How do I search the database?
Standard Search
The standard search facility on the home page searches all text in the
St.Helens Local History and Archives catalogue.
- You can enter one or more words or the date of a document or a
collection
- Words can be entered in any combination of upper and lower case; it will
make no difference to the search
- You can use the asterisk symbol * as a "wildcard" in any part of a word
to widen your search. For example entering rain* will bring up Rainford and
Rainhill. Entering *ford will bring up John Titford, Thomas Bradford etc. Adding an asterisk
to the end of a word will allow you to search for both the singular and plural versions of
that term, e.g. if you type marriage* into the search engine, you will find results for the words
'marriage' and 'marriages'
Enter your terms in the search box then click on the search button and you
will see an overview list of search results.
Advanced Search
To access the advanced search page:
- Hover the cursor over the “Advanced Search” banner on the homepage
- Click on “Catalogue”
You will see the following fields:
AnyText: You may enter a single word, a name or a phrase into this field. Please note that if you
search for a full name or a phrase you must have the words in the correct order e.g. "Joseph Beecham"
will return results, but "Beecham Joseph" is unlikely to result in many matches.
RecordsWithImages: If you are looking for an image of a particular subject, enter your
search term in 'AnyText', type 'Yes' in 'RecordsWithImages' and then press 'Search'. Then click on a record in the results list to view an image.
Alternatively, if you wish to browse through all of the records in our database that have images attached then just type 'Yes' in 'RecordsWithImages'
and press 'Search'.
Title: You can use this field if you know the exact title (or part of
the title) of the archival record or local history book that you require.
Description: You can enter keywords in this field to find records
about particular subjects or people. Please note that if you
search for a full name or a phrase you must have the words in the correct order e.g. "Joseph Beecham"
will return results, but "Beecham Joseph" is unlikely to result in matches.
RefNo: If you know the reference number of an item or collection it
can be entered here e.g. searching for RCC will return all the record
descriptions for the Rainford Cricket Club. Searching for RCC/1 will return all
the record descriptions relating to the minute books of Rainford Cricket Club.
Level: Click on the drop-down menu if you wish to search records at a
particular archival level. You can search through all levels by leaving this
field blank. For a brief explanation of archival levels please see the Glossary
page.
Date: You can search for archival records produced in a particular year. Many of the records have “circa” dates
(approximate dates). For example if you enter '1847' you will get results for
records marked 'c. 1840s'.
AltRefNo: All items in our archives and collections have an
alpha-numeric reference number in accordance with the cataloguing system used by
St.Helens Local History and Archive Library (see RefNo field). However in
certain cases it is important to know the original numbering system that the
creators of the records used. These original numbers (which are sometimes highly
idiosyncratic) are listed as an “alternative reference number” and they can be
searched via this field.
Class: This field relates to local history books and pamphlets, all of
which have a classification number e.g. B51 (P). In this example (P) indicates
that the item is a pamphlet.
Author: You can search for all books and pamphlets by a particular
author by typing in their full name or surname into this field.
PubDate: You can search this field for the publication date of local history
books and pamphlets.
Please note: In Advanced Search, words can be entered in the fields in
any combination of upper and lower case; it will make no difference to the
search
Once you have entered a term into a field, click on the “search” button at
the bottom of the field.
Navigating through search results
Records are displayed in two ways:
- as a brief description in an overview hitlist of search results
- as a full record view situated on an individual page
If you search for a name or date, you are likely to get results from a
variety of archival collections and your hitlist may also include local history
books and pamphlets. When the overview list of search results appears it is
possible to see more details by clicking on a record in the list. Once inside
the individual record it is possible to navigate to other full record views in
the hitlist via the following route.
Click on the options on the hitlist menu above the record - “Next”
will take you to the next page of the hitlist, “Last” will
take you to the final page in the list, "Previous" will take you back to the
page that you have just looked at and "First" will take you back to the
beginning of the results.
If you are looking at an individual record and wish to return to the overview
list of search results press “Back” on the toolbar at the top of the screen.
Alternatively you can click on the words “Search Results” above the full record
view. Clicking on "Advanced Search" will allow you to begin a new search.
Navigating through collections
Please note the following applies to archives and collections only and
does not include local history books and pamphlets
If you want to browse through a particular collection it is possible to do so
by accessing the “Hierarchy Browser”.
Example: If you are looking at the full record view for “Postcard
showing sepia image of Windlehurst, St.Helens” you will see the reference code
PCM/5/5. If you click on this reference code you will be able to view the
“Hierarchy Browser” for the entire PCM collection. Clicking on any of the
reference codes in the browser list will take you directly to the full record
view of individual items in the collection. Alternatively, if you click on "Record"
at the top of the “Hierarchy Browser” you will be able to view the full record for
PCM/5/5 once more.
Classification system for local history books and pamphlets
Many of the local history stock of books and pamphlets are arranged according to a
modified Hobbs classification system.
A letter in front of a local history classification number denotes the area
to which the book and pamphlet relates:
| A |
St.Helens Borough |
| B |
Lancashire |
| C |
Cheshire |
| D |
North West England and General History |
| E |
Lancashire post-1974 |
| F |
Merseyside |
| G |
Greater Manchester |
Some of the most popular subject areas have the following classification
numbers:
| 12.1 |
General directories |
| 13.1 |
Derivation of place names |
| 21.2 |
Census |
| 25.1 |
Elementary education |
| 28.1 |
Theatre |
| 35.7 |
Railways |
| 36.2 |
Coalmining |
| 57 |
Genealogy |
| 65 |
General History |
| 67 |
Military History and war |
| 78 |
Architecture |
| 95 |
Roman Catholic church |
| 96 |
Anglican church |
Example: Books about theatre in St.Helens Borough would be classified
as A28.1 and pamphlets on the same subject would be classified as A28.1 (P).