A place in history: a guide to using GIS in historical research

CHAPTER 9: PRESERVATION, DOCUMENTATION AND THE ROLE OF THE HISTORY DATA SERVICE

9.2 Obtaining data from the History Data Service

The History Data Service (HDS) collection covers a wide range of historical topics with well over 500 separate data collections transcribed, scanned or compiled from historical sources. The collection includes databases, spreadsheets, electronic texts and scanned images, and covers the time period from the 8th century to the 20th century. Although the primary focus is on the UK, the collection includes a significant body of cross-national and international datasets, and it is particularly strong in 19th and 20th century economic and social history. Examples of topics covered include: 19th and 20th century statistics, manuscript census records, state finance data, demographic data, mortality data, community histories, electoral history, and economic indicators. Data can be located through the UK Data Archive Catalogue, or through browse lists. Datasets are made available for use in research, learning and teaching.

To access data, users must first register with the HDS. This is a simple, online procedure which is done through the UK Data Archive, and which only needs to be done once. Once registered, users can order data from both the HDS and the UK Data Archive. For most academic users the only costs involved in ordering data are the price of the medium (CD-ROM or floppy disk), postage and insurance. Datasets are supplied in a variety of formats, including ASCII files, database files and spreadsheet files, and on a variety of media including CD-ROMs and floppy disks, as well as via FTP. For more information about obtaining data from the HDS, see Accessing Data.