Branching Out: how to use estate records for family history

Until the nineteenth century, a large proportion of the land in Britain was owned and managed by a relatively small number of elite, landed families. These households kept extensive records across decades and even centuries. However, they don't just provide information about the landed families as they contain details about the local community, those who worked in the household and across the estate.

Estate records can be an excellent source of information for the family and house historian or anyone completing a local history research project. Estate record collections can include deeds, rentals, leases, surveys, accounts, maps, wage books and other correspondence that can shed light on everyday life, employment, business transactions, property changes, historic land use, ownership and occupancy.

‘Branching Out’ is a series of online, self-paced 5-credit modules, which focus on key documents available through online collections for family history research and beyond. They give students an opportunity to study a key topic in depth, using relevant examples and collections.

This course focuses primarily on British research. Students will learn how to effectively search a number of free estate record and archival websites. Key collections held at the National Library Wales can be accessed for free online and these will be used as case studies.

Branching Out: how to use estate records for family history can be studied as a stand-alone course, but it is also an optional module for the Certificate of Higher Education in Genealogical Studies at Aberystwyth University. If you have already completed our 3-part series of modules Acorn to Oak: building a family tree, these 5 -credit modules will likely be of interest as you can explore a particular topic in much greater detail. This online, self-paced learning course enables students to study from home while participating in an online learning community. The course is delivered through Blackboard, the virtual learning environment, and will include one live webinar.

Assessments
1.Evaluation of an estate record (20%)
2.Research Project 800 words (80%)

Note

This module is at CQFW Level 4