recommended by our Librarians:
Ordnance Survey Maps of Great Britain & Ireland
From 1805 to 1844, Great Britain began a project of detailed surveys of the entire country. These maps are known as Ordnance Surveys. The goal was to be prepared for an invasion by Napoleon by understanding all resources available especially military needs for transportation of supplies and troops. Every road and pathway are noted, all villages and other residences and buildings, the topography and every waterway. All of these maps have been digitized and can be purchased or researched online. There were many series completed over the years. Wikipedia has an article on these surveys and complete sets of the various series.
Survey maps of Ireland are available from Ordnance Survey of Ireland (OSI) which provides public viewing of the maps on its website. In addition, there is a series of 40 volumes entitled Memoirs of Ireland. While doing the survey during the 1830’s, the engineers and surveyors conducted detailed interviews of residents of Ireland and noted details of the buildings and residences. Because this information was recorded before the Great Famine it includes valuable facts about Ireland prior to this major change. Many of the interviews include family histories and other personal information. These volumes were not published until the 1990’s but are now available on various websites.
Our National Archives
The National Archives in Washington, D.C. encompasses over one million square feet of documents and artifacts. All of this information has been digitized and is on microfiche. The Napa Valley Genealogy Library has numerous books that provide a guide to researching this collection (Call No. 027.5). There are guides to military information, a guide to slavery information, a guide to documents about the War of 1812 and much, much more.
After researching the guides to the collection, there are several ways to access the information. It can be ordered or viewed at a Regional Center. All of this process is discussed in the books in this section. In California there is a Regional Center in San Bruno where the microfiche can be viewed.
