More resources
We'll provide links to relevant information and sources to help you find the information you need. There are three main websites that you will find links to on our pages.
- Greater Manchester lives (GM lives) is our archives catalogue. It is a searchable website which lets you find information about documents, books, maps, photographs and more held by archives and local history libraries within Greater Manchester. References you come across, for example GB123.A1 will often link directly to GM lives, and will bring up the relevant information or tell you where the original copies are held should you want to look at them.
- Findmypast holds over four billion records, some which can't be found anywhere else, including the largest online collections of Irish records, UK parish records, a comprehensive archive of British military records, and British newspapers dating from 1710 to 1955. It also includes the Manchester Collection, a rich collection of records detailing how Manchester ancestors lived, particularly in the Victorian period.
- Ancestry offers access to one billion searchable UK family history records including censuses, passenger lists, British phone books, military and parish records. It also holds records of baptisms, marriages and burials for Anglican churches in the Diocese of Manchester, including Manchester Cathedral.
You can access findmypast and Ancestry free at any of our libraries.