Progress Report
The good news you've all been waiting for is that we have completed the listing of our main series of wills, inventories and accounts within the Durham Probate Records (1540-1858), and are working on inputting the last of the data and on improving the quality of some of the data to support indexed online searching. We can already use the database for specific searches for you, and can undertake broader or more complex searches for our search-room visitors: probate record enquiries should be sent direct to the archive staff at Palace Green Library (Email: pg.library@dur.ac.uk. Tel: 0191 334 2972).
But when will all the data and images be launched online? Unfortunately, this depends on the mounting of the digital images, for which we do not yet have a definitive date. We are liaising with our partners who are undertaking this work (the Genealogical Society of Utah, or GSU), and know that they are making good progress working through the terabytes of data that they have imaged (over half a million images). So we are currently working towards a launch date of September 2010 for all the post-1650 data (with the catalogue and images for pre-1650 data hopefully following on quite quickly), though this does depend on continued good cooperation with our partners at GSU.
We are sorry that this is later than we had hoped, and ask for your patience meanwhile. As soon as we have more definite estimates for completion of the online image mounting, we will let you know here. (Family historians who do not already know the GSU's pilot record search site will be pleased to know that images of the Durham Bishops' Transcripts are already online, at http://pilot.familysearch.org.)
In the period leading up to the online launch of the catalogue we would welcome the opportunity to deliver illustrated talks about the project to interested groups. Evening visits to the archive can also be arranged for local groups, though there is a nominal charge per head. A list of forthcoming NEI events is also available, and there are a number of public events listed there at which you will find project staff happy to discuss the project and provide advice. Please contact us for more details.