The Paths to Crime Project
What is the Paths to Crime project?
Paths to Crime is a two year project to catalogue and repackage the Bedfordshire Quarter Sessions Rolls from 1831-1900. This collection of court papers will be a valuable resource for both the family and social historian|. The cataloguing, carried out by two part-time cataloguers, is funded by a grant from the National Cataloguing Grant Programme for Archives. The repackaging is being carried out by volunteers and is made possible by generous donations from Bedfordshire Family History Society, present and former High Sheriffs of Bedfordshire, and the Rotary Club of Sandy.
News
Kathryn and Sharon now have a blog|. Here is Kathryn's explanation of what it is all about. ' The aim of the blog is to help you to make use of the catalogue and the documents and to fill you in on some of the highlights we come across during the cataloguing of the Quarter Sessions Rolls. We intend to start with a few introductory posts explaining what the Quarter Session Rolls are, how the catalogue is being structured, the type of information it contains, and how it can be used. As the project progresses we will also be sharing some of the fascinating cases and characters we find in the records, and flagging up any interesting changes or topics we encounter."
The blog is in addition to our regular Bedfordshire & Luton Archives Service web pages where we post our document of the month and other news of the project, although there will be some overlap.
Training sessions
As part of the training for our volunteers we are arranging short bi- monthly Friday lunchtime sessions (1 – 1.45 pm) on topics related to the project (see provisional programme below). These include sessions on collections and documents within the holdings of Bedfordshire & Luton Archives Service. These sessions will be open to members of the public but places are limited so if you would like to attend one of the sessions please contact us|.
13 July 2012 - Manorial Documents 1: - To launch our Manorial Documents Register| Project our project officer, Sarah charlton, will tell us what is involved in updating the register and why it is useful to the family and local historian.
14 September 2012 - 'We would design a dog kennel if someone paid us to' Architects collections are one of Bedfordshire & Luton Archives particular strengths. Pamela Birch explores the collections, highlighting some favourites and explaining how the collections can be used.
9 November 2012 - Miltary History Sources - Nigel Lutt will give an introduction to the use of military records for the family historian.
11 January 2013 - What makes a County Record Office? To begin our centenerary ceebrations we look at how Beds & Luton Archives Service came to be the first County Record Office in the country and how we work 100 year son (to include an optional behind the scenes tour).
8 March 2013 - These are a few of our favourite things - the documents selected by staff and customers to celebrate our centenary.
10 May 2013 Paths to Crime - to mark the end of this two year project we will be looking at what we know now about the Quarter Sessions rolls that we didn't know before!
12 July 2013 - Manorial Documents 2 - To mark the end of the MDR project, Sarah Charlton will tell us what she found and what she didn't!
How to become a volunteer
We currently have space for volunteers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you would like to volunteer or want to know more please contact Pamela Birch|
Documents of the month
January 2012 Document of the Month|
February & March 2012 Documents of the month|
April 2012 Document of the Month|
April document of the month|
May document of the month|
June document of the month|
July document of the month|
August Document of the Month|
September Document of the Month|
October Document of the Month|
November Document of the Month|