Records, records, everywhere!

Hello from Ipswich!

I just wrapped up my first full day at the records office here, and I'm already feeling like I've found some intriguing research avenues to follow. I spent most of the day reading apprenticeship bonds from the 1590s, which were recorded by the town clerk in a 16th century account book. The book I was looking at began in the 1570s and continues through the 1640s. I made great use of the record office allowing readers to take digital photos of documents, so I've attached a picture of one of the bonds so you can see what it looks like. Yes, it really is written in English. ;)

As pretty (or, perhaps to others, wretchedly archaic) as the handwriting can be, the photos are not just aesthetically pleasing. Taking the photos allows me to skim through most of the documents (400 or so written pages) for critical but fairly mundane info (like names, dates, gender, trade) without having to worry about making a full transcription of the whole entry. Transcription I can do at Oxford, but figuring out which documents/entries are critical to my research, I cannot. All in all, I took about 115 photos today - mostly of apprenticeship bonds, but also about 20 pictures are of payments of poor relief in the 1570s and 1580s. Pretty much any document I came across that had a list of named members of the poor in the 16th century, I photoed. I was happy to see there were quite a few!

So, yay! It has been a wonderfully exciting and rewarding day. And even better, I still have tomorrow morning to find more stuff! After this trip, I can tell I will have a good start on finding sources to analyze for my topic. Wonderful!