The navigation above contains options for 'Archive Search' and 'Advanced Search'. 'Archive Search' contains one 'Any Text' search field. The 'Advanced Search' option allows you to construct a more complex search using a series of fields to refine your search.
You can enter your search terms in either upper or lower case. This will not have any effect on your search.
Archive Search
The search page for 'Archive Search' contains one field with the title 'Any Text'. You many enter any combination of words in this field to make your search. The 'Combine words in field' options should be used carefully to construct the most helpful search.
Combine words in fields 'And Or Phrase'
The 'Combine words in field' option is set to 'Phrase'. This will search for text in the exact order that you have entered it into the field. For example a search for 'Skipsea enclosure map' will find records that contain that exact phrase. This option is helpful for searching for personal names where an exact combination of christian and surname is being sought.
When the 'Combine words in fields' option is set to 'And' you will find all entries in the database, which include all of the words that you have entered into the field. For example, a search for 'Skipsea enclosure map' will find all records that include the words 'Skipsea', 'enclosure' and 'map' in them. This will help you to narrow your search.
When the 'Combine words in fields' option is set to 'Or' you will find all entries in the database for any word entered into the field. For example, a search for 'Skipsea enclosure map' will find all occurrences of the words 'Skipsea' or 'enclosure' or 'map'. This will help you to widen your search.
Advanced Search
The 'Advanced Search' allows you to make more complex searches of the catalogue. This page contains six search fields. You may enter your search terms into any of the boxes but you do not have to fill in every box.
The 'Advanced Search' page contains the following search fields:
- 'Any Text'. This works in the same way as the 'Any Text' field on the 'Archive Search' screen. See under 'Archive Search' for help on how to use this.
- 'FindingNo'. An abbreviation for Finding Number, which is the unique identifying number that must be used when ordering documents. This search field is useful if you already know the number for the collection or item that you want to find.
- 'Date'. The catalogue understands various date formats. However, the simplest way to narrow your search by using the date field is to enter a year or range of years. You can use days and months, but note that all months must be abbreviated to the first three letters of the month eg. 5 Jan 1782 for a date in January.
- 'Level'. This allows you to search for different levels in the archive catalogue such as collection, section, series or item. You can select a level by using the arrow on the right hand side of the box and using the drop down menu. This option is most helpful for searching for summaries of collections and excluding individual documents. For example, selecting 'Collection' will allow you to browse the collections. Selecting 'Item' will find records for individual items.
- 'PlaceName'. This uses a controlled list of place name terms. Records will only be found when they have been indexed using a place name term. All collection summaries have been indexed to place name and some records have been indexed at section, series or item level. This option is helpful if you want to search for records for a particular place but wish to exclude less significant references.
- 'Subject'. This uses a controlled list of subject terms. Records will only be found when they have been indexed using a subject index term
'Advanced Search' contains an option to 'Combine fields'
Combine Fields 'And' 'Or'
The 'Combine fields' option is set to 'And'. This means that a search for 'Beverley' in 'PlaceName', '1700-1799' in 'Date' and 'Turnpikes' in 'Subject' will find all entries in the database to 18th century turnpikes in Beverley.
Search Results
The results of your search will appear as a hit list displaying 10 results to the page. The hit list shows the catalogue's title, but does not contain the full description of each record. Use the [Start], [Prev], [Next] and [End] tags at the top of the page to move back and forth through the hit list.
To view the full description of any item just click on the green number to the left of the hit list. This will take you to a detailed description of the item at its appropriate level. The top of the search screen for each individual record also contains some helpful contextual information, such as the title of the whole collection.
View the record in its context
To view each record in the context of a collection use the tree icon at the bottom of the screen. This will show you a record in the context of the whole catalogue. From this you can browse the whole catalogue and choose to view items in the same collection by clicking on the title of the item.
'Wildcard' searching
Using the asterisk symbol '*' acts as a wildcard and will search for any word containing the characters entered before the '*'. For example a search for 'catholic*' will find catholic, catholics and catholicism.
The Freedom of Information Act and ‘Closed’ records
The Online Catalogue will display records that are not fully open. These will be identified by the term ‘closed’ being contained in the field called ‘access status’. This is sometimes accompanied by both an explanation for the closure, for example ‘closed as contains personal information’, and the date when the record will become fully open.
This has been done so that the Archives Service will be able to meet its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act to make information about its collections fully open.
A Freedom of Information Act right of access request for information from records identified as ‘closed’ in the catalogue can be made by submitting the request in writing to the East Riding Archivist.
The identification of records as ‘closed’ has been retained in the catalogue. However, this does not mean an absolute closure. Under the Freedom of Information Act the public have a right to request information from these records.
The marking up of records as ‘closed’ will remain to assist staff in identifying records for which an exemption might apply and for which a specific Freedom of Information right of access request must be made.
Ordering Documents
Finally, if you have found documents that you would like to view, make sure that you note their finding numbers ['FindingNo'], which are the unique identifying number that we need to locate them.
For information about how to contact us and request items please contact us.
N.B. Please ignore any reference number preceeded by a 'z'.
