British Archives is the foremost reference guide to archive resources in the UK. Since publication of the first edition more than ten years ago, it has established itself as an indispensable reference source for everyone who needs rapid access on archives and archive repositories in this country. Over 1200 entries provide detailed information on the nature and extent of the collection as well as the organization holding it. A typical entry includes: name of repositiony; parent organization ; address, telephone, fax, email and website; number for enquiries; days and hours of opening; access restrictions; acquisitions policy; archives of organization; major collections; non-manuscript material; finding aids; facilities; conservation; publications New to this edition: email and web address; expanded bibliography; consolidated repository and collections index

Since it was first published in 1982 British Archives has established itself as the premier reference work to holdings of archives and manuscript collections throughout the UK. The 3rd edition has been extensively revised and enlarged with more than 150 new entries, further widening the range of the book. Entries are structured to show the archives of the organisation as distinct from deposited collections and significant non-manuscript material, and additional details of fax number and conservation provision are included for the first time. All the existing entries have been significantly updated, together with the select bibliography and list of useful addresses of various organisations involved in the care and custody of archives. The introduction provides an invaluable guide to researchers using archives, including a summary of the relevant legislation and a detailed description of the usual holdings of county and other local authority record offices.

A journal of research in Post-Reformation Catholic history in the British Isles.

The Catholic contribution to English literary culture has been widely neglected or misunderstood. This book sets out to rehabilitate a wide range of Catholic imaginative writing, while exposing the role of anti-Catholicism as an imaginative stimulus to mainstream writers in Tudor and Stuart England. It discusses canonical figures such as Sidney, Spenser, Webster and Middleton, those whose presence in the canon has been more fitful, and many who have escaped the attention of literary critics. Among the themes to emerge are the anti-Catholic imagery of revenge tragedy and the definitive contribution made by Southwell and Crashaw to the post-Reformation revival of religious verse in England. Alison Shell offers a fascinating exploration of the rhetorical stratagems by which Catholics sought to demonstrate simultaneous loyalties to the monarch and to their religion, and of the stimulus given to the Catholic literary imagination by the persecution and exile so many of these writers suffered.

In their acclaimed, much-used Church History, James Bradley and Richard Muller lay out guidelines, methods, and basic reference tools for research and writing in the fields of church history and historical theology. Over the years, this book has helped countless students define their topics, locate relevant source materials, and write quality papers. This revised, expanded, and updated second edition includes discussion of Internet-based research, digitized texts, and the electronic forms of research tools. The greatly enlarged bibliography of study aids now includes many significant new resources that have become available since the first edition’s publication in 1995. Accessible and clear, this introduction will continue to benefit both students and experienced scholars in the field.

This book examines the activities of William Blundell, a seventeenth-century Catholic gentleman, and using the approaches of the history of reading, provides a detailed analysis of his mindset. Blundell was neither the passive victim nor the entirely loyal subject that he and others have claimed. He actively defended his family from the penal laws and used the relative freedom that this gave him to patronise other Catholics. Not only did he rewrite the histories of recent civil conflicts to show that Protestants were prone to rebellion and Catholics to loyalty, but we also find a different perspective on his religious beliefs. Blundell’s commonplaces suggest an underlying tension with aspects of Catholicism, a tension manifest throughout his notes on his practical engagement with the world, in which it is clear that he was wrestling with the various aspects of his identity. This is an important study that will be of interest to all who work on the early modern period.

Often, our most fascinating ancestors are those on society’s margins. They might have been discriminated against due to personal misfortune, or have been a victim of society’s fear of difference. You may have ancestors who were poor, or sick, illegitimate, or lawbreakers. Were your family stigmatised because of their ethnicity? Perhaps they struggled with alcoholism, were prostitutes, or were accused of witchcraft. This book will help you find out more about them and the times in which they lived. The nature of this book means that it deals with subjects that can make uncomfortable reading but it is important to confront these issues as we try to understand our ancestors and the society that led to them becoming marginalised. In Tracing your Marginalised Ancestors, you will find plenty of suggestions to help you uncover the stories of these, often elusive, groups of people. Will you accept the challenge to seek out your marginalised ancestors and tell their stories?