Making Use of the Census (Public Record Office Readers Guide) (Readers Guides) Review

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(More customer reviews)This introductory book is primary focused on the use of the census microfilm available for England and Wales at the Public Records Office in the United Kingdom.
However, the information provide is of great use to the researcher with English or Welsh ancestry for understanding how the censuses were taken, how they are currently organized, and how best to access them.
The section on "Finding Your Place on the Film" describes the PRO's microfilm numbering system which is useful even when you use the films at the LDS Family History Centers since they are copies of the PRO films. Understanding the PRO reference numbers makes research a great deal easier.
The section on "Understanding the Returns" contains many wonderful gems from the original enumerators' notes. Be prepared to laugh at their inventiveness in describing some occupations and the reasons why they were unable to count everyone in their area. Humorous and insightful examples are used to illustrate the book throughout.
One set of illustrations which I found particularly helpful were the sample street maps showing how an enumerator might "walk" the street - thus explaining the order in which households were recorded in the census returns.
The appendixes include a complete list of registration districts and their numbers for each census and various street index finding aids (invaluable for hunting ancestors in the larger cities).

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This is a revised edition of this bestselling guide to census records at The National Archives. Census records are some of the most valuable and frequently used by family historians and the release of a new census every ten years is an eagerly anticipated event. Published to coincide with the opening of 1901 Census in January 2002, this new edition incorporates all the essential details for researchers wishing to exploit this new and important resource.It also offers practical advice to historians to find their way into the nineteenth century returns. It provides help in tracking down individuals as part of a family tree, and is equally helpful to social or economic historians, for example, comparing occupations in a particular suburb over a thirty year period. This important guide includes explains how to use the Family Records Centre in London, the home of the Victorian census records, and how to use The National Archive's finding aids as part of your research.