CAMBRIDGESHIRE DIRECTORY GROUPS AND SOCIETIES
ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES Cambridge Central Library
a 7 Lion Yard, Cambridge CB2 3QD e cambridgeshire.collection@ cambridgeshire.gov.uk
w bit.ly/cam-cen-lib
Established in 1855, the Cambridgeshire Collection at Cambridge Central Library houses street directories for Cambridge, as well as county directories; playbills and theatre programmes; planning documents; registers of electors and poll books; newspapers back to 1762, on microfilm and in original print editions, and other periodicals; maps and plans; plus a collection of more than 50,000 catalogued and indexed illustrations dating back to the 1680s.
Cambridgeshire Archives
a The Dock, Ely CB7 4GS
t 01223 699399 e cambs.archives@ cambridgeshire.gov.uk
w cambridgeshire.gov.uk/ residents/libraries-leisureculture/archives
This is the brand new home of the main county archive which looks after records relating to the former counties of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, including parish and probate records from the Diocese of Ely, alongside court records, nonconformist records and material generated by local hospitals and asylums, Poor Law unions, turnpike trusts and coroners, businesses, estates, societies and organisations.
Cambridge University Library
a Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR e mss@lib.cam.ac.uk
t 01223 333143 w lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/ departments/manuscriptsuniversity-archives
Although Cambridgeshire Archives holds parish and probate records, all other records of the Diocese of Ely, including marriage licences, ordination papers, curates’ licences and registers of the consistory court, are held here. The department also looks after scientific collections, business archives and the records of Cambridge University itself.
Huntingdon Library And Archives
a Princes Street, Huntingdon
PE29 3PA
t 01480 372738 e hunts.archives@ cambridgeshire.gov.uk; localstudies.hunts@ cambridgeshire.gov.uk
w bit.ly/hunt-arch
Huntingdonshire Archives has resources from the former county of Huntingdonshire. This is roughly the area covered by the current Huntingdonshire District Council, as well as Alwalton, Stanground, the Ortons and Fletton, which today form part of Peterborough City Council. The Huntingdonshire Collection, based at Huntingdon Library and Archives with satellite collections at St Neots and St Ives Libraries, contains more than 5,000 books and pamphlets. It also houses a collection on Oliver Cromwell.
Wisbech Library
a 5 Ely Place, Wisbech PE13 1EU e localstudies.fenland@ cambridgeshire.gov.uk
w bit.ly/fenland-coll
The Fenland Collection at Wisbech Library, with satellite collections at Ely and March Libraries, has more than 4,000 items covering the Isle of Ely, West Norfolk and South
Lincolnshire. Its photographic archive includes the Lilian Ream Collection, from a studio that documented life in Wisbech between 1907 and 1971 (you can search 2,500 images from the collection at bit.ly/lilian-reamcat). There’s also the Thomas Clarkson Collection, celebrating a campaigner against the slave trade. Ely Library, meanwhile, is home to resources about the history of Ely Cathedral.
Cambridgeshire And Huntingdonshire Family History Society
t 01223 853273 e secretary@cfhs.org.uk w cfhs.org.uk
Cambridgeshire Family History Society was founded in 1976, and from January this year covers not only Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely but Huntingdonshire too, since the Huntingdonshire Family History Society ( huntsfhs. org.uk) has closed down. It offers access to databases of millions of names collected from sources including registration data, parish records, military lists, nonconformist records,