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Optional Print Course Material: Organizing a One-Place Study
*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.
One-place studies are the study of the people in a community within the context of the place they live. Unlike a local history, which focuses on the past as described by residents, a one-place (or community) study uses a statistical approach and resources often used by family historians. Because a one-place study brings family and local history together, various analysis methods can be used to reconstruct the community and gain an insight into the lives of the people who have walked the streets, ploughed the fields, worked and worshipped in a place. This course will suggest ways in which this could be done.
This course will examine the sources of information available to researchers, how to access them (on- and off-line) and the fascinating details which can be uncovered.
Course Length: 6 weeksMODULE 1
GETTING STARTED
Maps
Churches
Non-conformity
Gazetteers & Directories
Photographs
Sources for One-Place Studies
Researching Your Place
Censuses
Maps & Plans
Churches
Other Places of Worship
Other Buildings
Gazetteers & Directories
Photographs of the Area
Other Online Sources
Derivative Sources
MODULE 2
ANALYSIS OF PEOPLE IN A TIME & PLACE
Introduction
Getting Started - The People
Church Registers
Newspapers
Discovery Catalogue
School Records
Poor Law
Apprentice Records
MODULE 3
UNDERSTANDING THE COMMUNITY
Turning Back Time
The World Wars
Service and pension records
Soldiers who died in the Great War
Finding soldiers using the Absent Voters Lists
School records
Wills
MODULE 4
FAMILY RECONSTRUCTION & ONE-PLACE STUDIES
Family Reconstruction
Complexity of family reconstructions
Limits of feasibility
How to do it
Drawing the threads together
Examples of One-Place Studies
Joining a group of like-minded people
MODULE 5
DNA & ONE-PLACE STUDIES
Introduction
Finding a Study
Creating a DNA Study
Recruiting Volunteers
Collating & Analyzing Data
ADDITIONAL READING