sharing Solihull's local history
If you are interested in tracing the history of a house or building, the starting point should be the building itself or a picture of it if it no longer exists, and any anecdotal information/existing research. The crucial information you need in order to search most effectively is the approximate date of construction, as this will help you to identify what records may be available and where they may be.
Continue reading “Tracing house history”
In 2006/7, Solihull Libraries, working in partnership with Solihull College, ran a series of 10-week family history courses for people tracing ancestors from the Caribbean. We believe these to have been the first full-length courses in the UK for Caribbean family history. The courses were free to attend as a result of funding from the European Social Fund’s Equal Engage programme. When the funding came to an end in 2007, the tutors and some of the learners decided to continue as a family history group and have been meeting at the library ever since.
Continue reading “Caribbean Family History Group”
We always aim to do our best to help with any queries relating to local history in connection with places in the Solihull Borough or former Rural District, but please book in advance of visiting The Core Library, if you need to view any books, photos, maps or archive documents.
This means we can ensure that you don’t have a wasted journey and that there is someone available to help you.
Continue reading “Heritage enquiries / viewing documents”
Your Solihull Library Card gives you access to hundreds of free eBooks available from Solihull Libraries, and we’re trying to add some local history items to the collection.
Continue reading “Local history eBooks”
If you’ve ever wondered what was previously on the site of your house, or wanted to find out where your ancestors lived, then historic Ordnance Survey (OS) maps are often a good place to start.
Thanks to the freely available maps of England & Wales on the National Library of Scotland (NLS) website, it’s now possible to see some of the old OS maps overlaid onto a modern satellite image, making it much easier to get your bearings.
Even if you use a computer to organise your family tree, you are still likely to end up with a lot of physical documents that you need to keep in order. There are a number of ways of doing this, the most obvious being alphabetically, but this can become confusing as your research grows, especially if you have multiple people with the same name. Another way is to use numbers from a pedigree chart of your direct ancestors.
Make the most efficient use of your time by following our tips to get started on researching your family history. A word of warning – genealogy can be addictive, so it may end up occupying more time than you think!
Continue reading “Starting your family tree – the first steps”
Solihull Life 