Here are some resources we have found and made which might help you getting started with your One-Place Studies. Some of these resources are Members Only and therefore need you to be logged in to view or use them. 

Members have access to a wide range of other resource pages, including techniques (like sources, research methodology, family reconstruction, visualisation, and more), themes to help you structure your research or find new areas to investigate, stories about individual Studies, and news and services from the Society. To access these, visit the Members’ Area and log in. 

If you aren’t a Member, why not join us! 

Resource Types on this page

Destinations Articles

Books, Articles & Publications

Videos & Podcasts

Websites

Society Pages & Projects

Destinations Articles

Taking Those First Steps – Dr Janet Few

Internet Publishing – Steve Pickthall

New Year Resolutions – Steve Pickthall

Some Considerations for your OPS – The Society for One-Place Studies

Monthly Blogging Prompts – Steve Jackson

Monthly Blogging Prompts – Steve Jackson

Books, Articles & Publications

The Beginners Guide to One-Place Studies – Society for One-Place Studies

Family Thickets: Deep Family and Local History – W. Wesley Johnston. For our review of this book, click here.

Ten Steps To A One-Place Study – Dr Janet Few

How to Research Local History – Pamela Brooks, How to Books Limited (2008)

The Genealogist’s Internet – Peter Christian, National Archives (2012)

The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History – David Hey (Editor), Oxford University Press (1998)

Using Census Returns: A Pocket Guide to Family History – Public Record Office, PRO Publications (2002)

Tracing Your House History – Gill Blanchard, Pen & Sword Family History (2013). For our review of this book, click here.

A Dictionary of British Place Names – A. D. Mills, Oxford University Press (2011)

Beginners’ Guide to One-Place Studies – Kirsty Gray. This is a pdf copy of an article published in Your Family History magazine (now called Discover Your History) in the UK. This article is available here by permission of the magazine.

Videos & Podcasts

Choosing Your Place – Society for One-Place Studies

Visiting Your Place – Alex Coles

All About That Place on YouTube – AATP is a free 10-day online international event focusing on place-based research, with several talks each day. You can view many of last year’s talks on the Society of Genealogists YouTube channel at the link above.

Websites

Trace My House – A directory of links to house history guides and resources to be found on the websites of County Records offices.

A Guide to Researching the History of a House – Another directory of links to house history guides and resources, but this one has more of a North American slant (the CAPTCHA system seems a little onerous, but the content is worth the perseverance)

Society Pages & Projects

Adopt-A-Parish – Alex Coles

Tea With The Neighbours – Alex Coles

Twitter – I Think I Get You! – Tessa Keough

First Steps to a One-Place Study – Dr Janet Few. Using examples from her own English one-place studies in Northumberland and Devon, Janet explains what you need to consider when choosing a place to study. She suggests ways in which you can gain an impression of the geographical and man-made features that comprised your place at different times. Finally, Janet takes a brief look at analysing the populations of your place.

Sourcing a One-Place Study – Anna Darelli-Anderson. Using examples from around the world, Anna explains the importance of reliable sources and the collection of data in creating and establishing a one-place study, as well as detail the various types of sources available to researchers and where to find them.

Connecting our Way to a Bigger Picture – Kim Baldacchino. Amazingly early in your research, perhaps with your census or BMD transcripts, you can already start to make the connections between people, places and events that will help you to build an understanding of your place and help others to understand and make use of what you have found. In this presentation, real examples are used to explore the world of possibilities that exist when you begin to analyse your data and pursue those ‘ah-ha’ moments when new knowledge is unearthed. Topics such as population, occupations, migration, religion and many more provide endless opportunities for a voyage of discovery.

Start Spreading The News – Karen Bailey. Publishing and publicising your One-Place Study and your findings might sound very complicated and difficult, but it can be quite easy if you know how! In this talk, you can learn ways to promote and share your research with the world, both online and offline.

More resources

Members have access to a wide range of other resource pages, including techniques (like sources, research methodology, family reconstruction, visualisation, and more), themes to help you structure your research or find new areas to investigate, stories about individual Studies, and news and services from the Society. To access these, visit the Members’ Area and log in. 

If you aren’t a Member, why not join us! 

The Society for One-Place Studies is a leading organisation dedicated to supporting One-Placers worldwide.

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Contact Us

By email:
info@one-place-studies.org

By post:
Society for One-Place Studies,
28 St Ronan’s Avenue,
Southsea, Hampshire, PO4 0QE
United Kingdom

© The Society for One-Place Studies