Limited access to Edinburgh City Archives starts June 4th

Thanks to Kirsty Wilkinson via the Scottish Genealogy Network's Facebook page for news that the Edinburgh City Archives are to reopen from June 4th, albeit on a limited access basis, for four every hours every Friday.

From the archive's site at https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/archives/edinburgh-city-archives-1/4?documentId=12641:

Visit the search room

Following the easing of some Covid-19 restrictions will will be opening up some of our collections for researchers to view again from June 4 2021.

Access is limited for the next few months in terms of what you can access and where.  

Where and when  

At this time our search room in the City Chambers is still closed to the public due to the restrictions of this historic building. However, colleagues at Historic Environment Scotland (HES) have allocated us space in their own search room in John Sinclair House (EH8 9NX) every Friday between 11am and 3pm for researchers to access our collections.

Places are limited and must be booked in advance by getting in touch with us.  

Who

Those looking to book a space will also need to fit the following criteria

- Have a deadline that needs to be met (academically, legally, professionally).

- Be able to advise what records/materials need to be viewed (limits of 10 items per person/session are in place).

    Not be looking for continuous access every week (unless your project is very time critical and then we can discuss on an individual basis).

What

There are certain restrictions on the types of records we can safely transport over to HES. Any architectural drawings and plans will not be sent, due to their size and the space they take up to view. Any outsize or very fragile records will also not be sent. We will discuss further with anyone who gets in touch with us what records they would like access to and whether this is currently possible.

Spaces will be filled quickly and so please get in touch with us as soon as you can if you would like to make use of this service.

We hope to welcome you back through our own doors at the City Chambers later in the year, and we will keep you updated with any further developments.

(With thanks to Kirsty)

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.