A typical day in the Study Centre can result in a variety of emotions. If people are looking at parish records, they often get excited and quite animated when they find a baptism, marriage or burial. This is especially true if they have been searching for a long period of time and they suddenly find it. Over the years I have heard many a whoop of delight coming from the microfilm area of the room! There is often an insistence that relatives are Anglican despite not being able to find them anywhere in the Anglican parish records. One man was adamant that his great grandfather wasn’t a non-conformist then after much persuasion, he agreed to look at these records. Within minutes he had found him. I think he was rather happy as the words “I love you” escaped from his lips.
Photographs and maps evoke a similar reaction. Photographs of old shops and pubs are always very popular, and it is lovely to hear our users chat about them. People reminisce about how they used to look, who owned them and whether they are still standing today. We also get many requests for old maps, the most popular being our Ordnance Survey collection. Researchers may be looking for a particular building or farm, or they may simply be tracking changes in an area over time. The red/pink colour of the 1st edition 25” maps (c.1860) is visually appealing but if they wish to find street names, then the 3rd edition (c.1920) will provide this. It is very easy to get lost in maps and even if they don’t always provide the information they were looking for, it is rare for somebody to leave without saying that they still thoroughly enjoyed looking at them. Our Reprographics department receive many requests for copies. Some ask for a digital version so they can have it on their screen and zoom in on areas, but many prefer a print so they can frame a little bit of history.
Northumberland Archives hold a large newspaper collection and newspapers are also regularly requested by our users. Looking for old wedding photographs of parents/grandparents is popular as is searching for sporting images of football and cricket teams. You know somebody is happy when you hear “yes, I’ve found it!” However, not all newspaper searches are for happy reasons. Over the years I have been on duty in the Study Centre, I have advised users to search newspapers in order to find information about traffic accidents, court hearings, house fires, bankruptcy and murder.
Sadly, we hold many records that can be extremely distressing yet despite this, it is important that we hold sensitive material and allow access to it subject to strict closure periods. Often, we are asked to produce coroner reports so people can discover more about how their ancestor died. Our leaflet about these records states that Coroners undertake inquests and post-mortems to determine the cause of death particularly on those who have died suddenly, alone, in suspicious or in violent circumstances. As you can imagine, these documents can be extremely painful to read. They can also be difficult records for staff to work with as they need to read them during the cataloguing process.
Unfortunately, many early reports haven’t survived but inquests were often reported in great detail in the local press, so it is always worth checking our collection. Again, another example of how important old newspapers can be. Currently, coroners records are closed to public inspection for 75 years. However, if a request is made for a report that falls within the closure period, the Coroner will make the decision about access. Proof of a close family relationship to the deceased is usually needed in order to achieve this.
Our St. George’s hospital (former County Lunatic Asylum) case books are another class of records which make people emotional. Mental Health is widely discussed today but, in the past, there was a huge stigma attached to it. Northumberland Archives hold numerous patient case books, beginning in 1890. We get countless requests to view these records and I have witnessed many shed a tear when reading through them. Often there is a photograph of the patient and when people see them, they are surprised. There is always a mixture of emotions as they are happy to see their ancestor but then sadness hits them when they remember where the photograph was taken. Many say that the patients have a haunted look which makes it even more poignant.
One lady who visited our Study Centre had discovered that her female ancestor was a patient in St. George’s, and she had never seen a photograph of her before so was hoping to find one. I found the case book and luckily there was an image attached to the notes. I left the lady to read through the material and look at the photograph then returned to her later to make sure that she was ok. She said that she felt very emotional which seemed silly for a lady she had never met. I assured her that these types of records often seemed to elicit a reaction like that. She then touched my hand and said, “thank you for finding her.” For me, that was a very good day on duty in the Study Centre.
You come across as very caring people. I’m not sympathetic – my great-grandmother had to “emigrate” from Norfolk to Bedlington (to join relative) when she was widowed in her thirties with a gaggle of children, and I find myself telling _other_ people that that must have been traumatic (not least a foreign language, Nofolk to Geordie!), but _I_ can’t really empathise; however, as you describe, lots of people do, and you seem very _kind_ in looking after them, asking if they’re all right, and so on.
Thank you very much for your kind comment 😊