• Only registered members can see all the forums - if you've received an invitation to join (it'll be on your My Summary page) please register NOW!

  • If you're looking for the LostCousins site please click the logo in the top left corner - these forums are for existing LostCousins members only.
  • This is the LostCousins Forum. If you were looking for the LostCousins website simply click the logo at the top left.
  • It's easier than ever before to check your entries from the 1881 Census - more details here

Do you still print on Paper?

Britjan said:
I naturally headed for the box of maps I can never bring myself to throw out. I do cull it every few years
Click to expand...

Yes I've thrown maps away to be replaced by latest editions. I recently however, wanted to know about streets where my ancestors had lived which had been demolished as part of slum clearance/redevelopement in Manchester. I put in a request to the A to Z publishers and was kindly sent some copies of the relevent pages from their first issue of Manchester Street Atlas. This was very helpful and I was able to locate the relevent streets featured in the census records. However, I then wondered when these streets or houses had ceased to be. This was when I regretted having thrown away street atlases I had used during my working life in and around Manchester, in favour of each new edition. It is when embarking on family and or local history that the significance of maps etc. as historical documents is realised.
 
I keep old maps and also old phone directories - so many people are ex-directory these days. I also discovered the other day that I have an old map of London Transport bus routes - it's not dated, but the phone number is given as Broadway 1234 so it must be about 50 years old (all-figure dialling was introduced in London in 1966 according to this history).
 
emjay said:
Gillian, I read ebooks, but....I 'get lost' ! Where am I? I suppose it's that I can't just flip back to check/confirm a character or event etc. easily.
Click to expand...
Bookmark the main characters as you go.
 
The Ordnance Survey have just released an app which allows you to download the full OS maps for any area in the UK at both the 50k and 25k scales. The app is free, you simply purchase the maps for the appropriate area. If you have already a recent paper map of the area you can enter the code printed on the paper map to add that purchase to your tablet map version. NOTE this is NOT an online map. It downloads the map to your device so you can use it WITHOUT an internet connection. This is especially useful with the devices having built in GPS and compass these days as it can show you exactly where you are on the map and you get the same pleasure of tracing your route with your finger with the extra convenience of having LOTS of maps on one device. No more moving over the edge and having to turn the map over or change to a different map.

Search on the app store for "OS Maps".
 
emjay said:
Gillian, I read ebooks, but....I 'get lost' ! Where am I? I suppose it's that I can't just flip back to check/confirm a character or event etc. easily.
Click to expand...
Couldn't help but respond to your remarks emjay this is precisely what my wife says as she is a great one for bits of paper tucked into books. These enable her to go back and find out who is who. She is fairly new to ebooks and persistently tells me she cannot go back and mark the pages as she does with books. There must be a solution somewhere.o_O
 
emjay said:
Another regret - not keeping old directories
Click to expand...

As a postscript...I would have kept them 'but my wife won't let me'. I have to admit we just don't have the space. Pre 2001 would have fallen victim to our move from family house to retirement bungalow anyhow.
 
Last edited:
Bob Spiers said:
Couldn't help but respond to your remarks emjay this is precisely what my wife says as she is a great one for bits of paper tucked into books. These enable her to go back and find out who is who. She is fairly new to ebooks and persistently tells me she cannot go back and mark the pages as she does with books. There must be a solution somewhere.o_O
Click to expand...

Here
 
Alexander Bisset said:
full OS maps for any area in the UK at both the 50k and 25k scales
Click to expand...
The historic maps I've been viewing at the NLS site are 6in to the mile and 25in to the mile, so show much more detail. In fact I could see my house on the 6in map, so I now know that it was built no later than 1875-76.
 
Oh indeed Peter I'm well aware of the NLS site and the wealth of UK wide mapping available on it. It really does put the English National Archives efforts to shame. However the discussion was particularly about OS maps and paper vs digital. So I thought users might like to know about the modern OS maps available as offline maps on tablets and smartphones.
 
When we emigrated from Lancashire to Australia in 1977 we brought some of our books with us and one in particular has been so useful in finding where places in the UK are is "The Readers Digest AA Book of the Road", printed in the early 70's it has OS maps 4in to the mile plus a huge amount of information within its pages. There is a gazetteer of 28,000 place names in the British Isles with map references and town plans of 83 main towns, we wouldn't like to be without it, as it has helped us find places for others as well as ourselves, of course we were using this great book long before the internet came along. I see it is still available on several used book sites.
 
Alexander Bisset said:
It really does put the English National Archives efforts to shame.
Click to expand...
That could be an unfair criticism because I'm not sure that they have an equivalent collection - in 2008 Ordnance Survey chose to disperse its collection of historic maps amongst local repositories, and one of those repositories was the National Library of Scotland (you can see a list of the others here).

The National Archives have such an enormous collection of records that even now only 1% is online; they quite possibly take the view that it's more important to make unique records available than to duplicate what others are doing (or could do).
 
Heather said:
"The Readers Digest AA Book of the Road",
Click to expand...

I have 1986 publication of OS "National Atlas of Great Britain", another informative 'paper atlas'. I'm sure that somewhere we have an old school World atlas with lots of pink coloured lands.
 
Heather said:
"The Readers Digest AA Book of the Road", printed in the early 70's ...., of course we were using this great book long before the internet came along. ....see it is still available on several used book sites.
Click to expand...
I think I've mentioned before that I have an AA book from about the same era that I often refer to which has the added bonus (for me) of having belonged to my mum and step-dad. It has lots of quite charming pen and ink drawings.
 
I use reams of scrap paper (used printer paper) - not to print things out but to jot down notes from different FH sites which I have open concurrently, as my memory doesn't serve me well and I find it difficult to remember facts when I am comparing information. (I also type out all the census details in the 'notes' section for all my ancestors and find it easier to write information down than keep swapping pages.)

However, I am eternally grateful that I made paper copies of some lovely FH photos I was sent years ago, as I had no idea how to save them on my computer or transfer them to the new computer so the originals were lost. Also, in the process of revamping my tree having recently purchased FTM, I have referred back to old letters from the 90s and early e-mails from my first computer which has long since expired. (I did print out e-mails in those days.)

Those who work regularly in paper free environments at work are no doubt proficient with computers, but for people like me, paper is still more reliable. Peter and Alexander will testify to my abysmal computer skills!
 
Margery - I have improved my computer skills 100-fold in the past 2 months, SOLELY with the patient assistance of members of this forum. It took Peter about 3 days to help me to find my way into the forum initially.....let alone post on it! My (often very basic) questions have been answered almost immediately by the kind, knowledgeable folk on LC forum and it was their support that gave me the confidence to progress. It has taken me years to find the courage to update my FT program, so many, many thanks to all concerned.

I decided that I might as well admit publicly to my very considerable failings and seek help to address the problems and I am so glad that I did, as I hadn't mastered any of the basics. I have plenty of free time this summer as we have no holiday plans as my OH hasn't been well this year, so I am putting it to good use.

Mind over matter Margery - if I can do it, anyone can - so give it a go! Seriously, once you get over all the initial problems that seem far too basic for anyone to document, yet are so incredibly frustrating when you don't know what you are doing, with the help and guidance of the forum you can learn so much. It's been like having an instant tutor to hand. Often it has been the simplest of things that has prevented me from progressing and everyone has been incredibly understanding and patient. (However, remembering it all might be another thing entirely!)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tim
It's really nothing to do with paper or computer skills per se but when I came back from the country on Friday I forgot my USB mouse and hate my lap top's touch pad aaaghhh. It's probably Bob's fault because I was almost in Cahoots....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top