There is a wealth of information buried in Government papers -
but much of it is difficult to find - and even if you locate a document of
possible relevance it may contain hundreds of names - and is not indexed. The
aim of BOPCRIS, as given on the web site, is to save researchers wasting
valuable research time and effort finding relevant British Official
Publications over the period 1688 -1995 by providing a Web-based bibliographic
database which enables them, from their own desktops, to:
- search and browse for relevant documents without having
to visit libraries to consult hard-copy reference tools, or needing to
seek assistance from reference librarians
- read abstracts, and view detailed consistent subject
indexing, of key documents so they can assess whether they need to see the
full document or not
- find out the nearest location of relevant documents if
they decide they need them
- read the digitised full-text version of a limited number
of documents
If you want to look at contemporary
information on topics such as the game laws, or child labour, this site will
help you to identify the appropriate government papers. Some papers have a
Hertfordshire flavour (and may well contain information from named
Hertfordshire-based witnesses) and three abstracts of documents that could
justify further study have been posted as examples:
Agricultural Depression in
the 1890s
Hardship
of Innholders - 1756
Repairing
the Roads from Stevenage - 1730
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