Another day in the life of…

I may have been a bit eager to get the next instalment of ‘a day in the life of…’ written, as back at the beginning of November I did promise that another would follow in December, well we’ve hit 1 December so here it is.

It felt like we probably had an ever so slightly busier day yesterday than last time, with more customers visiting the search room (and local studies who I know had a very busy yesterday). However, as I looked back at our statistics we didn’t actually retrieve as many documents from the stores as the previous day I blogged about. It is often the case that more people in the search room does not necessarily mean more documents being requested (and vice versa with fewer people and a higher number of document orders) – this usually depends on the documents themselves and the information they contain, for example is it a document that is quick to look at or needs some time to be read and considered. Yesterday, the main reason for difference is that three of the customers each spent a few hours in the search room, looking at only two documents each. Although not all working together, they were all consulting the documents in great detail in order to make accurate transcripts that can then be used to obtain the same information without necessarily consulting the original document – which also helps us to protect the document by reducing handling.

We also had visits from people researching the geography and buildings in Duffield, two colleagues from the Legal Services team investigating the history and status of a particular road in the Peak District (see them hard at work below), a regular customer and researcher with various interests, this time looking at Methodist records, a new customer looking for an ancestor in the school admission register, as well as others who have visited for reasons that I do not know…

Returned to stores today after being scanned for a customer order – Papers relating to a property at the corner of the Corn Market and Albert Street, Derby, formerly used as a warehouse and counting house, 1484-1853

The packaging for this bundle, containing various plans of Denby and the business of Joseph Bourne & Son (later Denby Pottery), was not quite big enough for the documents inside, so we needed to arrange for new packaging…

Bundle returned to previous packaging with a slip to the preservation assistants requesting new or additional packaging

Staff from DCC Legal Services team inspecting the Eyam tithe map of 1842

An almost empty search room at the end of the day. A few maps ready to be returned, and the Archives and Local Studies Manager reading an 19th commonplace book searching for references to the Pentrich Revolution

As before, here are the rest of my snaps from the day showing the range of resources used (click on an image for a full description)

Enlargement of Eyam Tithe Map, 1842 (ref: D2360/3/16a/1-2)

Eyam Tithe Map, 1842 (ref: D2360/3/16a/1-2)

Eyam Tithe Map, 1842 (ref: D2360/3/16a/1-2)

Eyam Tithe Award, 1839 (ref: D2360/3/16b)

Eyam Tithe Award, 1839 (ref: D2360/3/16b)

Eyam Tithe Award, 1839 (ref: D2360/3/16b)

D2375/M/40/3 Cover of the Journal kept by George Crewe, 8 Jun 1815 – 11 Oct 1818

D2375/M/40/3 Inside the Journal kept by George Crewe, 8 Jun 1815 – 11 Oct 1818. Certain passages have been crossed out by his daughter Isabel Jane Crewe in 1883 in accordance with what she believed were her mother’s wishes

D2670/J/MW/3/3 Annual list of Society members in the Derby Wesleyan Methodist Circuit, 1810-1835; D2421/6/1 Ashbourne Methodist Circuit Trustees’ meetings, Feb 1836-Feb 1881

D3737/3/1 Extract from King Street and Greenhill Wesleyan Chapels 1821-1866 inc minutes of annual Trustees’ meetings for the Circuit, 1826-1833

D878/A/PI/5/1 Burial register for St. Michael and All Angels church at Alvaston, 1813-1890 – as you can see this register has seen better days, and we would not normally allow access to the original as there is a copy on microfilm. However, as the original register is being used to create a full transcript which will mean a further usable surrogate in the future, a small exception was made in this case once the Senior Conservator undertook some remedial work to minimise damage during access

D878/A/PI/5/1 Burial register for St. Michael and All Angels church at Alvaston, 1813-1890 – as you can see this register has seen better days, and we would not normally allow access to the original as there is a copy on microfilm. However, as the original register is being used to create a full transcript which will mean a further usable surrogate in the future, a small exception was made in this case once the Senior Conservator undertook some remedial work to minimise damage during access

D544/MZ/851 “Records of Wesleyan Methodism in the Belper Circuit 1760-1903” by G Arthur Fletcher, 1903, available in the Belper Methodist Circuit collection

D544/MZ/851 “Records of Wesleyan Methodism in the Belper Circuit 1760-1903” by G Arthur Fletcher, 1903, available in the Belper Methodist Circuit collection

D3147/35/1/1-2 Copy of part of mineral map of Denby by A J Twigg, scale 3 feet to 1 inch, 1834, with longitudinal section for coal and ironstone mines, copy made mid-20th cent

D2670/J/MW/3/1 Annual list of Society members in the Derby Wesleyan Methodist Circuit, 1791-1801

D2670/J/MW/3/1 Annual list of Society members in the Derby Wesleyan Methodist Circuit, 1791-1801

D2670/J/MW/3/1 Derby Wesleyan Methodist Circuit Trustees Minutes 1833-1864

D2670/J/MW/3/1 Annual list of Society members in the Derby Wesleyan Methodist Circuit, 1791-1801

D1564/1b Title of the Duffield Enclosure Map, 1787

D1564/1b Enlargement showing the village centre of Duffield Enclosure Map, 1787

D1473/50/1a – just in case you forget which tithe map it is, it covers DUFFIELD

D1473/50/1a This image shows about a third of the tithe map, although not very wide, the Duffield map, also covering Makeney and Burley is rather long and doesn’t fit on the table all at once

D1473/50/1a The rather-more-fancy-than-usual title to the Duffield tithe map of 1842

D1473/50/1a Enlargement of the Duffield tithe map of 1842, showing the village centre and bend of the River Derwent

D1179/A/PI 5/1 St Giles, Marston Montgomery Burial Register Apr 1813-Feb 1950 – cover

D1179/A/PI 5/1 St Giles, Marston Montgomery Burial Register Apr 1813-Feb 1950 – page 33

D1179/A/PI 5/1 St Giles, Marston Montgomery Burial Register Apr 1813-Feb 1950 – page 65. With the sad exceptions of Joseph Skidmore and Charles Chamberlain, the other parishioners buried between May 1889 and May 1890 lived to pretty good ages – does this surprise you for the late Victorian period?

D595/R4/1/44 1910 Finance Act Domesday book for Eyam, Eyam Woodlands, Foolow, Highlow and Nether Padley recording owners, occupiers, and other property information that can be linked back to an annotated version of the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map

LV 16/7 Land Values map covering Eyam with annotations referring to the Domesday Book

D501/B/B/18 Cromford Canal permit book, permit numbers 186-760, dated 10 Jan – 19 Feb 1828

D501/B/B/18 Cromford Canal permit book, permit numbers 186-760, dated 10 Jan – 19 Feb 1828

D82/1 Admission register for Hardstoft Church of England School, Ault Hucknall from 1857

Q/RI 45a-b Cover of the Eyam Enclosure Map and Award, 1803-1812

Q/RI 45a-b Introductory page for the Eyam Enclosure Award of 1803

Q/RI 45a-b Enlargement showing the village of Eyam Enclosure Map, 1812

D2670/J/MW/6/2 Derby Circuit Preachers Plan for 1815

Ordnance Survey maps for 1880 and 1922 covering Eyam (sheet reference 16/7)

Enlargement of the 1880 Ordnance Survey map for Eyam (sheet reference 16/7)

D3737/3/1 Cover King Street and Greenhill Wesleyan Chapels 1821-1866 inc minutes of annual Trustees’ meetings for the Circuit, 1826-1833