Local History

         Contents

• Census Information
• Council Minutes 
• Directories 
• Electoral Registers
• Maps
• Marriage Indexes
• Memorial Inscriptions
• Local Newspapers
• Periodicals
• Photographic Collection
• Skelton Papers
• Local History Talks

Local News

The  Local Studies Library is part of the Central Reference Library and is situated on the first floor of the Central Library, accessible by both stairs and public lift. It provides a wealth of information for researchers into the history of the area and for those who have a general interest in the past.  As a recent visitor commented:
"The Local Studies Library is a fascinating place - I could spend hours in there!"   Mr. B. Norfolk.
The opening hours are the same as for other Central Library departments. All items are for consultation only within the department and cannot be borrowed. It is possible to photocopy from most of them, subject to condition and copyright restrictions. In order to have access to the collection, you must fill in a registration form and provide proof of identity and address. A library ticket, driving licence or any official printed document is acceptable. On each visit, for security reasons, you will need to sign in and out in a diary which is kept at the Enquiry Desk.

The geographical areas covered are the historic County of Lincolnshire from the Humber to the Wash prior to 1974, and the Counties or Humberside and Lincolnshire and their component districts 1974 - 1996. Since 1996 the collection has focused on the area covered by the North East Lincolnshire Unitary Authority with a limited coverage outside this area South of the Humber.
Additional local studies materials are available at the North East Lincolnshire Archives Office, situated at the rear of the Town Hall.
The stock consists of:

• Books
• Pamphlets
• Maps and plans
• Newspapers on microfilm
• Newspaper cuttings
• Census reels
• Photographs                                                 

Census enumerators' returns are the only publicly available source of information on each individual within a community. The census has been conducted every ten years since 1801 (except for 1941). The results of each census are published by The Stationery Office in the form of detailed statistics. After one hundred years the forms themselves are made publicly available. The early census returns contain very basic information but more details were included from 1841 onwards including occupations of the householders, ages and place of birth.
Census information is particularly useful to people involved in family history research or the history of their house or street.
Census surname indexes have been compiled for most of the areas in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes district. Vouchers for the 1901 census online are available for sale in Grimsby Reference Library and Cleethorpes Library priced at £5.00.
The enumerators' returns are all held on microfilm in Grimsby Central Library. Microfilm and microfiche reading machines are available in the Reference Library. Although you don't have to book to use the microfilm readers it is advisable to do so, particularly if you will be making a long journey to come to the library.   See also Family History

Council Minutes

Directories
Directories are printed lists of local traders and businesses. They often include private individuals too. In addition to the listings they often include information on the history and economy of local towns and villages. County Directories are generally arranged in alphabetical order by town and village. Not every resident is normally included. They concentrate on employers and self-employed.
The earliest Lincolnshire directory held in Grimsby Local Studies Library was produced in 1826. The town directories for Grimsby and Cleethorpes were first produced in 1852 and were published on a regular basis until 1975.

Electoral Registers

These are arranged by electoral ward and then alphabetically by street name. They are not arranged in surname order. Street indexes are available to identify the ward which contains each street.

Maps
Enclosure Maps
Pre and post enclosure maps for most villages in the area. These are useful for showing the original boundaries of the settlements before Ordnance Survey maps to a constant scale in the 1880's.

Ordnance Survey
OS maps of Lincolnshire in various scales from 1 : 50,000 (1" to 1 mile) to 50" to a mile for built up areas from 1888 to the present day. We also keep a large range of historical maps from the pre-1888 era but these are not to a constant scale.

Street Plans - Historical and Modern
An extensive collection of street maps and plans which are useful for tracing the development of a particular area, and when used in conjunction with the Directories they can be used to trace the location of now demolished buildings.

Marriage Indexes
1754 - 1837. These are arranged within Deaneries, alphabetically by surname and show the date and place of marriage and maiden name.

Memorial Inscriptions
These are available for most of the churches in North East Lincolnshire and are particularly useful for the larger cemeteries, such as Ainslie Street and Scartho Road, enabling you to identify who is buried there and in some cases the location of the graves.

Local Newspapers
An alphabetical card subject index giving the title of articles, date, page and column is available for most local newspapers for the latter part of the 19th century.
Since the 1960's cuttings are kept on a wide range of subjects classified by place and then subject.

Periodicals 
The main local studies periodicals are:-

Photographic Collection
There are over 30,000 local historical photographs in the Reference Local Studies Collection.  Most of the photographs are black and white and provide an insight into how the Grimsby area looked over a century ago and in more recent times.
The Library provides a photographic reproduction service subject to condition and copyright.  Please contact the Reference Library for more information. Telephone: 01472 323603 /

Skelton Papers
A collection of all items printed by William Skelton of Grimsby between 1824 and 1861. The collection portrays the social history of the town during the middle years of the nineteenth century and includes:-

• notices of elections
• notices of regattas
• temperance meetings
• theatre bills
• auctions

The microfilms of the collection are used for research purposes.
Please note that research is only undertaken at the discretion of staff
as we do not have a dedicated researcher.
Bookings for microfilm machines and the internet can be made by either telephoning (01472) 323635
or by e-mail

Digitisation
Both nationally and locally many local studies materials are being developed in imaginative ways. The New Opportunity Fund has launched a website at www.EnrichUK.net which acts as a gateway to the 150 websites that have been developed with over £50 million Lottery money. The collection ranges across culture, history, social and economic development, science the arts and the community and provides a wonderful opportunity to look at many historical resources online.

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'This forms an excellent initial step to research and clearly        

                               outlines the facilities the library holds.'  Mrs. Holmes (Lincoln)