Wales Archives and Libraries

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Archives and Libraries

Archives collect and preserve original documents of organizations such as churches or governments. Libraries generally collect published sources such as books, maps, and microfilm.
If you plan to visit a repository, contact them and ask for information about their collection, hours, services, and fees. Ask if they require you to have a reader’s ticket (a paper indicating you are a responsible researcher) to view the records, and ask how to obtain one.
Although the records you need may be in an archive or library, the FamilySearch Library may have microfilmed and/or digitized copies of them.

County Archives, Libraries, Museums, and Record Offices

Here you will find links to Wiki articles providing information and links to archives, libraries, museums, and record offices at the county level:

Libraries

British Library at St. Pancras
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
England

The British Library is the national repository for all published materials in England. Because its collection is so complex, usually only experienced researchers use it.

Guildhall Library
Aldermanbury
London EC2P 2EJ
England

Guildhall Library has many guild (occupation) and business records.

Society of Genealogists
356 Holloway Road
London N7 6PA Ehgland
Telephone: (020) 7251 8799

The Society of Genealogists has extensive records from all over England. They also have the largest collection of transcribed parish registers in England.

Church Libraries

Church in Wales : Diocesan libraries FamilySearch Library 942.9 A1

Public Libraries

Public Libraries in the United Kingdom This website frequently provides a link to the online catalog of each library in the directory.

Public libraries collect many published sources such as local histories, city directories, maps, newspapers, family histories, and parish registers.

Museums

Top 100 best museums in Wales

National Museum Cardiff
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NP
UK

Phone: 0300 111 2 333
Website
Explore the Evolution of Wales Galleries online

National Museum Cardiff (Welsh: Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd) is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.

St Fagans National Museum of History
(located 4 miles west of Cardiff City Centre, just off the A4232)
Cardiff
CF5 6XB UK

Phone: 0300 111 2 333
Email: stfagans@museumwales.ac.uk
Website

St Fagans National Museum of History, commonly referred to as St Fagans after the village where it is located, is an open-air museum in Cardiff chronicling the historical lifestyle, culture, and architecture of the Welsh people.

National Waterfront Museum
Oystermouth Road
Maritime Quarter
Swansea
SA1 3RD UK

Phone: 0300 111 2 333
Email: waterfront@museumwales.ac.uk
Website

The museum deals with Wales' history of industrial revolution and innovation by combining significant historical artifacts with modern technologies, such as interactive touchscreens and multimedia presentation systems.

Big Pit National Coal Museum
Blaenafon
Torfaen
NP4 9XP UK

Phone: 0300 111 2 333
Email: bigpit@museumwales.ac.uk
Website

The museum features a range of above ground attractions including a winding house, saw mill, pithead, baths. Visitors are also taken below ground to the pit bottom where they tour the mine workings.

National Slate Museum
Llanberis
Gwynedd
LL55 4TY UK

Phone: 0300 111 2 333
Email: slate@museumwales.ac.uk
Website

The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of relicts of the Slate industry in Wales. The museum has displays featuring Victorian era slateworkers' cottages, the multi-media display, To Steal a Mountain, showing the lives and work of the men who quarried slate here. The museum also has the largest working waterwheel in mainland Britain. Close to the museum is the partly restored Vivian incline, a gravity balance incline where loaded slate wagons haul empty wagons back up.

National Wool Museum
Dre-fach Felindre, near Newcastle Emlyn
Llandysul
Carmarthenshire
SA44 5UP UK

Phone: 0300 111 2 333
Email: wool@museumwales.ac.uk
Website

Historically and into the 19th century, the woollen industry in Wales, including spinning and weaving, surpassed even coal as the most important of Wales' industries. Both the mill and the village of Drefach Felindre are a national heritage site. It displays aspects of the National Flat Textile collection. As well as historic machinery, a raised walkway gives a view of textiles in production at Melin Teifi, the site's commercial woollen mill. In 2005 a Research and Collections Centre opened which includes a room dedicated to hands-on learning opportunities.

National Roman Legion Museum
Caerleon, Nr Newport
NP18 1AE UK

Phone: 0300 111 2 333
Email: roman@museumwales.ac.uk
Website

The National Roman Legion Museum lies inside what remains of the fortress 0f Isca Augustafortress, and contains many artefacts from the period of Isca Augusta of Legio II Augusta from Roman currency to uniforms.

Ebbw Vale Works Museum
Unit 15 Cwm Draw Industrial Estate
Newtown, Ebbw Vale NP23 5AE UK

Telephone: 01495 350941
Email: ev_works_at@btinternet.com
Website

The archive contains a large number of legal and estate documents dating back to the 17th century, including the original agreements on farmland purchases for building the first furnaces and documents relating to the acquisition of ironworks and collieries during the periods of industrial expansion. The collection also has information relating to the mineral rights, water reserves, maps, plans, balance sheets, minutes of shareholder's Annual General Meetings and records on the development of processes and products, staffing and the changing skills of the personnel of the works.

Record Offices

Main article: General Register Office for England and Wales

Research your family history using the General Register Office Gov.UK guide.

The General Register Office (part of the Identity and Passport Service) houses government birth, marriage, and death certificates from 1 July 1837 to the present for all of England and Wales. Copies may be obtained either online or by post from the General Register Office or from the local register office where the event was registered.

Ordering certificates

Postal address:
Certificate Services Section
General Register Office
PO Box 2
Southport PR8 2JD England

Telephone: +44 (0)300 123 1837 (8am to 8pm Monday to Friday. Saturday 9am to 4pm)
Email: certificate.services@gro.gsi.gov.uk
Certificate ordering service

General Guides

Some guides to English archives and libraries are:

Foster, Janet, and Julia Sheppard. British Archives: A Guide to Archive Resources in the United Kingdom. 3rd ed. New York: Stockton Press Ltd., 1995. (FS Library book 942 J54f 1995; computer number 0763911.) (BYU FS Library book CD 1040 .F67 2001 4th ed.) This guide lists addresses, major records, and publications of various repositories in the United Kingdom. It is indexed by county and by type of collection.
Iredale, David. Enjoying Archives: What They Are, Where to Find Them, How to Use Them. Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd., 1985. (FS Library book 942 A5i 1985; computer number 0183662.) This guide describes the heritage of documents in Great Britain and a few of the archives where documents are stored. It explains the work of the county record office, how the staff preserves manuscripts, and a method for reading old records.
Moulton, Joy Wade. Genealogical Resources in English Repositories. Columbus, Ohio: Hampton House, 1988. Supplement published 1992. (FS Library book 942 J54m; computer number 0469640.) (BYU FS Library book CS 414 .X1 M94 1996.) This book contains addresses and describes the holdings of county record offices, genealogical and family history societies, and other repositories. Maps of repository locations are included.
Tallon, Maura. Church in Wales: Diocesan libraries Item 8 on film.