The contribution of DNA analysis to our researches has underlined the obvious fact that in order to link family groups together we need to research earlier and earlier generations. At the same time there is an incredible development of online resources which is difficult to keep up with.
One example of this is the London Metropolitan Archives cooperation with Ancestry to digitise and index many London parish registers back to their earliest dates, making available good quality scanned images.
A second example is the British History Online Project to make available the calendars of state papers in The National Archives. We have, then, much that can be done in the confines of the home but researches which need to be done in record offices become more difficult and time-consuming as we work back into the earlier years.
This section of the website attempts to do a number of things:
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show the overall range of tasks that need to be done if our aims are eventually to be fulfilled
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build up initial descriptions of projects that members can share in, help create and modify - some of these will be overall Society projects and others will relate to family groups
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outline the research aspects that special interest forums can work on, e.g. each DNA family group or members working the information sources for a particular area
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offer a channel for comment and ideas so that the research process is as dynamic as we can all make it
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offer members a direct way of influencing what we do.
A major problem with all this is that there is much to do and rationally deciding on priorities is very difficult, if not impossible. In general, however, I hope that members of each DNA family group will run their own forum on the website and use it to further research into their particular group.
Similarly, there will be forums to keep up with the progress on Society-led projects. These will most likely be in relation to record sources that are not obviously related to a particular family group and will probably be aimed at tapping into resources covering earlier periods.
Because of limited resources it will largely be down to individual members to push forward research on their own family groups. As Research Coordinator I will be working to move forward the more general research projects, although help from members and professional researchers will be needed.
All participants in activities can expect the Society officers to offer as much support as they are able.
The next section attempts to spell out simply the framework underpinning research activities and provide a jumping-off point for individual research activities. The section is compressed and may be hard-going at first but I hope will provide a logical base for 'grassroots' activities.
Very importantly, all the sections in this part of the website will offer you a feedback box (registered users and B1NS members see below) where you can submit comments about what is written there, including offers to volunteer to help! In addition, each special/DNA family group forum area will have the facility to post comments and by degrees we will make provision for forum groups to upload their findings.
Peter Badham
Research Coordinator
Please Note: You will need to register with the website to see more of this (research) material as well as potentially participate.