. recent utility bill) and the other should have your signature on it (e.g. driving licence). If you cannot provide identification, then you will be issued with a temporary reader’s ticket for one visit only.

 

 

 

Our records go back to the 12th century and our books date from the 16th century. The majority or our material is from the 1700s onwards.

 

 

 

Books and other printed material – More than 30,000 volumes.

Maps – Several thousand maps from the 17th century onwards.

Photographs – Over 80,000 photographs and illustrations of Sheffield from the 1850s onwards.

Records – Archives has six kilometres of shelving containing countless hundreds of thousands of records.

 

 

 

At Archives, all the public areas are accessible to wheelchair users. A height-adjustable table is available for use in the Searchroom. An audio loop, magnifying glasses and large print versions of some leaflets are also available.

 

At the Local Studies Library, access for disabled users, including those in wheelchairs, is at the rear of the Central Library, via the loading bay off Arundel Gate. Please note there is no access for disabled users via the main entrance in Surrey Street. There is dedicated disabled parking for one vehicle. There is a lift to all public floors and a toilet for disabled users. We have a People’s Network computer with a height adjustable workstation. Magnifying glasses and large print versions of some leaflets are also available.

 

 

 

Yes we offer talks and workshops, on and off site visits, publications and advice and guidance. Pupils and students have the opportunity to see and touch documents and books from the 13th century onwards. Contact our Development, Education & Outreach Officer michael.spick@sheffield.gov.uk to discuss your requirements.

 

 

 

Yes, we have a wide range of reprographic services - Photocopying, scanning, digital photography etc. Please contact us at archives@sheffield.gov.uk for a list of charges.

 

 

 

You are welcome to contact us to discuss your interest with a professionally qualified member of staff.  For graduates with a genuine interest we offer a 5-day placement which will introduce students to the work of the archives, local studies, records management and conservation sections. (These are allocated at set periods in the year on a first come first served basis.   Please note that these are oversubscribed by a factor of 3 to 1).  We regret we do not have the facilities to accept placements from those aged under 18.

 

If you wish to investigate these professions further, the following websites will prove useful:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately we are not able to accept payments by credit/debit card.  We can only accept cheques or postal orders in sterling.  Cheques should be made payable to Sheffield City Council.

 

 

You can access census records and indexes to births, marriages and deaths via Ancestry.com (via www.ancestrylibrary.com on any Sheffield Libraries computer) free of charge at Archives, Local Studies and any Community Library in Sheffield.

 

 

 

You can access census records and indexes to births, marriages and deaths via Ancestry.com (via www.ancestrylibrary.com on any Sheffield Libraries computer) free of charge at Archives, Local Studies and any Community Library in Sheffield.

 

 

 

 

General information on cemetery records can be found on our Cemetery Registers page.

As urban areas expanded in the 19^th century and parish churchyards became full, local councils opened civil cemeteries. The first cemetery register for Sheffield begins in 1836.

 

Sheffield Archives holds records for all cemeteries in Sheffield from 1836 on microfilm. You should reserve a microfilm reader to view these records.

 

A person would usually be buried in the cemetery nearest to their home address.

 

If you do not have a date of death, or date of burial, you should search the indexes to burials for the cemetery. These indexes are arranged by first letter of surname only. The index of burials will give you a date of burial, which you then search for in the registers of burials.

 

If you have a date of death, you should search from that date onward in the register of burials. Registers of burials are arranged by date and give a person’s name, age at death, address, occupation, grave number and a cemetery section reference (usually a letter or combination of letters/letter + number).

 

Once you have found the grave number and cemetery section reference, you can search the grave plot books/registers (if available). These registers are arranged by cemetery section reference and will give dates of when the grave was opened. In some (but not all) cases the names of those interred are recorded. The age of babies/very young children is generally recorded. These registers also give details of who originally purchased the grave, transferral of ownership and the amount paid for the plot. Having noted the dates of interment for that grave, you can then return to the register of burials, look up the dates given in the grave plot book/register and see who else is buried in the grave.

 

We sell plot maps of Sheffield cemeteries so that once you have a grave number you should be able to physically find the grave, regardless of whether a headstone was erected. These plot maps cost 30p each from Sheffield Archives.

 

For some cemeteries we hold registers of grave plots, which give details of grave plot purchases. They are arranged by plot number and give details of who originally purchased the grave, transferral of ownership and the amount paid for the plot.

 

Monumental inscriptions exist for some cemeteries. These are transcripts from gravestones arranged into alphabetical order. For further details see our monumental inscriptions page.

If you don’t find the person in the cemetery you expected them to be in, try thinking of other places in Sheffield with which they may have had family ties. If the family had a grave plot in one cemetery, they may all be buried there, even if they lived across the city.

 

It is also worth remembering that after 1907, Sheffield had it’s own crematorium at City Road. We hold indexes to cremations at City Road (and at Hutcliffe Wood from 1974). The cremation registers themselves are not open for public research as they contain sensitive information on individuals. If you find a record of a cremation in the indexes of cremations, you should then contact Sheffield’s Bereavement Services who can supply full details from the registers. These details include the deceased’s name, address and age, as well as what happened to their ashes after the cremation.

 

 

 

Sheffield Archives holds a considerable amount of material relating to the whole of South Yorkshire (including Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham).  The collections of the former South Yorkshire County Record Office which existed between 1974 – 1986 are now held by Sheffield Archives.  County wide services such as South Yorkshire Police are at Sheffield Archives.  There are also many records form individual churches and chapel, societies and voluntary organisation and businesses across South Yorkshire.  If you are undertaking research in the districts of Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham we strongly advise that you contact us to see what information we hold.  Our South Yorkshire collections are also available to search on the national Access to Archives website.

 

The Local Studies Library also acquires printed items that cover the South Yorkshire/north Derbyshire region.  These mainly relate to regional bodies (such as the Yorkshire and Humber NHS Trust, South Yorkshire Police etc).  Details of items received since 1997 are available on the Libraries on-line catalogue.

 

 

 

This question is often asked.  In their purest sense archives are records (in any format – paper, computer disc, photograph etc) produced by an organisation in the course of transacting its business and which have been selected for permanent preservation. For instance, minutes of a meeting record the decisions of an organisation. These form the organisation's records.  If a decision is made to keep these records permanently, then they are termed archives.  Archives can therefore be of any age – created yesterday or one hundred years ago.

 

The age of a document doesn’t determine its value – it is the information within it that is important.

 

 

 

No, the Libraries, Archives and Information department doesn’t publish local and family history books - we focus our resources on producing guides to the records and items within our collections. More information on publishing local or family history is available on the Local History Press Ltd website and History into Print.

 

 

 

Local Studies – There is a café in the Graves Art Gallery, located on the top floor of the Central library building.

 

Archives – There are no refreshment facilities in the Archives building, however there are numerous bars and cafes nearby