Archives searching for volunteers to help connect families

Northumberland Archives is looking for volunteers with a passion for history to digitally log records as part of a new initiative, Reading Room. 

The project, in partnership with FamilySearch.org, aims to make browsing parish registers easier and more accessible for the public. Currently 60% of indexes have been processed for the County and Northumberland Archives are looking for volunteers, to complete the remaining 40%. 

Volunteers with a keen interest in family ancestry and historic records are being asked to select information from marriage, death and baptism registers online and input them into the digital system to enable the archives to be indexed. 

People can choose to undertake this work from the comfort of their own home. The role is extremely flexible meaning people can volunteer as little or as often as they want, ranging from ten minutes to a whole afternoon logging records. 

Councillor Cath Homer, Cabinet Member for culture, arts, leisure and tourism at Northumberland County Council, said: “Reading Room is a valuable and fascinating resource for many people to explore their family history. 

“Northumberland Archives is offering a great opportunity for people with an interest in local history to get involved. I would encourage anyone thinking about volunteering to take part.” 

The process to apply is quick and easy and anyone interested should visit www.familysearch.org to register. 

For more information about Northumberland Archives visit www.experiencewoodhorn.com/collections/ or contact archives@northumberland.gov.uk 

View the video to find out more - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktd3_lB0aUE