Past Finder is a database listing over 4,000 archive collections held by local government services in Greater Manchester. It does not list items within a archive but gives a brief description of the contents of each collection. As yet there is no details of individual documents.
Help in using this databaseWhen you choose to search the archives from the menu you are presented with an enquiry form where you can enter any amount of information about the records of interest to your research needs. Help is also available for download as a rich text format file.
You can search on the following terms
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This option allows for a free text term to help you find archives that may interest you. You can enter any combination of words or dates. However, please be aware that this option searches all fields in the database and the results returned may contain collections that have nothing to do with your request. There may also be too many hits so please think carefully beforehand. |
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You can enter the name of one
of the archive services in the county and obtain a list of their
archival holdings. Please note that while Trafford Local Studies is mentioned, no archives are available due to refurbishment of their premises. |
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This option allows you to search for types of records such as family and estate papers and public records. |
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This field allow you to define searches more precisely. For example you can input a particular year or a range of years such as 1850-1900. Inputting 19th century will return all records with dates starting with "18"; requesting records dated mid 17th century will return all records with dates after 1650. |
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As each collection has a title you can enter text that will retrieve all instances of that word or phrase in this field. This allows for a more refined result that the any text search. |
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You can combine fields so that
your searches can be refined in such a way that you can narrow down your
searches. For example, you might fill in the repository field with
"Manchester Archives and Local Studies" and the Management Sub
Group with Associations, Societies and Clubs to obtain a more specific
list of available material |
Search Results Screen
If your search is successful, a list of "hits" will be displayed, each of which will contain references to your search terms.
By default a lists of ten "hits" is shown on screen. If there are more than ten hits then you can view further records by clicking on the Next and Previous links at the top of the list.
To see more information about any of these hits click on the blue highlighted number on the left hand side of your computer screen.
The information on screen will give you the title of the archive, a summary description of the collection, dates, repository and reference number.
You should then note down the repository/repositories and the reference number (s) shown. You can contact any of the offices by referring to our Guide to Repositories on this website.
When you have finished and wish to return to this web site please use your back button
To start using the database click here
We would also like your comments. Please fill in our short questionnaire after you have used Past Finder
