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This site is a 'gateway' to web sites concerned with local history, particularly for Gloucestershire. One of the aims of this site is to provide users with ready access to information about local history societies in the County (and their activies). There are also links to other relevant organisations. In addition, the site has links through the to a variety of information pages of interest to local historians. These include, at present, the Victoria History of Gloucestershire, indexes to various Journals, pictures of the woollen cloth industry in the Dursley area and census figures for Gloucestershire parishes, 1801-1901, book reviews, and useful websites for local historians. It is hoped that this handful of links will grow steadily as more and more people prepare material and are kind enough to make it available to others through the Internet. Suggestions of topics to cover and offers of actual material to be included will be most welcome. Please contact John Loosley or Ray Wilson A series of on-line guidelines on various topics relating to local history have been compiled. Some of these are concerned with the use of computers in local history. The aim is to provide some simple, but practical, guidelines on the use of word processing, digital images, web pages and databases in this area. There is a particular emphasis on ways of producing material that can be shared with others now and in the future. This is a very important consideration as the pace of developments in computing is now so great that software rapidly becomes obselete. However, by careful choice of the file format and storage medium used these problems can be largely overcome. More and more people are turning to local history as a very rewarding pursuit at all levels. One of the best ways to start is to go along to a meeting of your local society where you will be made most welcome. Alternatively if you know what topic you wish to explore you can visit the Gloucestershire Archives (Gloucestershire Record Office) and six other main libraries around the County. Here you will find extremely helpful staff who will be pleased to explain what material they hold that is relevant to your interest. The Local History magazine web site contains some very basic information on getting started. The Local History Committee of the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council provides a useful forum for representatives of the different societies to discuss matters of mutual interest. The Committee arrange at least two events each year that are open to all. There are a number of opportunities to study local history on a more formal basis and a limited number of links are provided in the Organisations pages. The site map provides an alphabetical listing of the available links. This is useful if you know already know the name of the site or you may care to browse through it for sites of interest. Comments and suggestions about this site are most welcome. Please send them to John Loosley or Ray Wilson. |