Research Items in Bradford Central Library

Part of the Library is currently closed due to a fire risk, and services are limited to the ground and first floors only.

The following web site is where announcements about the library

are due to be made by the Bradford Metropolitan District Council

www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc/leisure_and_culture/library_and_information_services/Library+News

and the following web site relates to the Local Studies Section at the Library

www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc/leisure_and_culture/library_and_information_services/local_and_family_history/bradford_local_studies

Under normal circumstances what appears below would be the normal web page on this Bradford FHS web site:-

The following list, which is for information only and is far from exhaustive, is of some useful records which can be consulted in the Local Studies Library, 5th floor, Bradford Central Library, Prince's Way, Bradford , West Yorkshire BD1 1NN. Click here for location map.

• GRO indexes of births, marriages & deaths, 1837-1940. On fiche.

• 1851 Census for Bradford. A card index of most of Bradford transcribed by Bradford Family History Society members.

• Newspaper indexes. Mainly Bradford Observer 1834 onwards, includes many death notices, some obituaries, marriage and birth announcements. (Ongoing project, currently 1834-1909.)

• Some newscuttings of Bradford celebrities.

• "Our Gallant Heroes". A card name index of details extracted from Bradford newspapers of local men who died , were wounded or went missing in the First World War.

• Card index to service men and women reported in the Bradford Telegraph & argus 1939-1945.

• Burgess / Ward Rolls 1847 to date. (Only for areas which were part of Bradford at the time).

• Trade Directories 1792-1969.

• Local classified telephone directories from 1935.

• Residential telephone directories and Thomsons directories.

• Bishop's Transcripts for some of the local area.

• Microfiche copies of Bradford Parish Church registers 1599-1983.

• The Blackburn Registers on microfilm. In the late 1920's and early 1930's Arthur Blackburn recorded in over 100 volumes the Monumental Inscriptions of graveyards, churchyards and cemeteries in and around Bradford. These have been indexed by Philip Rushworth, the founding chairman of the Bradford F.H.S.

The library has numerous CD ROMs in stock, plus free internet access for Family and Local History research . There is no need to be a member of Bradford Libraries to use any of the facilities in the Local Studies Library.

Library staff offer an information service for visitors to the library and enquiries by telephone and by letter, but cannot act as researchers.