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Archiver > ONE-PLACE-STUDY > 2001-07 > 0996053672


From: "Michael Fisher" <>
Subject: [OPS] leter from Colin Mills
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 10:34:32 +0100


Hi all

I am forwarding this letter I received by snail mail from Collin Mills
for comments to him from members of the list

Mike in Droitwich WOR
______________________________________________________________________
_
THE lNDEX OF ONE-PLACE STUDlES
(responses to this draft by the end of July, please)

What is a one-place study? As the name suggests, there is an analogy
with one-name
studies. The difference is that rather than trace all instances of a
surname, or a related
group of surnames, world-wide, one-placers deal with the inhabitants
of a particular
locality. One-placers are volunteers actively working to compile
complete transcriptions
Or name indexes of the major extant sets of primary records of
genealogical or historical
relevance for a given parish, ideally in its entirety, or at least for
particular places, such as
villages or hamlets within the parish.

Because one-place studies deal with larger numbers of people, indexing
is more important,
and because they deal with a single locality, they have local
knowledge, being more familiar with local history and local
industries.

John Dowding first embarked on the lndex of One-Place Studies in 1994.
He found that
one-place studies often comprised an index of historical events,
parish registers, tithe
apportionments. census returns and sometime local newspapers.These
were of little
interest to other local historians. who tended to be interested only
in their own parishes,
but are of vital interest to family historians who usually find their
family roots are in
far away parts of the country. After three decades work on compiling
information on
Burnham and Creeksea in Essex where he was born, John began work on
his own family
history, where he almost immediately traced the family back to Wessex,
where Dorset,
Wiltshire and Somerset meet. He then wished that someone had done for
the Dorset town
of Gillingham, what he had done for Burnham.

The difficulty is to make available the work done by local historians
for family historians,
two sub-types of the species Homo Historicus who normally do not mix
as they have
separate organizations, separate journals and separate meetings.
Although there are 15 -
20,000 parishes in Britain, it is difficult to trace one-place studies
or local histories. An
index of those working or having worked on one-place studies would
help to bridge the gap
between local historians and family historians, to their mutual
benefit.

Colin Mills took over the Index from John Dowding in 1999, and
managed to arouse some
interest in the index. John Palmer has set up a list of the e-mail
addresses of those
conducting one-place studies with their web-sites al
www.wirksworth.org.uk/oneplace.htm
There are lists of online parish clerks, which is a very similar
scheme, for Cornwall at
www.parsonsl998.freeserve.co.uk/opc.htm, and for Devon at
www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/DEV/OPCproject.html

David Hawgood has offered to write a booklet on one-place studies,
including a directory
of those conducting one-place studies. giving the parishes or
localities, with names and
postal addresses, with e-mail addresses and web-sites where they
apply.The booklet will
also include several articles on one-place studies.

David Hawgood is discussing with others what precisely constitutes a
one-place study and
how it relates to local histories and other schemes such as the local
history recorder scheme
in Essex, Suffolk and Herts. The main criteria for an entry would be:
* willingness to answer queries with the search fee pre-paid (where
there is one) and
including anyhow a large stamped addressed envelope or
International Reply
Coupons; alternatively a reference to a published or deposited
study.
* the study must include more than one type of record - e.g.
including both parish
registers and censuses - or else covers a complete run of one
type of record with
correlation of names or reconstruction of families - 1841-1901
censuses, trade
directories over a period, parish registers. The coverage must be
described, for
example a general description of what has been included.
* The researcher must have indexes to all names within the records
in the study; that
is, not a one-name study for the place, nor a local history
merely picking out the
most significant people. A local history to be included would
need to be
comprehensive in its coverage of local families, and based on a
range of records.
The criteria are not designed to exclude but to encourage: if one is
working towards
achieving them, there must have been reasonable progress made before
becoming an
indexed study. After all you can't index a book before the first
volume has been completed.

A mailing list exists for anyone who is actively involved in studying
a single parish or group
of parishes in the United Kingdom, as well as those who are about to
embark on such a
project. To subscribe send "subscribe" to
(mail
mode) or (digest mode).

Colin Mills: address - 70 Chestnut Lane, Amersham, Bucks HP6 6EH;
e-mail
.
John Dowding: address - Flat 3, 17 Fen Street, Nayland, Colchester,
Essex C06 4HT; e-
mail or .
David Hawgood: address - 26 Cloister Road, Acton, London W6 6DE;
e-mail
David or .
John Palmer: address - 29 Sutherland Avenue, Broadstone, Dorset BH 18
9EB; e-mail




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