The following resources illustrate the breadth of material that can assist with family history.
Births, deaths and marriages
The Register General's (formerly St.Catherine’s House) Indexes of births, deaths and marriages in England and Wales, 1837 - 2000 are available on microfilm and microfiche for consultation. The Indexes are invaluable when searching for the birth, death or marriage of an ancestor. You can buy copies of Leeds certificates from the Register Office in the Leeds Town Hall.
Ancestry.com and Origins.net
There is free internet access in the Local and Family History Library to Ancestry.com and also Origins.net. Ancestry includes the census returns for England, Wales and Scotland from 1841- 1901, the births, marriages and deaths indexes for England and Wales, as well as the First World War British Army service, pension and medal records. Ancestry is also available in all local Leeds libraries. Origins has some English, Welsh and Irish census returns, plus other resources such as Boyd's Marriage Index, London Apprenticeship Records, and Griffiths Valuation. Please note you will need to bring proof of your name and address to access this resource.
Parish registers
The library holds a wide range of printed transcripts and microform copies of manuscript registers. Coverage is mainly centred on Leeds, but parish registers for some other parts of Yorkshire are held. There are also microfilm copies of the non-parochial (i.e. non-conformist) registers of Yorkshire taken from the originals in the Public Record Office, London, most of which end in 1837.
International Genealogical Index
Also available on open public access are the microfiche copies of the sections for the British Isles extracted from the Mormon Church’s Computer File Index of Genealogical Source Material (about 3,000 fiches). This index is no longer updated on microform, but the on-line version can be seen on the Family Search website www.familysearch.org
Burial registers
A recent acquisition is the microfilmed burial registers from Lawnswood Cemetery. These registers are of the records in all 22 Leeds municipal cemeteries, and cover both burials and cremations.
Census enumerators returns
The census is a record of the population taken every 10 years and the enumerators returns give valuable information about individuals, such as ages, relationships within households, occupations, and places of birth. Microfilm copies for the whole of Yorkshire 1841 -1901 are available for consultation on open public access. Various indexes to the census returns are provided to help researchers. The census can now be accessed for free on-line in the library on Ancestry.com. We sell 1901 on-line census vouchers and Findmypast.com vouchers at £5 each. Some of the larger branch libraries sell the 1901 vouchers.
Trade directories
Many Yorkshire trade directories are in stock but the collection is particularly strong in directories of Leeds and the West Riding dating from the 1780s. The last Kelly’s directory of Leeds was published in 1947 and the last Barrett’s in 1966. After this date telephone and other classified directories are available.
Voters lists (electoral rolls/registers)
There is an almost complete run of voters’ lists of Leeds, dating from 1832. These list all those eligible to vote in local and national elections. Before 1974 the lists cover the old Borough of Leeds and after that date the Leeds Metropolitan District. No lists were compiled during the World Wars. However, we do have the First World War Absent Voters Lists for Leeds, which list all service men who were registered to vote in Leeds during the war. The Absent Voters Lists are a very useful resource because they contain details of the army number, rank and regiment for each service man registered. This information will prove useful when searching for military service records.
Local newspapers and journals
The library holds microfilm copies of all the major Leeds newspapers back to the eighteenth century, including the Yorkshire Post and its fore-runner the Leeds Intelligencer, the Leeds Mercury, the Yorkshire Evening Post, and theYorkshire Evening News. Other current and historic local Leeds newspapers are also kept as well as Leeds and Yorkshire journals. An index to local newspapers has been maintained for the past thirty years covering major local news items, obituaries and biographical articles on Leeds people which can now be searched online at www.leedslocalindex.net.
Maps
An extensive collection of maps covering all of Yorkshire, but specialising in Leeds and the north part of the West Riding, is held in the library; maps date from around 1500. Ordnance survey maps are available from 1850 and continue to present day at various scales.
Print collection
This consists of photographs, prints and engravings of Leeds and Yorkshire subjects, mostly topographical in scope and including photographs of Leeds taken by the City Engineer’s Department between 1890 and 1960. Most of the images can be viewed online at www.leodis.net
Leeds Playbills
Our playbill collection is a superb resource for anyone researching an ancestor who performed at any of the Leeds theatres. This extensive collection dates back to the 18th century, and is from many old Leeds theatres and is now available to view on line at www.leodis.net/playbills
Copying services
Copies of material may be obtained in the form of photocopies and photographs, subject to copyright restrictions, and on payment of the current charges, which are available on request.
Please contact us here at the library if you have any queries about our resources or if you need any help with your research.