The latest Lost Cousins newsletter carries an interesting response from the English and Welsh GRO to a Freedom of Information request from Peter Calver concerning the institution's attempts to digitise its vital records collections. The aborted DOVE project saw the digitisation of births from 1837-1934 and deaths from 1837-1957, although it seems that no index was ever produced. On top of the £8.33 million spent on the project before it collapsed, the GRO reckons it would now need another £25-£30million to finish the job. It's fairly depressing news for those hoping that the GRO at Southport will leave the 20th century at some point.
There is more on Peter's FOI request, as well as additional tips and news at www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/sep12news.htm.
(With thanks to Peter)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
I wonder what impact the copyright guidance, published by The National Archives at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/copying-bmd-certificates.pdf has on the sale of certificates. It appears that whilst copyright is still asserted on certificates, a public license exists to reproduce under certain conditions (mostly to do with information pertaining to living people).
where is the completed half? Surely we can have access to that! I believe other groups offered to finish it for free - why was the offer not accepted? (ref. the DOVE project).
ReplyDeleteIt is in use by the GRO - it was never actually designed for public access (i.e. like ScotlandsPeople), although recent legislation has now been passed in England to permit similar access to such records as is currently the case in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Which is not to say that that will necessarily happen...!
ReplyDelete