Miscellaneous tips

A collection of miscellaneous tips and tricks not covered in other articles that might help you with your research.

Access some subscription websites with a Library Card

• There are a number of websites including Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, The [London] Times Digital Archive 1785-1985, The Illustrated London News 1842-2003, 19th Century UK Periodicals and other newspaper sites, JSTOR (many journals), which may help you in your research, where access is restricted . Card holders of participating Libraries including the following National Libraries (noting there is generally a residential requirement) Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, State Library of NSW, and many University Libraries can access some, or all of these websites, generally remotely on their own computers. Many of these websites including ECCO may also be accessed from the British Library Reading Rooms. Also see Subscription websites-online newspapers, journals and directories
• In England, a Borough or County Library Card may enable you to access The Times remotely but probably not other historical newspaper sites. However, enquire what is available to you both from your local library and the libraries of surrounding boroughs as what is on offer can differ widely and membership requirements are usually easily met. Popular choices available online include The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Who's Who & Who Was Who. Other subscription sites may be available from terminals in the library itself e.g. Ancestry - this may sound restrictive but, if you already subscribe at a base level, may be useful for consultation when you want to look up a source restricted to premium subscribers.

Access an obsolete website in archives.org

• Go to http://www.archive.org/web/web.php and type in the website you require in the Wayback Machine and click <Take Me Back>.
• A helpful website which has closed is regiments.org, here is the archived site at January 2008. This is the Regiments page, the Numeric list of British Army Regiments page and the British Army 1881 Regiments page; An overview of the South Asian Armies page, Alphabetic Index,South Asia page and Numeric index, South Asia page

Search for books on a particular topic

The Royal Historical Society Bibliography Search may be of use if you are researching a particular topic and wish to find books written about the topic.As an example, entering East India Company produced over a thousand results, mainly books and articles written in the last forty years.

Search for a Library which holds a book you want to read

• Worldcat.org. Note that the British Library does not appear to be part of this database.
• Trove for Australia. (National Library of Australia)

Find the meaning of words used in India

• Hobson-Jobson: the Anglo-Indian dictionary by Henry Yule, Arthur Coke Burnell, William Crooke published by Wordsworth Editions, 1996. Limited View Google Books or full view at the Internet Archive website
• The Oriental Interpreter and Treasury of East India Knowledge: A Companion to "The Hand-book of British India." by Joachim Hayward Stocqueler 1848, Full View Google Books
• This Glossary is from the British Empire website

Convert a date which has used the Bengali Calendar

• Bengali Calendar Wikipedia

Find out the meaning of an archaic medical term

Useful for interpreting the cause of death on a burial record or the medical conditions on a soldier's service record.

• Glossary of Medical Terms used in the 18th and 19th Centuries from Craig Thornber’s History of Medicine
• From Genealogy Quest-Glossaries-Diseases Part 1, A-C, Part 2, D-L, Part 3, M-R, Part 4, S-Y.

Photographs

Scan photographs

• Tips for scanning photographs Colourmemories.com

Digitally restore old photographs

• Digital Restoration of Old Photographs from Tech Tips Familysearch.org

Date family photographs

• Find My Past has a series of blogs about how to date family photographs

Aspects to consider when hiring a professional researcher

• Hiring a Professional from Cyndi’s List which includes Selecting and Engaging a Professional Researcher from Ancestry.com

Copy Information from Full View Google Books

Refer Google Books

Scan and edit a document

• Microsoft Office Word 2007 instructions on how to Scan and edit a document, from Microsoft Office Online.
• Microsoft Office Word 2003 instructions About Microsoft Office Document Imaging from Microsoft Office Online.

Use the Virtual Magnifying Glass

You may find this Virtual Magnifying Glass is useful.