ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

There are many printed sources of family history in the Central Library.

Directories

The ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and Scottish Collection holds ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

• trade and post office directories, 1752 to 1974
• telephone books, 1940 to date
• Portobello post office directories, 1836/37 and 1895 to 1914.

The Reference Library holds directories for other areas of Scotland and professional lists of doctors, clergy and military.

Directories tell you

• where someone lived
• what job they did
• who was living in a street.

Newspapers

Visit the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and Scottish Collection to see

• The Scotsman, 1817 to date
• ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Evening News, 1873 to date
• Glasgow Herald, 1885 to 2010
• many other ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ newspapers from 1651 onwards.

The Reference Library also has the Times, 1785 to 2015.

Newspapers let you see what people's lives were like long ago. Look for birth, marriage or death notices or search for articles and adverts.

Search historical newspapers using the  in any of our libraries. Login from home to use the

Burial records

Visit the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and Scottish Collection to see books of monumental inscriptions from ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and Scottish graveyards. Check the  to see if we have the graveyard you are looking for. For example, search for 'monumental inscriptions' or to restrict your search to ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, 'monumental inscriptions ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½'.

The ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and Scottish Collection holds burial records for some churchyards prior to 1855. Search our burial registers kept after 1855 by contacting Bereavement Services at Mortonhall Crematorium.

Records of the cemeteries which were owned by the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Cemetery Company are stored at the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ City Archives.

Trace where someone was buried by finding a death notice in the newspaper.

Printed family histories

The Central Library has 2,000 printed histories of 540 family names. These are mostly clans and nobility. Search the  for your surname, for example, search for 'Maclean family history'.

Some older books aren't on our online catalogue so ask ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and Scottish Collection staff if you do not find a book for a name on the catalogue. We have a copy of Scottish Family Histories by Joan P. S. Ferguson which can be used to find histories in other libraries.

The armed forces

The Reference Library holds the histories of some British Army regiments and service lists for

• army
• air force
• navy officers
• those who received military decorations.

Scottish Record Society publications

Go to the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ and Scottish Collection to find books listing ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

• Burgess's
• guild rolls
• apprentice records.

These can be a good way of tracing ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ tradesmen.