In the week we announce the latest winners of the McCulla Award, Sally Jenkinson of Surrey History Centre, reflects on the achievements that won her the Award in 2019/20.
Highlights of my projects
When I first joined Surrey History Centre my main role was to help with a project to set up volunteer run Local History Centres in libraries around the county, mainly supporting the volunteers with training and resources. Some of their excellent work can be seen online at Epsom & Ewell History Explorer and the RH7 History Group
I soon became involved in developing the Surrey History Centre website, and in due course in an interesting new project to make it possible for customers to pay for events and buy books online. This has now been superseded by Surrey Heritage’s combined online catalogue and shop.
The Quarter Sessions project was rather special as it was undertaken by the Surrey History Trust. The project was led by volunteer John Holland who sadly passed away before completion. I was pleased to be able to help finish producing the CD, and a few years later to arrange to put the same data on Findmypast where it continues to produce income for Surrey Heritage.
Probably the most important work I have done has been arranging to put records online on Ancestry, Findmypast, Forces War Records and The Genealogist. To be able to make so many records available all over the world so easily is something we would never have thought possible when I started work in Surrey Local Studies Library in Guildford. That was in 1989, when enquiries arrived on paper in the post.
The database I most enjoyed making is the Loseley Letters database. I created this for colleagues so that they could enable researchers to reconstruct sequences of correspondence as well as searching for a person, place, subject or keyword.
My favourite volunteers project was the Surrey tithe records project because tithe records are so useful for local history research. We made transcripts and copies of the maps available to purchase, and we were all very pleased that the project also helped the Surrey Wildlife Trust protect some ancient woodlands. In the second phase of the project volunteer David Young produced GIS-enabled tithe maps and first edition 25 inch OS maps for the county which researchers could purchase, and we were able to provide courses to show them how to use them.
CILIP Local Studies Group 