Scotland Coffee Chat
Photo courtesy of Libby McGratten
This coffee chat meets on a rotation basis on Thursday nights from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. Watch the local events calendar for dates and times. People meet online by Zoom to chat about their successes and frustrations. Sharing your experiences might help someone else in the group.
*Via Zoom - Register HEREat least 24 hours ahead of time .
BCGS Members - Please include your BCGS membership number
Affiliate Society Members - please include the name of your Affiliate Society plus the current secret word.
Guests - If you would like to attend as a guest, please type in the word “guest”. We welcome guests to attend a coffee chat once but we require them to become members if they wish to continue attending.
Once you have registered, you will be notified of future Scotland Coffee Chats automatically and do not need to re-register. You will also receive a reminder email a day or two ahead of each chat. You can cancel your registration via a link in your Zoom confirmation email.
Facilitator: Jan Graf (webmaster@bcgs.ca)
Essential sites for Scottish genealogy research
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ScotlandsPeople
The first port of call for Scottish family history research. ScotlandsPeople holds parish records, statutory records, censuses, wills, valuation rolls, kirk session records and much more. Free to search but pay to view records.
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National Records of Scotland
The national archive for Scotland, which holds records back to the 12th century. Free search of the online catalogue, but most records have to be viewed in person. Useful research guides available for free.
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National Library of Scotland
In addition to books and eResources, the NLS holds over 400,000 historic maps of the UK and Ireland, available to view and annotate online.
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trove.scot
trove.scot is the new repository (replacing ScotlandsPlaces) for information related to places and structures in Scotland. Look here for listed buldings, scheduled monuments, and more than 1.2 million images from their archives.
BCGS Resources for Scottish Family History Research
At the Library
Over many years, our members have been collecting information and records that can help in researching Scottish family history. The result is an extensive collection of publications, maps and other resources, all indexed by county or topic.
Browse the online Index. If you see items of interest, visit the BCGS library. The file cabinet containing the folders is located on the second floor. You are welcome to photocopy or scan the folder contents.
On the Website
Exchange Journals
The BCGS exchanges digital copies of journals woth many family history societies around the world. Journals from the following Scottish family history societies are freely available to BCGS members’ in the Members Area of our website. In addition, the BCGS Library holds paper copies of many older journals. An alphabetical list of the holdings can be seen here.
Aberdeen & NE Scotland Family History Society
Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society
Other useful websites for Scottish research
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Family history societies
There are many local family history societies in Scotland. The Scottish Association of Family History Societies (SAFHS) lists their names and contact details.
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Edinburgh City Archives
The Edinburgh City Archives holds records on education (includin gprimary and secondary schools), law and order, social welfare (charities and poor law) and much more.
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Mitchell Library (Glasgow)
The Mitchell Library holds a wealth of family history material including Glasgow electoral registers, burial and cremation records, and the Glasgow City Archives.
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Scottish Indexes
Search thousands of indexed record sets including prison records, property records, health records and court records. Scottish Indexes also hosts an online conference every few months on topics relevant to Scottish research.
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Scottish Records Society
The Scottish Record Society is one of Scotland’s oldest historical societies, and is dedicated to publishing calendars, indexes and texts of historical records.
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Gaelic Place Names of Scotland
A searchable database of Gaelic place names in Scotland and a searchable map.
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Other resources
This guide to assist in reading old handwriting was published by the National Records of Scotland and the Scottish Records Association:
Scottish Handwriting 1500-1700: A self-help packThis book catalogs pre-1855 Church of Scotland records, detailing surviving volumes, date ranges, and specific gaps or damage for every parish:
Detailed list of old parochial registers of Scotland (1872)