Southampton Archives Explained

Southampton Archives holds the archives for the City of Southampton.^[1] The archives are held at the Civic Centre, Southampton.^[2] The collections reflect the maritime history of this port city as well as its civic and political history.

Collections

The collections include:

• Central index of merchant seamen^[3] - containing more than 1.25 million merchant navy service record cards of people who served on British registered ships between 1918 and 1941.^[4]
• Local authority records - covering Southampton City Council and its predecessors since 1199.^[5]
• Local history & maritime digital archive - a collection of over 10,000 items reflecting the merchant shipping connections of Southampton and its port.^{[6] [7]}
• "Titanic Voices" oral history collection.^[8] A collection relating to this ship which departed from Southampton on its final voyage, extracts from which were published in book form in 1994.^[9] The oral history and other records at the city archives were among the sources used by Julie Cook in her book, The Titanic and the City of Widows it left Behind (2020), which focussed on the relatives of the 549 crew from the City of Southampton who died when the ship sank.^[10]

Further reading

• Sources for Family History in Southampton City Archives Office. Southampton City Council, City Archives Office, 2nd edition, 1993. ISBN 9780854330485

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Notes and References

1. https://www.southampton.gov.uk/arts-heritage/southampton-archives/ Southampton archives.
2. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/a/A13530251 Southampton Archives Office.
3. "Maritime" in Jonathan Scott. (2016) Tracing Your British and Irish Ancestors: A guide for family historians. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. p. 142 ISBN 9781473856301
4. https://www.southampton.gov.uk/arts-heritage/southampton-archives/index-merchant-seamen/ Central index of Merchant Seamen.
5. https://www.southampton.gov.uk/arts-heritage/southampton-archives/local-authority-records/ Local authority records.
6. https://www.southampton.gov.uk/arts-heritage/southampton-archives/plimsoll/ Local history & maritime digital archive.
7. Watt, Helen & Anne Hawkins. (Eds.) (2016) Letters of Seamen in the Wars with France, 1793-1815. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843838968
8. Rasor, Eugene L. (2001) The Titanic: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography. Westport: Greenwood Press. p. 14. ISBN 9780313312151
9. Donald Hyslop, Donald et al. (1994) Titanic Voices. Southampton: Oral History, City Heritage, Southampton City Council, 1994. ISBN 187264905X
10. Cook, Julie. (2020) The Titanic and the City of Widows it left Behind: The Forgotten Victims of the Fatal Voyage. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. Acknowledgements & throughout. ISBN 9781526757166