Oxfordshire History Centre collections

You will find a variety of resources for researching family, local and house history.

What you will find at Oxfordshire History Centre

Printed or microform sources

Books, newspapers and periodicals (pdf format, 21KB)
Trade and street directories
Ordnance Survey maps
Transcripts of parish registers, census returns and monumental inscriptions.

Digitisation: On 25 June 2012, a project began to digitise the parish registers of Oxfordshire. This involves a rolling programme of registers being withdrawn from the History Centre every two weeks to carry out the work. If you are planning a visit to consult the registers, please contact us to ensure the ones you want will be here.

On computer (free access)

Ancestry Library and FindMyPast family history websites (covering the UK and beyond)
Oxfordshire Family History Society's:
- Baptism, marriage and burial indexes (1538-1837)
- Census returns and indexes (1841-1901)
- Parish register transcripts
19th Century British Library newspapers
Large scale digital mapping, (1876-2011)
Links to local and family history websites.

Original records

Parish registers (1538-C21)
Wills proved in Oxfordshire (1516-1857)
County council, district council, borough and parish council records
Poor law records
Business records
Court records
Estate and family records
Coroners' files
School log books and admission registers (1863—C21)
Tithe and enclosure maps and awards
Electoral registers (1833-C21)
Motor vehicle registration records (1903-1974)

Images and voices

More than 400,000 images from the 1850s to the present, including large collections by:
- Henry Taunt (c.1860-1920)
- Frank and Basil Packer (c.1910-1970s)
- JW Thomas (1946-1999)
Prints and engravings from before the age of photography
Oral history recordings, including BBC Radio Oxford programmes back to 1970.

Oxfordshire Health Archives

Including records of:

patients (for example, admission, discharge and death)
NHS hospitals in Oxfordshire (with details of sources held elsewhere)
NHS administrative bodies
Nurses' alumni and staff organisations
nurse training

Some of these sources may be confidential, so researchers should contact the Oxfordshire Health Archives' staff (available Tuesday morning and Friday) before visiting. Also, see the Oxfordshire Health Archives website.

Last reviewed

20 June 2012