Local and family history in libraries

See the main family history section.

Some libraries have a local history centre with a larger collection of materials about Oxfordshire.

Enjoy finding answers to questions such as these:

• How do I start tracing my local family history?
• Where can I find old pictures of my village?
• How old is my house?

Our staff will help you to use online resources, find the books and other materials you need, or refer you to specialist services.

You can borrow books on local studies and family history from the lending section of the Central Library and Oxford City branch libraries have smaller collections of material on the city and county.

• Detailed information about resources available for family historians at Oxford Central Library (pdf format, 30KB)

In the larger town libraries

Abingdon, Banbury, Henley and Witney libraries have holdings relating to their local areas and provide free access to local and family history websites on the library computers. You will find books to borrow as well as reference materials which include newspapers, maps, local census returns AND transcripts of local parish registers.

All Oxfordshire libraries provide online access to the British Library 19th Century Newspapers collection which is of great interest to local and family historians. It contains full runs of 48 newspapers specially selected to best represent 19th Century Britain, including Jackson's Oxford Journal. You can also use this free from home through the Reference Online service. All you need is an Oxfordshire Libraries membership number.

Other libraries

Every library in the county has some books on the local area and county, and you will find reference copies of other resources such as maps, census returns and parish register transcripts depending on the size of the library. You can use the library computers for free access to online resources.

Researching online

All Oxfordshire libraries provide free access to Ancestry Library Edition and Find My Past through the Reference Online service. Many other materials are now available online and you can study them at home or free of charge – and with staff help - in the library. You can explore over 60,000 photographs from the county’s collections and the catalogues of the Oxfordshire History Centre - formerly the Oxfordshire Record Office and Oxfordshire Studies - as well as information about other heritage collections on Heritage Search.

A wide range of other resources are available on Reference Online, including encyclopaedias, the Dictionary of National Biography and the Times newspaper archive, and this can be accessed for free using your library membership number.

You can also check holdings of books on our online library catalogue and, if you’re a member of the library, you can request and renew books online by using your PIN number.

Oxfordshire History Centre

The county’s main local studies and family history collections are at the Oxfordshire History Centre. Here you will find specialist staff and major resources for studying the county including books, newspapers and other printed materials as well as maps, photographs and oral history recordings.

You have free access to Ancestry Library Edition and many other useful websites as well as a host of computer based and microform resources.

Research enquiries

If you are unable to visit us, staff at the Oxfordshire History Centre offer a research service for up to a maximum of two hours to answer specific enquiries - a fee is payable for this work. Alternatively, you can obtain from them a list of private researchers.

Where else to go

• Oxfordshire Museums Service makes available collections from all over the County and provides curatorial services to other museums in Oxfordshire.
• Oxfordshire Registration Service has birth, death and marriage indexes for the superintendent registrar's district. You can search these indexes for a fee at Oxford Registration Office and obtain copies of certificates.
• Berkshire Record Office has original documents for Berkshire, which you will need if you are studying the history of parishes in the Vale of White Horse.